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Join me, a three-time Iraq War combat veteran, who has been through a decades-long journey with PTSd, and now walking through Post Traumatic Growth as I help you understand PTSd from a biblical perspective. Combat-related PTSd is something many Americans deal with, either as veterans or families of veterans. It's one of the most misunderstood issues of our day by mental healthcare professionals and church leaders. Yet, the answers are right there in the Bible if we're willing to look.SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCombatChristianTRIVITA:Use my TRIVITA link to get started on your wellness journey: https://bit.ly/HealthyChristianCovenant Eyes: If you want to protect yourself and your loved ones from the dangers of p*rn, get Covenant Eyes: https://bit.ly/Restore-CovenantUSE CODE RESTORE30 at checkout to get your first 30 days FREE when you use the link ✅Other ways for you to support the ministry:
How can trauma become a catalyst for creative transformation? What lessons can indie authors learn from the music industry's turbulent journey through technological disruption? With Jack Williamson. In the intro, Why recipes for publishing success don't work and what to do instead [Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast]; Why your book isn't selling: metadata [Novel Marketing Podcast]; Creating a successful author business [Fantasy Writers Toolshed Podcast]; Bones of the Deep – J.F. Penn. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Jack Williamson is a psychotherapist, coach, and bestselling author who spent nearly two decades as a music industry executive. He's the founder of Music & You, his latest nonfiction book is Maybe You're The Problem, and he also writes romance under A.B. Jackson. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Finding post-traumatic growth and meaning after bereavement, and using tragedy as a catalyst for creative transformation Why your superpower can also be your Achilles heel, and how indie authors can overcome shiny object syndrome Three key lessons from the music industry: embracing change, thinking creatively about marketing, and managing pressure for better creativity The A, B, C technique for PR interviews and why marketing is storytelling through different mediums How to deal with judgment and shame around AI in the author community by understanding where people sit on the opinion-belief-conviction continuum Three AI developments coming from music to publishing: training clauses in contracts, one-click genre adaptation, and licensed AI-generated video adaptations You can find Jack at JackWilliamson.co.uk and his fiction work at ABJackson.com. Transcript of the interview with Jack Williamson Jo: Jack Williamson is a psychotherapist, coach, and bestselling author who spent nearly two decades as a music industry executive. He's the founder of Music & You, his latest nonfiction book is Maybe You're The Problem, and he also writes romance under A.B. Jackson. Welcome to the show. Jack: Thank you so much for having me, Jo. It's a real honour to be on your podcast after listening all of these years. Jo: I'm excited to talk to you. We have a lot to get into, but first up— Tell us a bit more about you and why get into writing books after years of working in music. Jack: I began my career at the turn of the millennium, basically, and I worked for George Michael and Mariah Carey's publicist, which I'm sure you can imagine was quite the introduction to the corporate world. From there I went on to do domestic and international marketing for a load of massive artists at Universal, so the equivalent of the top five publishers in the publishing world that we all work in. Then from there I had a bit of a challenge. In December 2015, I lost my brother, unfortunately to suicide. For any listener or any person that's gone through a traumatic event, it can really make you reassess everything, make you question life, make you question your purpose. When I went through that, I was thinking, well, what do I want to do? What do I want out of life? So I went on this journey for practically the next ten years. I retrained to be a psychotherapist. I created a bucket list—a list of all the things that I thought maybe my brother would've wanted to do but didn't do. One of the things was scatter his ashes at the Seven Wonders of the world. Then one of the items on my bucket list was to write a book. The pandemic hit. It was a challenge for all of us, as you've spoken about so much on this wonderful podcast. I thought, well, why not? Why not write this book that I've wanted to write? I didn't know when I was going to do it because I was always so busy, and then the pandemic happened and so I wrote a book. From there, listening to your wonderful podcast, I've learned so much and been to so many conferences and learned along the way. So now I've written five books and released three. Jo: That's fantastic. I mean, regular listeners to the show know that I talk about death and grief and all of this kind of thing, and it's interesting that you took your brother's ashes to the Seven Wonders of the world. Death can obviously be a very bad, negative thing for those left behind, but it seems like you were able to reframe your brother's experience and turn that into something more positive for your life rather than spiralling into something bad. So if people listening are feeling like something happens, whether it's that or other things— How can we reframe these seemingly life-ending situations in a more positive way? Jack: It is very hard and there's no one way to do it. I think as you always say, I never want to tell people what to do or what to think. I want to show them how to think and how they can approach things differently or from a different perspective. I can only speak from my journey, but we call it in therapeutic language, post-traumatic growth. It is, how do you define it so it doesn't define you? Because often when you have a bereavement of a loved one, a family member, it can be very traumatic, but how can you take meaning and find meaning in it? There's a beautiful book called Man's Search for Meaning, and the name of the author escapes me right now, but he says— Jo: Viktor Frankl. Jack: Yes. Everyone quotes it as one of their favourite books, and one of my favourite lines is, “Man can take everything away from you, apart from the ability to choose one thought over the other.” I think it's so true because we can make that choice to choose what to think. So in those moments when we are feeling bad, when we're feeling down, we want to honour our feelings, but we don't necessarily want to become them. We want to process that, work through, get the support system that we need. But again, try to find meaning, try to find purpose, try to understand what is going on, and then pay it forward. Irrespective of your belief system, we all yearn for purpose. We all yearn for being connected to something bigger than ourselves. If we can find that through bereavement maybe, or through a traumatic incident, then hopefully we can come through the other side and have that post-traumatic growth. Jo: I love that phrase, post-traumatic growth. That's so good. Obviously people think about post-traumatic anything as like PTSD—people immediately think a sort of stress disorder, like it's something that makes things even worse. I like that you reframed it in that way. Obviously I think the other thing is you took specific action. You didn't just think about it. You travelled, you retrained, you wrote books. So I think also it's not just thinking. In fact, thinking about things can sometimes make it worse if you think for too long, whereas taking an action I think can be very strong as well. Jack: Ultimately we are human beings as opposed to human doings, but actually being a human doing from time to time can be really helpful. Actually taking steps forward, doing things differently, using it as a platform to move forward and to do things that maybe you didn't before. When you are confronted with death, it can actually make you question your own mortality and actually question, am I just coasting along? Am I stuck in a rut? Could I be doing something differently? One of the things that bereavement, does is it holds a mirror up to ourselves and it makes us question, well, what do we want from our life? Are we here to procreate? Are we here to make a difference? Some of us can't procreate, or some of us choose not to procreate, but we can all make a difference. And it's, how do we do that? Where do we do that? When do we do that? Jo: That's interesting. I was thinking today about service and gratitude. I'm doing this Master's and I was reading some theology stuff today, and service and gratitude, I think if you are within a religious tradition, are a normal part of that kind of religious life. Whether it's service to God and gratitude to God, or service and gratitude to others. I was thinking that these two things, service and gratitude, can actually really help reframe things as well. Who can we serve? As authors, we're serving our readers and our community. What can we be grateful about? That's often our readers and our community as well. So I don't know, that helped me today—thinking about how we can reframe things, especially in the world we're in now where there's a lot of anger and grief and all kinds of things. Jack: That's what we've got to look at. We are here to serve. Again, that can take different shapes, different forms. Some of us work in the service industry. I provide a service as a psychotherapist, you serve your listeners with knowledge and information that you gather and dispense through the research you do or the guests you have on. We serve readers of the different genres that we write in. It's what ways can we serve, how can we serve? Again, I think we all, if we can and when we can, should pay it forward. Someone said this to me once in the music industry: be careful who you meet on the way up and how you treat them on the way up, because invariably you'll meet them on the way down. So if you can pay forward that kindness, if you can be kind, considerate, and treat people how you want to be treated, that is going to pay dividends in the long run. It may not come off straight away, but invariably it will come back to you in some way, shape, or form in a different way. Jo: I've often talked about social karma and karma in the Hindu sense—the things that you do come back to you in some other form. Possibly in another life, which I don't believe. In terms of, I guess, you didn't know what was going to happen to your brother, and so you make the most of the life that we have at the moment because things change and you just don't know how things are going to change. You talk about this in your book, Maybe You're The Problem, which is quite a confronting title. So just talk about your book, Maybe You're The Problem, and why you wrote that. Put it into context with the author community and why that might be useful. Jack: Thank you for flagging my book. I intentionally crossed out “maybe” on the merchandise I did as well, because in essence, we are our own problem. We can get in the way, and it's what happened to us when we grew up wasn't our fault, but what we do with it is our responsibility. We may have grown up in a certain period or a climate. We didn't necessarily choose to do that, but what we do with that as a result is up to us. So we can stay in our victimhood and we can blame our parents, or we can blame the generation we are in, or we can blame the city, the location—however, that is relinquishing your power. That is staying in a victim mindset rather than a survivor or a thriver mindset. So it's about how can we look at the different areas in our life. Whether that is conflict, whether that is imposter syndrome, whether that is the generation we're born into. We try to understand how that has shaped us and how we may be getting in our own way to stop us from growing, to stop us from expanding, and to see where our blind spots are, our limitations are, and how that may impact us. There's so much going on in the moment in the world, whether that is in the digital realm, whether that is in the geo-climate that we're in at the moment. Again, that's going to bring up a lot for us. How can we find solutions to those problems for us so that we continue to move forward rather than be restricted and hindered by them? Jo: Alright. Well let's get into some more specifics. You have been in the author community now for a while. You go to conferences and you are in the podcast community and all this kind of thing. What specific issues have you seen in the author community? Maybe around some of the things you've mentioned, or other things? How might we be able to deal with those? Jack: With authors, I think it is such a wonderful and unique industry that I have an honour and privilege of being a part of now. One of the main things I've learned is just how creative people are. Coming from a creative industry like the music industry, there is a lot of neurodivergence in the creative industries and in the author community. Whether that is autism, whether that is ADHD—that is a real asset to have as a superpower, but it can be an Achilles heel. So it's understanding—and I know that there is an overexposure of people labelling themselves as ADHD—but on the flip side to that, it's how can we look at what's going on for us? For ADHD, for example, there's a thing called shiny object syndrome. You've talked about this in the past, Joanna, where it's like a new thing comes along, be it TikTok, be it Substack, be it bespoke books, be it Shopify, et cetera. We can rush and quickly be like, “oh, let me do this, let me do that,” before we actually take the time to realise, is this right for me? Does this fit my author business? Does this fit where I'm at in my author journey? I think sometimes as authors, we need to not cave in to that shiny object syndrome and take a step back and think to ourselves, how does this serve me? How does this serve my career? How does this work for me if I'm looking at this as a career? If you're looking at it as a hobby, obviously it's a different lens to look through, but that's something that I would often make sure that we look at. One of the other things that really comes up is that in order for any of us to address our fears and anxieties, we need to make sure that we feel psychologically safe and to put ourselves in spaces and places where we feel seen, heard, and understood, which can help address some of the issues that I've just mentioned. Being in that emotionally regulated state when we are with someone we know and trust—so taking someone to a conference, taking someone to a space or a place where you feel that you can be seen, heard, and understood—can help us and allow us to embrace things that we perceive to be scary. That may be finding an author group, finding an online space where you can actually air and share your thoughts, your feelings, where you don't feel that you are being judged. Often it can be quite a judgmental space and place in the online world. So it's just finding your tribe and finding places where you can actually lean into that. So there'd be two things. Jo: I like the idea of the superpower and the Achilles heel because I also feel this when we are writing fiction. Our characters have strengths, but your fatal flaw is often related to your strength. Jack: Yes. Jo: For example, I know I am independent. One of the reasons I'm an independent author is because I'm super independent. But one of my greatest fears is being dependent. So I do lots of things to avoid being dependent on other people, which can lead me to almost damage myself by not asking for help or by trying to make sure that I control everything so I never have to ask anyone else to do something. I'm coming to terms with this as I get older. I feel like this is something we start to hit—I mean, as a woman after menopause—is this feeling of I might have to be dependent on people when I'm older. It's so interesting thinking about this and thinking— My independence is my strength. How can it also be my weakness? So what do you think about that? You're going to psychotherapist me now. Jack: I definitely won't, but it's interesting. Just talking about that, we all have wounds and we all have the shadow, as you've even written about in one of your books. And it's how that can come from a childhood wound where it's like we seek help and it's not given to us. So we create a belief system where I have to do everything myself because no one will help me. Or we may