Podcasts about my beautiful detour

Once upon a time, not long before her 18th birthday, Amy Oestreicher was a young woman full of hope and promise, with plans for college and dreams of Broadway. One week before her senior prom, a blood clot changed everything. In agonizing pain, she was rushed to the hospital—where her stomach exploded, literally. Both of her lungs collapsed. After months in a coma, Amy woke up to learn she might never eat or drink again. Eventually, she had 27 surgeries to salvage and replace her digestive system.  Today, nearly 15 years later, Amy Oestreicher is grateful for that “explosion”—her first of six difficult but wonderful life-changing “detours.” In her debut book, MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR: An Unthinkable Journey from Gutless to Grateful (Singing Tree Publishing; November 19, 2019; ISBN-13: 978-17333138819) author Amy Oestreicher shares her incredible story of trauma and transformation. She also shares the beliefs and practices that took her from barely surviving to thriving—and blazing her own trails as a “Detourist.”    “A Detourist looks for the upside of obstacles,” Amy explains. “A Detourist follows that twisted path because they’re curious to see where it could lead. In addition, a Detourist embraces those unexpected routes as opportunities for growth, change, and self-fulfillment.”   Part memoir and part self-help guide, MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR recounts Amy’s major detours—from her medical trauma to having her identity shattered to the return of memories of another trauma she thought she had buried: being sexually molested by a trusted mentor. As she acknowledges, she was hurt, betrayed, and broken—physically and emotionally. But her passion and determination stayed strong. A gifted storyteller, Amy writes with honesty, heart, and humor (yes, her book, which she describes as a “fun read” is filled with amusing adventures—like the time she “escaped” from the hospital for a shopping spree). She is also an amazing teacher. With MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR to light the way, readers will learn how to:         Turn creativity into a force for healing, with insight into the power of artistic expression—whether in the form of sketching, painting, singing, dancing, acting, or writing—in alleviating pain and recovering from trauma.         To tap into the courage to find your own uniqueness and dare to reject the path you always thought you wanted and redefine the person you always thought you were.         Be grateful for what you take for granted (after years of being nourished by feeding tubes, Amy savored her first sips of water) and for the hardships and setbacks that give you the opportunity to rethink, rebound, and reinvent yourself.         Connect to, inspire, and lead others through storytelling. By sharing your stories, you touch hearts, open minds, enrich your community, honor the ideas you believe in, and pass on the lessons you have learned. Amy Oestreicher is living proof that even the most unwelcome and painful detour can lead to unexpected blessings. MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR is a testament to her spirit and resilience—and her gift to those struggling to survive and find their way.   An estimated 70 percent of adults in the United States have experienced a traumatic event at least once in their lives and up to 20 percent of these people go on to develop posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. An estimated 5 percent of Americans—more than 13 million people—have PTSD at any given time.   Amy Oestreicher was one of them. So, what happens when an ordinary teenager has to turn into a warrior just to survive? And can the journey through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder really become an “adventure?”   Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded the week before her senior prom. Months later, she awoke from a coma to learn that she might never be able to eat or drink again. After years on IV nutrition, her first bite of food awakened her senses to life's ordinary miracles but also brought back memories of being sexually abused by a trusted mentor for months, just before the unexpected rush to the emergency room that fateful Passover night. With determination, imagination, relentless resilience, and an inner “hunger” for life, Amy created a roadmap where none existed. Her journey through life's unthinkable detours is nothing short of miraculous, but the creative path to healing she forged is accessible to anyone. As a survivor—and “thriver”—of abuse and extensive medical trauma, Amy discovered sources of resilience she didn’t know she had but it turns out we all possess. In this book, she creates a tapestry made from each of each thread of her journey, empowering others to find gratitude in every setback and discover their own infinite inner strength. Amy’s search for “home” proves to be the greatest test of cultivating resilience after near-death, and reclaiming identity after both sexual assault and medical trauma. Amy’s journey is ultimately a celebration of ordinary and extraordinary challenges and miracles.   In this coming of age story, Amy shares her struggles and discoveries living with both visible and invisible illness, the tremendous gifts to be reaped from trauma, its lessons which have illuminated her path, and how these gifts can be discovered as a unique, yet universal way to navigate any kind of uncertainty.   Interwoven through her remarkable story are insights on navigating any kind of uncertainty, including:   What is a “detourist”– and why is it important to take those detours? The importance of detours for college students How to transition from being a “survivor” to a “thriver” Amy's" Four Hardcore Skills" to resilience Finding your own uniqueness not through what’s happened to you, but what you choose to do with it The power of art to heal: five ways to incorporate art in your healing process Our innate ability to be artists, and why creativity is an essential mindset Why sharing your story is imperative to healing, and how to creativity to reframe your narrative How humor is a way through Turn messes, mistakes and setbacks into creative detours  My Beautiful Detour offers practical strategies for individuals and unexpected tools for the families of trauma survivors, helping communities build new, limitless futures. The book includes numerous “trauma insights,” and is enriched with humor, art, poetry, and useful takeaways for readers. Reading one woman’s heroic adventure through trauma, recovery, and discovery of new directions in healing the body and the mind is an empowering tale of not just getting through, but thriving. If you want learn more about living a fantastic life after alcohol, check out my book! https://www.amazon.com/My-Steps-Sobri... Wait, there is more!!! Have a look at  www.mystepstosobriety.com  to see which other books and projects I am involved in!  And follow me on Instagram, Podcast, Facebook and Linkedin! https://www.instagram.com/adifferentlifestory https://stephanneff.podbean.com/ https://www.facebook.com/adifferentlifestory https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-neff-author/

Amy Oestreicher is many things, but first and foremost, she is a storyteller. Amy is an artist, writer, and influential speaker whose work is rooted in inspiration and built to be eclectic. From the visual arts to music to writing to education, click on any of the pictures above to explore her work and services offered. These include offerings such as a variety of hailed workshops and outreach programs, the sale of her visual art and fashion line, her original multimedia solo-musical PASSAGEWAYS, and My Beautiful Detour: An Unthinkable Journey From Gutless to Grateful “Her survival journey, unveiled in My Beautiful Detour, is more than inspiring; it is a celebration. Against all odds, Amy finds—and creates—the magical out of the impossible.”” — Amanda Gronich, co-creator, The Laramie Project Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded the week before her senior prom. Months later, she awoke from a coma to learn that she might never be able to eat or drink again. After years on IV nutrition, her first bite of food awakened her senses to life’s ordinary miracles but also brought back memories of being sexually abused by a trusted mentor for months, just before the unexpected rush to the emergency room that fateful Passover night. With determination, imagination, relentless resilience, and an inner “hunger” for life, Amy created a roadmap where none existed. Please order My Beautiful Tour through your local bookstore https://twitter.com/AmyOes https://www.amyoes.com/

Welcome to the newest entrant to our Impact Radio USA stable of shows, with "Impact Interviews and Music". The title says it all, as we provide exhilarating interviews with some terrific people and, of course, we augment the interviews with great music! Each episode of "Impact Interviews and Music" airs LIVE every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00 am ET, then repeats at 10:00 pm ET on the same date. On today's show, we spoke with MELISSA KAY CLARKE and AMY OESTREICHER MELISSA KAY CLARKE From Her Website: "It wasn't until college that I tried to write my first novel. Unfortunately, it was quite bad and became lost in the shuffle of transitioning between teenager to adult. This minor failure didn't deter my desire to write - it just cooled it for a while. That fire was rekindled in 2012 with the death of a close friend who also aspired to become an author. Robin's passing reminded me that life is too short to ignore your dreams. Because of her, I sat down, determined to finish one book and publish it. Less than a year later, I achieved that goal by publishing Shattered Dreams. My only regret is not being able to share this ride with her. I know if she was here, she would be in the mix of it with me.  ​Several years and many novels later, I continue to pen my stories covering several genres from paranormal to romantic suspense. I currently reside in Meridian, Mississippi with my very supportive family - husband Robert and daughter Rebecca. When I'm not sweating over a new story, I enjoy reading everything I can, talking to my friends all over the world, honing my skills as a YouTube connoisseur, and being bossed around by my pet conure, Poppy." AMY OESTREICHER From Her Website: "Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded the week before her senior prom. Months later, she awoke from a coma to learn that she might never be able to eat or drink again. After years on IV nutrition, her first bite of food awakened her senses to life’s ordinary miracles but also brought back memories of being sexually abused by a trusted mentor for months, just before the unexpected rush to the emergency room that fateful Passover night. With determination, imagination, relentless resilience, and an inner “hunger” for life, Amy created a roadmap where none existed. My Beautiful Detour offers practical strategies for individuals and unexpected tools for the families of trauma survivors, helping communities build new, limitless futures. The book includes numerous“trauma insights,” and is enriched with humor, art, poetry, and useful takeaways for readers. Reading one woman’s heroic adventure through trauma, recovery, and discovery of new directions in healing the body and the mind is an empowering tale of not just getting through, but thriving." And GREAT music selected just for you! Thank you for stopping in! Enjoy!

