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, two decades of college teaching, and a life reshaped by repeated loss, she speaks and consults on building resilient cultures where people can remain human and effective after rupture.
After enough loss, most people don't fall apart. They close. You keep working, keep showing up, keep saying you're fine — and somewhere along the way you stopped expecting much. That isn't weakness. It's what protection looks like from the inside. The Still Open™ Framework is a six-month program for people who are done surviving and unsure how to start living. It won't ask you to move on, or to be grateful, or to be finished grieving.
See how the six months work →
Two keynotes, one thread: the people you're asking to teach, lead, and care for others are running low. One is about reaching adult learners — why expertise alone doesn't transfer, and what small changes in design and delivery actually move engagement. The other is about what happens to us after loss, and how to keep leading without closing down. Both come from the same place: decades in the classroom, and a life that did not go as planned.
See both keynotes →
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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.