have rejection sensitivity, so we reject ourselves before others can reject us. So it's actually about trying, where we can, to honour our truths, honour that we may want to be independent, for example, but then realising that success leaves clues. I always say that if you are independent—and I definitely align a hundred percent with you, Joanna—I've had to work really hard myself in personal therapy and in business and life to realise that no human is an island and we can't all do this on our own. Yes, it's amazing with the AI agents now that can help us in a business capacity, but having those relationships that we can tap into—like you mentioned all of the people that you tap into—it's so important to have those. I always say that it's important to have three mentors: one person that's ahead of you (for me, that would be Katie Cross because she's someone that I find is an amazing author and we speak at least once a month); people that are at the same level as you that you can go on the journey together with (and I have an author group for that); and then someone that is perceived to be behind you or in a younger generation than you, because you can learn as much from them as they can learn from you. If you can actually tap into those people whilst honouring your independence, then it feels like you can still go on your own journey, but you can tap in and tap out as and when needed. Sacha Black will give you amazing insights, other people like Honor will give you amazing insights, but you can also provide that for them. So there's that safety of being able to do it on your own. But on the flip side, you still have those people that you can tap into as and when necessary as a sounding board, as information on how they were successful, and go from there. Jo: No, I like that. If you're new to the show, Sacha Black and Honor Raconteur have been on the show and they are indeed some of my best friends. So I appreciate that. I really like the idea of the three mentor idea. I just want to add to that because I do think people misunderstand the word mentor sometimes. You mentioned you speak to Katie Cross, but I've found that a lot of the mentors that I've had who are ahead of me have often been books. We mentioned the Viktor Frankl book, and if people don't know, he was Jewish and in the concentration camps and survived that. So it's a real survivor story. But to me, books have been mostly my mentors in terms of people who are ahead of me. We don't always need to speak to or be friends with our mentors. I think that's important too, right? Because I just get emails a lot that say, “Will you be my mentor?” And I don't think that's the point. Jack: Oh, I a hundred percent agree with you. If you don't have access to those mentors—like Oprah Winfrey is one of the people that I perceive as a mentor—I listen to podcasts, I read her books, I watch interviews. There is a way to absorb and acquire that information, and it doesn't have to be a direct relationship with them. It is someone that you can gain the knowledge and wisdom that they've imparted in whatever form you may consume it. Which is why I think it is important to have those three levels: that one that is above you that may be out of reach in terms of a human connection, but you can still access; then the people at the same level as you that you can have those relationships and grow with; and again, that one behind that you can help pave the way for them, but also learn from them as well. So a hundred percent agree that that mentor that you are looking for that may be ahead of you doesn't necessarily need to be someone that is in a real-world relationship. Jo: So let's just circle back to your music industry experience. You mentioned being on the sort of marketing team for some really big names in music, and I mean, it's kind of a sexy job really. It just sounds pretty cool, but of course the music industry has just as many challenges as publishing. What did you learn from working in the music industry that you think might be particularly useful for authors? Jack: The perception of reality was definitely a lot different. It does look sexy and glamorous, but the reality is similar to going to conferences. It's pretty much flight, hotel, and dark rooms with terrible air conditioning that you spend a lot of time in. So sorry to burst the illusion. But I mean, it does have its moments as well. There is so much I've learned over the years and there's probably three things that stand out the most. The first one was I entered the industry right at the height of the music industry. In 2000, 2001. That was when Napster really exploded and it decimated the music industry. It wiped half the value in the space of four years. Then the music industry was trying to shut it down, throwing legal, throwing everything at it, but it was like whack-a-mole. As soon as one went down such as Napster, ten others popped up like Kazaa. So you saw that the old guard wasn't willing to embrace change. They weren't willing to adapt. They assumed that people wanted the formats of CDs, vinyls, cassettes, and they were wrong. Yes, people wanted music, but they actually wanted the music. They didn't care about the format, they just wanted the access. So that was one of the really interesting things that I learned, because I was like, you have to embrace change. You can't ignore it. You can't push it away, push it aside, because it's coming whether you like it or not. I think thankfully the music industry has learned as AI's coming, because now you have to embrace it. There's a lot of legal issues that have been going on at the moment with rights, which you've covered about the Anthropic case and so on. It's such a challenge, and I just think that's the first one. The second one I learned was back in 2018. There was an artist I worked on called Freya Ridings. At that time I was working at an independent record label rather than one of the big three major record labels. She had great songs and we were up against one of the biggest periods of the year and trying to make noise. At the time, Love Island was the biggest TV show on, and everyone wanted to be on it in terms of getting their music synced in the scenes. We were just like, we are never going to compete. So we thought, we need to be clever here. We need to think differently. What we did is we found out what island the show was being recorded on, and we geo-targeted our ads just to that island because we knew the sync team were going to be on there. So we just went hard as nails, advertised relentlessly, and we knew that the sync people would then see the adverts. As a result of that, Freya got the sync. It became the biggest song that season on Love Island, back when it was popular. As a result of that, we built from there. We were like, right, we can't compete with the majors. We have to think differently. We need to do things differently. We need to be creative. It wasn't an easy pathway. That year there were only two other songs that were independent that reached the top 10. So we ended up becoming a third and the biggest song that year. The reason I'm saying that is we can't compete with the major publishers. But the beauty of the independent author community is because we have smaller budgets—most of us, not all of us, but most of us—we have to think differently. We have to make our bang for our buck go a lot further. So it's actually— How can we stay creative? How can we think differently? What can we do differently? So that would be the second thing. Then the third main lesson that I learned, and this is more on the creative side, is that pressure can often work against you, both in a business sense, but especially creativity. I've seen so many artists over the years have imposed deadlines on them to hand in their albums, and it's impacted the quality of their output. Once it's handed in, the stress and the pressure is off, and then you realise that actually those artists end up creating the best material that they have, and then they rush to put it on. Whether that's Mariah Carey's “We Belong Together,” Adele with her song “Hello,” Taylor Swift did the same with “Shake It Off”—they're just three examples. The reason is that pressure keeps us in our beta brainwave state, which is our rational, logical mind. For those of us that are authors that are writing fiction, or even if we are creating stories in our nonfiction work to deliver a point, we need to be in that creative mindset. So we need to be in the alpha and the gamma brain state. Because our body works on 90-minute cycles known as our ultradian rhythm, we need to make sure that we honour our cycle and work with that. If we go past that, our creativity and our productivity is going to go down between 60% and 40% respectively. So as authors, it's important—one, to apply the right amount of pressure; two, to work in breaks; and three, to know what kind of perspective we're looking at. Do we need to be rational and logical, or do we need to be creative? And then adjust the sails accordingly. Jo: That's all fantastic. I want to come back on the marketing thing first—around what you did with the strategic marketing there and the targeted ads to that island. That's just genius. I feel like a lot of us, myself included, we struggle to think creatively about marketing because it's not our natural state. Of course, you've done a lot of marketing, so maybe it comes more naturally to you. I think half the time we don't even use the word creative around marketing, when you're not a marketeer. What are some ways that we can break through our blocks around marketing and try to be more creative around that? Jack: I would challenge a lot of authors on that presumption, because as authors we're in essence storytellers, and to tell a story is creative. There's a great quote: “One death is a tragedy. A thousand deaths is a statistic.” If you can create a story, a compelling narrative about a death in the news, it's going to pull at the heartstrings of people. It's going to really resonate and get with them. Whereas if you are just quoting statistics, most people switch off because they become desensitised to it. So I think because we can tell stories, and that's the essence of what we do, it's how can we tell our story through the medium of social media? How can we tell a story through our creative ads that we then put out onto Facebook or TikTok or whatever platform that we're putting them out—BookBub, et cetera? How can we create a narrative that garners the attention? If we are looking at local media or traditional media, how can we do that? How can we get people to buy in to what we're selling? So it's about having different angles. For me with my new romance book, Stolen Moments, one of the stories I had that really has helped me get some coverage and PR is we recorded the songs next door to the Rolling Stones. Now that was very fortunate timing, very fortunate. But everyone's like, “Oh my God, you recorded next door to the Rolling Stones?” So it's like, well, how can you bring in these creative nuggets that help you to find a story? Again, marketing is in essence telling a story, albeit through different mediums and forms. So it's just how can you package that into a marketable product depending on the platform in which you're putting it out on. Jo: I think that's actually hilarious, by the way, because what you hit on there, as someone with a background in marketing, your story about “we recorded an album for the book next door to the Rolling Stones”—it's got nothing to do with the romance. Jack: Oh, the romance is that the pop star in the book writes and records songs. Jo: Yes, I realised that. But the fact is— For doing things like PR, it's the story behind the story. They don't care that you've written a romance. Jack: Yes. Jo: They're far more interested in you, the author, and other things. So I think what you just described there was a kind of PR hook that most of us don't even think about. Jack: I'm sure a lot of authors already know this, so it's a good reminder, and if you don't, it's great. It's called the A, B, C technique. When you get asked a question, you Answer the question. So that's A. You Build a bridge, and then you go to C, which is Covering one of your points. So whenever you get asked a question, have a list of things you want to get across in an interview. Then just make sure that you find that bridge between whatever the question is to cover off one of your points, and that's how you can do it. Because yes, you may be selling a story, like I said, about writing the songs, but then you can bridge it into actually covering and promoting whatever it is you're promoting. So I think that's always quite helpful to remember. Jo: Well, that's a good tip for things like coming on podcasts as well. I've had people on who don't do what you just mentioned and will just try and shoehorn things in in a more deliberate fashion, whereas other people, as you have just done with your romance there, bring it in while answering a question that actually helps other people. So I think that's the kind of thing we need to think about in marketing. Okay, so then let's come back to the embracing change, and as you mentioned, the AI stuff that's going on. I feel like there's so many “stories” around AI right now. There's a lot of stories being told on both sides—on the positive side, on the negative side—that people believe and buy into and may or may not be true. There's obviously a lot of anger. There's, I think, grief—a big thing that people might not even realise that they have. Can you talk about how authors might deal with what's coming up around the technological change around AI, and any of your personal thoughts as well? Jack: I was thinking about this a lot recently. I mean, I guess everyone is in their own ways and forms. One of the things that came up for me is we have genre expectations and we have generation expectations. When we look at genres, you will have different expectations from different genres. For romance, they want a happily ever after or a happy for now. For cosy mysteries, they expect the crime to be solved. So we as authors make sure we endeavour to meet those expectations. The challenge is that if we are looking at AI, we are all in our own generations. We might be in slightly different generations, but there are going to be different generation expectations from the Alpha generation that's coming up and the Beta generation that's just about to start this year or next year because they're going to come into the world where they don't know any different to AI. So they will have a different expectation than us. It will just be normal that there will be AI agents. It will just be normal that there are AI narrators. It will be normalised that AI will assist authors or assist everyone in doing their jobs. So again, it is a grieving period because we can long for what was, we can yearn for things that worked for us that no longer work for us—whether it's Facebook groups, whether it's the Kindle Rush. We can mourn the loss of that, but that's not coming back. I mean, sometimes there may be a resurgence, but essentially, we've got to embrace the change. We've got to understand that it's coming and it's going to bring up a lot of different emotions because you may have been beholden to one thing and you may be like, yes, I've now got my TikTok lives, and then all of a sudden TikTok goes away. I know Adam, when he was talking about it, he'll just find another platform. But there'll be a lot of people that are beholden to it and then they're like, what do I do now? So again, it's never survival of the fittest—it's survival of the most adaptable. I always use this metaphor where there are three people on three different boats. A storm comes. And the first, the optimist, is like, “Oh, it'll pass,” and does nothing. The pessimist complains about the storm and does nothing. But the realist will adjust the sails and use the storm to find its way to the other side, to get through. It's not going to be easy, but they're actually taking change and making change to get to where they need to go, rather than just expecting or complaining. I get it. We are not, and I hate the expression, “we're all in the same boat.” I call bleep on that. I'm not going to swear. We're not all in the same boat. We're all in the same storm, but different people are going through different things. For some, they can adjust and adapt really quickly like a speedboat. For others, they may be like Jack and Rose in the Titanic on that terrible prop where they're clinging to dear life and trying to get through the storm. So it's about how do I navigate this upcoming