As this podcast goes to air we are moving into our next full moon. The sun sign is in Leo and the moon is full in Aquarius… a reflective time time to nourish our creations and break through our limitations. Aquarius energy teaches us to break free of our limitation and the social norms to find our true self. The vibrations coming in now are all about breaking free and finding new perspectives. And as we have been talking about... this full moon is allowing each of us to open up fully to our light… to that part that inspires us to go beyond... to heal our wounds... to know that we are all evolving - evolution - revolution. It is also about questioning your own consciousness and where each of us can awaken… individually and collectively. This full moon asks you to feel your truth and then send it back out into the consciousness around you to help share a new reality. Aquarius and Leo energy encourages us to know where we are and insures us to shed expectation from others, to rise above the fear of rejection and align with our essence.  When you can reframe your challenges and problems as portals of energy… ways to illuminate the lessons rather than as just limitations, you open yourself up to discover the immense power you hold within yourself to heal and let go of your emotional blocks.  All of this I talk about about on the Energy Focus of the week which you can find live on Sunday nights on Facebook or Instagram.  Download my free guide to help you set up your own daily Practice. You can find it on my website at  TerriAnnHeiman.com. Or if you would prefer some private help, join me in my Empowered Spirit Program.  Schedule an Empowered Spirit Discovery Session with me and let's discover what three things are draining you of your energy and if this program is a fit for you. I am seeing clients, virtually and  some in person, and I do have just a few spot left for my private mentoring program . In today's episode, I talk with Amy Oestreicher about her life, her challenges and especially her creativity and how it has helped her to overcome her obstacles.  Her book, My Beautiful Detour, is one of the most inspiriting story I've heard in a long time. I absolutely fell in love with her! We talk about creating and art as a means to heal, detours, resilience, abuse, PTSD, eating and so much more that went into her own personal healing. Talk about reframing your challenges and problems... wow. Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD Specialist, Audie award-nominated playwright, performer and multidisciplinary creator. Amy overcame a decade of trauma to become a sought-after traumainformed teaching artist, author, writer for The Huffington Post, international keynote speaker, RAINN representative and health advocate. She has given three TEDx Talks on transforming trauma through creativity, and her story has appeared on NBC's Today, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping and MSNBC, among others. A singer, librettist and visual mixed media artist, she dedicates her work to celebrating everyday miracles, untold stories and the detours in life that can spark connection and transform communities. Amy has toured her autobiographical musical, Gutless & Grateful, to over 200 venues from 54 Below to Barrington Stage Company since its 2012 NYC debut, as well as a mental health program for colleges, conferences and organizations. She is currently developing her full-length play, Flicker and a Firestarter, which just had its first AEA Staged Reading, and More Than Ever Now, a play based on her grandmother's story of survival. She most recently premiered her one-woman multimedia musical, Passageways, at HERE Arts Center, for which she created music, book, lyrics and artwork. As the 2014 Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec's Great Comebacks Award and WEGO Health “Health Activist Hero” and WeGO Health Expert, she speaks for National WOCN conferences and the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress and writes for the official print publication of the UOAA. She has devised programming for the Transformative Language Arts Network National Conference, the Eating Recovery Foundation, the 40th Anniversary New England Educational Opportunity Association Milestones Conference, three Annual National Mental Health America Conference and others. She has been the featured keynote speaker for national conferences including the Pacific Rim Conference of Diversity and Disability, the International School of Social Work Conference and Women of Resilience. As a playwright, Amy has received awards and accolades for engaging her audiences in dynamic conversation on trauma's effects on society, including Women Around Town's “Women to Celebrate” 2014, BroadwayWorld “Best Theatre Debut,” Bistro Awards “New York Top Pick” and the “Singular Award” at the Sarasolo Theatre Festival, presented annually for a “performance that is exceptionally uncommon, groundbreaking, original and inventive.” Amy has performed excerpts of her solo oral history play, Divers, as part of Brooklyn's immigrants and Exile, Beechwood Art's Giving Voice, Dixon Place, Seekonk Storytelling Television Special, and Museum of Jewish Heritage Festival of Untold Women. She is a cabaret and theatre reviewer for BroadwayWorld, Her theatre education essays and monologues have been published in Creative Pedagogy journals, as part of a theatre curriculum for high school students in the Philippines. Her play, "We Re-Member" honoring the immigration stories of her grandparents, has been performed in twelve states, and her full-length play, Factory Treasure, has been performed at the Philadelphia Arts Center, Identity Theatre, LIU, The Depot and Actors Theatre of Newburyport. Her short plays have been published by the Eddy Theatre Company and finalists in Manhattan Repertory Theatre's Short Play Festival, as well as NYC Playwright's Women in the Age of Trump. Amy's collaboration with Beechwood Arts on the immersion salon, “Resilience and the Power of the Human Spirit,” has traveled around the world to health and arts facilities as a public installation, incorporating her monologues, art, writing and recipes to express the life-altering detours and ultimately the invaluable gifts of her resilient journey. Amy is also an active artist and teacher in the Jewish community, being honored by United Way in 2005 for her music programs at Hollander House, completing artist residencies at Art Kibbutz, and delivering “Hope, Resilience & Biblical Women” keynotes for synagogues and religious schools. She is a teaching artist with Brooklyn's Community World Project, and trained ACTSmart, a Playback Theatre troupe in Amherst, MA. She is also a passionate arts education advocate, a successful mixed media visual artist, a continuing education studio arts teacher and her artwork has been shown in esteemed galleries in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Chicago, San Diego and New York, as well as published in national publications including Conquer, Topology and Cargo Literary. She has recently published her memoir, My Beautiful Detour: An Unthinkable Journey from Gutless to Grateful. See more at www.amyoes.com. Facebook. Instagram. YouTube #lovemydetour Join The Campaign. Walk - “Step into Joy” Step Into Joy Workshops: Walking for Connection, Discovery & Play  Covid masks -  Art stuff -  TedXTalks. Sexual trauma of my PTSD: It's OK to Freeze: Healing From Sexual Assault  Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth As Amy says… we are have this creative force within us.  Allow yourself to go within and find this energy to help overcome any obstacle. Reach out to Amy for inspiration, her programs or to bring her to your group and have her share her inspiring story. I fell in love with her. #Lovemydetour - be a part of the movement! And, if you need help on your spiritual path, reach out to me. I have a few openings for my private mentoring program.   Thanks again for listening. To your Spirit, Terri PS… Schedule a Virtual Coffee here.   Join Terri's Facebook Group  Follow Terri on Instagram Find her on LinkedIn   EPISODE CREDITS If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Welcome to the newest entrant to our Impact Radio USA stable of shows, with "Impact Interviews and Music". The title says it all, as we provide exhilarating interviews with some terrific people and, of course, we augment the interviews with great music! Each episode of "Impact Interviews and Music" airs LIVE every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00 am ET, then repeats at 10:00 pm ET on the same date. On today's show, we spoke with the OOLA GUYS and AMY OESTREICHER: OOLA GUYS From Their Website: "Since the first copy of the original book, Oola: Find balance in an Unbalanced World, rolled off the presses a few years ago, the Oola Lifestyle has become a literal phenomenon—a dynamic movement. OolaPalooza live events have been routinely sold out since the day they were started, and the Oola message has been taken to countless cities across America and to every major city in the world via our 1,000,000+ Oola fans on social media. In their 1970 VW Surf bus, authors Troy Amdahl and Dave Braun have taken their OolaDream tour on the road, from coast-to-coast, collecting dreams and goals for a balanced life from people who adorn their vehicle with colorful Oola stickers. Their surf bus is currently covered 24 layers in the hand-written dreams from people they have met along their amazing adventure. The OolaGuys are committed to changing the world with a word by collecting 1,000,000 dreams and feeding 1,000,000 children. This starts with a better you. They travel the world collecting dreams and helping people find balance and growth in the 7 key areas of life (the 7 F’s of Oola) – Fitness, Finance, Family, Field (career), Faith, Friends, and Fun. By revealing how to remove the stress related to a life out-of-balance, they unlock the greatness that is inside all of us. A better “you”, makes a better family, a better community, and ultimately a better world. The OolaGuys are committed to changing the world with their simple, yet life-changing message." AMY OESTREICHER From Her Website: "Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded the week before her senior prom. Months later, she awoke from a coma to learn that she might never be able to eat or drink again. After years on IV nutrition, her first bite of food awakened her senses to life’s ordinary miracles but also brought back memories of being sexually abused by a trusted mentor for months, just before the unexpected rush to the emergency room that fateful Passover night. With determination, imagination, relentless resilience, and an inner “hunger” for life, Amy created a roadmap where none existed. My Beautiful Detour offers practical strategies for individuals and unexpected tools for the families of trauma survivors, helping communities build new, limitless futures. The book includes numerous“trauma insights,” and is enriched with humor, art, poetry, and useful takeaways for readers. Reading one woman’s heroic adventure through trauma, recovery, and discovery of new directions in healing the body and the mind is an empowering tale of not just getting through, but thriving." And GREAT music selected just for you! Thank you for stopping in! Enjoy!

