Childlessness can feel like a dance between opposites – hope and despair, grief and renewal, freedom and longing. In her new memoir, Childless: A story of freedom and longing, Australian author Sian Prior takes us beyond words to the place where we grieve our losses and re-learn ourselves and the world as childless women.
Hosted by GW’s licensed Australian facilitators, therapists Judy Graham and Sarah Roberts, this free Gateway Women Masterclass explored the healing power of storytelling and the unfolding nature of what it is to live a childless life. It was a powerful, nurturing and expansive conversation between three wonderful childless role models.
Sian Prior is a writer, broadcaster, public speaker and musician based in Melbourne, Australia. She has been a presenter on ABC Radio National, ABC Classic FM and ABC Melbourne, and is a regular contributor to The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2014 her first book, ‘Shy: a memoir’, was published by Text Publishing. Her second book; ‘Childless: a story of freedom and longing’ was published in March 2022 and has already been featured widely in glowing reviews in the Australian media. She teaches creative writing at RMIT University, runs her own online writing courses, and mentors individual writers. Sian is also an event host, public speaker and musician. She was the founding director of the Victorian Trade Union Choir and currently sings with the French choir La La La Chorale, the Cantabile Chamber Choir and the Westgarth Ensemble. Childless is published in Australia by TextPublishing and is available to purchase online and in Australian bookshops. For delivery outside Australia, you can order it with free international delivery from The Book Depository. You can find out more about Sian on her website sianprior.com or connect with her on Instagram @sianshyprior
To watch previous GW Masterclasses click here. To access/join the GW Membership Community click here.
Sarah & Judy will also be co-facilitating our first AUS/NZ Live and in-person Reignite Weekend for 2022 on Saturday 18th and & Sunday 19th of June on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Full details, testimonials and to book: here.
This Gateway Women Masterclass Webinar will be hosted by:
JUDY GRAHAM (AUS) is a licensed Gateway Women workshop facilitator. She collaborates with Jody Day and Karin Enfield de Vries of Gateway Women to bring Gateway Women’s Reignite Weekends to Australian women. She is the founder of WomenHood Counselling in Australia where she provides counselling support for involuntarily childless women. As a childless-not-by-choice woman herself, Judy integrates her childless experience with over twenty years of working in health, education and counselling to support and inspire other childless women. Judy lives on Queensland’s Gold Coast where she grew up and lay down her roots. She works with women across Australia (thank you Zoom!) and is part of a growing network building awareness and support around the unique issues for women who are childless-not-by-choice. Judy’s website is www.womenhood.com.au and you can contact her directly at judygraham@gateway-women.com or on Instagram @womenhood_counselling
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SARAH ROBERTS (AUS) is a licensed Gateway Women Facilitator for Australia and the Founder of The Empty Cradle. With over 30 years of experience in counseling, community work and teaching, Sarah brings together a unique combination of lived experience, clinical skills (ACA registered) and academic work (completing Master Social Work). Sarah considers permanent involuntary childlessness to be one of the sacred journeys of womanhood and has supported hundreds of women to grieve the losses and nurture a life of meaning, connection and joy. Sarah lives on a semi-rural property in Brisbane, Australia with her partner Kevin and moodle Max. A graduate of Gateway Women’s year-long Plan B Mentorship Program, the Online Bee, she is passionate about the complexity of the human experience and what it means to live a good life. Sarah’s ‘Plan B’ includes native habitat restoration for the well-being of local native animals and future generations. Sarah’s website is www.theemptycradle.com and you can contact her directly at sarahroberts@gateway-women.com or on Instagram @theemptycradle