storm? What can I do within my control to get through the storm? For some it may be easier because they have the resources, or for some of us that love learning, it's easy to embrace change. For others that have a fear mindset and it's like, “Oh, something new, it's scary, I don't want to embrace it”—you are going to take longer. So you may not be the speedboat, but at some point we are going to have to embrace that change. Otherwise we're going to get left behind. So you need to look at that. Jo: The storm metaphor is interesting, and being in different boats. I feel I do struggle. I struggle with people who suddenly seem to be discovering the storm. I've been talking about AI now since 2016. That's a decade. Jack: Yes. Jo: Even ChatGPT has been around more than three years, and people come to me now and they're talking about stories that they've seen in the media that are just old now. Things have moved on so much. I feel like maybe I was on my boat and I looked through my telescope and I saw the storm. I've been talking about the storm and I've had my own moments of being in the middle of the storm. Now I definitely do struggle with people who just seem to have arrived without any knowledge of it before. I oscillate between being an optimist and a realist. I think I'm somewhere between the two, probably. But I think what is driving me a little crazy in the author community right now is judgment and shame. There are people who are judging other people, and there's shame felt by AI-curious or AI-positive people. So I want to help the people who feel shame in some way for trying new technology, but they still feel attacked. Then those people judge other authors for their choices to use technology. So how do you think we can deal with judgment and shame in the community? Which is a form of conflict, I guess. Jack: Of course. I think with that, there's another great PR quote: “If it bleeds, it leads.” Especially in this digital age, there's a lot of clickbait. So the more polarising, the more emotion-evoking the headline, the more likely you are to engage with that content—whether that is reading it or whether that's posting or retweeting, or whatever format you are consuming it on. So unfortunately, media has now become so much more polarising. It's dividing us rather than uniting us. So people are going to have stronger positions. There's so much even within this to look at. One is, you have to work out where people are on the continuum. Do they have an opinion on AI? Do they have a belief? Or do they have a conviction? Now you're not going to move someone that has a conviction about something, so it's not worth even engaging with them because they're immovable. Like they say, you shouldn't talk about sports, politics, and religion. There are certain subjects that may not be worth talking about, especially if they have a conviction. Because they may not even be able to agree to disagree. They may not be willing or able to hear you. So first and foremost, it's about understanding, well, where are those people sitting on the continuum of AI? Are they curious? Do they have an opinion, but they're open to hearing other opinions? Do they have a belief that could be changed or evolved if they find more information? That's where I think it is. It's not necessarily our jobs—even though you do an amazing job of it, Joanna—but a lot of people are undereducated on these issues or these new technologies. So in some cases it's just a case of a lack of education or them being undereducated. Hopefully in time they will become more and more educated. But again, it's how long is a piece of string? Will people catch up? Will they stay behind? Are they fearful? I guess because of social media, because of the media, as they say, if you can evoke fear in people, you can control them. You can control their perspectives. You can control their minds. So that's where we see it—a lot of people are operating from a fear mindset. So then that's when they project their vitriol in certain cases. If people want to believe a certain thing, that's their choice. I'm not here to tell people what to think. Like I said earlier, it's more about how to think. But I would just encourage people to find people that align with you. Do a sense test, like a litmus test, to find where they sit on the continuum and engage with those people that are open and have opinions or beliefs. But shy away or just avoid people that have convictions that maybe are the polar opposite of yours. Jo: It's funny, isn't it? We seem to be in a phase of history when I feel like you should be able to disagree with people and still be friends. Although, as you mentioned, there's certain members of my family where we just stay on topics of TV shows and movies or music, or what books are you reading? Like, we don't go anywhere near politics. So I do think that might be a rule also with the AI stuff. As you said, find a community, and there are plenty of AI-positive spaces now for people who do want to talk about this kind of stuff. I also think that, I don't know whether this is a tipping point this year, but certainly— I know people who are in bigger corporates where the message is now, “You need to embrace this stuff. It is now part of your job to learn how to use these AI tools.” So if that starts coming into people's day jobs, and also people who have, I don't know, kids at school or people at university who are embracing this more—I mean, maybe it is a generational thing. Jack: Yes. Look, there were so many people that were resistant to working from home, or corporations that were, and then the pandemic forced it. Now everyone's embraced it in some way, shape, or form. I mean, there are people that don't, but the majority of people—when something's forced on you, you have to adapt. So again, if those things are implemented in corporations, then you're going to see it. I'm seeing so many amazing new things in AI that have been implemented in the music industry that we'll see in the publishing industry coming down the road. That will scare a lot of people, but again, we have to embrace those things because they're coming and there's going to be an expectation—especially from the younger generations—that these things are available. So again, it's not first past the post, but if you can be ahead of the wave or at least on the wave, then you are going to reap the rewards. If you are behind the wave, you're going to get left behind. So that's my opinion. I'm not trying to encourage anyone to see from my lens, but at the same time, I do think that we need to be thinking differently. We need to always embrace change where we can, as we can, at the pace that we can. Jo: You mentioned there AI things coming down the road in the music industry. And now everyone's going, wait, what is coming? So tell us— What do you see ahead that you think might also shift into the author world? Jack: There are three things that I've seen. Two that have been implemented and one that's been talked about and worked on at the moment. The first, and this will be quite scary for people, is that major record labels—so think the major publishers on our side—they're all now putting clauses in their contracts that require the artists that sign with them to allow their works to be trained by their own AI models. So that is something that is now actually happening in record labels. I wouldn't be surprised, although I don't have insight into it, if Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, et cetera, are potentially doing the same with authors that sign to them. So that's going to become more standardised. So that is on the major side. But then on the creative side, there are two things that really excite me. The music AI platforms that we're hearing about, the stories that we've seen in the press, and it's the fact that with a click of a button, you can recreate a song into a different genre. I find it so fascinating because if you think about that—turning a pop song into a country song or a rap song into a dance song—the possibilities that we have as authors with our books, if we wish to do so, are amazing. I just think, for example, with your ARKANE series, Joanna, imagine clicking a button and just with one click you can take Morgan Sierra and turn her into a romantic lead in a romance book. Jo: See, it's so funny because I personally just can't imagine that because it's not something I would write. But I guess one example in the romance genre itself is I know plenty of romance authors who write a clean and a spicy version of the same story, right? It is already happening in that way. It's just not a one-click. Jack: Well, I think you can also look at it another way. I think one of the most famous examples is Twilight. With Twilight and Stephenie Meyer, if she had the foresight—and I'm not saying she didn't, just to clarify—but fan fiction is such a massive sub-genre of works. And obviously from Twilight came 50 Shades of Gray. Imagine if she had the licensing rights like the NFTs, where she could have made money off of every sale. So that you could then, through works that you create and give licence, earn a percentage of every release, every sale, every consumption unit of your works. There are just so many possibilities where you can create, adapt, have spinoffs that can then build out your world. Obviously, there may need to be an approval process in there for continuity and quality control because you want to make sure you're doing that, but I think that has such massive potential in publishing if we wish to do so. Or like I said, change characters. Like Robert Langdon's character in Dan Brown's books—no longer being the kind of thriller, but maybe being a killer instead. There's so many possibilities. It's just, again, how to think, not what to think—how to think differently and how we can use that. So that's the second of three. Jo: Oh, before you move on, you did mention NFTs and I've actually been reading about this again. So I'm usually five years early. That's the general rule. I started talking about NFTs in mid-2021, and obviously there was a crypto crash, it goes up and down, blah, blah, blah. But forget the crypto side—on the blockchain side, digital originality, and exactly what you said about saying like, where did this originate? This is now coming back in the AI world. It could be that I really was five years early. So amusingly—and I'm going to link to it in the notes because I did a “Why NFTs Are Exciting for Authors” solo episode, I think in 2022—it may be that the resurgence will happen in the next year, and all those people who said I was completely wrong, that this may be coming back. Digital originality I think is what we're talking about there. But so, okay, so what was the other thing? Jack: So the third one is the one that I'm most excited about, but I think will be the most scary for people. Obviously consumption changes and formats change. Like I said, in music I've seen it all the time—whether it's vinyl to cassettes, to CDs, to downloads, to streaming. Again, there's different consumption of the same format, and we see that with books as well, obviously—hardbacks, paperbacks, eBooks, audiobooks. Now with the rise of AI, AI narration has made audiobooks so much more accessible for people. I know that there are issues with certain people not wanting to do it, or certain platforms not allowing AI narration to be uploaded unless it's their own. The next step is what I'm most excited about. What I'm seeing now in the music industry is people licensing their image to then recreate that as music videos because music videos are so expensive. One of my friends just shot a music video for two million pounds. I don't think many authors would ever wish to spend that. If you can license your image and use AI to create a three-minute music video that looks epic and just as real as humanly possible, imagine if those artists—or if we go a step further, those actors—license their image to then be used to adapt our books into a TV series or a film. So that then we are in a position where that is another format of consumption alongside an audiobook, a paperback, an eBook, hardcover, special edition, and so on and so forth. It potentially has the opportunity to open us up to a whole new world. Because yes, there are adaptations of books that we're seeing at the moment, but for those of us that are trying to get our content into different formats, this can be a new pathway. I'm going to make a prediction here myself, Joanna. Jo: Mm-hmm. Jack: I would say in the next five to ten years, there will be a platform akin to a Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Apple Plus, where you can license the rights to an image of an actor or an actress. Then with the technology—and you may need people to help you adapt your book into a TV series or a film—that can then be consumed. I just think the possibilities are endless. I mean, again, I think of your character and I'm like, oh, what would it be if Angelina Jolie licensed her image and you could have her play the lead character in your ARKANE series? I mean, again, the possibilities potentially are endless here. Jo: Well, and on that, if people think this won't happen—1776, I don't know if you've seen this, it's just being teased at the moment. Darren Aronofsky has made an American revolutionary story all with AI. So this is being talked about at the moment. It's on YouTube at the moment. The AI video is just extraordinary already, so I totally agree with you. I think things are going to be quite weird for a while, and it will take a while to get used to. You mentioned coming into the music industry in 2000, 2001—I started my work before the internet, and then the internet came along and lots of things changed. I mean, anyone who's older than 40, 45-ish can remember what work was like without the internet. Now we are moving into a time where it'll be like, what was it like before AI? And I think we'll look back and go like, why the hell did we do that kind of thing? So it is a changing world, but yes, exciting times, right? I think the other thing that's happening right now, even to me, is that things are moving so fast. You can almost feel like a kind of whiplash with how much is changing. How do we deal with the fast pace of change while still trying to anchor ourselves in our writing practice and not going crazy? Jack: Again, it's that everything everywhere all at once—you can get lost and discombobulated. I always say be the tortoise, not the hare—because you don't want to fly and die. You want pace and grace. Everyone will have a different pace. For some marathon runners, they can run a five-minute mile, some can run an eight-minute mile, some can run a twelve-minute mile. It's about finding the pace that works for you. Every one of us have different commitments. Every one of us have different ways we view the industry—some as a hobby, some as a business. So it's about honouring your needs, your commitment. Some of us, as you've had people on the podcast, some people are carers. They have to care. Some people are parents. Some people don't have those commitments and so can devote more time and then actually learn more, change more as a result. So again, it's about finding your groove, finding your rhythm, honouring that, and again, showing up consistently. Because motivation may get you started, but it's habit and discipline that sees you through. Keep that discipline, keep that pace and grace. Be consistent in what you can do. And know where you're at. Don't compare and despair, because again, if you look at someone else, they may be ahead of you, but the race is only with yourself in the end. So you've got to just focus on where you are at and am I in a better place than I was yesterday? Am I working on my business as well as in my business? How am I doing that? When am I doing that? And what am I doing that for? If you can be asking yourself those questions and making sure you're staying true to yourself and not burning out, making sure that you are honouring your other commitments, then I think you are going at the pace that feels right for you. Jo: Brilliant. Jo: Where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Jack: Thank you so much for having me on, Joanna, today. You can find me on JackWilliamson.co.uk for all my nonfiction books and therapy work. Then for my fiction work, it is ABJackson.com, or ABJacksonAuthor on Instagram and TikTok. Jo: Well, thanks so much for your time, Jack. That was great. Jack: Thank you so much. The post Post-Traumatic Growth, Creative Marketing, And Dealing With Change with Jack Williamson first appeared on The Creative Penn.