Amy Oestreicher, an artist actress, influential speaker, and now author, joined us to discuss her newest release, "My Beautiful Detour", a book that describes, "What happens when an ordinary teenager has to turn into a warrior to survive?", as she takes us through her incredible journey.  From Her Website: "Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded the week before her senior prom. Months later, she awoke from a coma to learn that she might never be able to eat or drink again. After years on IV nutrition, her first bite of food awakened her senses to life’s ordinary miracles but also brought back memories of being sexually abused by a trusted mentor for months, just before the unexpected rush to the emergency room that fateful Passover night. With determination, imagination, relentless resilience, and an inner “hunger” for life, Amy created a roadmap where none existed. My Beautiful Detour offers practical strategies for individuals and unexpected tools for the families of trauma survivors, helping communities build new, limitless futures. The book includes numerous“trauma insights,” and is enriched with humor, art, poetry, and useful takeaways for readers. Reading one woman’s heroic adventure through trauma, recovery, and discovery of new directions in healing the body and the mind is an empowering tale of not just getting through, but thriving."

Amy Oestreicher overcame a decade of trauma to become a sought after PTSD specialist, artist, author, and writer for the Huffington Post. An international keynote speaker and health advocate. She’s given three TEDx talks on transforming trauma to creativity and her story has appeared on NBC’s Today, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, and MSNBC among others. Amy has toured her autobiographical musical Gutless and Grateful to over 200 many venues from 54 below to Barrington Stage Company since its 2012 New York City debut as well as mental health program for colleges, conferences, and organizations. And you can read her new book out right now. My Beautiful Detour which chronicles her life.

Healing from physical pain, disease, or trauma is not an exact science; there is no "one size fits all" approach to healing. Each of us is different and experiences the feelings and emotions that come from healing in different ways, and of course on our own timeline. We talk often on the podcast about different ways that survivors of trauma, chronic pain, or illness, have found to embrace healing. The ways they have taken what's happened to them in life and figure out a way to turn it into a learning experience and being able to help others. Our guest on this episode, Amy Oestreicher, using art and creative expression in her journey, and she talks about that with us in an inspiring chat that is sure to leave you encouraged. Amy is many things, but first and foremost, she is a storyteller...she is an artist, writer, and influential speaker whose work is rooted in inspiration and built to be eclectic. From the visual arts to music to writing to education, click on any of the pictures above to explore her work and services offered. These include offerings such as a variety of hailed workshops and outreach programs, the sale of her visual art and fashion line, her original multimedia solo-musical PASSAGEWAYS, and her newly released book available below!During our chat, Amy talks more about how she uses creative expression to heal and navigate PTSD:Amy talks about the 29 surgeries she's had throughout her life and a backstory of how she first ended up in the hospital with a condition that nearly killed her.How does she cope with emotional and physical healing; the sexual abuse she experienced and the physical trauma. How is emotional recovery different than physical recovery. The four hardcore skills to resilience that have helped her. How creativity can be anything you want it to be, and the importance of being ok with making mistakes. In addition, how the approach to writing and creative expression in similar to the approach she takes in all of her life. Why she wrote her book, My Beautiful Detour, and the message she wants to share with everyone. You can learn more about Amy, her story, her artwork, her one-woman show, Ted Talks, her book "My Beautiful Detour, and more, over at her website, AmyOes.com. Be sure and follow her on social media as well!facebook.com/amyoestr linkedin.com/in/amyoes instagram/amyoes70 twitter.com/amyoes youtube.com/amyoes70If you enjoy these podcasts would you consider doing 3 easy things for us?1. Share it with someone who might find it helpful.2. Leave a review on your favorite podcasting app.3. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.That’s it…Super Easy and it would mean the world to us.If you want to go a step further, we have a special Thank You just for You!Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sPH8pMZ)

Amy Oestreicher is an artist, writer, and influential speaker whose work is rooted in inspiration and built to be eclectic. From the visual arts to music to writing to education, she is foremost a storyteller. Amy overcame a decade of trauma to become a sought-after PTSD specialist, artist, author, writer for The Huffington Post, international keynote speaker, RAINN representative, and health advocate. She has given three TEDx Talks on transforming trauma through creativity, and her story has appeared on NBC’s Today, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, and MSNBC, among others. Amy has toured her autobiographical musical, Gutless & Grateful, to over 200 venues from 54 Below to Barrington Stage Company since its 2012 NYC debut, as well as a mental health program for colleges, conferences and organizations. And you can read her new book out, My Beautiful Detour, which chronicles her life. Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded the week before her senior prom. Months later, she awoke from a coma to learn that she might never be able to eat or drink again. After years on IV nutrition, her first bite of food awakened her senses to life’s ordinary miracles but also brought back memories of being sexually abused by a trusted mentor for months, just before the unexpected rush to the emergency room that fateful Passover night. With determination, imagination, relentless resilience, and an inner “hunger” for life, Amy created a roadmap where none existed. We’re so excited to have Amy on to talk with us today about how she’s overcome trauma, how her detour moved her on to this amazing path of creation that she’s on, and being a woman in the world! Learn more at Jubilance.com/blog

