Annette Becklund, LCSW, NBCCH is a licensed clinical social worker, clinical hypnotherapist, trauma-informed therapist, author, and lyricist. She specializes in identity, trauma, and neurodiversity, and began working with NPEs, adoptees, and donor-conceived individuals after discovering in 2018 that she herself was an NPE. Annette has presented on Inner Child healing, autism, and misattributed parentage at various conferences and workshops including Untangling Your Roots, Right to Know, and Hiraeth Hope and Healing. Her work is published in the Social Work Desk Reference and Journal of Integrative Medicine, and her memoir Ancestry Discoveries: What Happens Under the Sheets Doesn’t Stay There chronicles her personal journey through DNA truth. “The Looking Glass,” “The Lesson,” and “Penmarks & PJs” are songs with lyrics by Annette and music by Mauro Melleno which can be found on all streaming applications. Ancestry Discoveries: Finding Your Way Home is a book currently under construction which looks at the effects of DNA discoveries on others in the MPE’s life. Annette blogs at AncestryDiscoveries.com and offers clinical resources at AnnetteLBecklund.com.
Go Deeper and Come Home
This experiential session invites participants to reconnect with parts of themselves that may feel distant following identity disruption or life-altering discoveries. Through reflective and creative practices, Annette Becklund gently guides participants in exploring what remains present beneath grief, confusion, or disorientation.
Grounded in shared experience, this session offers space to rediscover inner resilience and reconnect with enduring aspects of self. Participation is always optional. Some may engage actively, others may observe and take in the experience. Both are welcome.

Amy Ebbeson, LCSW is the Clinical Director of Worcester ACTs (Addresses Childhood Trauma) and a Lead Consultant for the Collaborative for Youth and Community Justice at Clark University. She has Master’s in Clinical Social Work from Boston University and has worked in a variety of social service agencies, including the Department of Mental Health. Since 2000 she has taught Mental Health and Community Health, among others, at area colleges including Worcester State University and the Wheelock College School of Social Work. She consults to the Department of Public Health and served as Chair for the Worcester County Commission on the Status of Women. She is the 2018 recipient of the YWCA Erskine Award in Education. She considers herself a lived experience practitioner and will be speaking about the lifelong impacts of untreated trauma in early childhood.
What Wasn’t Wrong With Me: Understanding Adaptation, Family Rules, and the Wisdom of Survival
This interactive session reframes common trauma responses through the lens of family systems and survival adaptation. Amy Ebbeson guides participants in exploring the unspoken family rules that can shape identity, relationships, and emotional patterns over time.
Through reflection and discussion, participants consider how responses such as hypervigilance, people-pleasing, anger, or withdrawal may have developed as protective strategies. The session centers self-compassion and invites a deeper understanding of the wisdom within these patterns, with space to explore how they may shift over time. Participation is always optional. Some may share, others may simply listen. Both are welcome.

Victoria Hill is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker that lives in Wethersfield, CT with her husband, daughter and son. She is co-owner of a wellness center in town and works part-time at Hartford Hospital. Victoria’s NPE/DCP discovery happened in January, 2020 and she has spent the last five years connecting with other NPE/DCPs and advocating for more awareness, legislation to address various types of fertility fraud and DCP protections.
The Science of Who I Am

This experiential workshop is designed for donor-conceived people, NPEs, and adopted individuals to understand identity trauma as both an emotional and neurological event, including the impact of the primal wound and pre-verbal trauma that can shape the nervous system long before conscious memory forms. When a person’s origin story is disrupted, the brain regions responsible for identity and memory must reorganize, leading to disorientation, hypervigilance, and deep emotional responses that are actually adaptive survival mechanisms. The workshop offers neuroscience-based insight alongside practical tools like parts mapping, CBT strategies, EMDR resourcing, and guided reflection to help participants make sense of their experiences, develop language for often unspoken feelings, and begin integrating their story on their own terms, all within a space that prioritizes being witnessed, understood, and supported rather than “fixed.”

