Americans are experiencing very high levels of stress on top of their daily work and family responsibilities -
It is exhausting for anyone! In addition to burnout, loneliness and disconnection make it even more difficult for any of us to cope.  As community "third spaces" decline, many of us feel unsure how to make new friends, keep in touch with each other, and quietly hold a feeling of isolation.

Workshops For Real Life designs self-care events to disrupt this feeling of disconnection using research-backed therapy tools adapted into fun and interactive self-care events. The Connection Cafe is a "train the trainer" style pop-up self-care event. Participants are invited to immerse themselves in The Connection Cafe where they will play with community organizing tools as they brainstorm ways to make self-care and connection more accessible in their home communities... and Yes! There WILL be sweets! We have learned nothing by now if we haven't realized that - Yes, folks show up for yummy treats!

Learn how to disrupt loneliness the loneliness epidemic by using research-backed tools. Leave feeling empowered to create more spaces of belonging and inclusion in your home community. And have a good time!

A Connection Cafe is a tiny mobile bakery pop-up designed to build community using research-backed skills. Facilitated and designed by licensed psychotherapist and Workshops For Real Life Founder, Anna Lindberg Cedar, MPA, LCSW, LICSW, CCP-ASHD, The Connection Cafe invites you to build space for connection -- all while having a good time! 

Anna is a full-time therapist who cares deeply about the loneliness crisis AND finds a lot of personal connection through baking... She thought - Why not combine the two passions in service of community building?

Folks will show up for treats! 

Anna took her Connection Cafe on the road to SXSW for an Anti-Loneliness Pop-Up.   Participants from nearly every state (and beyond the US) reported being painfully aware of a crisis of disconnection where they lived. Together, we practiced research-backed tools and rang the bell every time a new personal connection was made! No marketing at this event, just sincere connections! We ended up losing count after so many folks rang the bell with new connections. WHAT A BLAST!

The Connection Cafe specifically responds to the loneliness epidemic by teaching the participants
- in a train-the-trainer immersive style event - how to adapt these research-backed skills to build community at home. The Connection Cafe is designed to help participants make new connections in the moment and feel energized to expand their use of community organizing skills well beyond a one day event. 

Anna Lindberg Cedar makes herself one of the participants, sharing how she follows her own advice as a community organizer through a tiny bakery that she operates out of her home kitchen. Anna gets great joy from hosting seasonal hangouts for the bakery on her front lawn.

Cedar Farm's tagline is "makes, bakes and quality hangs." (@cedarfarmstand on Instagram)

Workshops For Real Life doesn't mess around when it comes to self-care. All of our workshops and self-care events are designed to be inclusive, trauma-informed, and intersectional to allow group audiences to interact as their authentic selves. Workshops For Real Life was founded by a licensened psychotherapist trained in group dynamics and a specialty in burnout prevention among helping professionals. Anna Lindberg Cedar, MPA, LICSW, LCSW, ADHD-CCP combines her extensive training in behavioral science with her experience working in public health to create maximum impact in for large group audiences.

The Connection Cafe adapts two research-backed tools to help workshop participants build community and boost connection:

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) + The 36 Questions To Fall in Love 

ABCD is a time-tested community organizing framework to help individuals recognize their own strengths and mobilize resources around them to make positive change happen. Workshop participants identify their own community building superpowers in the Connection Cafe as they brainstorm ideas with new friends about ways to creatively disrupt the loneliness epidemic.

Meanwhile, the 36 Questions To Fall In Love allows us to build connections and get to know each other better. Research shows that there is not one magic list of questions that we can ask to spark connection, but rather the willingness to be brave and try. The Connection Cafe gives you the space you need to build the connection in a world that too often keeps us isolated from one another. 

S. David Ramirez, CFEE shares his list of top faves from SXSW 2025 with Workshops For Real Life ranking as his #1 Pick from the massive event. He says ...

" The Anti-Loneliness Meetup, hosted by Anna Lindberg Cedar, MPA, LCSW, LICSW ... was one of my favorite sessions. There were no slides, no app, and no elaborate tech - just sticky notes, a bell, and a room full of intention. We talked about building community and making new friends on purpose. It was a reminder that low-tech doesn't mean low-impact."

PS... David's #2 pick for top experiences at SXSW was riding shotgun with a stunt driver...

We are in good company - Workshops For Real Life knows how to engage its audiences!  ;)

Workshops For Real Life hosted the initial keynote kickoff and a series of self-care workshops for hundreds of care workers at the Building Hope For Children Conference in South Carolina in 2022. Anna Lindberg Cedar, MPA, LCSW, LICSW spoke about self-care skills to tackle the overlapping epidemics of burnout and loneliness affecting our communities. One attendee, Jenn Strock, shares:

"Anna Lindberg Cedar had some amazing workshops! My favorite was Team-Based Approachs to Stress Reduction!"

What are your hopes for hosting a self-care event? Are you hoping to alleviate stress on your team? Are you hoping to build connection and cohesion? What is the most optimal outcome you can imagine if your team feels supported by a self-care event. The type of event you are looking for will help your facilitator design a self-care event that meets your needs. 

Consult your key stakeholders to choose your intentional goals for your event, along with plans for optimal timing, number of attendees, and proposed budget for a guest speaker. Consider whether you are ready to move forward with a pilot event to assess initial interest and response to self-care offerings for your team, or whether you are ready to invest in more sustainable supports, such as quarterly workshops, executive consulting, and talent rention training. 

Meet with Workshops For Real Life Founder, Anna Lindberg Cedar, MPA, LICSW, LCSW, ADHD-CCP, to start designing your own self-care event now. Learn about interactive learning options and ways to use behavioral science to boost your team's motivation and feeling of connection.