The New Years Accountability & Willpower Workshop: Succeeding after Trauma

What's the biggest struggle for the majority of us? If your answer is accountability, commitment to goals and willpower, you're spot on. This is THE biggest issue I hear described in groups and it's certainly something I have struggled with as well.

After reading Roy F. Baumeiser & John Tierney's Book Willpower: Discovering the Greatest Human Strength this summer while simultaneously allowing my monthly Accountability group to disappear into oblivion, I began to realize that in every single case where I have failed to achieve a goal, I was my own worst enemy.

Today's workshop is NOT about resolutions or changing behaviors just because the New Year has come upon us. In almost all cases, any kind of resolutionary goal you will set will likely fail and make you even MORE depressed. Ben Franklin's "perfection diary" was a disciplined system detailed in his autobiography where he tracked his progress in mastering thirteen virtues (like Temperance, Industry, Sincerity) using a daily accountability chart with black spots for faults, aiming for moral perfection by focusing on one virtue a week in a 13-week cycle, though he famously concluded perfection was elusive but the pursuit made him better. If Ben Franklin couldn't do it, what in the world can be expected of a group of people who were traumatized by others and tend to fall on the low self esteem spectrum?

This New Year's Workshop is about looking at your recovery in a different way and becoming used to the ebbs and flows of the journey. In this two hour group, we will discuss:
* the foundational concepts of accountability, willpower and the psychology of self-control
* how to build mental, emotional and physical resilience through education, habit stacking, routine, outside support and mindfulness
* resisting small temptations including breaking no contact, surfing the web while you're supposed to be working and learning tolerance in an attempt to learn to let go of negative habits
* cognitive reframing strategies for when you slip up on your way towards achieving a goal
* sustaining momentum (Often our BIGGEST challenge) towards the achievement of the goal
* discussion on how complex trauma undermines accountability and willpower
* a trauma informed guide about how to hold yourself accountable safely

This group will come with educational material to guide you through the two hour program. You do not have to be an established member to attend.

YOUR ORGANIZER: This is my fifth year running workshops designed for people dealing with complex trauma and codependency. My name is Kerrin and I'm a mother of three, an attorney and created this group in 2021 due to a relationship with a likely sociopath and a childhood that was peppered with emotional abuse from a malignant and overt narcissistic mother. I have struggled, failed and succeeded in willpower challenges and put together this workshop after I failed to hold together an Accountability group and wanted to figure out why. The information I used in this research will comprise the crux of the material taught in the workshop and I hope you find it helpful!

COST: $20.00 per session, non refundable one time fee
The 2026 Workshop Passholders can sign up at no cost by commenting Pass in the comments below. Workshop passes for 2026 are still available for purchase here:
https://www.meetup.com/pittsburgh-narcissism-survivor-meetup-group/events/312362024/?eventOrigin=group_events_list