Portland Processwork Clinic

A few comments from this morning’s workshop, the first online version:

"feeling more grounded and calmer after these last two hours...helpful to have embodied stuff-get blended with inner critic and speak from 1st person…found exercise so helpful, connected dots for me...fascinating to do the chair thing. very helpful...more spacious and curious than 2 hrs ago…loved this process…loved the dialogue

We have one more online session this afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Pacific time and an in-person workshop tomorrow in Portland from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

To join and Register: https://community.processwork.org/spaces/23913883/about

For inquiries, email [email protected]

We don't just fight the inner critic.

Sometimes it stops talking to us and starts talking as us.

That's when it follows us into every conversation, every relationship, and every room we walk into...

https://vimeo.com/1211494052

We go live in two days:

1. Live Online — Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 8:00–10:00 a.m. PT
2. Live Online — Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 4:00–6:00 p.m. PT
3. In Person – Portland — Thursday, July 23, 2026, 5:30–7:30 p.m. PT

To Join & Register: https://community.processwork.org/spaces/23913883/about

I look forward to learning, playing, and discovering new pathways together with our inner critics.

Questions?�Email: [email protected]

Most of us have never considered that it's even possible to have a dialogue with the inner critic.

We fight it.

We silence it.

Or we believe everything it says.

Either way, we lose access to who else we are.

What if, instead of reacting, we became curious?

There's one question that can begin a very different kind of conversation:

"What matters so much to you that you're willing to sound like this?"

When you ask that question and genuinely listen, the critic stops being just an attacker.

It becomes a role that's trying, however clumsily, to serve something that matters.

The problem isn't always what it's trying to communicate.

The problem is that it often communicates so badly you can't hear it—unless you stay aware long enough to become curious.

Once the dialogue begins, another question naturally follows:

"How could you tell me that in a way I can actually hear?"

You're not asking the critic to disappear.

You're asking it to change jobs.

From driver...

to advisor.

You feel the shift before you can explain it.

Something in your spine settles.

You remember what it feels like not to brace.

That's the beginning of fierce inner leadership.

If this speaks to you, join us for Befriending the Inner Critic: From Self-Attack to Fierce Inner Leadership.

Live Online
Tuesday, July 22
8:00–10:00 a.m. PT or 4:00–6:00 p.m. PT

In Person – Portland
Wednesday, July 23
5:30–7:30 p.m. PT

Join & Register:

https://community.processwork.org/spaces/23913883/about
Questions?
[email protected]

Who is the hardest person you speak to all week?

For many of us, it's ourselves.

The presentation ends.

The meeting is over.

The difficult conversation is finished.

Before anyone else has offered an opinion, someone inside is already speaking.

"You should have done better."

"What were you thinking?"

"That wasn't enough."

Most of us don't experience this as one voice among many.

We experience it as our voice.

As the truth.

And before we know it, that voice has appointed itself judge, jury, and executioner.

We believe every word it says.

Our confidence drops.

We begin questioning our competence.

And in a matter of moments, we can feel ourselves becoming smaller than we actually are.

One of the most liberating discoveries I've made, both personally and professionally, is that we're made up of many roles.

Each sees the world through a different lens.

Each is trying, in its own way, to be in service to us.

The challenge is that some of the parts working hardest on our behalf are also the ones that suck the most at communicating what they're trying to tell us.

The voice we often call the inner critic is one of those roles.

Its methods can be harsh. Sometimes brutal.

But beneath the criticism there is often an intention that deserves our curiosity.

Sometimes it's trying to protect us.

Sometimes it's pushing us toward excellence.

Sometimes it's trying to keep us from repeating an old mistake, living below our potential, or violating a value that matters deeply to us.

Whatever its purpose, harsh criticism may be the only language it has learned to speak.

What if, instead of automatically believing that voice, or trying to silence it, we became curious?

What if we asked:

"How are you trying to help me?"

"What do you need me to hear?"

I've found that beneath even the harshest inner critic there is often intelligence we couldn't hear because we didn't realize it was only one role.