Jannah Scott grew up in San Fransisco, amidst diverse friends and the unique leadership of her mother. It's no surprise then that Jannah found her place as a leader in government and civil society, both nationally and internationally. Having served as Policy Advisor on Faith and Community Initiatives to former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Jannah was given the opportunity to serve in President Obama's administration as Deputy Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As you can tell, her heart is for policies, programs, and local initiatives that promote peace for all people. But as Jannah shares in this episode, she also has an immense heart for prayer and a big love for Jesus--gifts encoded in her DNA. Her mother was a prayer warrior; so was her grandmother. Jannah credits her mother's many prayers as the reason she overcame substance use, allowing her to grow into the resilient leader she was made to be.Join us as Jannah shares about her substance use recovery, her experience with tragic grief, her time and work during the Obama administration, and the collective trauma of the black community. There's so much to learn from her leadership. Don't miss this episode!Today, Jannah is the CEO of the American Center for Religious Freedom (ACRF), and has been since 2017. To learn more: https://www.acrf.global/home To connect with Jannah: ceo@acrf.email
Get AudioBooks for FreeBest Self-improvement MotivationCreate Post-Traumatic Growth | Tana AmenLearn how to transform trauma into strength with Tana Amen. Discover powerful strategies to build resilience, healing, and personal growth after adversity.Get AudioBooks for FreeWe Need Your Love & Support ❤️https://buymeacoffee.com/myinspiration#Motivational_Speech#motivation #inspirational_quotes #motivationalspeech Get AudioBooks for Free Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This episode describes what complex Post Traumatic Stress disorder (cPTSD) is, how it's diagnosed, and how it's different to similar disorders like PTSD and borderline personality disorder. This episode was inspired by the angry comments on Dr. Kibby's latest reel on spotting emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder. When someone has a history of childhood trauma and they struggle with intense emotions, self-esteem issues, and relationship problems- what disorder do they have? In this episode, Dr. Kibby delves into the criteria for complex PTSD, which is still not an official disorder in the DSM-V. Yet, so many people struggle with symptoms from long, painful histories of trauma that has shaped their entire lives and personalities.Dr. Kibby also discusses the nuanced differences between Complex PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder, revealing how trauma shapes self-esteem, relationships, and emotional regulation in surprising ways. If you've ever wondered why these disorders often overlap—and how understanding their distinctions can transform healing—you'll want to hear this.Dr. Kibby shares her own experiences with online criticism around trauma representation, sparking a deeper conversation about stigma and bias in mental health. She dives into the hidden intricacies of CPTSD, explaining why it's often overlooked in the DSM-5 but recognized worldwide, and how prolonged trauma affects the brain's ability to process memories, dissociate, and regulate emotions.She also talks about how how trauma, whether overt or subtle, can lead to complex self-protection mechanisms that impact every aspect of life. Then she finishes with listing the best evidence-based treatments, from prolonged exposure to cognitive processing therapy and DBT, tailored for each disorder's unique challenges. She emphasizes the power of compassion and personalized treatment over stigma, advocating for a mental health field that treats all disorders with empathy and respect. Why diagnosis isn't about labels- it's a pathway to personalized healing and recovery.Resources:Sarr, R., Quinton, A., Spain, D., & Rumball, F. (2024). A Systematic Review of the Assessment of ICD‐11 Complex Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) in Young People and Adults. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 31(3), e3012.Simon, J. J., Spiegler, K., Coulibaly, K., Stopyra, M. A., Friederich, H. C., Gruber, O., & Nikendei, C. (2025). Beyond diagnosis: symptom patterns across complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16, 1668821.
Kyle Trautmann, founder of High Vibe Holonomics, the first and only institution devoted to Energy Literacy and Flow for Post-Traumatic Growth. He helps 6 to 7 figure entrepreneurs and business owners elevate their energy, heal, and achieve greater success by mastering what he calls the seven systems of the human experience.Through his process of Education to Liberation, Kyle has guided over 10,000 individuals through personal transformation, teaching them how to change their energy signature and unlock their full potential.Now, Kyle's story of overcoming substance abuse and a severe brain injury to build a multiple six-figure organisation demonstrates how true mastery of energy and consciousness can lead to remarkable post-traumatic growth.And while expanding his teachings through The Holonomic Institute, he continues to make complex concepts of energy and consciousness accessible to anyone ready to change their life from the inside out.Here's where to find more:www.highvibeholonomics.comhttps://www.facebook.com/kyle.a.trautmannhttps://www.instagram.com/kyleatrautmannhttps://www.instagram.com/highvibeholonomics________________________________________________Welcome to The Unforget Yourself Show where we use the power of woo and the proof of science to help you identify your blind spots, and get over your own bullshit so that you can do the fucking thing you ACTUALLY want to do!We're Mark and Katie, the founders of Unforget Yourself and the creators of the Unforget Yourself System and on this podcast, we're here to share REAL conversations about what goes on inside the heart and minds of those brave and crazy enough to start their own business. From the accidental entrepreneur to the laser-focused CEO, we find out how they got to where they are today, not by hearing the go-to story of their success, but talking about how we all have our own BS to deal with and it's through facing ourselves that we find a way to do the fucking thing.Along the way, we hope to show you that YOU are the most important asset in your business (and your life - duh!). Being a business owner is tough! With vulnerability and humor, we get to the real story behind their success and show you that you're not alone._____________________Find all our links to all the things like the socials, how to work with us and how to apply to be on the podcast here: https://linktr.ee/unforgetyourself
In this episode of Trauma Rewired, we explore autoimmune conditions through a nervous-system and psychoneuroimmunology lens—moving beyond the idea that the body is "attacking itself." Instead, we examine autoimmunity as an adaptive output of a system that has lived in chronic threat for too long. Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof unpack how immune response, emotional expression, boundaries, trauma history, and social stress intersect at the level of physiology. Drawing on research from ACEs, chronic inflammation, the HPA axis, the inflammatory reflex, and shame-based immune activation, they explain how the brain's predictions—rather than isolated biology—shape immune behavior. You'll hear why autoimmune conditions disproportionately affect women and marginalized communities, how emotional suppression and boundary violations translate into inflammation, and why anger, shame, and safety are biological—not just psychological—processes. The episode closes with a grounded conversation on post-traumatic growth: what it means to live in partnership with the body, retrain predictions through sensory and interoceptive work, and expand resilience alongside medical care. This is an invitation to replace self-blame with curiosity—and to see regulation, expression, and safety as central to immune health. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro: Autoimmune as protection, not self-attack 08:40 – Autoimmune, ACEs, gender, and nervous system prediction 21:05 – Chronic inflammation, HPA axis & the inflammatory reflex 35:20 – Boundaries, anger, shame & post-traumatic growth 52:00 – Closing reflections & integration Key Takeaways Autoimmune responses can be understood as nervous-system outputs shaped by prediction and chronic threat. Early adversity, emotional suppression, and social stress significantly increase inflammatory load. Boundaries are physiological capacities rooted in interoception and proprioception—not just communication skills. Training safety, expression, and regulation can complement medical care and reduce flare frequency. Call to Action: Join us for a free NSI workshop Feb 11: Integrating the Nervous System with Precision and Purpose: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/integration-workshop/ Learn to work with Boundaries at the level of the body and nervous system at boundaryrewire.com Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired Get a two-week free trial of neurosomatic training at rewiretrial.com Resources Mentioned NIH – Autoimmune Diseases & Women: https://orwh.od.nih.gov/research/maternal-morbidity-mortality/autoimmune-diseases Danese & Lewis (2017) Psychoneuroimmunology of Early-Life Stress: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27860545/ Dube et al. (2009) ACEs & Autoimmune Risk: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19234146/ McEwen & Gianaros (2016) Stress, Brain & Disease: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26766224/ Dickerson & Kemeny (2004) Shame, Social Threat & Inflammation: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15250837/ Disclaimer: Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast. We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com. All rights in our content are reserved.
Episode Timeline:0:00 - Intro0:28 - The Redemptive Power of Conversation2:54 - Redefining Trauma in Modern Culture3:17 - Advertisement4:16 - Redefining Trauma (Continued)8:57 - The Partner's Perspective: Getting Unstuck13:36 - Practical Tools: The Three Circles of Self-Care17:10 - The Human Need to Be "Seen"24:13 - Post-Traumatic Growth: A Spiritual Journey29:16 - Processing vs. Resolving Trauma33:37 - Conclusion: Finding Transformation in the Valley To learn more about the Sex, God, & Chaos team, click the link below:www.sexgodchaos.comLooking for help? Book an appointment with LifeWorks Counseling today:www.lifeworks.msYou can purchase your copy of Sex, God, & Chaos here:www.amazon.comLink for our sponsor, Hope Quest:https://hopequestgroup.orgLink for our sponsor, The Samson Society:https://www.samsonsociety.com/
Adversity and grief are universal aspects of life. Most of us will encounter a form of trauma that triggers a survival response, anchoring the mind in past pain. However, this physiological loop does not have to be a life sentence. By cultivating resilience, we can navigate through the overwhelm and move toward post-traumatic growth, where it is possible to rediscover a profound sense of happiness and joy. To reframe how we think about trauma and post-traumatic growth, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with MC McDonald, a research professor and life coach specializing in trauma psychology and philosophy. MC describes the physiological survival mechanisms at the core of the body's trauma response and the benefits of post-traumatic growth. She offers insights about the in-depth research that is the foundation of her book, The Joy Reset: Six Ways Trauma Steals Happiness and How to Win It Back. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.
Post Traumatic Parenting and Breaking the Trauma CycleDr. Robyn Koslowitz joins Betsy Wurzel for a powerful conversation about Post Traumatic Parenting. Drawing from her own childhood trauma and her work as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Koslowitz explains how unhealed pain from the past can shape parenting styles today — and how caregivers can begin to break the cycle. They discuss the different Post-Traumatic Parenting types outlined in her book, including:The Entangled ParentThe Perfectionist ParentThe Paralyzed ParentThe Survivor ParentBetsy shares her own story of caregiving PTSD and the difference between witnessing death as a nurse versus losing her husband. This emotional and insightful conversation reminds us that healing starts with awareness — and that “you have to reveal it to heal it.”Dr. Robyn Koslowitz — Post Traumatic Parenting
Adversity and grief are universal aspects of life. Most of us will encounter a form of trauma that triggers a survival response, anchoring the mind in past pain. However, this physiological loop does not have to be a life sentence. By cultivating resilience, we can navigate through the overwhelm and move toward post-traumatic growth, where it is possible to rediscover a profound sense of happiness and joy. To reframe how we think about trauma and post-traumatic growth, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with MC McDonald, a research professor and life coach specializing in trauma psychology and philosophy. MC describes the physiological survival mechanisms at the core of the body's trauma response and the benefits of post-traumatic growth. She offers insights about the in-depth research that is the foundation of her book, The Joy Reset: Six Ways Trauma Steals Happiness and How to Win It Back. Like what you're hearing? WANT MORE SOUND IDEAS FOR DEEPER THINKING? Check out More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness bonus content available exclusively on https://harvestinghappiness.substack.com/ and https://medium.com/@HarvestingHappiness.
