Dawn Nickel, PhD
Founder, She RECOVERS
Dawn Nickel is a thought leader in the women’s recovery sphere and the creator of SHE RECOVERS, currently the largest online platform dedicated to supporting women in recovery from behavioral health issues and related life challenges. Dawn started her own journey of recovery from a substance use disorder and domestic violence in 1987, she is also in recovery from anxiety, grief, trauma and cancer. She is a strong advocate for the view that every woman in or seeking recovery must be supported to find the tools and pathways that will work best for her as an individual.
In the summer of 2011, while recovering from a serious case of workaholism, Dawn decided to apply what she knew about recovery to that area of her life. On an extended leave from work, Dawn began to blog and created the SHE RECOVERS FACEBOOK PAGE to share her journey and to reach out to other women looking to find healing and happiness in recovery.
Since 2012, Dawn and her daughter/co-founder Taryn Strong (also in recovery) have dedicated their lives to growing SHE RECOVERS and its offerings so that more women (and more women from diverse backgrounds) have the access, resources, support, and freedoms necessary to cultivate individualized and holistic pathways in order to find health, sustain long-term recovery, achieve their potential, and help other women to do the same.
SHE RECOVERS® creates welcoming spaces and transformative opportunities – online and in real life – to connect, support and empower recovering women.
CONNECT Bonded Together in Overcoming Our Addictions
Maximizing your opportunities for building meaningful relationships is our number one goal. Our volunteer planning team is hard at work cultivating rich, multidimensional experiences to meet everyone's needs for increased social connection during these physically distant times.
- Interactive sessions
- Themed video lounges
- Discussion boards
- WFS Meetings
All expressions of female identity are celebrated here!
.O
.O was certified in 1979 as a massage therapist and has made health and well-being her personal commitment and life’s purpose. She is a group facilitator with many years of experience in body wisdom, stress modification, and the healing powers of love. Her new passion is participating in theater, promoting social change, and addressing issues involving domestic violence, alcohol and drug use disorders, economic justice, and environmental justice. .O has provided presentations and workshops for various organizations and has appeared on radio and TV talk shows.
.O's workshops are being offered free of charge this year! She will be presenting on Saturday and Sunday morning at 10:00 am.
LEARN New Life Knowledge
Deepen your understanding of the principles and philosophy of WFS through informative and inspiring plenary and breakout sessions.
- Level 6: Recognizing life's priorities: emotional and spiritual growth, self-responsibility.
- Statement 8: The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth. Daily I put my life into a proper order, knowing which are the priorities.
- Statement 13: I am responsible for myself and for my actions. I am in charge of my mind, my thoughts, and my life.
Release the past - plan for tomorrow - live for today!
Lynn Matti, MA
In addition to a thriving Peachtree City, GA private counseling/coaching practice, Lynn is the creator and host of The SoberSoul Recovery Podcast, a top-rated mental health, addiction, recovery, and self-improvement podcast. Lynn also offers SoberSoul Recovery, an online coaching practice and platform. Her IntuitiveSoul Self Coaching is grounded in the principles and techniques of counseling. It offers several options for group and individual coaching. Lynn's first book "5 Weeks to Self-Confidence: A Guide For Confronting Your Inner Critic & Controlling Your Relationship With Your Thoughts" was released in November of 2019.
Lynn will be presenting a Keynote Address on Saturday, June 13, 2020, at 12:00 pm U.S. Eastern time.
GROW The Fundamental Object of Life
Nurture your emotional and spiritual development through carefully procured keynotes and workshops designed to enrich and deepen New Life knowledge.
- 2 Keynote Addresses
- 4 live workshop opportunities
- 17 total breakout sessions
Don't miss a thing!
All breakout session facilitators have agreed to be recorded and available for viewing online for one week after the event.
AGENDA
Pre-Conference Activities
The official conference website launches Sunday, June 7th, 2020, at 8 am.
Registered participants will receive an email with the link and passwords to the site and the Zoom rooms.
Pre-conference activities will include:
- Discussion boards for introductions, tech support, event questions, and New Life Program information.
- Online icebreakers posted throughout the week leading up to the official event.
- 3 drop-in Open Houses to test your Zoom connection, learn tips, and just chat with other 4C women:
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- Sunday, 6/7/20, 1-3 pm US/Eastern
- Tuesday, 6/9/20, 9:30-11:30 am US/Eastern
- Thursday, 6/11/20, 6-8 pm US/Eastern
Log in to wfsonline.org for FREE access to Open Houses!