We simply accepted what it said as the truth.

The goal isn't to get rid of the inner critic.

Nor is it to accept everything it says without discernment.

It's to stop letting that role dominate our inner world, learn to hear what it's trying to tell us, and integrate its wisdom while staying connected to our personal power.

That's what we'll begin exploring together in Befriending the Inner Critic: Turn Self-Attack Into Fierce Inner Leadership, the July workshop in the Making Meaning From Mess series.

Live Online

Tuesday, July 22
• 8:00–10:00 a.m. Pacific (11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Eastern)
• 4:00–6:00 p.m. Pacific (7:00–9:00 p.m. Eastern)

In Person – Portland

Wednesday, July 23
• 5:30–7:30 p.m. Pacific

Registration:
https://community.processwork.org/spaces/23913883/page

Email Cathy Bernatt with any inquiries at [email protected]

Dear friends, colleagues and community,

The Making Meaning From Mess 2026 Series just got bigger. Every workshop now runs monthly, twice virtually, once in-person in Portland.

Most people spend a lifetime making themselves slightly smaller than they are.

This morning, a small group of strangers spent two hours doing something different about that. They met the part of themselves that refuses to stay small.

"I cannot imagine how much I'm relieved. And then released. And all my energy is actually flowing. I feel like I am circulating inside me right now." —a participant, June 23, 2026

Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small. One more virtual offering tomorrow, Wednesday June 24th, from 4:00pm-6:00pm PT and in-person on Thursday, June 25th from 5:30pm-7:30pm

The part that brought you here already knows whether this is for you.

Here is the link to join and register: https://community.processwork.org/spaces/23696329/page

Facilitator: Cathy Bernatt
In partnership with the Portland Processwork Clinic & the Process Work Institute

For questions, email: [email protected]

“Transformation seldom happens in the blink of the eye, or on the first try. If something is important to you, abandon the myth that you will get it just right on the first try. Begin and begin again…and again…and again…and again.”-anonymous

📣 BIG NEWS: The Making Meaning From Mess Workshop Series is Expanding

Until now, these monthly workshops have been offered in person through the Portland Processwork Clinic supported by the Process Work Institute.

Many people reached out who are at a distance expressing an interested to participate virtually.

We heard you.

Beginning in June and continuing through December, every workshop will now be offered:

✨ 1 In-Person Session
✨ 2 Virtual Sessions at different times

The goal is simple: to make these experiential learning opportunities accessible to more people across different locations, schedules, and time zones.

Upcoming Workshops:

🌱 June — Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small

🌱 July — Quiet the Inner Critic

🌱 August — Staying Human When Things Escalate

🌱 September — Tracing Our Triggers

🌱 October — Cultivating the Inner Witness

🌱 November — When Helping Has a Shadow

🌱 December — Feedback Without the Fog

Each workshop stands alone. Join the ones that speak to you, or travel the whole path with us.

Details and registration:
https://community.processwork.org/spaces/23696329/about

Questions and inquiries, email:
[email protected]

“The way to co-create a world we all want to inhabit is to start in our own local backyards—through the awareness we cultivate, the skills we practice, and the ways we show up with one another every day.”
— Bernatt

community.processwork.org

Something in most of us learned to get smaller.

Not all at once. Gradually. Intelligently, even.

On May 7th, we're finding that moment together, in our bodies, and practicing staying one beat past where we usually retreat.

Watch the video below. Then register and come join us.

May 7, 2026 · 5:30–7:30 pm · In Person at the Process Work Institute, Portland: 2049 NW Hoyt St. Portland, OR 97210
Making Meaning From Mess Series: Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small with Portland Processwork Clinic's Cathy Bernatt

For inquiries, email: [email protected]

$60 / $80 / $120 sliding scale
zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/meeting-the-part-of-you-that-refuses-to-stay-small

WATCH the VIDEO:
https://vimeo.com/1188588059?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

Process Work Institute Portland Processwork Clinic

GMT20260502-070706_Recording_avo_640x360 This is "GMT20260502-070706_Recording_avo_640x360" by Cathy Bernatt on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Do you have a version of yourself that gets smaller at exactly the moments when you need to be largest?

