Playing with Letters:
A Space for Adoptees' Unspoken Words
Join Adoptee Voices facilitators Sara Easterly and Kate Murphy, along with special guest, Adoptee Voices writer, and Enneagram teacher Jennifer Hiltebeitel, for this three-week interactive writing workshop exploring the words, emotions, and needs that can be difficult to express–especially when it comes to adoption.
Meets online on Tuesdays
September 15th through 29th, 2026
4:30 to 6:00 pm Pacific Time
(Note that our first meeting will run through 6:30 pm)
Cost is $185 per person.
Through creative writing exercises, guided reflections, group sharing, and the Enneagram as a lens for self-exploration, we’ll make space for the emotions that may have gone unsaid: words we wish we’d had earlier, feelings we don’t always know what to do with, and hopes we have for who we’re becoming.
Over three weeks, we’ll explore the past, present, and future, responding to writing prompts designed to connect with different versions of ourselves and consider ways our relationship with our emotions and needs can evolve.
Week One: Looking Back at Your Younger Adopted Self
We’ll explore some of the emotions that can accompany our adoption experiences and use writing to consider what those emotions might have to tell us. From there, we’ll connect with our younger selves and consider the needs that may have gone unmet—and how we can recognize and care for those needs today.
Week Two: Being Present as an Adoptee
How do we respond when difficult emotions show up? What patterns have we developed for coping, and what happens when we pause long enough to notice them? We’ll use writing and the Enneagram to explore the space between reaction and response, and consider what it means to meet ourselves where we are now.
Week Three: Your Adopted Self Looks Forward
What do we want for ourselves in the years ahead? Through writing and reflection, we’ll imagine our future selves and explore the relationship we’d like to have with the emotions we’ve carried along the way. Rather than silencing difficult feelings, what’s possible when we listen to them differently?
Throughout the workshop, you’ll have opportunities to write, share, listen, reflect, and connect. (Sharing is always optional.)
You don’t need to consider yourself a writer, and you don’t need any prior experience with the Enneagram. Come ready to play with words, explore what surfaces, and give voice to the stories that have been waiting to emerge.