Amy Oestreicher shares an open and honest conversation about PTSD and living life with PTSD. She discusses the role of creativity in a way that is not often discussed. You’ll hear of some wonderful resources in books and more in this thoughtful and helpful discussion with host Mike Domitrz.   Links to Amy's book are: https://www.amazon.com/My-Beautiful-Detour-Unthinkable-Grateful/dp/1733138811/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=dbs_a_w_dp_1733138811   And all ebook and paperback versions are available at https://www.amyoes.com/mbd   * You are invited to join our community and conversations about each episode on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/MutuallyAmazingPodcast and join us on Twitter @CenterRespect or visit our website at http://www.MutuallyAmazingPodcast.com**     BIO of Amy Oestreicher:  Amy Oestreicher is an Audie Award-nominated PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for The Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, award-winning actress, and playwright. As a survivor and “thriver” of multiple traumas, Amy eagerly shares the gifts of life’s “beautiful detours” her educational programming, writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. Amy has headlined international conferences on leadership, entrepreneurship, women’s rights, mental health, disability, creativity, and domestic violence prevention. She is a SheSource Expert, a “Top Mental Health” writer for Medium, and a regular lifestyle, wellness, and arts contributor for over 70 notable online and print publications, and and her story has appeared on NBC’s TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, MSNBC, among others.   To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. Her passion for inclusion, equity and amplifying marginalized voices has earned her various honors, including a scholarship from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor Professionals, the first annual SHERocks Herstory National Performing Artist Honoree, a United Way Community Helper award, and a National Sexual Education Grant honor. To creatively engage student advocacy efforts, Amy developed a trauma-informed program combining mental health education, sexual assault prevention, and Broadway Theatre for college campuses, organizations and conferences. She has designed a creative curriculum for “Detourist Resiliency,” an outreach program taken to schools, hospitals, and at-risk youth. She also has launched Detourist peer-led chapters on college campuses, Detourist creative arts workshops, and an online community to creatively fight stigma in society through storytelling. “Detourism” is also the subject of her TEDx Talk and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017.   As the 2014 Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award and WEGO Health 2016 “Health Activist Hero” Finalist, and WeGO Health Expert, Amy is a passionate voice in the ostomy community, founding the online community Fearless Ostomates, speaking for National and Regional WOCN conferences, and writing for the official print publication of the UOAA. Her presentations on alternative medicine, and patient advocacy and healthcare have also been accepted to international conferences on patient care, internal medicine, medical trauma and therapeutic humor in hospitals. She has devised workshops for the Transformative Language Arts Network National Conference, the Eating Recovery Foundation, the 40th Anniversary New England Educational Opportunity Association Milestones Conference, the Annual National Mental Health America Conference,2016 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress, and others. She was the 2016 keynote speaker for the Hawaii Pacific Rim International Conference on Diversity and Disability. and will be the featured keynote speaker at the 2018 International School of Social Work Conference in Ohio.   As a playwright, Amy has received awards and accolades for engaging her audiences in dynamic conversation on trauma’s effects on society, including Women Around Town’s “Women to Celebrate” 2014, BroadwayWorld “Best Theatre Debut,” Bistro Awards “New York Top Pick, and the “Singular Award” at the Sarasolo Theatre Festival, presented annually for a “performance that is exceptionally uncommon, groundbreaking, original and inventive.” Amy has written, directed and starred in a one-woman musical about her life, Gutless & Grateful, touring theatres, schools, festivals, conventions and organizations since it’s 2012 New York debut. Gutless & Grateful is currently being licensed to students across the country for academic projects and competitions. Amy spent Fall of 2015 participating as a playwright and performance artist in the National Musical Theatre Institute at the world-renowned Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, where she helped to develop the full-length multimedia ensemble piece, The Greeks Are Trying to Tell Us Something, and was a writer, actress, composer and set designer for “Playwrights and Librettists” – a festival of 27 30-minute plays in five days. Her original, full-length drama, Imprints, exploring the physical and psychological impact of trauma, premiered at the Producer’s Club in 2016, and is currently in development for a full New York production as Flicker and a Firestarter. Her short plays have been published by the Eddy Theatre Company and finalists in Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s Short Play Festival, as well as NYC Playwright’s Women in the Age of Drumpf. Her theatre education essays and monologues have been published in Creative Pedagogy journals, as part of a theatre curriculum for high school students in the Philippines, and as a teaching artist, she is a strong advocate for arts integration and education.   Amy’s collaboration with Beechwood Arts on the immersion salon, “Resilience and the Power of the Human Spirit”, has traveled around the world to health and arts facilities as a public installation, incorporating her monologues, art, writing and recipes to express the life-altering detours and ultimately the invaluable gifts of her resilient journey. Amy is also an active artist and teacher in the Jewish community, being honored by United Way in 2005 for her music programs at Hollander House, completing artist residencies at Art Kibbutz, and delivering “Hope, Resilience & Biblical Women” keynotes for synagogues and religious schools. After studying Theatre of the Oppressed in her studies at Hampshire College, she helped to train ACTSmart, a Playback Theatre troupe in Amherst, MA. She is also a passionate arts education advocate, a successful mixed media visual artist, a continuing education studio arts teacher, and an active member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, League for Advancement of New England Storytellers, Fairfield County Cultural Alliance, Alliance for Jewish Theatre, Theatre Artist Workshop, and several art guilds throughout Connecticut and New York.   Amy is currently developing a multimedia performance project incorporate her original music compositions with the oral histories of her grandmother, a holocaust survivor with musical director David Brunetti, and developing a new multidisciplinary solo musical based on herthird TEDx Talk this year: healing from trauma through the archetypal hero’s journey. She is also working on a full-length play with music, LEFTOVERS with director and dramaturge Susan Einhorn, based on her life after the surgical ICU. She is leading mixed media creativity and solo performance workshops to promote creativity as a mindset, an essential survival skill. Amy also offers creative coaching and consulting services help others navigate their own “life detours,” and prides herself most on ending each night with a gratitude list.   As the creator of Gutless & Grateful, her one-women autobiographical musical, Amy has toured theatres nationwide. She also premiered her drama, Imprints, at NYC Producers Club in May 2016, about how trauma affects the family as well as the victim.   Her #LoveMyDetour campaign helps others cope with unexpected events. “Detourism” is also the subject of her upcoming TEDx talk and book My Beautiful Detour.   LINKS: www.amyoes.com   Amy's Social Media: Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/amyoestr and facebook.com/lovemydetour Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/amyoes Or you can subscribe to G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106058010956085677457/posts Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/amyoes70/allspice-acrylics-a-celebration-of-life-and-beauti/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AmyOes70 Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/amyoes stumbleupon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/amyoes700 Bloglovin: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/amyoes-14356407 Twitter: @amyoes Instagram: @amyoes70   Link to R.A.I.N.N. (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network) at www.rainn.org   Books Amy Recommends: Amy’s Book: My Beautiful Detour New World Theatre’s “Solitary Voice: A Collection of Epic Monologues” Nevertheless She Persusted by Tanya Eby & 8 Others The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine and Ann Frederick The Courage to Heal by Laura Davis and Ellen Bass  The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk MD and Sean Pratt    READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPTION of the EPISODE HERE (or download the pdf): **IMPORTANT: This podcast episode was transcribed by a 3rd party service and so errors can occur throughout the following pages: Mike:                       Welcome to the respect podcast. I'm your host, Mike Domitrz from mikespeaks.com, where we help organizations of all sizes, educational institutions, and the U.S. military create a culture of respect, and respect is exactly what we discuss on this show. So let's get started. This week's episode, we want to get right into it here 'cause you're going to be incredibly inspired by our guest's journey back to wholeness and reclaiming her voice using creativity as her lifeline. She gratefully discovered the upside of obstacles. Today Amy is a PTSD specialist, artist, author, Tedx, and Rain speaker, award-winning actress, a playwright, and mental health advocate. That is Amy Oestreicher. Thank you, Amy, so much for joining us. Amy:                         Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Mike:                       Absolutely. And so we want to dive right into this. The show, obviously, is all about respect, but you bring a different perspective in that you talk about PTSD and trauma. And let's get right into that. So when people hear trauma and PTSD, what form, or does it matter, that you're referring to? Amy:                         Well, what I'm referring to is, there's trauma that comes from many setbacks and many unexpected twists and turns in my life that I didn't expect, that really didn't come to my realization until years and years later. So for PTSD, something can impact us that can completely change our lives overnight, and we might sit with that for a bit, and slowly we feel that something isn't right. I don't feel the same. And slowly those memories come to surface, and I found my way through piecing together those memories and finding healing through creativity. PTSD, for me, started, with being sexually abused by a teacher that I trusted. And an example of a symptom of PTSD is the freeze response, where you don't think anything has happened, and you kind of wake up and go about your life, and think everything's as you were, and suddenly something is off, disassociation, meaning the world is around you, and you're somewhere apart from it wondering what's going on. Amy:                         I did not say no or fight back, although my mind was clearly thinking those things, but I just froze. I saw myself as somewhere separate. And years later it would take a lot of work to kind of bring those memories to light and start to heal through remembering all of that. Mike:                       Well, one, I want to thank you for sharing your journey, your strength, your courage as a survivor. And I think this is an important topic because a lot of times when people hear freeze, they think that the natural human response is freeze or flight or fight. They tend to think, oh, most people flight or fight. They think that, and they forget that freeze is actually the most natural human reaction under stress in our DNA system as human beings, because back in the times of cave people, you did not fight the creature there was 20 times larger than you. Amy:                         Right, right. Mike:                       You either played dead, freeze, or you ran. Fight was the last thing you did. So a lot of times people hear it and they go, "Why didn't you fight?" Because it's the last innate response that the human body is likely to have because naturally it's to freeze or to run. And in certain situations, running's not an option. Child teacher, you can definitely feel like, I don't have that option. So to freeze is the natural thing to occur, and I think too often people don't realize that. Amy:                         Exactly. Mike:                       And so I think for anybody listening, thinking that, saying, "Well, why didn't the person fighter? Or what ..." Those are not innately in our DNA. So the body reacts under stress to its most innate natural things that it thinks it should do, that saved it over thousands of years of human being in existence. And that's what can happen in that moment. Is that true? Amy:                         It's true, and I love to bring up an amazing resource that I found that, that changed my perspective on the freeze response. It's called ... It's a book called Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine. And what caught me, and what you brought up is, Peter Levine spent a lot of time just studying animals in the wild, and he saw that a gazelle when it's kind of running free it ... And a predator attacks it, it just plays dead. And then once the attack is over, it will just get up and just run and run and run and discharge that natural energy and restore its homeostasis and be back to normal. And Peter Levine was like, "Well, why can't humans do that? Why did we get stuck in that?" And, well, we have a brain, and we think ourselves, we overthink ourselves, and we stay frozen in that nestle, that bunches of energy, when really we just need to discharge that energy like the gazelle that is running through the wild. And we need to find a healthy container to get that capsulated energy out and bring it to light. Amy:                         Eventually through talking about it and sharing it or whatever feels like a release to you, but he really, Peter Levine really took his cues from these animals in the wild that have this freeze response in them, and they know how to know from it. And I think the community really needs to understand what goes on in the freeze response to really support survivors and understand that this may be all tucked in and it needs to be brought to light. Mike:                       Yeah. And one of the problems that communities can put on survivors at times is trying to understand why the survivor did what they did, instead of not understanding, the issue is what the predator did, not with the survivor did or did not do. To focus on whether the survivor fought back or run is missing the point. It's all about what the predator did. Now we need to be supportive of the survivor so that they can, like you said, be able to live that life, to be able to live a full life. Amy:                         Right. Or, "Why didn't you tell someone right away?" Your words often come last. Again, It's that you think of a kaleidoscope of ... I am an artist, so I've been creatively ... colors coming together, red anxiety or anger or fear, and the person just does not have those words. I mean, it takes time. But the, I think the important first step is the community needs to be so informed of what the freeze response is and be there for their survivors and believe them. Mike:                       Yes, well that's essential. And it is interesting because, depending on where PTSD has been discussed, people treat it differently. Military PTSD tends to be treated differently than sexual violence PTSD that's a result of sexual violence, because the military, and I get to work with the military all over the world, we thankfully are grateful from our military. Not everybody is, but a lot of people are. So when they look at the military, they go, "There's a hero who is struggling with something that happened because they sacrificed for our country." And so therefore there's empathy, there's understanding for that person. Yet there's not always the same toward sexual violence survivors. They don't have that same. Why do you think that is? Amy:                         Well, you have to remember, too, that it took a long time for those stories to be told as well. My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, and I think about how she coped just coming right out of the war before PTSD was even a word. I think for survivors of sexual violence the encouraging part is it now is becoming talked about much more than when it happened to me. And I say keep going with that. But there are more blurry lines with that, especially with what's shown to us on the media, with messages we've gotten from the past from culture and things like that. And now we're all trying to kind of make a new game plan. But it is kind of a fuzzy area because things that have seemed okay to other people in the past, well, now these survivors' stories are being told, and we see that, you know when this happened, this was not okay. Amy:                         So I think it's our job, to be honest, everyone's job to make those boundaries just as clear that, just as PTSD is an atrocity with certain communities, it is an atrocity with survivors of sexual violence. I'm also a survivor of PTSD from almost 30 surgeries from another unexpected medical-related crisis. And I dealt with the same thing, that once I was done with all my surgeries and stitched up and ready to go, doctors thought, well, the physical part of me was healed, so why couldn't I just move on to the rest of my life? Whenever we encounter any kind of change in our life, where our life seems to just twist overnight, we need that support from those around us to know that it's going to take time for us to process that change, and we need to talk about it. Mike:                       Yeah. And that's so important. And that goes into you ... In your work you talk about sharing your story and why somebody sharing their story's so important. Can you share for our listeners, our viewers, why that is such an important journey? Amy:                         Yes. I didn't realize how important it was. My situation was very atypical, I guess. I guess unexpected, like anyone else would, but I was 18, and just a blood clot on caused me to go into many, many surgeries that changed my life overnight. And because of medical circumstances, I was very isolated for almost a decade. And so I didn't really have many people to talk to. I had my doctors, and I had my loving parents, and that's all. But slowly I started to write a little bit, and again, another book that inspired me was Joseph Campbell learning about, uh, the archetypal hero's journey, and I actually found my way through this dark, unanticipated chapter in my life through tracing Joseph Campbell's steps to what makes a hero in society and how they have to go away for a while and then come back transformed. I mean, it's in every Pixar movie, the heroes or in your Star Wars. And so I kind of used that as my own map. And so slowly I was typing. PART 1 OF 3 ENDS [00:12:04] Amy:                         Use that as my own map, and so, slowly, I was typing and typing to kind of uncover what I had been through for myself. That was only a very initial step because this was still all me realizing these things for myself. Then, years later, I finally was able to share it through theater, which I had always loved doing as a kid and which I thought was going to be my life. I ended up making that story arc into a one-woman musical that I've been touring since 2012, but it's very funny. That was the first time I'd ever shared anything about what I had been through, and in the very first opening venue in New York, I said one line about the sexual abuse. And it was very difficult for me. I didn't know whether it fit in with everything else, and then, over the years, as I became more and more comfortable with that, talking about it, more people that came to see my show came up to me and said, you know, "Something similar had happened to me." And I'd started the conversation. Amy:                         And now, I've expanded on the show, where I do go into that a lot and the healing that came come from it and the community that can come, so, I guess, writing my show and performing it was an example, for me, of how just planting the seed of just starting your story and getting to share it and share it and talk to other people, it can make you move on or go to the next step that you need to go to. Mike:                       And you're a big advocate of using creativity in that process, as you've explained. Amy:                         Yeah. Mike:                       So, yeah, you created the show, a one-woman, one-person show, that really has a powerful impact. If somebody's listening, going, "I'm just not creative. I am not an artist. I am not a performer- Amy:                         No, no, no- Mike:                       -I get- Amy:                         -don't say that. Mike:                       I know. I know, but that's what people are going to thing, so- Amy:                         I know. Mike:                       -we need to address that. I think there's a misunderstanding what creativity means, so can you explain what we mean by "creativity" and why- Amy:                         Totally. Mike:                       -it's so important and can be such a great resource in the process? Amy:                         Yes. Creativity is really just a mindset. I couldn't talk for many months after my surgeries because I had all these things going on, tubes in and out of me, and then I couldn't talk at times where I felt too shocked at everything going around me to even say a word. And I missed singing, and I wanted to go back to that. But that's when I started ... I picked up a paint brush by accident in one of the hospitals, started just painting, but by creativity is really just a way to see things differently. So, it means just taking a walk outside, taking a breath, looking at the tree and finding grounding by a tree in a new way. It means cooking a recipe you've always loved. It means putting a little bit of that locked-up energy that you'll ... that passion that was always there before all this that can never be taken away by any kind of trauma. It just gets frozen like a gazelle. You're playing dead. Amy:                         Creativity is a way to unlock that clenched-up energy and just bring it forward, and don't worry about the final steps of "Well, how am I gonna tell about what happened to me?" Just focus on that, those uncomfortable feelings you might feel in the freeze response, which is the anxiety, the pain, the fear. Feel that energy and see if there's a color. Start with that and see it in the sky or something and really just ... I got to say one more time, before you start working about how we're gonna show it to the community, just focus on getting out that energy for yourself and seeing that you were in there all along. You just got bring it to life somehow. Mike:                       Yeah. And you can choose to never share it with the community. It could be your process for your own journey. Amy:                         Exactly. Mike:                       And that's what I love about how you're describing creativity. I have always remembered. I was speaking to a doctor, and I work with a doctor who's both general practitioner and also holistic, so both sides of the equation. Mike:                       And he was once saying to me, "Hey, Mike, on a scale of one to three in how you feel the world [inaudible 00:16:49] the world, you're a three, very high, like, off-the-charts three. You feel everything in the world, which means you're a high creative," and I jumped back and went "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't do art. I don't write music. I love to sing, but I'm horrible at it. Like, I do not have artistic traits." And he went, "What? You get on stage and you share with people your thoughts and ideas. That's a very creative process in how that works and how you put the thoughts together and how you connect, and you're a massive problem-solver. That's what you love to do." So, that's all creativity, so I think- Amy:                         Oh, yeah. Mike:                       -for people listening, pause and go, "Are you a problem-solver? Because if you are, that's a high-level form of creativity. You're trying to creatively come up with a solution when you're problem-solving." Amy:                         Exactly. Yeah. It just means taking an unexpected turn and saying, "All right. I'll go with it and see what happens." And we never know what's coming next, so if you have creativity, that is your best resource because then you can just say, "Okay, unexpected twist, I'm gonna just follow you and use my magic reassembling creativity problem-solving skills to figure out whatever comes next." Mike:                       Yeah. And it's very natural, as a Buddhist approach, that we let go of the outcome, right, that we be present in the journey, let go of the outcome because when you're outcome-focused, it actually kills your creativity because- Amy:                         And [inaudible 00:18:11] the outcome. Mike:                       -you're creating pressure. Right. You're saying there has to be this end result versus actually just being free to the possibilities. That's creativity. Amy:                         Exactly. Mike:                       It is freedom of possibility, so I love that conversation. Amy:                         Open mind. Mike:                       Yes. Yeah, exactly. How do you think we help society as a whole have a universal empathy when we can't relate to what somebody else has been through? Somebody hears that and goes, "Well, why didn't they do this?" Or "Why didn't they do that?" And what's happening is they're watching through their lenses. They're thinking through their lenses and thinking, "I would've done this. At least, I think I would've. So, how in the world did they do that?" How do we help people understand that empathy means, "I don't think about it how I would've done it. I think about what they must have been going through, and I will never- Amy:                         Right. Mike:                       -fully understand it 'cause I wasn't there, but at least I'm trying to be compassionate from that viewpoint?" Amy:                         Right. I mean, I come from an acting background, and the first thing I remember learning is awareness without judgment. We're aware of everyone else around us, of everything else around us, but we don't judge. But, with these circumstances, I think, honestly, having been through it and now supporting other survivors of violence, I really think we all need to up our game and, again, be educated on PTSD and the various responses that can only not ... not only affect the survivors themselves, but the people that care about them. It can affect other communities and things they're going through. I mean, trauma both a universal and historical and ... we'll keep going because life changes. So, I think we're all better off if we understand what can happen, and we're ... as humans, we're all always going to think, "Well, I would've done this," or "I would've said 'No,'" or "I would've ...." Amy:                         I think, again, we can have those thoughts, but at the end of the day, we really have to understand that this is trauma. And I want to be open to whatever this person is sharing with me or chooses to share. Mike:                       Yeah. Amy:                         It's having respect. Mike:                       That's just it. It's treating everybody with respect and dignity, and in the wake of sexual violence, sometimes there's destructive coping strategies that show themselves- Amy:                         Exactly. Mike:                       -for a survivor and that can amplify symptoms of PTSD. And you used the word "victimization." Couple things. Those listening, when we say "destructive," what do we mean by that 'cause they might understand what that means and how do you help somebody who's experiencing that? Amy:                         So, destructive coping mechanisms. I'm gonna go back to that energy that survivors feel that has not been discharged. When we carry a secret, [inaudible 00:21:14] are like poison. They burdensome. They weigh down, and so those can often be coped with in anything from drugs and alcohol to other symptoms to any other way that we can find to become numb, whether it's scrolling up and down on Facebook all day. It's any way that we are trying to ignore that energy and kind of just close off and not deal with those things, and it takes a lot of bravery and a lot of courage to really look at that energy for what it is and maybe even remember a bit of what happened and how you felt. But it's a very important part of the process because all those destructive coping mechanisms ... really, it's about energy. Think of that energy that the gazelle wishes they could be running off and around with. It's that energy we need to get out, that we feel like we have to close down. Mike:                       Well, and I want to step in there because I, in this line of work ... and I'm sure you run into the same thing. People come up to me and go, "I have someone close to me in my life who either I know or I highly suspect is a survivor of sexual violence, but they have not told anyone. And I can see the destructive coping strategies in their life. How do I help them?" And what happens when they ask that question is there's two approaches. There's the "How do I help them? How do I support them?" And there's the "How do I fix them?" Which are two very different approaches. Amy:                         Yeah. [inaudible 00:23:02] true. Mike:                       Help and support is what people need. Being fixed is never gonna work with a human being. You don't fix people. I've made that mistake of trying to be a fixer in my life over [inaudible 00:23:12]. There were times, where I looked back, when I was trying to fix the person versus be supportive of the person, so how do we, instead of trying to fix them, how do we provide support when it's ... they're not asking for it? They have not come forward. I mean, verbally, asking for it. They're not outwardly saying, "Will you support me? Will you help me?" They haven't even told anyone that they are struggling with this. How do you help and support that person? Amy:                         And, honestly, they're role is very, very different because I think it's human instinct to want to fix people. When we see people struggling, we want to reach out, and we want to help them so badly. Surprisingly, the best way to help and support is not such a hands-on, fixing approach as you might have wanted. It's to really just ... being there as- PART 2 OF 3 ENDS [00:24:04] Amy:                         It's really just being there as a listener, as a gentle, compassionate listener. And if you need to say, "I believe you" ... It's taking in the words they're saying or whatever they're giving you. Mike:                       Yeah, because they might not tell you. They might not be in a believe you moment, because they might not tell you. And that's why saying that I'm here for you. If anything ever has happened or ever does, that's the language we teach our audiences. If anybody ever has or does. That way you're opening the door to possibilities of what could've already happened or what could happen in the future. It's so important for the person to understand, I'm here for you. And then the tough part is, you have to be patient. Amy:                         Right. Mike:                       Because they may not want to tell you for ten years, and that's their journey. It's not your right to invade and change their journey on them. Or ever. Or maybe they want to tell you right then, but it's their journey which means you have to be patient and understand this isn't about me finding out, or me being told. It's about them and being present for them. Amy:                         Yeah. And for those of you that are listening going, "That's it?" I get it, it's so simple and it's so difficult to just leave it at that, just be there. But it's that support. I always go back to theater and military veterans that the Greek plays of Sophocles about war and all those things. Those were originally meant for veterans of the war to come in and share their story to the community to get that community compassion, to have people know what they were going through. And there are other rituals that we still do today like dancing and group singing and all those things that show that our need for community is so important. So, survivors of sexual violence, if you feel kind of that no one in the community understands you, please know that coming back to the community is just such an important part of healing, even if it's scary. And for those that see these people struggling, just welcome them in and don't ask questions, don't demand answers. Just, we need to stay welcome with open arms. Mike:                       I love that you pointed out "Don't ask questions." Because that sounds like you're prying and you're investigating, which can very quickly turn into ... whether intentional or not, unintended victim-blaming is what can happen there. Amy:                         Right. Mike:                       So just listening is so important. Now, a great resource out there that you speak for, you're a RAINN speaker, is RAINN. Which for anybody listening is Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, RAINN.org. They also have an eight hundred number on their website, and you can call them and it's actually 656-HOPE, I think, is the eight hundred number. But you can call, you can email, and they'll hook you up with resources locally that are confidential and twenty-four seven. They can tell you what those are, but they can also just start by being there for you. It's a great organization. What are some additional resources that you feel are vital for survivors to know if somebody's listening right now and is experiencing PTSD? Amy:                         Right. So, first of all, I can't say enough good things about RAINN. They will connect you to anything ... and anonymously. I know a lot of people who are worried about saying who they are or saying who they feel the perpetrator was. You don't have to worry about that. They will take you wherever you are right now. Some books that really helped me again were Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine. He started this whole kind of therapy with the body called somatic experiencing, which is all about using breath work to really feel your body again. And another book that helped me understand is called The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk. But in terms of online resources, PTSD.org, there are so many resources there. Mike:                       So you just said that's PTSD.org? Amy:                         Yes. Mike:                       Okay, I just want to make sure we have all that on our show notes, for anybody who's listening so they can find that there. Amy:                         Right. And again, any of these places will connect you to someone ... Oh, no, that's not even there anymore. Oh my God. I will have to send you a new link for that. I'm sorry about that. Mike:                       Which link are you referring to? Amy:                         I was actually referring to PTS- Mike:                       Oh, yes, you're right, I see that now. There's nothing there. So that's okay, we'll have the link to RAINN- Amy:                         I will get you- Mike:                       -and we'll have links to all the books you've brought up, we'll have that in the show notes. Let's get into some more books here that you recommend for people. One is your own, your book, My Beautiful Detour. Another one is New World Theater Solitary Voice: A collection of epic monologues. And then you have Nevertheless We Persisted by Tanya Eby and others. If you want to dive in, why those three books? Obviously we'll start with yours, My Beautiful Detour. Amy:                         That's on pre-order now, I'm very excited for that because it is the whole story of a long-winded detour and lots of PTSD, where I felt very isolated and felt like no one understands me, I can't reach out for help, who would get this? But then how all this creativity ... and I say "creativity" in this general term of a mindset, kind of figuring this out as I went along ... how that really helped me along my journey. And eventually how I was able to reach out. I talk about being a detourist, where you see a detour in the path and you find a little creativity and find your way through. So besides talking about my story and how I healed, I also have a lot of really good plans for when life crashes over night and you need to find a way out again. So, I hope it's helpful. Mike:                       Absolutely. Well, I appreciate that. It's in a pre-order so it's still on its way, but people can get it now, so as soon as it comes out. And then, New World Theater Solitary Voice: A collection of epic monologues. What about that one? Amy:                         Well, again, I listed these because, again, the monologue that I wrote for this is actually how I originally discovered I was sexually abused, by picking up a book on a bookshelf, which is really the important resource that I wanted to bring up called The Courage to Heal, Laura Davis, and I'll have to ... The Courage to Heal really saved my life. It's a workbook for survivors of sexual violence and since then there have been editions for their caretakers to fill out with the survivors. There have been many recent versions, but I can't say enough about the book, The Courage to Heal. So, this book that just came out has a monologue where I talk about that first time that I take that up. Amy:                         And then this last, Nevertheless We Persisted, is actually a collection. It was nominated for an Audie Award this spring of monologues and stories about finding a voice in total darkness. So I hope those performances are very inspiring, as well. Mike:                       No, I appreciate that. And your book and your stories, you're getting the messages out there. Now, the one book that you just mentioned, The Courage to Heal, if somebody's looking for that, there's two different versions by completely different authors. There's How to Overcome Sexual Abuse and Childhood Trauma. There's also A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. Which one were you referencing? Amy:                         Right. So I was referencing the one that originally changed my life by Laura Davis and Ellen Bass. Mike:                       Got it, the Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, okay. Amy:                         Right. Mike:                       Just so our listeners are hearing, I want to make sure we give them the right one. And we'll have that in the show notes, we're going to have all these in the show notes. Amy:                         Yes. Mike:                       So I want to thank you so much, Amy. Amy:                         Thank you. Mike:                       For everyone listening, this is Amy Oestriecher. Amy:                         Hi. Mike:                       Our show notes will have all of the links to Amy, 'cause she gave us a lot for social media. All these books, I'm going to have it all there so you can find it all there. Remember you can also jump in this discussion on Facebook, we have a discussion group called The RESPECT Podcast discussion group, jump in there on the conversation, subscribe on iTunes. We love it if you leave a review, too, that always helps. So, Amy, thank you so much for joining us. Amy:                         Thank you. Thank you. Mike:                       Thank you for joining us for this episode of The RESPECT Podcast, which was sponsored by The DATE SAFE Project at datesafeproject.org. And remember, you can always find me at mikespeaks.com. PART 3 OF 3 ENDS [00:33:25]

