Workshop descriptions

  • Workshop I: The Social Survival Responses

    This class is focused on understanding functional freeze, fawning, and masking as hybrid nervous system states. We’ll talk about what these states feel like, why these responses develop, and how fawning functions in relationships and cultures. Students will learn to recognize fawning as a protective response that we will sometimes need to rely on, no matter how much we heal from trauma.

  • Workshop II: Attuning to Fawn Dynamics

    This class is focused on unfawning, unfreezing, and unmasking. We’ll talk about why healing isn't about forcing ourselves to stop fawning, but about creating the inner and outer conditions where the nervous system no longer needs this response. We will also discuss how creating spaces to fawn or mask less is directly tied to breaking generational cycles and interrupting the colonial patriarchal status quo.

Who is this for?

This set of two workshops is open to anyone who is interesting in learning about functional freeze, fawn, & masking from a disability studies & neurodiversity paradigm lens. 

Most past students fall into one or both of these categories. 

- People who are neurodivergent (or exploring the possibility of being neurodivergent) who want to better understand their own life experience and the experiences of their neurodivergent friends and family members. 

- Professionals who help neurodivergent clients. This includes therapists, coaches, teachers, counselors, social workers, somatic practitioners, massage therapists, and other types of helping professionals like teachers and community organizers. 

The information in this set of workshops is useful for nervous system beginners as well as for people who have a lot of nervous system education already and are looking to expand and/or contextualize that information. 

This work is rooted in the Neurodiversity Paradigm and blends the lived experience of the neurodivergent community with many references to the currently existing research. A short optional reading list is included for further study. 

The Lived Experience of Functional Freeze

Functional freeze, fawning, and masking are all appeasement responses - programs that our nervous system runs to help us survive confrontations with social predators. These predators are not just individuals, they include entire cultures and systems of oppression. Western society encourages, celebrates, and sometimes demands fawning, masking, and chronically existing in the functional freeze state. 


When we cannot fight or flee, and we also cannot collapse or shutdown, we have evolved a 3rd option, a social survival response that uses fight/flight energy to perform whatever actions will keep us safe in that social setting and freeze energy to suppress our authentic movements and expressions. 


My mother and grandmother's default nervous system state was fawning. I grew up chronically fawning because it was the only model I had access to. Personally I have spent much of my life fawning even when I am alone, because I internalized the social predators. 


I have been on a two year journey to try to fawn less. In that time I've taken two 6 month courses that focused on exploring the somatics of fawn and freeze dynamics. I'm excited to share what I have learned from my research, from somatic observation, and from my personal experience. 


This mini workshop series is designed to facilitate greater understanding of these appeasement responses and to inspire peer support and exchange of ideas around this common neurodivergent experience. 

Although this is an educational class, and not a trauma processing space, many students have reported transformational experiences from previous classes. 

This series is specifically focused on viewing the body as an ally. Our bodies don't hate us. They're on our side, even when we are fawning. 

On Being "Canaries in the Coal Mine

This will be the 4th set of workshops I've shared this year. All of them fit the theme of diving into what it means to be metaphorically the "canaries in the coal mine." This concept was originally used in the 1990s to describe Autistic people, but it also fits the experience of many sensitive neurotypes. 

Previous & future workshops are sold separately. 
March - Systemic Trauma & the Stress Cycle
June - Sensory Trauma
August - Freeze, Fawn, Masking
Sept - The PDA Neurotype
Oct - The Neuroscience of Community & C-PTSD - updated for 2026

Pricing options

The cost for 3-4 hours of workshop time is $140. If that amount is financially dificult, you can choose the sliding scale rate, no questions asked. If the reduced cost is inaccessible, please scroll down to the end of the page to find the scholarship application. Each paid spot in the course makes one free scholarship spot available for someone else.

FAQ

  • How long do we have access to the videos?

    Recordings are lifetime access. If we ever move away from Thinkific (this course platform), we'll upload the videos to YouTube and send you a private link to access them. You can also download recordings to keep permanently.

  • Is there a way to ask Janae questions about this series?

    Yes! Each of the two sessions will have at least 30 minutes of Q & A time after the presentation of information.

  • Would this course work for a high school student?

    Yes, but it's especially important for teens and young adults to have someone they trust to talk with about this info beyond the class setting.

  • Are there CEUs?

    Check with your supervisor! My in-person groups count for CEUs but online groups have varying requirements. If you need documentation, you can create a certificate for Janae to sign off on.

  • Can I buy the course as a gift for someone else?

    Yes! Gifting educational opportunities is a great way to support someone in your life. When you go to the checkout page, you can click the box next to "This is a Gift" and then add the recipients email address.

Facilitator / Teacher

Janae Elisabeth

Trauma Geek

Janae (they/she/he) is an information synthesizer who has been studying polyvagal theory and related nervous system models for 9 years. Their specialty is tying together threads of information from many different fields to create a holistic understanding of the nervous system and neurodivergence. Janae has deeply studied these topics in an effort to understand herself better as an AuDHD PDAer with complex trauma. Since 2018, they have been teaching about trauma, the nervous system, and neurodiversity through local peer support circles and through the advocacy and education project, Trauma Geek. Past students in Janae's courses have reported transformational experiences including more self-love, more gentleness with themselves, more understanding of their own bodies, more acceptance of themselves, and more connection to community. For legal reasons, please note, Janae is not a counselor or therapist.