Many of us are really struggling to find the connection we are longing for.

If you have been looking for some space to talk and think about your relationships – relationships with your partner, yourself, your friends, or maybe with your kids and teens – that’s what we are going to be talking about in The Better Human Series for the next few months.

We are therapists by trade, and when we talk about what has been going on in our own lives and the lives of our clients, we are finding that a lot of us are wrestling with having really healthy and honest relationships where we feel close enough to be ourselves.

While COVID has amplified it, I think a lot of us have lost some direction on who we are and how to navigate relationships that actually make us feel close to each other.

On the 4th Tuesday each month (February 22, March 22, April 26), The Village Cafe is hosting Oakwood Roots’s Better Human Series to get into this conversation together.  We will have a keynote and large group dialogue on the theme of the evening, and then breakout sessions that look more into your unique situations – for you as a parent, a friend, a partner, and for yourself.

Our first evening of the 3-month series will be focused on building a foundation of connection in your relationships.  The events are for any adult who is interested in growing more.

DATE: Tuesday, February 22

TIME: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

SCHEDULE: We will have a large group dialogue from 6:15-6:45p, and then breakout sessions from 7:00-7:45pm, with some time at the end to connect more.

LOCATION: The Village Cafe, Downtown Bryan

REGISTRATION LINK: Click HERE to sign up for the February event!  Click the green button above to get a discounted rate for all 3 events!

  • Keynote: Foundations of Whole-Hearted Connection
    Time: 6:15-6:45 pm

    Speaker: Jeremy Dew

    Sometimes it can be difficult for us to even know what makes a relationship good.  What are the qualities in a relationship that contribute to being understood?  We’ll talk through some foundations for healthy relationship – how to know when what you have is good and how to be a contributor to a good relationship.

  • Breakout Session: Connecting with your Younger Kiddos
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Codie Cacy & Jessie Lee

    Join us for some conversation with fellow parents of young kids and we’ll discuss how our younger children feel most connected with us and offer some strategies on deepening your connection together.

  • Breakout Session: Connecting with your Tweens & Teens
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Alicia Gregg & Matthew Sanchez

    Join us for some conversation with fellow parents of tweens and teens. Connection is more precious with this age group – and it doesn’t always come on our terms like it did when they were younger.  Join us for some camaraderie and some strategies too.

  • Breakout Session: Connecting with your Adult Friends
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Caroline Dillard & Jess Rios

    Adult friendships can be complicated.  There is not always the shared purpose – as there was in school or on a team – that draws you together.  Sometimes, you don’t actually like your kid’s friends’ parents, or your coworkers.  So how do you make friends in this season and develop a friendship that is worth those few hours you have outside of work?

  • Breakout Session: Connecting with your Partner
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speaker: Sarah Contreras

    Deep connection with your partner isn’t always easy, and even if you really care about each other, we can really struggle to foster intimacy.  Join us for conversation and strategies on how to connect in a partnership – whether you are dating, engaged, partnered/married.

  • Breakout Session: Connecting with Yourself
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speaker: Angel Byrd

    We imagine that if you are interested in this one, you are already pretty introspective.  If you are interested in some ways to understand yourself better and have a healthier relationship with yourself, join us for conversation as well as some strategies to grow in this area.

Our second evening of the 3-month series will be focused on what we do in difficult relationships – how we understand what is happening and what is in our control to change.  The events are for any adult who is interested in growing more.

DATE: Tuesday, March 22

TIME: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

SCHEDULE: We will have a large group dialogue from 6:15-6:45p, and then breakout sessions from 7:00-7:45pm, with some time at the end to connect more.

LOCATION: The Village Cafe, Downtown Bryan

REGISTRATION LINK: Click HERE to sign up for the March event!  Click the green button above to get a discounted rate for all 3 events!

  • Keynote: Managing the Disappointment in Relationship and a Path Forward
    Time: 6:15-6:45 pm

    Speaker: Jeremy Dew

    Relationships can be really difficult, even with people we care about (or are stuck with).  We will talk through what to do when the relationship isn’t working, and how to navigate what’s in your control to change.

  • Breakout Session: Difficult Behaviors with your Younger Kiddos
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers:

    Parenting can just really suck.  And it’s astounding how crippling our kids can be to us with such tiny bodies.  But take heart.  We can get older and wiser, and there’s a lot we can do to move through parenting with more courage and kindness for ourselves.  Join us to both commiserate with fellow parents who are in the trenches and also identify some strategies for moving forward.