Amy Oestreicher discusses how to get booked at colleges without an agent. She talks about the opportunities for performers, the types of shows colleges are looking for, and she shares her exact marketing strategy to get booked. Amy is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, writer for Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, and is an award-winning actress and playwright. She has performed her one-woman, autobiographical musical, "Gutless & Grateful," in theaters and colleges nationwide. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope with unexpected events. "Detourism" is the subject of her TEDx talk and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour. She's also contributed to over 70 notable online and print publications, and her story has appeared on NBC, CBS, and in Cosmopolitan. Show Notes: If you join Amy's Newsletter you’ll get a free guide with speaking and marketing tips that will help get your show booked! http://amyoes.com/discover Website - http://amyoes.com TEDx - http://amyoes.com/TEDx Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/amyoestr Facebook Page - facebook.com/lovemydetour Linkedin - https://linkedin.com/in/amyoes Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/amyoes70/allspice-acrylics-a-celebration-of-life-and-beauti/ Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/AmyOes70 Tumblr - https://www.tumblr.com/blog/amyoes stumbleupon - http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/amyoes700 Bloglovin - https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/amyoes-14356407 Twitter - @amyoes Instagram - @amyoes70 Download the outreach email and Amy's Press Kit - https://wellattended.com/blog/065-break-college-market-without-agent-amy-oestreicher/ - Download our free marketing resources at https://wellattended.com/resources