Trauma can take many forms, from single shocking events affecting a whole community to deeply personal experiences that unfold over time during childhood. We'll explore how different types of trauma, such as traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more can negatively impact our behaviour, relationships, and resilience later in life. Understanding how it affects us can be one of the first steps toward recovery. In this episode, we will uncover what really happens to the brain and body after trauma and what evidence-based interventions that help people rebuild their lives looks like in practice.Our guest today is Dr Jan Ewing is a highly respected Clinical Neuropsychologist and Clinical Psychologist with over 40 years of experience specialising in trauma, brain injury, and complex psychological disorders. As a Fellow for the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment and the International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation (ISSTD), Jan is recognised internationally for her expertise in understanding how trauma impacts the brain and behaviour. She has trained thousands of mental health professionals across Australia and served for more than 15 years as an educator at the University of Queensland. Jan also sits on the advisory panel for the Blue Knot Foundation, supporting adult survivors of childhood abuse.In this episode, we dive deep into answering the following thorny questions.00:00 - Intro2:30 - How Jan became an expert in trauma recovery?3:35 - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Trauma definitions.6:30 - What happens to the brain during a traumatic event?12:00 - How training helps with choosing whether to fight, flight, freeze or faint to survive during a traumatic event?15:15 - When is it safe for the brain to re-regulate? 17:30 - What are PTSD symptoms? 21:40 - How long does it take to re-regulate the brain?25:15 - What can we do to support someone after a traumatic event?29:30 - What is the “window of tolerance” and how does it determine how easily you are triggered by trauma?32:20 - What is a body memory, and how is it present even when you have amnesia of the trauma? 36:00 - The 3 phases of trauma processing that are part of recovery.40:45 - How to identify someone has a history of trauma and how to best support them?46:50 - How to help someone increase their window of tolerance? 48:45 - The different types of trauma.51:00 - The difference between stress and trauma.52:10 - Is full recovery possible after a traumatic event?55:50 - Why is EMDR considered best practice for treating trauma?59:00 - The role of shame in trauma.1:01.15 - How can we tackle shame in order to speed up recovery?1:03.40 - Why avoidance is the biggest barrier to trauma recovery?1:04.30 - What is Jan's one wellbeing practice?Learn more about Jan https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-ewing-7865712a/Learn more about Clearhead https://www.myclearhead.com/Distribution Tags:mental-healthPTSDTrauma recovery
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Parham for one of the most vulnerable conversations I've ever recorded.We explore how Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome doesn't just live in history—but in habits, coping mechanisms, and quiet forms of self-hatred we normalize every day. I openly unpack my own relationship with smoking—not as a moral failure, but as a learned survival behavior shaped by unexamined agreements with myself.Blending insights from Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome and the audiobook The Four Agreements, this conversation moves beyond theory into embodiment—what it actually looks like to heal in real time. We talk about how self-hatred can disguise itself as comfort, routine, or “just the way I am,” and how vulnerability becomes the gateway to self-respect, clarity, and freedom.This episode isn't about shame.It's about awareness.It's about unlearning.It's about choosing to live in integrity with yourself—one honest moment at a time.If you're ready to listen deeply, reflect courageously, and begin rewriting the agreements you've unknowingly been living by, this conversation is for you.
In this powerful episode of Get Obsessed, we sit down with Kevin Donaldson—a former police officer, host of The Suffering Podcast, and co-author of the groundbreaking book MAN YOU ARE CRAZY. Kevin shares his raw, personal journey through trauma and recovery, shedding light on why so many men suffer in silence. We dive deep into the cultural stigmas surrounding masculinity, the physiological impact of "toughing it out," and how men can reclaim their lives through vulnerability and community. Key Takeaways The "Man Box" Trap: How traditional expectations of masculinity prevent men from seeking help until they reach a breaking point. The Reality of PTSD: Kevin shares his experience as a first responder and how unaddressed trauma manifests in daily life. Suffering as a Catalyst: Why Kevin believes that leaning into your suffering—rather than running from it—is the only way to find true strength. Practical Tools for Recovery: Navigating the path from "crazy" to healthy, including the importance of therapy, peer support, and physical wellness. Breaking the Cycle: How fathers and mentors can model healthy emotional intelligence for the next generation of men. Notable Quotes "We are taught to be the protectors and the providers, but we aren't taught how to protect our own minds." "Vulnerability isn't a weakness; it's the ultimate tactical advantage for your long-term survival." Resources Mentioned Book: MAN YOU ARE CRAZY by Kevin Donaldson and Dr. Jaime Brower. Podcast: The Suffering Podcast Support: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (Available 24/7) Connect with Kevin Donaldson Website: TheSufferingPodcast.com Instagram: @TheSufferingPodcast LinkedIn: Kevin Donaldson About Get Obsessed The Get Obsessed podcast is dedicated to exploring the passions, mindsets, and habits that drive high performers. We believe that what you obsess over defines your future. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
What Happens When the Future You Planned Doesn't Happen When fertility treatments end without a baby, you don't just grieve the child you hoped for. You grieve the future you were building your life around. In this episode of The So Now What? Podcast, you explore post-traumatic growth after infertility and why it matters for women who are childless not by choice. Not in a toxic-positivity way. Not as a lesson you were supposed to learn. But as a way to understand what happens after years of trying, waiting, and living in a fertility holding pattern. If you've ever thought, I'm not the same person I was before IVF, this episode helps you understand why—and what becomes possible next. In this episode, you'll hear: Why infertility and fertility treatments do count as trauma, even if no one ever named it that way How years of IVF, IUI, medical procedures, and waiting shaped your nervous system and identity Why the end of fertility treatments feels so disorienting, not just sad What post-traumatic growth actually means and what it does not mean The seismic "rebuild" moment that happens when the life you planned no longer exists The five areas where post-traumatic growth often shows up after infertility Why growth is optional, not required, and only happens when you feel safe enough How to move forward without erasing your dream of motherhood or minimizing what you endured What it looks like to find a starting point again after the fertility holding pattern ends Why post-traumatic growth matters after infertility You didn't go through infertility to grow. You didn't suffer for a reason. And you don't need to reframe your loss to justify moving forward. Post-traumatic growth simply explains what happens when your assumptions about the future break and you're left asking, So now what? This episode helps you see that wanting forward movement does not mean you're forgetting what mattered. It means you're ready to stop living in permanent disappointment and start building a life that feels connected, grounded, and meaningful—on your terms. Thrive After Infertility This episode reflects the core work you do inside Thrive After Infertility, the coaching program created for women who have completed fertility treatments and are ready to stop feeling incomplete because fertility treatments failed. Inside Thrive, you learn how to: Move out of the fertility holding pattern Reconnect with your body and nervous system Navigate relationships in a world full of parents Create meaning and direction for the decades ahead Growth doesn't come from time passing. It comes from learning how to intentionally rebuild after loss. Free resource mentioned in this episode If you've ever been told, "You can always adopt," or "Everything happens for a reason," and didn't know how to respond, download the free guide: The Top 27 Things People Say When You're Childless (and How to Respond)
Hosts: Dr. Ashlee Gethner, LCSW – Child of a Police Officer Jennifer Woosley Saylor, LPCC S – Child of a Police Officer Episode Overview It's the kickoff to 2026 for "When The Call Hits Home"! Jennifer and Ashlee reunite after the holidays each with a few survival stories to share about sick kids, hospital visits, and football games. This episode takes a deep dive into mental health in the world of first responders, focusing on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the concept of Post Traumatic Growth. Key Topics Discussed PTSD: Clinical & Real-World Definitions What PTSD means according to the diagnostic manual, how its definition and understanding have evolved. Early understanding of trauma as mainly war or abuse, contrasted with today’s broader view (cumulative events, “big T” and “little T” trauma). Common symptoms: not just flashbacks & nightmares also avoidance, numbness, irritability, concentration issues, and impulsivity. First Responders & Mental Health Unique challenges faced, stigma around seeking help, and how even “expected” work-related trauma can have serious mental health impacts. Barriers to mental health support historically, and how policy is slowly catching up (e.g. recognizing PTSD as a compensable injury). The Power of Resilience & Growth Resilience as “bouncing back” – Rocky Balboa style! Introduction to Post Traumatic Growth: moving beyond survival to genuine transformation. Five domains of post traumatic growth: Appreciation of life Relationships with others New possibilities Personal strength Spiritual change Real-world examples of first responders not just surviving trauma, but thriving and inspiring meaningful change in themselves and their communities. Family Matters How PTSD and growth impact the family dynamics of first responders; encouragement for family-wide healing and mutual support. Personal stories, including the hosts’ own experiences as children of first responders. Therapy: Beyond Diagnosis The importance of not just earning diagnoses, but focusing on recovery, growth, and positive psychology. Shout-outs to the transformative process of therapy and the courage it takes to seek help. A Symbolic Reflection The Japanese art of Kintsugi, repairing broken pottery with gold, serves as metaphor for healing: your flaws and brokenness can become strengths and sources of beauty. Don’t Forget Shop the merch store for some WTCHH swag! Stay tuned for exciting announcements and new episodes in the new year. If this episode resonated with you, please share your thoughts and stories with us - we love hearing from you! For questions or more info, reach out to the hosts, and remember: When the call hits home, Jennifer and Ashlee are here for you. Thank you for tuning in! Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review "When The Call Hits Home" on your favorite podcast platforms! Follow Us: - Facebook: When The Call Hits Home Podcast - Instagram: @whenthecallhitshome - Whenthecallhitshome.com --- This podcast does not contain medical / health advice. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis or treatment and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. The information contained in this podcast is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by Training Velocity LLC and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the Podcast or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in the podcast for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY ADVICE, COURSE OF TREATMENT, DIAGNOSIS OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION, SERVICES OR PRODUCTS THAT YOU OBTAIN THROUGH THIS PODCAST. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast.
What if the places we have been hurt most, our relationships, can also become the places where we grow? In this episode, we explore relational healing as a powerful driver of post-traumatic growth. Together, we unpack why safe connection can feel threatening after complex trauma, how protective patterns like fight, freeze, and fawn are intelligent adaptations (not personal failures), and why "capacity" is less about willpower and more about what your nervous system can hold in real time. You will hear how micro-moments of self attunement can reduce hypervigilance, build trust from the inside out, and turn insight into embodied change. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com and the Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide) are joined by Piper Rose, a Neurosomatic Relationship Coach, founder of Shadowplay Coaching, and Director of Operations and Continuing Education at NSI. Piper shares an honest, grounded look at how co-regulation, repair, and "the burden of love" can become a training ground for deeper intimacy, resilience, and self compassion. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro: Why healing is relational, not just individual 03:30 Meet Piper Rose and what "Neurosomatic Relationship Coaching" means 08:20 Trauma, attachment wounding, and protective F responses in relationships 16:10 Reframing patterns as adaptations, not defects, and finding the "gifts" inside them 22:40 Neuroscience of connection: co-regulation, threat prediction, and updating the model 31:30 Why safe relationships can trigger fear, emotional flashbacks, and vulnerability 41:10 Self attunement, needs, and practicing repair in micro-moments 49:20 Community, nature, and animals as lower-risk pathways to relational practice 56:30 Closing reflections: building trust, capacity, and support beyond one relationship Key Takeaways: Relational patterns like fight, freeze, and fawn are often strategic survival adaptations, not signs you are "broken." Safe connection can feel dangerous when your nervous system is trained to predict harm in intimacy. "Capacity" is not just skill or knowledge. It is whether your body can access those skills under pressure. Self attunement, like responding to thirst, overwhelm, or startle, builds a foundation for secure internal attachment and clearer boundaries. You do not have to do relational healing alone. Support teams, community, nature, and animals can provide safe enough co-regulation while you build trust. Resources Mentioned: Free live 90-minute workshop: Neurosomatic.com/Integration NSI Community: Neurosomatic.com BrainBased: BrainBased.com Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired Cozolino, L. J. (2014). The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company Call to Action: Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!
What if the struggles you've faced as a parent could become your greatest leadership superpower? In this episode, we sit down with Raúl T. Pereyra—first-generation Latino leadership coach and creator of The BAG We Carry™—to explore the science of post-traumatic growth and how it can transform the way we lead at home and in business.Raúl shares his powerful journey from East L.A. to coaching senior leaders, revealing how unpacking the invisible weight we carry can unlock confidence, trust, and belonging. If you've ever battled an inner critic or wondered how to model resilience for your kids while building a business, this conversation is for you.What You'll Learn:✔ How post-traumatic growth turns parenting challenges into leadership strengths✔ Practical steps to unpack past experiences without overwhelm✔ How to model resilience for your kids while growing your business✔ What the inner critic really is—and how to silence it✔ One behavior shift you can make TODAY to lead with confidenceDon't miss this episode—because real change isn't about more information, it's about behavior change.
In this episode, I sit down with Stephen Grayhm and Matt Dallas to unpack the real story behind Sheepdog. This is not just a film. It is a lived journey that took fourteen years to bring into the world and required confronting pain, resistance, and personal history at every step.We talk openly about trauma in the veteran experience, not as something to escape, but as the very force that forges clarity, purpose, and depth. Watching these men walk this path mirrored many moments in my own life. It became clear that what we label as trauma often carries the exact information needed for growth, leadership, and service.We explore the challenges of making a film that tells the truth, the internal battles that surfaced along the way, and what it means to keep going when the outcome is uncertain. This conversation is about resilience, responsibility, and discovering that there is life beyond the wound.This episode is for veterans, builders, and anyone who has been shaped by hardship and is ready to understand what that experience was preparing them for.Thank you and I Love you.
