Events
I enjoy sharing my experience as a woman, therapist and researcher with people from different countries and from different walks of life. Perhaps I’ll see you at some of the upcoming events?
Free webinar
24 April 2024, online, 19.00-20.00 CET
In “Disenfranchised Grief and Trauma of Childlessness” I will talk about why not having children not by choice can be a trauma and how it might get “complicated” by nesting within previous traumas, often from early childhood. The video recording will remain available for all those who cannot attend live.
Free online talk
1 March 2024, online, 18.00-19.00 CET
In “Coming to terms with life without children: The power of sharing and feeling our emotions” I shared some of the most important aspects I have learned through a long and winding journey: from the grief of not being able to conceive, to my activism to raise awareness of involuntary childlessness, to researching about the trauma of infertility, and finally to helping others so they do not have to face alone what can be the darkest crisis in one’s life.
Public talk
13 December 2023, Cinemateket, Oslo, 18.00-19.00 CET
I gave an introductory lecture before the screening of the film Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006). The movie is about a dystopian world in chaos where children are no longer born. Although for Rotten Tomatoes the movie ‘works on every level: as a violent chase thriller, a fantastical cautionary tale, and a sophisticated human drama about societies struggling to live,’ my assessment was rather different. I exposed the clichés and dangerous assumptions hidden in the subtext of the dialogues and the apparently “irrelevant” details behind the plot.
Online talk
11 November 2023, online, 18.00-19.00 CET
I gave the talk “Breaking the silence around involuntary childlessness” for the annual “Human Library” programme of Expatclic, an association of expat women who believe that diversity, in all of its multifaceted forms, is essential to creating a fair and inclusive world.
Free webinar
17 September 2023, online, 13.00-14.00 CET
I led and participated to the webinar “Reclaiming our lives: The need for involuntarily childless researchers” at World Childless Week. Video available here.
Free webinar
14 September 2023, online, 19.00-20.00 CET
I gave the presentation “Childless on film” at the webinar “Challenging the lazy stereotypes of childless women in fiction and films” at World Childless Week. Video available here.
Conference presentation
8 September 2023, Litteraturhuset, Oslo, 11.00-12.30 CET
I gave the experiential presentation “IoPT [Identity-Oriented Psychotrauma Theory] & infertility: Understanding and healing the trauma of involuntary childlessness” at the “IoPT Trauma Conference.” I made the point that infertility, to those who are affected by it, is much more than a medical issue and whether one manages (or not) to have a child: It is a cataclysm on one’s whole life. There is thus an urgent need to approach infertility as trauma, both conceptually and from the perspective of therapeutic practice.