Have you ever taken a detour in your career and wondered why things weren’t going as you planned? You’re going to love this week’s guest, Amy Oestreicher, CEO of Gutless & Grateful. Amy survived an unexpected bloodclot & stomach rupture that left her in a coma for months, followed by 27 surgeries, organ failure, on-going trauma and PTSD over the next 10 years. That’s quite a detour! You will be incredibly inspired by her journey back to wholeness and a satisfying career, using creativity as her lifeline. She gratefully discovered the “upside of obstacles.” Today, Amy is a PTSD specialist, artist, author, TEDx & RAINN speaker, award-wining actress, playwrite and mental health advocate. Amy is the recipient of Convatec’s “Great Comebacks Award”. Her story has appeared on NBC’s TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan and over 70 online and print publications including the Huffington Post. This week’s hot topics will cover: • Transforming Adversity into Creative Growth • The Four Hardcore Skills to Resilience • How to Love your Detours & Achieve Lofty Goals As the creator of Gutless & Grateful, her one-women autobiographical musical, Amy has toured theatres nationwide. She also premiered her drama, Imprints, at NYC Producers Club in May 2016, about how trauma affects the family as well as the victim. Her #LoveMyDetour campaign helps others cope with unexpected events. “Detourism” is also the subject of her upcoming TEDx talk and book My Beautiful Detour.