Andrea Lomboy brings both lived experience and professional training to her trauma-informed work supporting individuals navigating identity disruption and late DNA discoveries. With more than 30 years of service across medical, civic, faith, government, and military settings, her work integrates public health practice with whole-person approaches to emotional and physical wellbeing.
A personal DNA discovery revealed Andrea is a three-time NPE/MPE, deepening her understanding of identity disruption and late-arriving truths. She is a Harvard-trained Lifestyle & Wellness Coach, a graduate of Dr. Gabor Maté’s H.E.A.L. Method Master Class, holds a Master’s Degree in Education, and is an ordained minister. Andrea currently continues her training through the mindbodygreen Health Coach Certification Program, with anticipated national board certification in 2026.
Acceptance as Ground
In this trauma-informed workshop, wellness coach Andrea Lomboy explores acceptance as a stabilizing step after unexpected identity discoveries. Through guided reflection and gentle grounding practices, participants are invited to consider how acknowledging reality can create steadiness and support personal meaning-making at their own pace.

Janet Nordine, MS, LMFT, RPT-S, is one of the few Registered Play Therapist Supervisors (RPT-S) in private practice in Las Vegas, Nevada. With hundreds of hours of specialized training and clinical experience, Janet has honed a unique skill set that allows her to connect with children through their natural language of play. Her approach helps children express their inner worlds, emotions, and needs in a safe and supportive space. She views each child and adult as a delight and works to make them feel safe, seen, and heard in every session. Janet also works with adults who have experienced trauma, attachment wounding, and life struggles.
Returning to the Self: Identity, Grief, and Embodied Healing through Creative and Sand Tray Expression
In this experiential session, Janet Nordine guides participants through a trauma-aware sand tray and expressive process exploring identity, grief, and attachment. Using symbolic materials, participants are invited to externalize complex emotions and gently engage with what may feel lost, missing, or still waiting to be known.
The session weaves grounding practices, somatic awareness, and reflective witnessing to support a sense of continuity and connection within. Emphasis is placed on pacing, consent, and choice, with an integration process that invites participants to identify an inner anchor they can carry forward. Participation is always optional. Some may create and share, others may observe and reflect. Both are welcome.

Emma Stevens, also known as Linda Pevac, is an advocate for adoption reform and the author of three memoirs: The Gathering Place: An Adoptee’s Story, A Fire Is Coming, and Choosing to Breathe. Her adoption journey began when she was relinquished as an infant. Only in hindsight does she fully understand how being an adoptee has shaped her life. In her first memoir, The Gathering Place, Emma describes a magical space she has created for healing, comfort, and restoration for the younger parts of herself that never felt safe, seen, heard, or understood. A Fire Is Coming is Emma’s cautionary tale, emphasizing the importance of carefully selecting a therapist. She warns readers about the psychological nightmare that can result from an unethical therapist, doctor, or counselor. Emma’s third memoir, Choosing to Breathe, brings together all three themes. It takes readers back to The Gathering Place, where they discover what it means to integrate their identities as Emma releases multiple layers of trauma. In March 2024, Emma won an Independent Author Award for her second book, A Fire Is Coming, at Tucson’s 2024 Festival of Books. She was a finalist in the 18th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards for the same book.
Choosing to Breathe: Cultivating Wellbeing, Self-Awareness, and Emotional Balance
Inspired by her book Choosing to Breathe: A Mindset, Linda Pevac offers an interactive session centered on self-awareness, resilience, and personal wellbeing. Through reflection, discussion, and practical exercises, participants explore ways to release limiting beliefs and build a more compassionate relationship with themselves.
Integrating pathways such as writing, music, art, movement, breath, and nature, this session invites participants to consider what meaningful self-care and emotional balance look like in their own lives. Participation is always optional. Some may engage actively, others may take in what resonates. Both are welcome.

Pamela Powell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the day after a blizzard. A former sailor and boat captain, she has been working on a memoir for over a decade, revolving around the stormy beginning of her life and her search for her absent father. A surprising DNA discovery turned her quest in new directions as she learned of her Jewish heritage and a different father than who she was told. Pamela has been leading writing groups for over 30 years. She’s the mother of two young adults and lives in a co-housing community in Vermont.
Writing Our Way Through Our Early Beginnings
This reflective writing session invites participants to gently explore early beginnings through guided prompts and quiet free writing. A brief meditation helps settle into the experience, with space to write privately and, if desired, share with the group.
Led by Pamela Powell, this session centers creativity, authenticity, and connection. Participation is always optional. Some may choose to share, others may simply write and listen. Both are welcome.

Massachusetts Cranberry Coast Fall 2026 Retreat Facilitators & Session Focus