Freedom Academy Online is a three-day immersive, biblically grounded, trauma-informed training created to deepen your connection with God, yourself, and others.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED!ONLINE TRAINING
April 9-11, 2026
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ONLINE TRAINING
June 26-28, 2026
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What is Freedom Academy Online?Â
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Freedom Academy Online is the entry point into all that Freedom Movement offers and serves as a required prerequisite for both Freedom in Story and our Trauma-Informed Coaching Certification. This three-day immersive experience invites you to slow down, reflect on your story, and discover how it has shaped the way you connect. As you pursue personal growth and healing, you will also learn and practice tools of emotional literacy, empathy, attunement, and asking meaningful, open-ended questions that create space for deeper connection. Throughout the weekend, you will be invited to encounter God’s care within your story and be equipped with practical skills to hold the difficult emotions and experiences of those you love and lead. If you are longing for wholeness and deeper connection with yourself, God, and others, Freedom Academy Online is for you.
This training may be for you if...Â
- You want to integrate Biblical truth with trauma-informed healing and leadership.
- You desire a holistic approach to discipleship that includes the brain, body, and nervous system in your walk with Jesus.
- You are tired of shallow teaching and content about healing and want a tangible, embodied process toward wholeness.
- You long to heal your own story and deepen connection with yourself, God, and others.
- You feel limited in engaging difficult emotions in yourself or those you love and lead.
- You want practical tools to lead, parent, coach, or care for others from a place of greater freedom and empathy.
 Karrie Garcia is a pastor, coach, author, and speaker who has spent nearly three decades helping people find true freedom through honesty, healing, and the presence of God. Growing up as a pastor’s kid, she witnessed deep pain in her family’s story hidden behind Scripture, church services, and performance. After years of concealed suffering, Karrie’s mother took her own life, leaving Karrie carrying profound grief, anger, and fear.
In the aftermath of addiction, a failed marriage, and broken ministry, Karrie found herself at the end of hope. It was there that God met her with one question: “What would it look like to be honest?” That invitation became the catalyst for her lifelong pursuit of healing and has defined her work ever since.
With 30 years of ministry experience, a decade as a trauma-informed story practitioner, and a masters degree in neuroscience, Karrie is passionate about equipping Christian leaders to integrate Biblical truth, emotional and bodily awareness, and Spirit-filled transformation. She believes healing requires more than information or behavior change. We need space to grieve, to feel, to be held in love, and to be led by the truth that sets us free.
Karrie lives near Chicago, Illinois, with her husband, Mario, and their three children, Rider, Roco, and Roma.
Jeff is a coach, professor, and Storywork facilitator with Freedom Movement who helps people discover wholeness, freedom, and deeper connection. He brings a background in pastoring and business coaching, equipping people to lead, parent, and love from a place of presence, integrity, and care.
In his early 40s, after years of ignoring, hiding, and stuffing down his own emotions, Jeff experienced an “emotional awakening.” What he expected to be advice on leadership and business became a deep dive into his own story, engaging his childhood, insecurities, and fears. A few months after implementing these new communication skills, he heard his wife tell a friend they had saved their marriage. This shocked him because he didn’t even know it needed saving. Like many men, he simply didn’t know how to connect on a heart level.
Today, Jeff’s expertise is in leadership development and emotional literacy. He currently serves as a professor at The Belonging Co College, teaching pastoral care, and as a Storywork facilitator with Freedom Movement. Jeff lives in Nashville, TN, with his wife Lisa and their two youngest daughters and enjoys visiting their three adult children, including their new daughter-in-law, on the Central Coast of California.
Tori is a down-to-earth communicator and coach who engages people with her authenticity, wisdom, and passion for God and His Word. Growing up as a church staff kid, she witnessed firsthand the limits of the church’s ability to support people in emotionally mature ways. She carried that lack of emotional awareness into her marriage and career. In supporting her husband’s music ministry, Tori poured herself into an online business for over a decade, working tirelessly to serve others while feeling burned out, disconnected, and unsure how to welcome people into the inner reality of her own heart.