BUY THE BOOK NOW BY CLICKING HERE! ---- In this episode, Adi Shakti celebrates Post-Traumatic Growth Through the SoulWork Lens hitting #1 Bestseller status on Amazon — and shares the deeper spiritual, leadership, and strategic layers behind the project. Adi explores why some people collapse after trauma while others alchemize hardship into wisdom, authority, and impact — and how SoulWork bridges somatic healing, nervous system regulation, and meaning-making into post-traumatic growth. She also walks through: The evolution from trauma-focused healing to collective responsibility How the book emerged from a live training and monthly membership model Why self-publishing was the aligned choice The exact strategy behind Kindle presales, categories, and launch timing How writing a book can become a long-term brand asset and authority amplifier This episode is both a spiritual transmission and a practical masterclass for anyone called to turn their lived experience into leadership, legacy, and service.
Post-traumatic growth gets talked about like a mindset shift, but real change often starts somewhere else: the nervous system. In this episode, we explore why being around happy people can feel threatening, why "find the silver lining" pressure can lead to bypassing, and why growth is not the same as rushing to meaning. We also unpack the other trap: getting stuck in a healing loop that keeps re-entering the pain without creating new patterns. If you have ever felt ashamed for not "moving on" fast enough, this conversation offers a different map. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide) are joined by Matt Bush (Next Level Neuro, lead educator at NSI). Together, they break down what post-traumatic growth is (and is not), why connection and co-regulation are essential to healing, and how safety, repetition, and nervous system capacity create the conditions for authentic transformation. Timestamps: 00:00 Why "silver lining" pressure can trigger bypassing, and why happy environments can feel unsafe 06:30 What post-traumatic growth is (and what it is not), including the "toxic positivity" trap 14:30 Why trauma isolates, and why relational healing and co-regulation matter for recovery 23:30 Social bonding as a survival strategy: oxytocin, group rhythms, and threat reduction 34:30 Discernment in community: how to titrate connection and track nervous system outputs 45:00 Neuroplasticity and integration: why insight alone rarely rewires survival patterns 56:00 Practical integration for practitioners: frameworks, tools, and daily repetition for change Key Takeaways: Post-traumatic growth is not about forcing gratitude or meaning. It often emerges after safety and capacity return to the body. Trauma can make connection feel dangerous, even when connection is what the nervous system needs to heal. "Good advice" can still be harmful when it is delivered before the nervous system is ready, especially around forgiveness and resilience. Healing can get stuck in two loops: performative "I am fine" masking, or compulsive re-processing that repeats intensity without building new patterns. Tracking outputs (sleep, digestion, pain, mood stability, compulsions) can reveal whether a practice is supporting regulation or creating more dysregulation. Resources Mentioned: RewireTrial.com: Free two-week access to live neurosomatic intelligence classes and an on-demand library of nervous system practices BrainBased.com: Elisabeth's online community for applied neurology and somatic tools for behavior change, resilience, and stress processing NSI Certification: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/nsi-certification/ Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!
Can life after trauma hold something more than pain? How can you discover new purpose and growth after suffering?Nothing Is Wasted Coaching Director, Teresa Glantz, has walked her own path of trauma and healing—and has transformed her pain into a calling to help others heal through teaching about trauma and post-traumatic growth. She is passionate about showing others that while pain and trauma may happen to us, they do not have to define us, and that beauty can emerge even from the most difficult parts of our stories. Through the Biblical Trauma Care Specialist course offered at Nothing Is Wasted, Teresa is on a mission to help others understand the role trauma inevitably plays in our lives and how we can move toward post-traumatic growth.In this episode, Davey and Teresa step into a time of year when many are seeking personal growth by exploring how to make healing part of a new year, what post-traumatic growth truly is, and the different stages of trauma.If you are looking ahead and wondering whether anything good can come from your pain, this episode offers a reminder that growth can be found in the aftermath of trauma. Website: nothingiswasted.com/coaching nothingiswasted.com/btcs www.teresaglantz.com/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/teresaglantzcoachingStories matter. They inspire, uplift, and remind us we're not alone in our pain. Hope in the Valley: 42 Days of Healing Through the Psalms After Loss, Grief, and Tragedy is a new devotional featuring real stories from the Nothing Is Wasted community—offering strength, comfort, and hope in life's hardest moments. Order your copy today at: www.nothingiswasted.com/hopeinthevalley Wondering where to get started on your journey towards healing? Join Davey on our next FREE, live Zoom call and find out how you can begin to take back your story and how Nothing is Wasted can help. Sign up today at: www.nothingiswasted.com/starthere Looking for help in navigating the valley of pain and trauma? Our Nothing is Wasted coaches can help: www.nothingiswasted.com/coaching Want a pathway through your pain? The Pain to Purpose Course can lead you through all you've been through: www.nothingiswasted.com/paintoppurpose Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Actor and director Steven Grayhm joins Read Shepherd and Dana McKay to discuss his powerful new film Sheepdog, which shines a light on the hidden struggles many veterans face after returning home. In this conversation, Grayhm opens up about the inspiration behind the film, the realities of PTSD among veterans, and the concept of post-traumatic growth — finding healing, purpose, and meaning after trauma. He explains why telling these stories authentically matters, how Sheepdog aims to spark honest conversations, and what he hopes audiences take away from the film. Sheepdog arrives in theaters January 16, and this episode explores why its message is especially timely for veterans, families, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of trauma and resilience.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Actor and director Steven Grayhm joins Read Shepherd and Dana McKay to discuss his powerful new film Sheepdog, which shines a light on the hidden struggles many veterans face after returning home. In this conversation, Grayhm opens up about the inspiration behind the film, the realities of PTSD among veterans, and the concept of post-traumatic growth — finding healing, purpose, and meaning after trauma. He explains why telling these stories authentically matters, how Sheepdog aims to spark honest conversations, and what he hopes audiences take away from the film. Sheepdog arrives in theaters January 16, and this episode explores why its message is especially timely for veterans, families, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of trauma and resilience.
Welcome to Season 2 of the Orthobullets Podcast.Today's show is CoinFlips, where expert speakers discuss grey zone decisions in orthopedic surgery. This episode will feature doctors Alexander Nedopil, John Mercuri, Joseph Greene, & Michael Ransone. They will discuss the case titled "Severe Post-traumatic Varus Knee in 61M."Follow Orthobullets on Social Media:FacebookInstagramTwitterLinkedInYouTube
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, emotional distress, or a mental health crisis, call or text 988, or chat via 988lifeline.org. Support is available 24/7. You are not alone, and help is available.Pre-Order The Forever Strong PLAYBOOK and receive exclusive bonuses: https://drgabriellelyon.com/playbook/Want ad-free episodes, exclusives and access to community Q&As? Subscribe to Forever Strong Insider: https://foreverstrong.supercast.comDr. Gabrielle Lyon sits down with renowned medical correspondent and OB/GYN, Dr. Jen Ashton, for a profoundly personal and candid conversation about navigating life's most intense tragedies while maintaining a public career.Dr. Ashton bravely opens up about the devastating suicide of her first husband, a world-class surgeon, 18 days after their divorce was finalized. She shares the raw reality of being in clinical shock and how the immense tragedy became an unexpected catalyst for post-traumatic growth.Dr. Ashton, who holds a Master's degree in Nutritional Sciences, also brings her medical expertise to current health debates:The Power of Fitness: Learn how resistance training became Dr. Ashton's lifeline to snap her out of emotional numbness and shock.The Hormone Misinformation Crisis: They discuss the flawed data and flawed media that led to 20 years of women being under-treated for menopause after the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).GLP-1 Myths: Dr. Ashton breaks down the top myths surrounding GLP-1 medications, the difference between absolute vs. relative risk, and the non-weight related benefits that are just beginning to emerge.The Problem with Extremes: They address the societal tendency to seek out quick-fix solutions in health, menopause, and obesity care, arguing that the true sweet spot is in a nuanced, moderate position.Finding Love Again: Dr. Ashton shares the unexpected miracle of finding profound love with her current husband, legendary sports executive and TV producer, Tom Werner.About Jen Ashton: Retiring stiff paper gowns and unrelatable medical advice, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a Board-certified Ob-Gyn, author, and TV medical correspondent, breaks the barrier between doctor and patient. Affectionately referred to as your all-in-one ‘BFF'/Ob-Gyn, Dr. Jennifer Ashton marries an unparalleled medical background with an accessible‘girl's-girl' attitude. Though Dr. Ashton can easily speak to the latest beauty and fashion trends, this Ivy League graduate means business when it comes to women's health.Thank you to our sponsors: Timeline - Get 20% off your order at https://timeline.com/LYON OneSkin - Get 15% off with the code DRLYON – https://www.oneskin.coFind Jen Ashton at: Book: Life After Suicide - https://a.co/d/0HvOeSHIG:
In this episode of The Counseling Psychologist podcast series, Ms. Fowsia Musse and Dr. Yunkyoung Garrison talk about the article recently published in TCP titled, "Ka Bogso: The 5Rs Model of Posttraumatic Growth for Somali Refugee Women."
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a frequent complication of exposure to trauma. We look at PTSD symptoms and causes, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of post traumatic stress disorder. PDFs available at: https://rhesusmedicine.com/pages/psychiatryConsider subscribing (if you found any of the info useful!): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRks8wB6vgz0E7buP0L_5RQ?sub_confirmation=1Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhesusmedicineBuy Us A Coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rhesusmedicineTimestamps:0:00 What is PTSD? 0:48 Signs and Symptoms of PTSD2:27 PTSD Diagnosis3:30 PTSD Pathophysiology4:56 PTSD Risk Factors6:03 PTSD TreatmentReferences:BMJ Best Practice. (2024). Post-traumatic stress disorder. [online] Available at: https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-gb/430 (BMJ Best Practice)Mann, S.K., Marwaha, R. & Torrico, T.J. (2024). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. Last update 25 February 2024. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559129/ (NCBI)PTSD UK. (n.d.). PTSD Stats – PTSD UK. [online] Available at: https://www.ptsduk.org/ptsd-stats/ (PTSD UK)PTSD UK. (2019). Secondary Trauma – PTSD UK. [online] Available at: https://www.ptsduk.org/secondary-trauma/ (PTSD UK)Disclaimer: Please remember this video and all content from Rhesus Medicine is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not a guide to diagnose or to treat any form of condition. The content is not to be used to guide clinical practice and is not medical advice. Please consult a healthcare professional for medical advice.
Hour 1 - Monday. A day that can make you realize that Your body may be just another recyclable container. Enter Jacob & Jackson 2 guys who clearly put fiction & reality to the ear of the beholder. In this segment they lament and give 1001 excuses for The Chiefs loss to Houston. They also talk with Shocker BB Coach Paul Mills.
How can EMS educators help their learners find resilience in what is sure to be a challenging profession? In this episode, recorded live at the 2025 New York State Vital Signs Conference, Prodigy EMS Medical Director Maia Dorsett sits down with renowned artist, retired paramedic, and counseling therapist Dan Sundahl. Their conversation explores the powerful intersection of creativity, trauma, and learning in EMS. Starting with a “Mindset Minute” from Ginger Locke, the episode challenges the traditional analytical focus of EMS education and highlights how inductive, creative thinking supports both better clinical reasoning and mental health. Dan shares his journey through PTSD, the role of art in healing, and the transformative potential of post-traumatic growth. Educators will gain insight into how creative pathways, neuroplasticity, and deliberate processing can help learners find resilience—and even emerge stronger—after difficult experiences. Ginger Locke highlights the episode's key points with her "Mindset Minute." The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform. Check out the Prodigy EMS Bounty Program! Earn $1000 for your best talks! Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com. Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.
