Adoption Network Cleveland invites adoptees to join coaches Whitney Dawn Pyles and JJ Rett for a workshop centered on a mind-body or somatic approach to grief, one of the seven core issues of adoption.
Through small group discussion, journaling, and body-based practices, participants will explore creative, grounded, and trauma-informed ways of working through adoption-related grief. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how this emotion lives in the body and practices to continue to explore on their own.

This will be a virtual workshop on Zoom
Saturday, November 14, 9:00 am -12:00 pm ET

Cost: $60 per person
Space is limited to 12 participants
Adult adoptees only

About Our Coaches

JJ Rett
JJ received her coaching certification in 2024 from the New York City-based organization, Upbuild. She discovered the effectiveness and magic of coaching through a workshop in 2023 and knew intuitively that coaching was the modality she would use to serve others, especially those connected to adoption. Coaching can be a wonderful tool to use for goal setting or acquiring new ways of approaching obstacles, and it can also help us discover who we are without being restricted by the limiting beliefs of who we think we should be.

She deeply values Authenticity, Connection, Truth, Belonging, and JOY. She will create a safe space for each client to explore their habits, understand their identity, and become aware of their own unique power. Her practice is deeply rooted in compassion for all and the belief that each client is capable of achieving what they dare to envision for themselves.

JJ has been a member of Adoption Network Cleveland since 2015 when we ROARed! She is a late discovery adoptee, born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, and gives credit for much of her healing journey to Betsie Norris and the incredible staff at ANC. From the opening of Ohio’s closed records, then working with an ANC-recommended, adoption-informed therapist, to attending ANC support groups and writing articles that began as therapeutic journaling, ANC has been with JJ every step of the way. She has been in reunion with both sides of her biological family since 2015 and 2016. Now that she is a Certified Coach, she is filled with gratitude to share her passion with other members of the adoption constellation as they navigate their own journeys forward. In 2023, JJ, her husband, and their three children returned to her hometown of Dayton, OH be closer to both her adoptive and biological families.

Whitney Dawn Pyles
Whitney Dawn Pyles is the founder, lead artist, and creator behind “The Zone of Authenticity”, a participatory art installation and deck of Authentic Connection Cards created to meet an essential need for honest, empathetic, compassionate connection with and between ourselves and one another. She is a Certified Somatic Coach, Dance/Movement Facilitator and accredited Life Coach (ICF-ACC) who specializes in Body-Oriented Coaching — a gentle, evidence-informed approach that integrates mind-body awareness and nervous system support into the coaching process. Her work supports clients in cultivating the calm, clarity, and courage to come home to themselves, creating space to imagine new possibilities and welcome more joy, expression, and aliveness into their lives and work.

What first drew Whitney to life coaching in 2021, and what deeply resonated with her as an adoptee, is a core belief shared across both coaching and humanistic psychology: that all people are creative, resourceful, and whole and that, when met with compassion, curiosity, and presence, we naturally move toward growth and healing. This belief remains central to Whitney’s work and the space she holds. Through this lens, coaching is not about fixing what is “wrong,” but about uncovering what is already wise, whole, and wanting to emerge.

Whitney brings nearly a decade of experience in coaching, teaching, facilitation, and creative leadership. In 2022 she graduated from The Somatic School, where she also served as a facilitator and podcast host supporting the next generation of Body-Oriented Coaches. She is also the founder of Whitney Dawn Movement & Coaching and creator of UNSTUCK — a somatic self-practice series for those seeking more movement and more aligned momentum in their lives.

She is honored to partner with Adoption Network Cleveland in offering coaching that supports self-compassion, authentic expression, and a deeper sense of belonging for anyone seeking greater alignment in life.