  • Breakout Session: Has anyone even seen my teenager this month?
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Alicia Gregg & Evelina Guerrero

    The tweens and teens years can feel more like going through our own teen years (that we swore we would never go back to) than helping our own kids grow up.  We’ll talk through some really practical strategies to help you through it, and they might even help your teens too.

  • Breakout Session: Managing Difficult Friendships
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Caroline Dillard

    Sometimes we get into friendships and lose our way.  We can find ourselves more drained by our friends than rejuvenated by them.  Let’s talk through how to be more forward, more open with what we need and how to be honest with ourselves and our friends when things are not going well.

  • Breakout Session: The Dating Pool Sucks. What is there to do???
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speaker: Sarah Contreras & Jessie Lee

    If you are single and have tried dating, especially on the apps, you likely have a pretty decent library of terrible experiences that at best, are fun “2 truths and 1 lie” examples, and at worst, the terror that can bring you to therapy.  While we won’t have quite enough time to hear all of those stories, we hope to explore some strategies on caring for yourself in dating, and having some clarity on the red flags and where you can grow in the process.

  • Breakout Session: Struggles in Long-Term Relationships (marriages, partnerships)
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speaker: Matthew Sanchez & Jess Rios

    Sometimes our long-term partnerships and marriages reveal themselves to be significantly different than what we thought we were signing up for.  We are here to offer some categories for thinking about that productively with others in a similar situation.

Our third and final evening of the 3-month series will be focused on the sexy stuff, meaning how sexuality and sensuality are an essential part of you being a real human.  The events are for any adult who is interested in growing more.

DATE: Tuesday, April 26

TIME: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

SCHEDULE: We will have a large group dialogue from 6:15-6:45p, and then breakout sessions from 7:00-7:45pm, with some time at the end to connect more.

LOCATION: The Village Cafe, Downtown Bryan

REGISTRATION LINK: Click HERE to sign up for the April event!  Click the green button above to get a discounted rate for all 3 events!

  • Keynote: The Sexy Stuff - Exploring Sexuality as a Part of Being Human
    Time: 6:15-6:45 pm

    Speaker: Jeremy Dew

    We can be so wildly uncomfortable with the topic of sex and sensuality, but it’s an essential aspect of our wholeness as people.  We’ll talk through some broad categories to consider as you think about what healthy sexuality looks like for you, and we will work to keep the middle school jokes at a minimum, too.

  • Breakout Session: How do I talk to my children about the birds and the bees?
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Caroline Dillard

    What does it look like to give your kids a developmentally-appropriate understanding of sex and their bodies as they grow up?  Much of what we are now comes from what we learned in our homes growing up (or didn’t learn), and we’ll help you start a path of being the sex-pert to your kiddos, so that you can tell them what is true and not true (rather than leaving it to their friends on the bus), and also help give them some categories for what your family values around sex and relationships as well.

  • Breakout Session: I think my teen like-likes people. How do we talk about that?
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Alicia Gregg & Evelina Guerrero

    As our teens get older, the conversations shift from talking about the “birds and the bees” (they don’t often want to hear that from you after 10 or 11) and into dating and relationships.  Join us for some dialogue on how to help your teens think about the kind of person they want to be in dating, about the kind of person they want to be with (either now or when you are ready for them to date, at age 27 or 28).

  • Breakout Session: Exploring your Own Sexuality without Shame
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speakers: Jessie Lee & Jess Rios

    Thinking about how you relate to your own body and your sexuality can be one of the more vulnerable things we do in our office as therapists with our clients, and it tends to have an immense amount of power (and often shame that has kept us from looking at it too much before).  Join us for some conversation around where to begin, or where to go from where you are now.

  • Breakout Session: Partnerships when your desire is different than theirs
    Time: 7:00 – 7:45 pm

    Speaker: Codie Cacy

    Navigating desire is so difficult because it is actually not that common to be with someone who wants things exactly like you want them or when you want them.  That’s not a deal breaker in a relationship, but how you handle that difference in desire together can be.  Join us for some strategies on how to have better dialogue on navigating such a difficult and intimate topic with your partner.