Reach, Teach, Remain Open
NOW AVAILABLE
Purchase printed copies here.
Purchase e-book here.
Some books promise healing. This one tells the truth about what it means to keep living.
In Still Open, Christa Evangelisto shares a life shaped by profound and repeated loss – and the quiet, determined choice to remain open in its aftermath. Through deeply personal moments, she traces the path from early grief, where closing off feels like survival, to the realization that a closed heart cannot heal – only endure.
This is not a story about moving on. It is a story about carrying love and loss together. About learning that grief does not end, but it can change – and that life, even after fire, continues to ask us to feel, to risk, and to stay.
Woven with the image of the phoenix, Still Open redefines what it means to rise: not leaving the ashes behind, but learning what they hold.
For anyone who has experienced loss, this book offers something rare – permission to grieve, to love, and to remain open, even when it hurts.
** This link is to Amazon, but the e-book is also available at other e-book retailers.
About
Dr. Evangelisto
Dr. Christa Evangelisto equips leaders and helping professionals to navigate burnout, grief, and change with courage and clarity. With a doctorate in adult education and deep experience in trauma-informed practice, she speaks and consults on building resilient cultures where people can remain human and effective after rupture.
You Have to Reach Them to Teach Them
Using Adult Learning Principles to Create Engaged, Resilient Learning Environments
Many instructors, trainers, and leaders are hired for their expertise—not for formal training in how people learn. As a result, they often rely on outdated methods that leave adult learners disengaged and frustrated.
At the same time, educators and helping professionals are expected to carry increasing emotional demands while continuing to motivate and support others.
In this engaging keynote, Dr. Christa Evangelisto combines research in adult learning with practical insight from her experience as a college educator and leader. She demonstrates how effective teaching and sustainable leadership are deeply connected, and how small shifts in learning design and communication can transform both engagement and professional resilience.
Through practical strategies and meaningful reflection, participants learn how to create environments where people feel motivated, supported, and capable of growth—without burning out the people responsible for leading them.
Audiences will learn to:
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Apply core adult learning principles to teaching and training
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Design learning experiences that increase engagement and motivation
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Create supportive environments where learners and professionals thrive
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Recognize how stress and emotional exhaustion impact learning and leadership
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Develop sustainable approaches to teaching, training, and helping others
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Ideal for: faculty, trainers, healthcare educators, corporate learning teams, nonprofit leaders, and professionals responsible for teaching or leading adults.
Still Open
Learning to Live, Lead, and Remain Human After Life-Altering Loss
Life changes us. Loss, trauma, and unexpected disruption reshape how we move through the world, connect with others, and show up in our work. Yet many professionals—especially educators, healthcare workers, and helping leaders—are expected to continue functioning as though nothing has happened.
In this deeply moving keynote, Dr. Christa Evangelisto draws on both lived experience and professional insight to explore a different understanding of resilience. Rather than returning to who we were before hardship, she invites audiences to consider how we remain open, compassionate, and fully human within the marks life leaves behind.
Through story, reflection, and practical frameworks, participants gain language for hidden grief, cumulative stress, and emotional exhaustion while learning sustainable ways to continue leading and caring for others without shutting down emotionally.
Audiences will learn to:
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Understand the difference between surviving and healing
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Recognize hidden grief and cumulative emotional stress
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Reframe resilience as openness rather than emotional shutdown
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Practice sustainable compassion and “boundaried openness”
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Continue meaningful work without losing connection to themselves or others
Ideal for: educators, healthcare professionals, nonprofit leaders, helping professionals, and anyone navigating meaningful work after life-changing events.
Signature Keynotes
Blog
Events
About Me
My Mission
Dr. Christa Evangelisto inspires educators, leaders, and helping professionals to transform how they teach, lead, and care for others by integrating adult learning principles with practical frameworks for resilience, openness, and growth after life-altering challenges.
Many professionals who teach, train, or lead others were never formally taught how people learn—or how people heal. As a result, they often rely on outdated methods while carrying the emotional weight of supporting others through growth, change, and crisis.
Over time, these pressures can lead to disengaged learners, exhausted professionals, and environments where growth becomes difficult for everyone involved.
Dr. Christa Evangelisto, PhD, combines expertise in adult education with lived experience navigating profound loss to offer a powerful approach to teaching, leadership, and resilience.
Through research-based learning principles, personal story, and practical strategies, she helps audiences create environments where people feel engaged, supported, and capable of growth—while also learning how to lead and care for others without burning out.
Rather than returning to who we were before life’s disruptions, Dr. Evangelisto invites audiences to discover how to teach more effectively, lead with compassion, and remain open within the marks life leaves behind.
Ideal Audiences
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College and university faculty
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Corporate trainers and organizational leaders
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Healthcare and helping professionals
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Nonprofit and community leaders
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Teams navigating high stress, change, or complex human needs
Anyone responsible for teaching, guiding, or supporting others will gain practical tools to foster both learning and resilience.