Befriend Your Inner Critic

Adoptions From The Heart (AFTH) is proud of our work to help our Expecting and Birth Parents, not only financially but in their everyday lives. Birth Parent support is essential before, during, and after placing a child for adoption. We have partnered in the past with other professionals who bring in education and resources for our Birth Parents. Last month, we partnered with Jenn Oglesbee, a certified Life Coach and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who helps people make space for themselves, reconnect with their desires, live with more ease, and reclaim their joy.

We worked with Jenn to develop a workshop specifically geared to our expecting and birth parents’ needs. We wanted to provide the women with tools to understand better and ultimately change their relationship with their inner critic and empower them to challenge their doubts and take a step forward into the life they want for themselves. Thank you to Jenn for partnering with Adoptions From The Heart to host such a powerful workshop.

The workshop we provided was “Befriend Your Inner Critic – How to Tame the Mean Voice in Your Head.” This workshop offered the following topics:

What is the inner critic, and what does it say?
Why there’s nothing wrong with you (even Beyoncé has self-doubt!)
Your inner critic vs. realistic thinking – how to know the difference
How to turn down the volume when your inner critic gets loud
Strategies for shifting away from self-doubt and toward your power and possibility

Jen gave an excellent presentation, provided helpful resources to help calm our inner struggles, and sent our attendees off with some beneficial tools to help empower their daily routines.

Kristy, AFTH’s Marketing Director, has worked with Jenn personally for over six months, and she believes that this experience has profoundly impacted her life. It made her reflect on discussions she’d sat on with many different birth parents talking about challenges they have faced before and after placement. Many birth parents have opened up about self-defeating cycles they wish they had the power to break. She has witnessed inspiring, intense, and incredible women shrink themselves down due to living in an environment of harsh and constant criticism and negative self-talk that pushes away their ability to believe in themselves. To believe that they have value and can do amazing things.

Birth parents say how empowering it feels to share their stories, to feel as though their voices matter and that someone cares what they are going through on a deeper level and believes in them; this is why workshops like this are so important.

Feedback From Participants

It is always wonderful to see how these workshops impact the lives of the people that attend them. One of our Birth Mothers who participated in the class said they learned ways to communicate with their inner critic; which has helped them do things they have not been able to do for some years. It was an eye-opening experience for every participant.

Other women shared how the experience impacted them as a woman. It also reminded them to listen to their inner voice and ask themselves what that voice is trying to protect.

The “Befriend Your Inner Critic” workshop provided me with very valuable lessons and techniques on managing self-criticism and negative thoughts day to day. I really enjoyed being vulnerable with other birth mothers in a collaborative and safe environment,” Birthmother, Katy.

The workshop was an extremely powerful event. It also offered the opportunity for birthmothers to come together in a safe space; dig deep into understanding their inner judgment and struggle. My goal was to help provide these women with valuable tools to empower them moving forward, said Amanda Aliberti, Post Placement Support Manager.

Jenn Oglesbee developed this group to offer participants a new perspective and helped guide them towards their self-discovery.

About The Presenter

Jenn Oglesbee is a Certified Life Coach and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She helps people make space for themselves, reconnect with their desires, live with more ease, and reclaim their joy. Visit www.jennoglesbee.com to learn more and sign up for her free resource: 7 Days, 7 Ways to Let Go of the “Shoulds,” and Welcome in Joy. You can also find her on social media on her Instagram page @jennoglesbee.