Presented in partnership with the Process Work Institute. You can attend this workshop live online on August 18 or 19, or in person in Portland on August 20. Register at the Process Work Institute. Details below.
The workshop that helps you stay present when emotions rise, tensions build, and conversations begin to unravel.
Halfway through the conversation, you can feel it happening.
Your body tightens.
Your breathing changes.
You stop listening.
You start preparing your defense.
Or your exit.
Or your counterattack.
Sometimes escalation looks loud.
Sometimes it looks like withdrawal, silence, appeasing, fixing, or shutting down.
Most of us know what it's like to look back on a difficult interaction and think:
"That wasn't who I wanted to be."
This workshop explores what happens in the moments when pressure rises and choice begins to disappear.
Through experiential exercises, guided reflection, and practical tools, you'll learn to recognize your early warning signals, understand your habitual responses to intensity, and develop greater capacity to stay present when things get heated.
Not because conflict is bad.
Not because strong emotions are wrong.
But because awareness creates choice, and choice creates new possibilities..
This Workshop is For You if You've Ever…
Said something you later wished you could take back.
Gone silent when you wanted to speak.
Found yourself reacting before you had time to think.
Tried to fix, rescue, manage, or control a difficult situation.
Been overwhelmed by another person's anger, emotion, or intensity.
Wondered how some people remain grounded under pressure.
What You'll Leave With
A clearer understanding of what happens in you when the heat rises, and a practical way to find more choice before reaction takes over.
If You've Ever Thought…
"Why do I keep reacting this way?"
"I know who I want to be in these moments, but I can't seem to get there."
"I either avoid conflict or come on too strong."
"How do I stay grounded when someone else isn't?"
"There has to be another way."
No prior experience with Process Work or inner work is needed.
Series Logistics
Time Options
The Make Meaning from Messworkshops run once a month, 3 times a day! With two live online options and one in-person, you have plenty to choose from!
Live Online option 1: August 19th, 8am-10am Pacific (11am-1pm Eastern · 5pm-7pm CET)
Live Online option 2: August 18th, 4pm-6pm Pacific (7pm-9pm Eastern · 9am-11am +1 Sydney)
In-Person, Portland: August 20th, 5:30pm-7pm Pacific
Workshop Rates
Pay it Forward Rate - $120 For those who have the financial capacity to contribute at a higher level. This rate helps sustain the workshop and supports reduced-cost access for others in the community. Choose the Pay it Forward option.
Standard Rate - $80 The standard workshop rate. Choose the Standard option.
Equity Rate - $60 For those for whom the Standard Rate would be a stretch right now. Choose this rate if it supports your participation, no explanation needed. Choose the Standard option and use code EQUITYMMM2026 on checkout.
ABOUT Cathy Bernatt
Cathy Bernatt helps people face the power dynamics everyone feels but few dare to name.
A Master Certified Coach, Professional Facilitator, and Organizational Development consultant, Cathy works at the messy intersection of power, conflict, culture, and change. She has a gift for surfacing the undiscussables: the tensions, silences, and hidden roles that quietly shape how people lead, relate, and make meaning together.
For more than four decades, she has worked globally with Fortune 100 companies, NGOs, hospitals, educational institutions, and executive teams across cultures, including two decades living and working in Japan. Her approach blends pragmatic skill-building with deep inner work, helping people understand how their relationship with power shapes their impact and the cultures they build.
Cathy believes power and conflict are not problems to solve. They are human territory to navigate, wherever people care, disagree, decide, avoid, lead, follow, stay silent, or speak.
Outside of work, Cathy is affectionately known as Bilbo Baggins, forever heading into unknown lands in search of awe, wonder, and the next wild horizon.
Cathy is a Processwork Diplomate and PWI alumni, having completed both a Master of Conflict Facilitation and Organizational Change, and a Master of Process Work.
Register here at the Process Work Institute.