Witnessing Circle - Fall 2026

For people estranged from their parents/families


Being estranged with one's parent(s) or other family members is a common experience, especially for queer people and people who have moved socially or geographically, that rarely gets addressed collectively. For many of us, it is a tender place that gets reactivated at different times, and in some cultures especially when approaching the end of the year. However, we often contract around this pain for lack of time and place where we can allow it to move...


This group is for people who feel that they need to give space to this experience, let their feelings unfold gently and be seen and witnessed by other people who share the same experience. It will be a soft, deep and caring space - where you are invited to sit together with your feelings just as they are and let them resonate with the group, not to dig or push into one direction. Given the right quality of attention and care, what is ready to move will move, and let you feel more (inner) connexion, more space, and more sense of alignement with your decisions.

It is a process of integration. We will:

  • Create a soft container where we can witness ourselves and each other
  • Build capacity to hold our feelings, individually and collectively, without getting overwhelmed
  • Give space to our grief, anger, and sense of loss
  • Learn how to listen to our feelings of guilt or shame without identifying with them
  • Honor the possibility of beauty, lightness, and humor even close to our pain
  • Find the strength to hold a boundary while staying soft with ourselves, or the courage to see that we are ready to open a door and invite change again
  • Explore our relationship to roots and belonging, and reclaim connexion with our lineage beyond and despite the wounds (including our ancestors and the younger people in our families)

This group is rooted in Tobi Ayé's modality for Grief Circles, "Collective Resonance" (link). It weaves together somatic work, grief work, welcoming & witnessing, building capacity to feel, tend to our needs, move with, move together.

My name is Agnès Chetaille, i am a white queer somatic practitioner, grief worker and former social science researcher (About me). My knowledge is also deeply rooted in the experience of queer feminist networks I have been part of for the last 20 years, and for this reason can resonate especially with queer experiences. However everybody who is curious and willing to learn from this field is welcome.

You don't need to have broken all contact with your parents to come. If you resonate with having a wound in the relationship with (one of your) parents, or another important family member, and feel the need to give it space and tend to it, you are more than welcome.

In my work, I actively seek to recognize intersectional structures of oppression, power dynamics, and cultural differences and hierarchies. In particular given the topic of this group, I am aware that experiences of migration, past and/or present, impact dynamics and relationships within families in complex ways. If you have questions regarding my approach and whether this group could be a good fit for you, I am very happy to discuss them beforehand. You don't have to come from a family who celebrates Christmas to take fully part in the group. We will decide collectively how much space we want to give to the upcoming end the year holidays, according to how important they are for everyone in the group.


  • Small group (6/7 people). The group will happen if at least 4 people register.
    You have to commit to come to all sessions
  • In English (slow speakers welcome!)
  • Five 2,5h sessions, between mid-November and mid-December
    (Dates and location in Berlin to be announced soon)
    Possibility to schedule an additional meeting or online check-in in the new year if the group wants
  • Pricing: sliding scale 150-300€
  • Interest and registration: send me an email and we will schedule a free 20 min call to talk about the group, answer your questions, and see if we are a good match