Befriend Aging Workshops
A warm, honest space to explore what getting older is bringing up.
Befriend Aging workshops offer a place to talk about the questions and feelings that come with growing older – including the ones that rarely make it into everyday conversation.
Through teaching, experiential exercises, reflection, small-group conversation, and gentle somatic practice, we make space for the harder questions. What emerges is unexpected insight and a deeper understanding of what's happening in both mind and body.
Through guided conversation, personal reflection and gentle movement, you’ll pay attention to what is happening in your body and mind and develop a more conscious relationship with this stage of life.
Workshops range from three hours to a full day and are held in person in Toronto, with occasional online offerings.
Upcoming Workshops
We all carry images and beliefs about aging – some shaped by our culture, our families, and the world around us, and others formed through our own experiences. In this workshop, we’ll explore the often-unexamined stories we’ve absorbed about growing older, including those that equate ageing with decline, loss, or invisibility. We’ll also consider perspectives from cultures and traditions that have understood later life as a time of integration, meaning, wisdom, and contribution. Together, we’ll ask: What images of ageing are we carrying, and which ones might we be ready to transform?
October 17, 2026 from 9:30am-12:30pm
The Library at Lawrence Park Community Church
2180 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, M4N 1J5
In this workshop, we’ll begin with an introduction to Internal Family Systems (IFS), a compassionate approach to understanding the different parts of ourselves and the ways they have shaped how we navigate life. We’ll then turn toward Life Review – an intentional exploration of the experiences, choices, relationships, and turning points that have shaped our life story. Rather than simply looking back, Life Review invites us to ask what meaning, wisdom, and perhaps unfinished business can be discovered in what we have lived. Together, IFS and Life Review offer an opportunity to meet our past with greater curiosity and compassion, and to consider what we want to carry forward.
November 14, 2026 from 9:30am-12:30pm
The Library at Lawrence Park Community Church
2180 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, M4N 1J5
No previous experience with therapy, somatic practice or conscious aging work is required.
These workshops are for you if…
You are in midlife or beyond and have started to feel the deeper questions of aging.
Retirement is approaching or you are already wondering what comes next.
Your children have left home, your relationships are changing or your body no longer looks or responds the way it once did.
You are caring for aging parents, grieving someone you love or becoming more aware of how quickly time is passing.
You feel restless, unsettled or vaguely dissatisfied, even though your life looks fine from the outside.
You are doing many of the “right” things (exercising, eating well, staying active and taking care of yourself) while sensing that something underneath still needs your attention.
What we’ll explore
Each Befriend Aging workshop has its own focus. The conversations can include:
Your changing relationship with your body
Visibility, ageism and the fear of becoming less relevant
Retirement, identity and the question of what comes next
Empty nests, caregiving and changing relationships
Grief, mortality and the growing awareness of time
Purpose, legacy and what you still want to experience, create or contribute
Some workshops offer a broad introduction to befriending aging. Others explore one particular theme more deeply.
The description of each upcoming workshop will tell you what we’ll be focusing on together.
What happens in a workshop
Depending on the focus and length, a workshop includes guided reflection, writing prompts, conversation in pairs or small groups and gentle somatic practices that help you notice what is happening in your body.
There is time to listen, participate and consider the questions that feel most relevant to you.
You are not expected to arrive with answers or required to share anything you would prefer to keep private. You decide how deeply you want to participate. Listening, reflecting and noticing your own response are all meaningful ways to be part of the experience.
This is not group therapy. It is a thoughtful, experiential space informed by my 25 years of clinical experience and my training in trauma therapy, somatic practice and conscious aging.
What you’ll take with you
A workshop will not answer every question about aging, but it will give you a different way to understand and relate to those questions.
You’ll leave with:
Language for something you have been feeling but could not quite name
A deeper understanding of how aging is affecting your identity, body or relationships
More compassion for the parts of yourself that feel afraid, resistant or uncertain
A greater sense of connection with others navigating similar experiences
New awareness of the beliefs you have absorbed about getting older
More clarity about what matters to you now
Questions and practices you can continue exploring after the workshop
A stronger sense of your value, wisdom and capacity to contribute
Most of all, you’ll begin to experience aging as something you can participate in consciously rather than something that is simply happening to you.
In their words
“I used to see aging simply as the fact that we get older and that our physical and sometimes mental abilities decline, with the main focus on staying healthy enough to remain independent. I had never considered it as an opportunity to deepen my spiritual and emotional well-being and enter that new stage with curiosity and even excitement.”
Lisa – 49 Years of Life Experience“After the workshop, I talked to my sons and explained how it feels to be aging so that they, in turn, understand first what is happening to me physically and mentally. I feel, and hope, that passing that on will help them when their aging stage of their lives comes.”
Tina – 79 Years of Life ExperienceI’m letting go of the fear of getting old to focus on all the possibilities that being independent and having free time life is giving me. I have reached the understanding that it’s easy to love life and make the best of every situation, it’s a choice, it doesn’t matter if you are old or young. I have learnt to accept the limitations that come with age and not even see them as such.
Janet - 82 Years of Life ExperienceCommon Questions
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No. Befriend Aging workshops are experiential and informed by my clinical background, but they are not group therapy. You will have opportunities to reflect and participate without being asked to process trauma in front of the group.
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No. You are welcome to share when it feels helpful, but there is no pressure to disclose anything you would prefer to keep private. Listening and reflecting are also forms of participation.
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Somatic practice means paying attention to what is happening in the body. This can include noticing your breath, physical sensations, posture or how your body responds to a question. The practices are gentle and accessible. You will always have the choice to participate in the way that feels right for you.
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Emotion is a natural part of exploring aging, identity, loss and change. My experience as a psychotherapist allows me to hold emotional conversations with care while respecting each participant’s boundaries and choices. You remain in control of how deeply you participate throughout the workshop.
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There is no official age at which aging begins to matter. However, these workshops are created for people in midlife and beyond. The more useful question is whether the themes feel relevant to you. You could be 50, 60, 70 or older. You could also be younger and thinking about aging because of a transition, loss or experience in your life.
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Wear comfortable clothing that you feel good in and can move in easily. You will not be doing strenuous exercise, but you may be invited to stand, shift position or participate in gentle movement. Specific details about the venue, accessibility, refreshments and what to bring will be provided with each workshop.