Amy suffered a significant health problem that led to over a dozen surgeries. During one significant hospitalization, her mother brought paints to the hospital. Amy created over 70 mixed media pieces, and upon her release from the hospital, held her first art show. Next, she took her journal entries and created a play, telling her story. Since then, she has continued to create art in different forms. Q & A What does self love mean to you? It means not only do you really enjoy the happy experiences you have, but also the pain and sadness. Take time to honor those. What was the number one thing that was holding you back from accepting self love? Not wanting to deal with those emotions that are difficult to experience. Who is one person who has changed your life for the better? My surgeons, but also my mother. What is the best advice you have ever received? Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, that’s not the end. What is a self care habit that you practice regularly? I do something physical. My yoga mat is right by my bed and I do it first thing in the morning. Can you share a resource, an app or a tool that we can use to build our selfcare practice. An app called DOCZ. It’s a peer to peer network. What book are you reading right now? I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors. I just finished Flourish. What is the one thing that you are most passionate about? Being on stage. Guest Bio Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, survivor, award-winning actress, and playwright. As the creator of "Gutless & Grateful," her BroadwayWorld-nominated one-woman autobiographical musical, she's toured theatres nationwide, along with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre for college campuses and international conferences. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. "Detourism" is also the subject of her TEDx and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017. She's contributed to over 70 notable online and print publications, and her story has appeared on NBC's TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, among others. Learn about her art, music, theatre, advocacy, book, and inspiring story at amyoes.com, or "tweet me at @amyoes!" www.amyoes.com And I also have a blog I update daily. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/amyoestr and facebook.com/lovemydetour Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/amyoes Or you can subscribe to G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106058010956085677457/posts My other social media: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/amyoes70/allspice-acrylics-a-celebration-of-life-and-beauti/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AmyOes70 Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/amyoes stumbleupon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/amyoes700 Bloglovin: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/amyoes-14356407 Twitter: @amyoes Instagram: @amyoes70

Coni Koepfinger hosts today's Air Play. With Interview of Amy Oesreicher. Plus Highlights from Amy's Live Performance.Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, survivor, award-winning actress, and playwright, sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. As the creator of "Gutless & Grateful," her BroadwayWorld-nominated one-woman autobiographical musical, she's toured theatres nationwide, along with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre for college campuses and international conferences. Her original, full-length drama, Imprints, premiered at the NYC Producer's Club in May 2016, exploring how trauma affects the family as well as the individual. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. "Detourism" is also the subject of her TEDx and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017. As Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award, she's spoken to hundreds of healthcare professionals at national WOCN conferences, and her presentations on diversity, leadership and trauma have been featured at National Mental Health America Conference, New England Educational Opportunity Association's 40 Anniversary Conference, and have been keynotes at the Pacific Rim Conference of Diversity and Disability in Hawaii, the Eating Recovery Foundation First Annual Benefit in Colorado. She's contributed to over 70 notable online and print publications, and her story has appeared on NBC's TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, among others. Learn more: amyoes.com and support her work at patreon.com/amyo. Amy is currently participating as a playwright and performance artist in the National Musical Theatre Institute at the world-renowned Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.-- Amy OestreicherActress, Artist, Playwright, Author, Speaker, Survivor, and DetouristHuffington Post Columnist, TEDx, Great Comebacks Recipient SheSource Expert Featured in Cosmopolitan, & NBC's TODAY*Celebrating Life's Beautiful Detours Through Creative PTSD Education & Mental Health Programming*Award-Winning Musical Gutless & Grateful: See '17 NYC DatesSocial Media Channels)