In 2020, Tori stumbled into Freedom Academy, expecting a coaching training to help grow her business. Instead, she was invited into a deep process of healing from chronic stress and overworking, which awakened a new passion to support women with trauma-informed coaching. This journey eventually led her to join Freedom Movement on staff as a coach, Storywork practitioner, and director of marketing and strategy. She carries a kind and comfortable presence that disarms people and invites them safety into honesty and transformation. She lives in the Tennessee countryside just south of Nashville with her husband, Matt, and their three children, Micaiah, Amara, and Ezra.
This 3-day training will cover...
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How to transform your conversations with those your love and lead.
Understanding trauma and its impact on the brain and relationships.
Exploring spiritual warfare and how personal stories influence it.
Emotional literacy: naming, containing, and processing emotions.
Building a deeper connection with God through scripture and reflection.
Practicing empathy, attunement, and open-ended questioning with others.
Learning healthy boundaries to care for others without losing yourself.
Experiencing immersive group exercises and hands-on coaching practice.
DAY 1:
Death
Connection with SelfÂ
We begin by connecting with your own heart to build a foundation for connection with all relationships. You will explore trauma’s effect on the brain, spiritual warfare, shame, and addiction, while practicing attunement and empathy in hands-on breakout coaching sessions.
DAY 2:
Burial
Connection with God
Building on self-connection to deepen your relationship with God, during day two you will engage scripture, explore emotional literacy, and learn to contain and process emotions, with hands-on breakout practice and an immersive empathy circle experience.
DAY 3:
Resurrection
Connection with Others
The final day moves you into action and celebration. You will apply skills in breakout coaching sessions, engage in worship and reflection, and learn about boundaries and emotional care so you can support others without losing yourself in the process.
How do I access the event?
What is the schedule for the event?
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Are personal scholarships available?
If I can't attend live will a recording be provided?
Can this 3-day training be applied to my Freedom Academy Coaching Certification?
Can I get the materials in the mail?
Testimonial: Tyler
Wow! The work done here for my life far surpassed anything I could have imagined. Going into this, I legitimately had no expectations. I was genuinely just curious about what I could possibly get out of it.
Through the teaching and connecting with the people in this class, God has changed my life! He has brought so much up in me that I wasn’t even aware was there, and He has been so gracious in placing the people in this class into my life to help me process through it all.
This class has done more for me than any number of counseling sessions I have ever had—no exaggeration! I will absolutely be moving forward to the next class. I want so much more healing for myself, and I want to learn how to help others heal as well.
If you’re even curious, do it. Trust that feeling in your chest and stomach. God has something for you, and it’s worth it.
Testimonial: Sophie
I feel like I just experienced a rare, premium-level training that is going to be beneficial for me and for how I show up with my friends, family, and future clients. I learned what it is like to actually hold space for someone’s story in a way that truly allows them to feel seen and heard, and the Circle of Empathy practice moved me to tears.
I now have more clarity on what it looks like when someone acts in a way that reveals a big or little “T/t” trauma, making me more understanding and empathetic toward them. If someone is rude, it can be a huge indicator of their unhappiness.
I learned SO much in only three days, and I can’t wait to apply this information as I continue learning how to connect with God, myself, AND others—recognizing each as important and valuable in my own healing and in others’ healing as well.
I 100% recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about trauma, grief, healing, and holding space for others, whether you’re a college student like me or in another walk of life.
This information applied to about 90 different people on the Zoom call, each in unique and individual ways, which just shows that you don’t have to show up in any certain way to be qualified for Freedom Academy. All you have to do is show up with an open heart and a willing soul that yearns for freedom.
Testimonial: Paris
- Three days of teaching, training and one-on-one coaching.
- PDF Workbooks
- Training materials with customized Freedom Academy + Story work exercises.
- Simple coaching tools to transform your conversations.