Send us a textA culture that actually protects first responders doesn't happen by accident—it's built on day-one expectations, family inclusion, and leaders who tell the truth even when the news is hard. We sit down with Doug Wyman to map what real organizational wellness looks like and why “Inside the Box” has become a powerful framework for shifting identity, policy, and practice in policing.We start where most programs fail: leaving wellness to HR or EAP and forgetting families. Doug explains how to onboard spouses and partners with the same care we give new hires, and why a 10–15 minute decompression ritual at the door can prevent years of resentment at home. From there, we dig into the mentorship pipeline—how great FTOs set career goals, normalize therapy, and keep officers engaged long after field training. As rank rises, the view widens; without peer networks and rank-specific training, command staff unintentionally import narrow worldviews into complex events like suicide, deepening stigma and pain.The episode unpacks procedural justice for the inside of the house—dignity, voice, clear motives, and follow-through—to counter “administration betrayal.” We name the Man Box and the Cop Box, exploring how rigid ideals make therapy, medication, or simple human tenderness feel like violations. Doug shows how emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and the Four Agreements become everyday tools that change culture one conversation at a time. And we get practical: field officers should carry the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, because at 3 a.m. on a bridge you need the right questions, not another search tab.If you lead, supervise, dispatch, or love a first responder, this conversation offers a blueprint you can use tomorrow—family education, mentorship, internal fairness, and tools that save lives. Listen, share with your team, and tell us what belongs outside the box. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to a colleague who needs a better way forward.Go to Doug's LinkedIn website at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-wyman-6b80852a/details/featured/The Class Inside the Box - Focuses on Organizational Wellness and Post Traumatic growth and is for first line supervisors and command staff. Support the showYouTube Channel For The Podcast
Send us a textThe story begins where many first responder lives converge: relentless calls, court dates, and a small department that never truly sleeps. Then the personal hits. Former New Hampshire police chief Doug Wyman opens up about parenting through a son's addiction at the height of the opioid crisis, supporting a younger child through identity shifts, and the morning that changed everything—when his wife died by suicide with his duty weapon. What follows is a rare, unguarded look at procedure meeting grief, and how systems can protect evidence while still protecting people.We walk through what real support looks like after the casseroles stop—peer teams that actually call, clergy who listen more than they preach, and a therapist with true cultural competency. Doug explains why a mind body spirit triangle isn't fluff; it's the backbone of resilience for first responders and families. Spirituality here is practical, not preachy—whether you find it in church, Stoicism, or a clear atheist ethic. Acceptance becomes the turning point. It's not agreement. It's the doorway to choose constructive over destructive, to convert pain into purpose, and to build post-traumatic growth one small habit at a time.We also dig into the cognitive traps that keep people stuck on if and the simple language checks that interrupt self-blame. From there, the focus widens to culture. Strong wellness programs don't live in binders; they live in people. Informal leaders—the ones who can get fifteen colleagues to show up on a Saturday—are the engine. When departments design with those influencers, recruitment and retention rise, and the holdouts become a minority. If you want a team to thrive, build a house you're proud to invite others into.If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a teammate who needs it, and leave a review so more first responders and families can find these tools. And if you or someone you love is in crisis, call 988 right now. You're not alone.Go to Doug's LinkedIn website at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-wyman-6b80852a/details/featured/The Class Inside the Box - Focuses on Organizational Wellness and Post Traumatic growth and is for first line supervisors and command staff. Freed.ai: We'll Do Your SOAP Notes!Freed AI converts conversations into SOAP note.Use code Steve50 for $50 off the 1st month!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showYouTube Channel For The Podcast
Hey UN•THERAPIST,We need your help UN•THERAPIZING something…We invited some of our friends over to have Friendsgiving with UN•THERAPY and discuss the dishes they were looking forward to, and the answers were a little different than some of us might have experienced growing up.Not everyone is consuming dressing, yams, mac & cheese, buteveryone is using food to bring family together & celebrate life.Not only did we talk about dishes we loved, but we also spoke about some we wouldn't mind not seeing on the dinner table & this conversation turned out epic!!!Join us for another session of UN•THERAPY as we UN•THERAPIZE our favorite foods on Thanksgiving, our least favorite foods, & what is the real definition of chocolate cake!Connect with UN•THERAPY PodcastInstagram: @UntherapyPodcastFacebook: UN•THERAPY Podcast YouTube: UN•THERAPY PodcastUN•THERAPY Facebook Group:
Show SummaryOn today's episode, we're featuring a conversation with Bob Delaney, a mental health advocate who has also had a full life: a college basketball player, a new jersey state trooper who went undercover in some of the biggest Mob families in new jersey, and his role as a high-profile NBA referee. Bob's insights have been sought after by senior military leadership to speak to troops about mental health and posttraumatic stress. Provide FeedbackAs a dedicated member of the audience, we would like to hear from you about the show. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the show in this short feedback survey. By doing so, you will be entered to receive a signed copy of one of our host's three books on military and veteran mental health. About Today's GuestBob Delaney is an NBA Cares Ambassador and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Special Advisor for Officiating Development. He served as the NBA's Vice President of Referee Operations and Director of Officials, after 25 seasons as an NBA referee. Prior to his career in professional basketball, Delaney was a highly decorated New Jersey State Trooper who went undercover to infiltrate the mafia; causing his post-traumatic stress journey. Delaney's firsthand experiences coupled with a passion to better understand mental health make him an expert on the subject. His efforts to educate and bring attention to the topic of post-traumatic stress have entailed visits to military troops around the world, including multiple trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. Described by retired General Robert Brown, U.S. Army Four Star Commander of the Pacific, as the "person who related to soldiers better than any visitor I have seen in my 36 years in the military," Delaney authored a book on the topic, Surviving the Shadows: A Journey of Hope into Post Traumatic Stress. He is also the author of Covert: My Life Infiltrating the Mob. His most recent book - Heroes are Human...Lessons in Resilience, Courage and Wisdom from the COVID Frontlines shares the emotional toll on our healthcare community as they fought an invisible enemy. He has been the subject of numerous media articles and shows including Dr. Sanjay Gupta CNN. Delaney is with the University South Florida Corporate Training and Professional Education Office as Lead Instructor for Trauma Awareness, Resilience, Selfcare programs.Links Mentioned During the EpisodeBob Delaney's Web sitePsychArmor Resource of the WeekThis week's PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor course course Understanding the VA for Caregivers. This course helps caregivers navigate and better utilize the services of the VA – the largest integrated healthcare system in the country. The content for this course was developed collaboratively with a working group of various VA Departments. You can find the resource here: https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/understanding-the-va-for-caregivers-2 Episode Partner: Are you an organization that engages with or supports the military affiliated community? Would you like to partner with an engaged and dynamic audience of like-minded professionals? Reach out to Inquire about Partnership Opportunities Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media Email PsychArmorPsychArmor on XPsychArmor on FacebookPsychArmor on YouTubePsychArmor on LinkedInPsychArmor on InstagramTheme MusicOur theme music Don't Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
6 years ago Chelsea Pottenger found herself in a psychiatric hospital. Deep in the throes of severe PostNatal Depression following the birth of her daughter,Chelsea in many ways was fighting for her life and at the beginning of a long road toward healing, and ultimately post traumatic growth. Along the way she found herself in a monastery learning and practicing meditation,Arriving at new insights about how she wanted to live, And eventually choosing to leave a very successful corporate career to found EQ Minds - a company on a mission to reset the corporate agenda. Chelsea and her team work with some of the world's most iconic businesses to prioritize the mental health and wellbeing of their employees first. In addition to founding and directing EQ Minds, Chelsea is now a highly sought-after keynote speaker, author of the Mindful High Performer, and was just nominated for Australian of the Year. Today she will share some of this journey.Her heart wrenching, and inspiring story of transforming pain into purpose. A story that in many ways offers us a beautiful reminder:There is a deeper and richer experience of life available to us.An experience that often begins with coming home to who we truly are. For more on Chelsea, her book, speaking and the incredible work they are doing at EQ Minds, please visit: https://www.eqminds.comEnjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:On Listening and Attending to the Soul | James HollisOn Heartbreak, Healing, and Transformation | Sara Avant StoverOn Learning to Be a Better Friend to Ourselves | Megan PragerJoin Joshua on a NEW 6-month journey in uncovering how we can open our hearts and minds to live a more expansive life. A life that brings us alive. A life that is driven primarily by curiosity, wonder, and love (vs. certainty, control, and fear).Learn more about and register for "From Fear to Love: A 6 Month Journey" here. Thanks for listening!Support the show
In this episode of SuperPsyched, host Dr. Adam Dorsay delves into the realities of resilience and post-traumatic growth with Dr. H'Sien Hayward, a psychologist who shares her incredible personal journey. Dr. Hayward recounts her experiences growing up on a self-sustained homestead, the life-changing accident just before her 17th birthday, and her inspiring academic and professional achievements. The discussion explores profound topics, such as the hedonic treadmill, the importance of finding meaning and purpose, and the nuanced differences between trauma and growth. Enjoy an engaging and intellectually stimulating conversation on how creating meaning after loss can lead to profound personal and collective growth.00:00 Welcome to SuperPsyched00:28 The Myth of 'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger'01:25 Introducing Dr. H'Sien Hayward02:43 H'Sien's Early Life and Accident06:50 The Road to Recovery and Resilience10:53 Delayed Grief and Healing20:07 The Hedonic Treadmill and Finding Meaning27:27 Key Findings from Happiness Research27:46 Hedonic Adaptation and Set Points28:34 Exceptions to Hedonic Adaptation29:19 Cosmetic Surgery and Sustained Happiness31:17 Effort and Sustainable Happiness31:36 Positive Psychology Interventions39:54 The Role of Play and Resilience40:16 The Importance of Meaning Over Money44:09 The Power of Humor and Levity46:24 Final Thoughts and ReflectionsHelpful Links:Dr. H'Sien HaywardDr. H'Sien Hayward LinkedIn
Some women feel stuck in a traumatic experience after childbirth, but another possibility is post-traumatic growth. Mel explores this possibility with Midwife and Psychotherapist Dr Athena Hammond. Athena specialises in trauma therapy, specifically around childbirth. In this episode we have a conversation about post-traumatic growth as Athena gives words to the long term experience of recovering from trauma. This is part 2 of my conversation with Athena, a continuation of episode 174. Our guest for this episode is Dr Athena Hammond from @thebirthcounsel You can learn more about Athena at www.thebirthcounsel.com.au If you have concerns for your well-being there is help for you at: The Gidget foundation Australia COPE This episode has been generously sponsored by Poppy Child from @popthatmumma. She is offering great birth rebellion listeners 25% off the Birth box which includes the oxytocin bubble tracks. This is an example of a nervous system calming technique discussed in our episode today. Use the code “Melanie” at the check out to claim your discount. Just go to hypnobirthing-positive-birth.com/birthbox Watch this episode on YouTube Get more from the Great Birth Rebellion Podcast Join the podcast mailing list to access the resource folder from each episode at www.melaniethemidwife.com Join the rebellion and show your support! Grab your Great Birth Rebellion merchandise now at www.thegreatbirthrebellion.com Follow us on social media @thegreatbirthrebellion and @melaniethemidwife If this podcast has improved your knowledge or pregnancy, birth or postpartum journey please consider thanking us financially by leaving a tip to support the ongoing work of this podcast. Disclaimer The information and resources provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute or replace medical or midwifery advice. Instead, all information provided is intended for education, with it's application intended for discussion between yourself and your care provider and/or workplace if you are a health professional. The Great Birth Rebellion podcast reserves the right to supplement, edit, change, delete any information at any time. Whilst we have tried to maintain accuracy and completeness of information, we do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or currency of the information. The podcast accepts no liability for any loss, damage or unfavourable outcomes howsoever arising out of the use or reliance on the content. This podcast is not a replacement for midwifery or medical clinical care. The transcript below was generated with ai and may contain errors.
