Registration is now closed for
Discovering Your Family Story:
A Five-Week Guided Autobiography (GAB) Course
From Family History Catalysts
Caron Primas Brennan, MBA, and Cynthia Heidorn, PhD, CG®, of Family History Catalysts, are Certified Guided Autobiography Instructors trained through the Birren Center. We are pleased to offer this writing course, designed especially for family historians and aspiring autobiographers. Enrollment is limited to 12 participants.
Take the first step toward writing your autobiography and documenting your life! Discovering Your Family Story, a five-week Guided Autobiography (GAB) course from Family History Catalysts, is designed to help participants preserve the stories that vital records cannot capture.
Our purpose in writing and sharing together is to refresh and recall the memories and events of our lives, to organize our life history, and to share them with others. Participants will explore themes of branching points, family relationships, life pursuits, family rituals, and traditions.
Each session includes:
- Zoom is available 15 minutes prior to the start time for socializing.
- Access to the shared drive for class materials.
- Reading your story in class.
- Writing tips and creative writing prompts.
- Supportive environment and feedback.
Participants are asked to commit to:
- Respect the confidentiality of all shared information.
- Attend all sessions.
- Participate fully in writing, sharing, and discussion.
- Complete all writing assignments on time.
- Read two pages of your life story in each session.
Special FVGS Session Details:
DATES: Wednesdays from 11 February to 11 March 2026
TIME: 9:00 a.m. to Noon (Central Time)
LOCATION: via Zoom
CLASS SIZE: 12 participants
FEE*: $50 Members | $75 Non-Members
*Note: This course is being offered at this reduced fee as a one-time offer. Registration closed on Sunday, 08 February 2026.
Meet Your Certified GAB Instructors:
Caron Primas Brennan, MBA, and Cynthia Heidorn, PhD, CG®, Certified Guided Autobiography Instructors from the Birren Center, are the Family History Catalysts!
We are genealogists and our family’s historians. We have learned that all the research, photos, and ephemera in our collections are meaningless without their stories. We discovered that using the Guided Autobiography approach, we can write engaging stories that families want to read. We’ve started posting our stories in our digital archives with photos and source documents to create a visual diary. We want to share this process and experience with others who want to preserve their stories.
Cynthia Heidorn, PhD, CG, holds a Certified Genealogist® credential and Guided Autobiography Instructor credential. She taught for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. She is a mentor for the ProGen Study Group and for the National Genealogical Society’s Advanced Skills Courses. Cynthia also holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University’s Online Program (OL31). Dr. Heidorn is a retired public-school superintendent.
Caron Primas Brennan, MBA, belongs to several local and regional genealogy groups, as well as being a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild and a Professional Member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Caron is Founder and Executive Director of the Iroquois Theatre Fire Historical Society (ITFHS) and a former Registrar and current Director for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Anan Harmon Chapter. She has been speaking at local libraries and genealogical societies and teaching at the Newberry Library in Chicago for over 10 years, with consistently excellent feedback.
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Direct questions to [email protected]