Join hundreds of Freedom Academy Graduates
"This has been one of the hardest things I’ve signed up for. I don’t know anyone that wants to pay money to feel all of their emotions. But somehow I did just that and I’m starting to see how valuable (and necessary) it is to be willing and able to be fully seen by God and others. Without judgment or fear of rejection. I shockingly feel more calm and peaceful after exposing some of my deepest pain to strangers. I feel more hopeful than I did when I entered this training and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of this time. I've done a lot of work, but never anything like this. "
 - Sabrina
"I was so excited to do Freedom Academy hoping to have more tools for my own clients and to mentor under Karrie after reading her book. I had no idea how much healing I would do of my own during this weekend. It has been hard, joyful, and exquisite. Everyone should go through Freedom Academy. It is life changing."
- Kim
"This weekend has been life changing! God has been doing a work in my life and Freedom Movement has been the next step He’s used to begin healing in my story. I see Him using me in the future to guide others to Freedom Movement. I'm leaving with direction and hope!"
- Amy
"For me this content has been good, not all new but it's so needed over and over again. The most impactful part of these three days isn't the teaching/content, it's the presence and interaction - holding and engaging with kindness and curiosity. I have learned the most from the check-ins with Karrie meeting our stories with fierce love and I want more. I want to be that for others and the practicality in the approach feels like a path to grow in that way."Â
- Maria
"The last three days have been so validating and healing the gaps that I've felt between measures of healing and experiencing true wholeness. My intuition told me for some time that grief was the way through, so when I started to engage it last year, it felt hard but liberating, powerful but lonely because people and the church didn't understand it. Through Freedom Academy I now have language and more tools to not only continue to deepen the work of healing, but to connect with others and help them understand my heart and process too!"
- Brianna
"Better than I dreamed! I knew I would love what you offered, but didn't expect the depth to which my heart was touched. Tears do not come easily for me, but they unexpectedly came several times, with a flood on Sunday morning. You ushed me into the presence of God, reminded me of things I needed to remember, and allowed me space to process my heart in a meaningful way with complete strangers. Thank you so much!!"
-Â Gail
"What an amazing experience, so blessed to meet the people I shared with, what an honor to learn from Karrie and having a coaching session with Jeff! I am so beyond thrilled and excited to come to freedom in story in libertyville!"
-Â Oliver
"This weekend was truly transformative for me. The immensity of this can’t be overstated, as I have felt in a long season of spiritual dryness! My life with God has felt revitalized on a very personal level, and I feel so grateful. I unpeeled more layers when it comes to my own story. I have done a couple of Story Groups, but this weekend felt so helpful in giving me a more robust understanding of why my story matters. I felt like I was connecting so many dots that felt like a lot of movement for me. I also left feeling more equipped to engage other people in their stories. Even these last two weeks, I have been so much more curious about myself and what I’m bringing into meetings with people. Understanding myself better is already helping me engage with other people more fully. Then I also felt like the tools we were given and practiced throughout the weekend have been helpful in these conversations"Â
- Addie
"I came into this not really sure what to expect. I came out of it overwhelmed with the healing that not only happened but the hope of the healing that will come out of this. Karrie and the entire team were absolutely impactful, real and raw with us and allowed us to be real and raw. I think every person I know could benefit from this powerful weekend. Not only do I feel confident that I am not broken just wounded but I feel confident that I can hold others in their vulnerability so they can feel the same way."
-Â Cayla
"Freedom Academy is life-changing! Karrie and company opened up authentic, Jesus-like ways to help people go through their trauma and receive healing. By a combination of experiencing my own healing, learning the why and how of the coaching, and participating in coaching others, I now have greater understanding of deep soul healing. Thank you Jesus for leading me to Freedom Academy!"
-Â Susan
"I really appreciated the approach to integrating the best of psychology, neuroscience and biblical theology into a coherent message of connection with ourselves and with others.
This integration was meaningful to me. I also thought your practical training in learning to be with and attuned to others through the coaching breakouts was particularly powerful."
-Â Matthew