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Times are in US Eastern
CLICK HERE to access a time zone converter
Downloadable PDF in US Eastern
DETAILED AGENDA
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Conference website, session recordings, and discussion boards will remain open through Sunday, June 21st.
Times are in US Eastern
CLICK HERE to access a time zone converter
Downloadable PDF in US Eastern
GENERAL SESSIONS
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BREAKOUT WORKSHOPS
Saturday Morning
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Saturday Afternoon
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Sunday Morning
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Sunday Afternoon
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Ready to connect and be inspired?
Live Support
It's What We Do!
For 45 years, WFS has helped women navigate new experiences and negotiate change. We were literally made for this! We are hard at work training our own volunteer Geek Gal Squad to provide live technical support to attendees throughout the event.
- Geek Gal Squad will be on duty starting June 7th.
- Monitored tech support discussion board for easy reference.
- Live phone support through WFS office number available all weekend.
- Ability for a Geek Gal to take "remote control" of your desktop or ipad to help you out.
- 3 drop-in open house pre-conference hangouts using Zoom scheduled during the week before the event.
Interested in helping out?
If you have strong computer skills and a patient and compassionate demeanor, please consider volunteering for our Geek Gal Squad today! Simply email [email protected].
All Devices
Responsive Design
All software being used is fully responsive and can be accessed on tablet, desktop, laptop, and phone devices. For the best experience, we suggest using a full-sized screen such as a desktop or laptop. However, women who have only a phone or tablet will still be able to experience the core components of the event.
Interact Live
Hair and makeup not required!
Use Zoom to participate in live workshops and social lounges to connect to fellow attendees. You can also choose to participate by audio only, or keep yourself muted and simply observe.
Your recovery, your choice!
Attendees do not need to have a Zoom account. For more information about Zoom:
Also see our Frequently Asked Questions with answers tailored to you.
Watch Later
Grab the Popcorn!
All of our generous presenters have agreed to be recorded so that attendees can view all events, significantly increasing the value of your affordable registration fee. Recordings will be posted online and available to all conference attendees for one week after the event.
- Only the speaker's camera will be recorded.
- Participant faces will never appear on the recordings.
- If you speak out loud, your voice may be audible on the recording. There is also a typed chat box for participants to contribute without having their voices to appear on the recordings.
- Some workshop presenters may choose to pause recording during certain participant interactions, so some recordings may not reflect the entire session.
- Recordings will be available through the special conference website for streaming only. No downloads will be allowed.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Registration
Simply click on Register Now and fill out our short registration form.
This year’s self-selected sliding scale is designed to let women choose the admission price that works best for their individual situation. There is no difference in access to programming or support for the three rates. The only tangible difference is that those selecting the Benefactress Rate will be able to deduct $25 of the fee on their 2020 taxes (US only, consult your tax professional). There are also scholarships available, so nobody has to miss out due to economic challenges.
Since we don’t have to worry about room set-up, there is no need to register for specific workshops. Simply show up for the sessions that you want to attend live.
We accept all major credit cards, PayPal, and eCheck.
Shhh! You’ll ruin the surprise! (Don't worry - WFS will never surprise you with a package with the full name of our organization on the outside. Everything is shipped in plain packaging with "WFS, Inc." in the return address.)
As with all official WFS events, we ask that only women who are personally engaged in recovery from a substance use disorder participate. WFS celebrates all expressions of female identity and welcomes Sisters from the LGBT spectrum.
Because we are making all sessions available for the week after conference, there is no need to miss anything. All registrants will have the opportunity to watch as many sessions as they desire.
Yes! We want all women in recovery to attend, regardless of ability to pay. Simply fill out our Work Scholarship Application. We’ll ask you to help with a small task like assisting a presenter or writing some thank you notes after the event.
Programming
It is a bit different making connections in a virtual conference, but it is certainly possible! Presenters will be having breakout periods where you will be able to converse in small groups (never recorded), every conference page will have a discussion section, and there will be many drop-in video lounges available outside of formal sessions which won’t be recorded.
Workshop presenters and keynote speakers are a combination of New Life Program participants and recovery field professionals. Peer Presenters are often also recovery or related field professionals. All presenters are knowledgeable about the Women for Sobriety principles and philosophies, and make an effort to ensure that information shared is consistent with and complimentary to the New Life Program.
Yes, Q and A will be a part of most if not all sessions. Depending on the size of the group, questions may be taken by voice or by typing.
Mac has posted kits on ebay for $15. 100% of the purchase price will be donated directly to WFS. Thanks Mac!
Gayla will be sharing a list of suggested supplies soon.
