There is life after childlessness, despite what the media, your friends, your mother and your inner bitch would have you believe! A meaningful and fulfilling life that makes sense to you because you custom-made it for yourself.

This Gateway Women Reignite Weekend is for you if you’re:

• A woman who wanted to have children but it didn’t work out for any reason: infertility; didn’t meet a willing or suitable partner’ your partner didn’t want (more) children; a chronic illness; a badly timed breakup, etc, etc.  there are so many ways this can happen;
• Struggling with relationships with friends and family as ‘the odd one out’ and really missing having a supportive group of women friends to journey through life with;
• Wondering where your mojo went and where the hell to start looking for it!;
• Lonely and confused about your place in society when all you can see around you are mothers and families;

• A woman who wanted to have children but it didn’t work out for any reason: infertility; didn’t meet a willing or suitable partner’ your partner didn’t want (more) children; a chronic illness; a badly timed breakup, etc, etc.  there are so many ways this can happen;
• Struggling with relationships with friends and family as ‘the odd one out’ and really missing having a supportive group of women friends to journey through life with;
• Wondering where your mojo went and where the hell to start looking for it!;
• Lonely and confused about your place in society when all you can see around you are mothers and families;

Over the course of this Solo Reignite Weekend you will:

• Unpick the assumptions that the culture has about motherhood (and non-motherhood) and let go of what doesn’t ‘fit’ you as well as exploring how not being partnered has impacted your life and your thoughts about yourself;
• Look at where you are holding onto unhelpful ideas and shame about the the life choices you’ve made (and the non-choices too) which have led you to ‘ending up’ without the family and partner you hoped for;
• Explore and express unresolved grief about your childlessness; grief which our culture neither acknowledges, understands nor allows (and consequently neither do we, sometimes);
• Reexamine the dreams and goals you had for your life before you became convinced that having a parnter and baby were the the only things that mattered;
• Reignite your passion for your life, and and start thinking what your ‘Plan B’ might be for a meaningful and fulfilling life without children;
• Meet your new tribe – the wonderful, powerful, wise and funny Nomos (not-mothers). There are more of us than you realise and we’re not the bunch of ‘weeping weirdoes’ you might fear! In fact, we’re a pretty amazing and courageous bunch of women.

• Unpick the assumptions that the culture has about motherhood (and non-motherhood) and let go of what doesn’t ‘fit’ you as well as exploring how not being partnered has impacted your life and your thoughts about yourself;
• Look at where you are holding onto unhelpful ideas and shame about the the life choices you’ve made (and the non-choices too) which have led you to ‘ending up’ without the family and partner you hoped for;
• Explore and express unresolved grief about your childlessness; grief which our culture neither acknowledges, understands nor allows (and consequently neither do we, sometimes);
• Reexamine the dreams and goals you had for your life before you became convinced that having a parnter and baby were the the only things that mattered;
• Reignite your passion for your life, and and start thinking what your ‘Plan B’ might be for a meaningful and fulfilling life without children;
• Meet your new tribe – the wonderful, powerful, wise and funny Nomos (not-mothers). There are more of us than you realise and we’re not the bunch of ‘weeping weirdoes’ you might fear! In fact, we’re a pretty amazing and courageous bunch of women.

Some feedback from women who’ve taken part in previous Reignite Weekends

Meet your event leaders, Lauren & Yvonne

Lauren de Vere is 54 years young, currently single and lives with her cat, Mr Marvo, in Greater London. A solicitor by training, Lauren has undertaken in-depth personal development to heal the wounds of a difficult childhood, including attending and then facilitating the The Essence Process.

She first came across Gateway Women several years ago via Google, desperate to understand whether her struggle to recover from involuntary childlessness and a failed adoption process was unique to her and/or if she was going crazy. Through Gateway Women she found a hugely supportive network of other women in the same boat and has been active both at a local level with GW Meetups in Chorleywood, as well as attending Gateway Women’s 2017 year long Plan B Mentorship Programme. Lauren has a special interest in supporting those women who have also had a challenging childhood, one that has coloured their lives and been a contributing factor in their childlessness. lauren@gateway-women.com

Yvonne is the author of “Dreaming of the Life Unlived: Intimate Stories and Portraits of Women Without Children” (2016) and has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’ to talk about her experience of recovering from the devastating grief of involuntary childlessness. She blogs about this at Finding My Plan B. A graduate of GW’s 2016’s Year long Plan B Mentorship Programme, Jody personally invited Yvonne to lead the Reignite Weekend and Yvonne is particularly interested in the experience of childlessness for women of colour. Yvonne works in the medical services industry and is also a talented photographer. She lives in Luton with her husband. You can learn more about Yvonne in her own words in her guest blog for Gateway Women, The Black Woman in the Room and you can contact her directly on yvonne@gateway-women.com

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