Designed for Freedom Academy graduates, this three-day experience invites participants to deepen their understanding of trauma and healing through story work that weaves together psychology, neuroscience, and Biblical truth.
Over the course of three immersive days, attendees will take part in lecture-style teaching alongside facilitator-led small group story work. This is an advanced training environment, so participants are encouraged to come ready for honest engagement with the material and with one another.
Story work is a growing term used to describe a range of spiritual and psychological approaches for processing stories of harm. In this training, participants are introduced to a specific modality for engaging trauma and moving toward healing, building on the foundational work of leaders such as Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel in trauma and abuse recovery.
This approach brings together psychology, neuroscience, and theology to help participants explore the core narratives shaped by relationships, family systems, sexual development, and experiences of abuse. It is designed to support both personal and collective trauma experiences.
At Freedom Movement, healing is understood not only as possible, but as part of our birthright as children of God and a vital expression of the larger gospel story unfolding in our lives and in the world.
Each participant brings a short, pre-written childhood story of harm to share in a small group led by a professionally trained trauma story practitioner. Using a proven framework, participants are guided to engage traumatic experiences with compassion and care.
Grounded in biblical, Spirit-led, and trauma-informed truth, this narrative process is applied in a way that honors the whole person—mind, body, soul, and heart.
We were created for community and connection. When painful memories are revisited in a safe and supportive group, they can be reshaped through what neuroscience calls reconsolidation—experienced, processed, and stored again in a new way that supports healing and spiritual growth.
As trauma is processed, new neural pathways can form and participants begin to see more clearly how their stories have shaped them. This creates space for restoration with God, reclaiming personal narratives through the truth of His word and living more freely with an embodied experience of faith, hope, and love.
The impact reaches beyond the individual as well. By holding others’ stories with care, participants gain empathy, context, and understanding that can transform how they lead, love, and relate. As people grow in freedom within their own story, their lives can become an invitation for others to step into the freedom God has for them.
Karrie Garcia
Jeff Myers
Kaitlyn McCarty
Along with small group story work, this three-day intensive includes lecture training covering:
This training is for men and women who have completed Freedom Academy and who want to:
Yes. Freedom Academy is a required prerequisite.
Story work groups are typically gender-specific, with men meeting with men and women meeting with women. Select coed groups are occasionally available. If you have a preference, the team will do their best to accommodate it.
Yes. Participants will write and bring a 600-word childhood story to be read in a small group led by a trained facilitator. Preparation instructions and reading materials will be sent by email after registration.
No. Travel and lodging must be arranged separately.
The April 2027 location is still to be announced. It will be held at one of the following venues:
All attendees will be updated as soon as the location is confirmed.
Thursday, April 22nd
7:45am | Check-in
8:00am - 5pm | Day One (Lunch Included)
Friday, April 23rd
7:45am | Doors Open
8:00am - 5pm | Day Two (Lunch Included)
Saturday, April 24th
7:45am | Doors Open
8:00am - 5pm | Final Day* (Lunch Included)
*Please book flights departing 8pm or later on the final day.
Pre-requisite: Freedom Academy
Price: $1399
Capacity: Limited to 54 participants
Included:
Apr 22-24, 2027
3 day event
Daily Schedule:
About Karrie Garcia As a speaker, life coach, author, and CEO, Karrie Garcia encourages transformation by openly sharing the story of her own journey toward freedom. She is willing to go into the deepest places of pain and invites others who are hurting to come with her, so they can discover the kind of freedom that leads to a flourishing life. Speaking...
Read more
About JeffJeff is a coach, professor, and Storywork facilitator with Freedom Movement, supporting people as they move toward wholeness, freedom, and more meaningful connection. Drawing on experience in pastoring and business coaching, he helps others lead, parent, and love with presence, integrity, and care.Personal JourneyIn his early 40s, after years of suppressing and avoiding his emotions, Jeff went through what...
Read more
About KaitlynKaitlyn McCarty serves as our in-house therapist and has been part of the Freedom Movement team since 2016. She creates a safe, supportive space where individuals and groups can share their stories and care for the harder places in life. With deep compassion and understanding, she meets each person with grace and would be honored to walk alongside you...
Read more
Price
$1,399.00