Coni Koepfinger hosts today's Air Play. With Interview of Amy Oesreicher. Plus Highlights from Amy's Live Performance.Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, survivor, award-winning actress, and playwright, sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. As the creator of "Gutless & Grateful," her BroadwayWorld-nominated one-woman autobiographical musical, she's toured theatres nationwide, along with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre for college campuses and international conferences. Her original, full-length drama, Imprints, premiered at the NYC Producer's Club in May 2016, exploring how trauma affects the family as well as the individual. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. "Detourism" is also the subject of her TEDx and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017. As Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award, she's spoken to hundreds of healthcare professionals at national WOCN conferences, and her presentations on diversity, leadership and trauma have been featured at National Mental Health America Conference, New England Educational Opportunity Association's 40 Anniversary Conference, and have been keynotes at the Pacific Rim Conference of Diversity and Disability in Hawaii, the Eating Recovery Foundation First Annual Benefit in Colorado. She's contributed to over 70 notable online and print publications, and her story has appeared on NBC's TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, among others. Learn more: amyoes.com and support her work at patreon.com/amyo. Amy is currently participating as a playwright and performance artist in the National Musical Theatre Institute at the world-renowned Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.-- Amy OestreicherActress, Artist, Playwright, Author, Speaker, Survivor, and DetouristHuffington Post Columnist, TEDx, Great Comebacks Recipient SheSource Expert Featured in Cosmopolitan, & NBC's TODAY*Celebrating Life's Beautiful Detours Through Creative PTSD Education & Mental Health Programming*Award-Winning Musical Gutless & Grateful: See '17 NYC DatesSocial Media Channels)

Coni Koepfinger hosts today's Air Play. With Interview of Amy Oesreicher. Plus a reading of Amy's Play by Christy Donahue.Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, survivor, award-winning actress, and playwright, sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. As the creator of "Gutless & Grateful," her BroadwayWorld-nominated one-woman autobiographical musical, she's toured theatres nationwide, along with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre for college campuses and international conferences. Her original, full-length drama, Imprints, premiered at the NYC Producer's Club in May 2016, exploring how trauma affects the family as well as the individual. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. "Detourism" is also the subject of her TEDx and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017. As Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award, she's spoken to hundreds of healthcare professionals at national WOCN conferences, and her presentations on diversity, leadership and trauma have been featured at National Mental Health America Conference, New England Educational Opportunity Association's 40 Anniversary Conference, and have been keynotes at the Pacific Rim Conference of Diversity and Disability in Hawaii, the Eating Recovery Foundation First Annual Benefit in Colorado. She's contributed to over 70 notable online and print publications, and her story has appeared on NBC's TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, among others. Learn more: amyoes.com and support her work at patreon.com/amyo. Amy is currently participating as a playwright and performance artist in the National Musical Theatre Institute at the world-renowned Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.-- Amy OestreicherActress, Artist, Playwright, Author, Speaker, Survivor, and DetouristHuffington Post Columnist, TEDx, Great Comebacks Recipient SheSource Expert Featured in Cosmopolitan, & NBC's TODAY*Celebrating Life's Beautiful Detours Through Creative PTSD Education & Mental Health Programming*Award-Winning Musical Gutless & Grateful: See '17 NYC DatesSocial Media Channels)

Coni Koepfinger hosts today's Air Play. With Interview of Amy Oesreicher. Plus a reading of Amy's Play by Christy Donahue.Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, survivor, award-winning actress, and playwright, sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. As the creator of "Gutless & Grateful," her BroadwayWorld-nominated one-woman autobiographical musical, she's toured theatres nationwide, along with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre for college campuses and international conferences. Her original, full-length drama, Imprints, premiered at the NYC Producer's Club in May 2016, exploring how trauma affects the family as well as the individual. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. "Detourism" is also the subject of her TEDx and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017. As Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award, she's spoken to hundreds of healthcare professionals at national WOCN conferences, and her presentations on diversity, leadership and trauma have been featured at National Mental Health America Conference, New England Educational Opportunity Association's 40 Anniversary Conference, and have been keynotes at the Pacific Rim Conference of Diversity and Disability in Hawaii, the Eating Recovery Foundation First Annual Benefit in Colorado. She's contributed to over 70 notable online and print publications, and her story has appeared on NBC's TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, among others. Learn more: amyoes.com and support her work at patreon.com/amyo. Amy is currently participating as a playwright and performance artist in the National Musical Theatre Institute at the world-renowned Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.-- Amy OestreicherActress, Artist, Playwright, Author, Speaker, Survivor, and DetouristHuffington Post Columnist, TEDx, Great Comebacks Recipient SheSource Expert Featured in Cosmopolitan, & NBC's TODAY*Celebrating Life's Beautiful Detours Through Creative PTSD Education & Mental Health Programming*Award-Winning Musical Gutless & Grateful: See '17 NYC DatesSocial Media Channels)

To learn more about Butterflies of Wisdom visit http://butterfliesofwisdom.weebly.com/ Be sure to FOLLOW this program https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wins-women-of-wisdom/id1060801905. To learn how Win walk and about Ekso go to http://www.bridgingbionics.org/, or email Amanda Boxtel at amanda@bridgingbionics.org.   On Butterflies of Wisdom today, Best-Selling Author, Win C and JC welcomes AmyOestreicher. Amy is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, the writer for The Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, award-winning actress, and playwright. As a survivor and “thriver” of nearly 30 surgeries, a coma, sexual abuse, organ failure, and a decade of medical trauma, Amy has been challenged with moments of extreme difficulty.  But, as an artist, newlywed, actress, college student, and overall lover of life, Amy eagerly shares the lessons learned from trauma and had brought out the stories that unite us all through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. Her original, full-length drama, Imprints, premiered at the NYC Producer’s Club in May 2016, exploring how trauma affects the family as well as the individual. To celebrate her “beautiful detour,” Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events.  .Amy has devoted herself to providing college students with an empowered approach to mental health and sexual assault prevention through her traveling advocacy program and “Student Detourist” movement.  In 2015, Amy launched the Student Detourists Outreach Program, enabling students to create outreach chapters on their campuses. “Detourism” is also the subject of her TEDx and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017. As the 2014 Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award, Amy is a passionate voice in the ostomy community, founding the online community Fearless Ostomates, speaking for the National WOCN conference, and writing for the official print publication of the UOAA.  Her presentations on alternative medicine, and patient advocacy and healthcare have also been accepted to into international conferences in Amsterdam, Dubai, Hawaii and others. Amy has written, directed and starred in a one-woman musical about her life, Gutless & Grateful, has flourished as a mixed media and acrylic artist, with her art in multiple galleries and mounting dozens of solo art shows, and continues to share her story through her art, music, theatre, workshops and writings, which  have appeared in Washington Post and On Being, with Krista Tippet.  Her story has appeared on the TODAY Show, CBS, WNBC and Seventeen, and her one-woman show have been seen in theaters across the country, earning rave reviews and accolades since it’s BroadwayWorld Award-nominated NYC debut. Amy has collaborated with Beechwood Arts on “Resilience and the Power of the Human Spirit,” using her monologs, art, writing and recipes to express the life-altering detours and ultimately the valuable gifts of her resilience journey. Amy is currently touring the country with her one-woman musical, Gutless & Grateful, her keynote presentations, workshops and signature talkbacks, which she has devised specialized versions for corporations, college campuses, survivors, healthcare professionals, and artists.  She is leading mixed media creativity workshops to promote creativity as a mindset, an essential survival skill.  Amy also offers private coaching to help others navigate their beautiful detours, and prides herself most on ending each night with a gratitude list. Visit amyoes.com for more information or contact her directly. To learn more about Win Kelly Charles visit https://wincharles.wix.com/win-charles. Please send feedback to Win by email her at winwwow@gmail.com, or go to http://survey.libsyn.com/winwisdom and http://survey.libsyn.com/thebutterfly. To be on the show please fill out the intake at http://bit.ly/bowintake. To look at our sponsorships go to https://ssekodesigns.com/buttfly?acc=537d9b6c927223c796cac288cced29df and https://ssekodesigns.com/. To learn about the magic of Siri go to https://www.udemy.com/writing-a-book-using-siri/?utm_campaign=email&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email. If you want to donate Butterflies of Wisdom, please send a PayPal donation to aspenrosearts@gmail.com. Please send a check in the mail so 100% goes to Bridging Bionics Foundation.    In the Memo section have people write: In honor of Win Charles.    Send to:  Bridging Bionics Foundation  PO Box 3767 Basalt, CO 81621   Thank you Win