The people I've worked with most, C-suite leaders, seasoned practitioners, educators, trades experts, parents, people who've earned authority, almost all do. It happens so fast it doesn't feel like a choice.

The cost isn't just personal. When the most capable people in a room are running a quiet contraction program, the whole system adjusts to that absence.

On May 7th, we're offering a Making Meaning From Mess Series two-hour workshop, Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small, through the Portland Processwork Clinic, to work with this directly.

Not the thinking part. The somatic part. The split second in your nervous system before you speak where the reduction happens.

We work with the body, not just the mind. Because this particular pattern doesn't live in our thinking. It lives in the split second before we speak, and what happens in our nervous system in that moment.

You'll leave with something specific: your personal pattern named clearly, and direct experience of staying present one beat past where you usually retreat.

$60 / $80 / $120 sliding scale.

We'd be grateful if you passed it along to anyone in your network you think this may speak to. Thank you.

To Register: zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/meeting-the-part-of-you-that-refuses-to-stay-small

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: We will begin to offer the MAKING MEANING FROM MESS SERIES virtually beginning at the end of June. Stay Tuned

For inquiries or questions, email: Cathy Bernatt: [email protected]

Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay SmallSomething in you already knows you're capable of more.Most people don't have a capability problem. They have an edge problem. Somewhere along the way, many of us learned that being too much was risky: too direct, too visible, too certain. So we made....

The Calculation

Every time you walk into a room, you're running a calculation. Is it safe for all of me to be here?

It happens before you think. Faster than thought.

Sometimes the answer is yes. Too often, the answer is no.

So you edit yourself. Smaller voice. Safer opinions. The version of you that won't upset anyone. It's automatic. It's protective. It's also exhausting.

And it costs more than you think.

The part of you that refuses to stay small is still in there. Still trying to get your attention. Still asking: When are we going to be brave enough?

What if one evening you actually listened to that question? What if you sat in a room with others who get it, who feel it too, and you practiced being the size you actually are?

May 7th, 5:30–7:30 pm In Person: Process Work Institute 2049 NW Hoyt Street, Portland, 97209

Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small
Workshop 4 in the Making Meaning From Mess Series

Facilitated by Cathy Bernatt through the Portland Processwork Clinic

$60 / $80 / $120 sliding scale.

Register: zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/meeting-the-part-of-you-that-refuses-to-stay-small

For inquiries: [email protected]

*Starting in late June, we will be offering these workshops virtually. Stay tuned.

Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay SmallSomething in you already knows you're capable of more.Most people don't have a capability problem. They have an edge problem. Somewhere along the way, many of us learned that being too much was risky: too direct, too visible, too certain. So we made....

Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small.

Something in most of us learned to get smaller.

Not all at once. Gradually. Intelligently, even.

On May 7th, we're finding that moment together, in our bodies, and practicing staying one beat past where we usually retreat.

Watch the video below for more. Then come join us.

May 7, 2026 · 5:30–7:30 pm · IN PERSON
Process Work Institute: 2049 NW Hoyt St. Portland, OR, 97210

Making Meaning From Mess Series: Workshop 5-Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small

Designed and facilitated by Portland Processwork Clinic's Cathy Bernatt
linkedin.com/in/cathy-bernatt-president-creating
Email: cathy.bernatt@creatingbz

$60 / $80 / $120 sliding scale

No Experience in Process Work required!

Register here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/meeting-the-part-of-you-that-refuses-to-stay-small

https://vimeo.com/1185606008?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

MAKE MEANING FROM MESS SERIES WORKSHOP: MEETING THE PART OF YOU THAT REFUSES TO STAY SMALL Meeting the Part of You That Refuses to Stay Small Something in you already knows you're capable of more. Most people don't have a capability problem. They have an edge problem. Somewhere along the way, many of us learned that being too much was risky: too direct, too visible, too certain. So we mad...