Technically, there is an upper limit, but we do not expect to get anywhere near those numbers. If it looks like we might, we will simply upgrade our accounts. Everyone should be able to join any live event they wish to.
Yes, our Saturday night event, New Life Celebration, will include an opportunity for giving. The details of that event are still being developed.
Unfortunately, mobilizing a fully online silent auction was not feasible within the timeframe we had to pivot from a physical to a virtual event. However, we are hoping to still have our online auction this fall so you can get your fix of WFS-related gifts in time for the holidays.
Technical
You can use just about any device – laptop, desktop computer, notebook, tablet, cell phone, or even a touchtone landline – to access the workshops and presentations. Live workshops will use Zoom, so you may want to download and test that during our pre-conference activities (or test it beforehand here). There will also be a conference website with information and connection opportunities, so an internet connection and browser is highly recommended. To get the best interactive experience during sessions, you will want to have a camera, microphone, and speakers.
The url for the event website will be emailed to women who have registered one week before the event.
Yes! Zoom is compatible with almost any device and everything else can be accessed through your regular internet browser window.
No. On most devices, you can attend as a guest, without any Zoom account at all, although you may wish to create a free Zoom account to enable a more streamlined sign-on experience.
Zoom has mobile apps that you can use to access the sessions. You can also choose to phone in to sessions using a touch-tone phone. If you call in, only a few digits of your phone number will appear on the participant list – the rest will be replaced with asterisks (*).
We will have a special conference website with embedded movie files. There will be a discussion section for each workshop, so you can continue to engage with other participants for an additional week. To respect the privacy of our presenters, downloading will not be possible, and you will be asked to agree to not attempt to record or download sessions as part of your registration.
We’ll remove them from the internet and keep them on our private servers for historical purposes.
We are training a Geek Gal Support Squad to support attendees. There will be practice Open House drop-in Zoom gatherings during the pre-conference week, and Geek Gals will be available by phone at the WFS office number (215-536-8026) throughout the event. We ask for your understanding that our Geek Gals will be volunteers and while they will do their best to support you, they are not IT professionals and may not be able to solve every problem.
Privacy
If you choose to enable your video, your face may be visible to others. To prevent this, do not activate your camera.
Yes! Some presenters may elect to pause recording during discussion periods, small group work using the “breakout” function of Zoom will never be recorded, and any typed chat will also be omitted from the recordings.
If you have a Zoom account, your profile name will show up. If you sign out of your Zoom account completely (we recommend going to the website and any app installed on your device), you will be prompted to enter a guest name. Feel free to use whatever name you choose. If you get into an event and notice your name displayed, it is easy to rename yourself.
Only the presenter’s camera and/or screen will be recorded. If you speak during a session, your voice may appear on the recording, or you can interact via the chat box without your voice being broadcast. Presenters may choose to pause the recording during certain sharing periods so that participants can interact more freely.
Most “zoombombing” – uninvited guests disrupting meetings with hurtful content – happens when links to meetings are posted publicly. We will only be posting the links to the Zoom rooms on the conference website. The website itself and the Zoom rooms will also be password-protected, and the passwords will be provided only by email to registered participants. We’re also following additional best practices to reduce the chance of disruptions.
WFS is taking many steps to protect your privacy. Our registration system uses a program called Neon, which uses encrypted security protocols, and payment processing is PCI-compliant. The conference website will also use encrypted security protocols and is a private system that only WFS and our web hosting service will have access to. We will be storing recordings on Google Drive, but will not enable Google Analytics, so there will be no tracking of who accessed which videos. Zoom software, used for the live sessions, uses data encryption, although certain audio and video information may be visible to Zoom when traveling within its internal servers; text messaging within Zoom sessions is the most secure process with true end-to-end encryption. Streaming of recorded sessions will be conducted with embedded Google Drive files. While WFS will do its best to protect your privacy, as with any online service, we cannot guarantee your 100% privacy and participation is at your own risk.
SELECT YOUR FEE
Self-select the sliding scale rate that best suits your current economic situation.
COMPASSION RATE
- Estimated to be 50% of WFS's actual cost per person
SUSTAINING RATE
- Estimated to be 100% of WFS's actual cost per person
BENEFACTRESS RATE
- Estimated to be 150% of WFS's actual cost per person
- 1/3 of this rate is tax-deductible*
WORK SCHOLARSHIP
- Join a team of 4C volunteers and gain full access to all conference activities
*WFS is a 501(c)3 organization. Contributions are deductible as allowed by US federal law. Please consult your tax professional.