Tammy grew up in a Christian family dedicated to ministry and education, which for their family meant moving. A lot. By the age of 13, Tammy had moved 32 times, an experience that taught her the value of connection and community. Later in adulthood, after a divorce from an abusive marriage, Tammy also learned the value of vulnerability, and it was the power of these three together that ushered her into post-traumatic growth and transformation.Today, Tammy is sharing her transformation and helping other women experience their own. She's the CEO of Hope Women's Center, a resource and referral center for women and teen girls that has 7 physical centers and 50 mobile centers across the state of Arizona. Fun fact: HWC is considered Arizona's first faith-based, trauma-informed organization, and it was Tammy, Sanghoon, and Michelle who worked collaboratively to create HWC's trauma-informed culture back in 2018. Listen in as the three of them talk about what it looks like to implement trauma-informed procedures, language, and teams in real time - and without a textbook.Find out more about Hope Women's Center at: www.hopewomenscenter.orgTo contact Tammy: tammy@hopewomenscenter.org
Functional healing isn't about bouncing back, it's about becoming more whole. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace are joined by somatic expert Veronica Rottman, founder of Soma School, to explore what happens when post-traumatic growth deepens into post-traumatic wisdom. Together, they unpack how healing often involves grief, identity shifts, and surrender, not just resilience and strength. You'll hear how emotions are constructed in the body, why dissociation and fawning are intelligent survival responses, and how safety is rebuilt through slow, titrated somatic experiences. We discuss how cultural narratives about “getting stronger” can overlook the body's need for modulation, rest, and relational repair. You'll learn how capacity building is nonlinear, why co-regulation and oxytocin-based safety cues matter, and how tending to wounds rather than fixing them can transform pain into embodied wisdom. Join us for a workshop, taking a deeper dive into Hormones, Stress and the Female Nervous System, combining applied neuroscience and somatics to support female cycles: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/female-nervous-system-workshop/ Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome and framing: growth vs. wisdom 05:30 Emotions as predictions and survival patterning 14:00 Dissociation, boundaries, and identity shifts 22:30 Somatic titration, oxytocin, and co-regulation practices 31:00 Capacity, achievement, and health trade-offs 39:30 Reframing fawn and freeze as intelligent responses 47:00 Cyclical needs, rest, and redefining growth 54:00 Integration, tending, and systemic context 59:00 Takeaways and next steps Key Takeaways: Post-traumatic wisdom includes grief, ambiguity, and letting identities evolve, not only resilience. Emotions are constructed from interoception and predictions; safety cues can update those predictions. Small, consistent somatic doses help the system perceive more safety without overwhelm. Fawn and freeze are adaptive; meeting them with curiosity reduces shame and supports change. Capacity building is relational; co-regulation and oxytocin-supportive practices can expand what feels possible. Resources Mentioned: Soma School – founded by Veronica Rottman Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification Brain Based The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron (via Alanis Morissette interview) Peter Levine on Somatic Titration and Safety Dr. Stephen Porges and the Polyvagal Perspective Lisa Feldman Barrett – Theory of constructed emotion Vincent Felitti – The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study Raja Selvam – Integral Somatic Psychology Call to Action: If this episode offered you a new perspective on healing—or gave language to something you've felt but couldn't name—share it with someone who needs to hear it. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite audio platform or tap the bell on YouTube so you never miss an episode. If you've ever noticed your focus, energy, or emotions shift throughout your cycle, this next workshop will help you understand why. On November 13th at 12pm Central, Elisabeth Kristof and Veronica Rottman will explore how your hormones interact with your nervous system—and how somatic tools can support you through every phase. Join live or catch the replay at https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/female-nervous-system-workshop/ Disclaimer: Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast. We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com. All rights in our content are reserved.
Show Featured Sponsor: The Precision Holsters Vanquish! Learn more: Precision Holsters and use code “seekAWS” for a discount. On today's episode of the American Warrior Show, Rich Brown is joined by Michael “Mac” McNamara, founder of Post-Traumatic Winning and ALL MARINE RADIO. Mac's story spans finance, combat, leadership, and a lifelong mission to help others thrive after trauma. About Michael McNamara: Began his career at Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles, first as a bookkeeper and later as an account executive. Enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, later commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in December 1983. Served in multiple assignments, including: 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment 1st Light Armored Infantry Battalion Marine Detachment, USS Ranger CV-61 The Basic School 3rd Light Armored Infantry Battalion Left active duty in 1994 after more than a decade of service. Post-Service Career & Return to Duty: Became Director of Sports for Special Olympics North Dakota in 1998. Launched his broadcasting career in 2000 as host of MacTalk, earning the National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Award (2007) for Small Market Personality of the Year. Returned to active duty in 2004, promoted to Major, and deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, with the 1st Marine Division. Mobilized again in 2006 for duty in Fallujah, Iraq, with the 5th Marine Regiment, while simultaneously serving on the Grand Forks City Council. Deployed once more in 2010 with the 1st Marine Regiment to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, serving until his retirement in 2015. Post-Traumatic Winning & Advocacy: Founded The Post-Traumatic Winning Company, LLC and launched ALL MARINE RADIO, an online platform promoting mental fitness and reducing veteran suicide. Began presenting Post-Traumatic Winning in 2019, first at Camp Lejeune, NC. The presentation has since reached audiences across the U.S., Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, and Europe, impacting organizations of over 10,000 members with measurable results in combating destructive behaviors and suicide. Launched the Post-Traumatic Winning Weekly Seminar series in January 2021, expanding the program's reach and dialogue. Published his first book in March 2025, From Trauma to Joy: Life-Changing Lessons That Fellow U.S. Marines Taught Me After Traumatic Events Occurred in My Life — designed to share these universal lessons with a wider audience. In This Episode: How trauma can become a source of growth, not defeat. The creation and impact of Post-Traumatic Winning. Lessons learned from leading Marines and civilians through crisis. Building mental fitness and resilience in the face of adversity.
Robyn Koslowitz, PhD is the director of The Center for Psychological Growth of New Jersey and the educational director of the Targeted Parenting Institute. In this podcast episode we talk about her recently published book Post Traumatic Parenting: Break The Cycle And Become The Parent You Always Wanted To Be. This is a valuable book for parents and clinicians. Traumatic experience in childhood and adulthood can effect our parenting. This is not an unusual observation. However, Dr Koslowitz dissects the issue of how trauma effects parenting in a way that makes more understandable and also leads to clear plan of what to do. As a child psychologist, I found this book to be the most useful book I have read this year. I think you will also enjoy her podcast on Post Traumatic Parenting https://www.drrobynkoslowitz.com/podcast-2/ And you can also find more information about Dr Koslowitz at https://www.drrobynkoslowitz.com/about/
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett: Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- Morgan Housel, global expert on personal finance, shares powerful lessons on Warren Buffett's hidden struggles, Elon Musk's sacrifices, money trauma and financial habits, how to invest wisely, and the psychology behind saving, spending, and success. Morgan Housel is a partner at Collaborative Fund, former columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and a speaker on investing, saving, spending, and financial independence. He is also the bestselling author of books, such as: ‘The Psychology of Money' and ‘The Art of Spending Money'. He explains: ◼️ Why more money rarely solves unhappiness ◼️ How envy and social comparison drive overspending ◼️ Why extreme wealth often comes at the cost of health and relationships ◼️ How inflated definitions of “wealth” fuel endless consumerism ◼️ Why true happiness comes from family, friends, and health - not luxury (00:00) Intro (02:33) The Importance of Spending Money (04:43) Why Will This Podcast Make My Life Better? (07:54) Is There Something Wrong With Chasing Status? (10:26) What's the Evolutionary Basis for This Stuff? (15:43) There's Always a Trade-Off (17:55) Saving Addiction (19:41) Can Money Make You Happy? (25:08) Are We All Stuck in a Status Game? (29:14) Is the "Freedom" Culture Actually Making People Unhappy? (31:12) Your Favorite Form of Saving Is Spending (33:17) Jealousy of Other People's Wealth (35:17) The Spectrum of Financial Independence (38:57) How Do People Achieve Financial Independence? (41:32) How Does Dopamine Factor Into All of This? (49:07) We're Wired to Want More (54:51) People Retiring Early Tend to Wish They Hadn't (55:52) Passive Income Myths (58:06) Ads (59:07) Do I Need to Know About Economics for This? (1:05:01) What's Going On in the World? (1:08:55) How Wealth Inequality Is Dividing People (1:10:50) The Charlie Kirk Shooting (1:19:04) Is There a Way Back From This Divide? (1:23:39) What Should We Be Doing to Help? (1:25:28) Are You Optimistic About the Western Economy? (1:27:23) Favorite Chapter From the Book (1:32:34) Ads (1:34:42) Why You Should Try New Things (1:37:29) Are You Chasing a Lifestyle That's Not Right for You? (1:40:48) Does Jack Think Steven Is Happy? (1:49:37) Should We Feel Guilty About the Lack of Contentment? (1:52:49) The Relationship Between Money and Kids (1:55:42) The Exact Formula for Spending (2:02:05) Humble Bubble (2:04:07) Do You Have Major Regrets in Life? Follow Morgan: Instagram - https://bit.ly/3KllnvJ X - https://bit.ly/4pJf4lT You can purchase Morgan's book, ‘The Art of Spending Money', here: https://amzn.to/46F9JTO The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Linkedin Jobs - https://www.linkedin.com/doac Vanta - https://vanta.com/steven Replit - http://replit.com with code STEVEN
Morgan Housel, global expert on personal finance, shares powerful lessons on Warren Buffett's hidden struggles, Elon Musk's sacrifices, money trauma and financial habits, how to invest wisely, and the psychology behind saving, spending, and success. Morgan Housel is a partner at Collaborative Fund, former columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and a speaker on investing, saving, spending, and financial independence. He is also the bestselling author of books, such as: ‘The Psychology of Money' and ‘The Art of Spending Money'. He explains: ◼️ Why more money rarely solves unhappiness ◼️ How envy and social comparison drive overspending ◼️ Why extreme wealth often comes at the cost of health and relationships ◼️ How inflated definitions of “wealth” fuel endless consumerism ◼️ Why true happiness comes from family, friends, and health - not luxury (00:00) Intro (02:33) The Importance of Spending Money (04:43) Why Will This Podcast Make My Life Better? (07:54) Is There Something Wrong With Chasing Status? (10:26) What's the Evolutionary Basis for This Stuff? (15:43) There's Always a Trade-Off (17:55) Saving Addiction (19:41) Can Money Make You Happy? (25:08) Are We All Stuck in a Status Game? (29:14) Is the "Freedom" Culture Actually Making People Unhappy? (31:12) Your Favorite Form of Saving Is Spending (33:17) Jealousy of Other People's Wealth (35:17) The Spectrum of Financial Independence (38:57) How Do People Achieve Financial Independence? (41:32) How Does Dopamine Factor Into All of This? (49:07) We're Wired to Want More (54:51) People Retiring Early Tend to Wish They Hadn't (55:52) Passive Income Myths (58:06) Ads (59:07) Do I Need to Know About Economics for This? (1:05:01) What's Going On in the World? (1:08:55) How Wealth Inequality Is Dividing People (1:10:50) The Charlie Kirk Shooting (1:19:04) Is There a Way Back From This Divide? (1:23:39) What Should We Be Doing to Help? (1:25:28) Are You Optimistic About the Western Economy? (1:27:23) Favorite Chapter From the Book (1:32:34) Ads (1:34:42) Why You Should Try New Things (1:37:29) Are You Chasing a Lifestyle That's Not Right for You? (1:40:48) Does Jack Think Steven Is Happy? (1:49:37) Should We Feel Guilty About the Lack of Contentment? (1:52:49) The Relationship Between Money and Kids (1:55:42) The Exact Formula for Spending (2:02:05) Humble Bubble (2:04:07) Do You Have Major Regrets in Life? Follow Morgan: Instagram - https://bit.ly/3KllnvJ X - https://bit.ly/4pJf4lT You can purchase Morgan's book, ‘The Art of Spending Money', here: https://amzn.to/46F9JTO The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Linkedin Jobs - https://www.linkedin.com/doac Vanta - https://vanta.com/steven Replit - http://replit.com with code STEVEN
This episode of Veteran On the Move features Air Force retiree Nikki Allmann and her husband, Bobby Allmann, a 20-year law enforcement veteran, as they discuss their post-service pivot to wellness entrepreneurship. Nikki shares how a personal struggle with mental health during her transition led her to shift her career focus from military paralegal to health and wellness. Both Nikki and Bobby detail how their degrees from American Military University (AMU) supported their goals and provided a foundation for their next chapter. The Allmanns discuss the founding of their dual ventures: Warrior Axe CrossFit and the Workout Warriors Foundation. They explain how their combined experience inspired them to create a space that specifically serves veterans and adaptive athletes coping with post-traumatic stress. The episode concludes with their key lessons learned from managing both a small business and a non-profit organization. Episode Resources: Warrior Axe CrossFit Workout Warriors Foundation About Our Guest Nikki Allmann is a distinguished veteran, American Military University graduate, and advocate whose life embodies resilience, determination, and an unwavering commitment to public service. Throughout her 22-year military career as a Senior Master Sergeant (E8) paralegal, Nikki completed five combat deployments. Her experience in the military, combined with her husband Bobby's experience in law enforcement, led them to create Warrior Axe CrossFit and the Workout Warriors Foundation, two organizations that help veterans and adaptive athletes recover and rebuild from post-traumatic stress. About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union Whether you're looking to buy a new or used car or maybe you want to refinance your current car loan, Navy Federal Credit Union has great rates on auto loans and discounts for Active Duty servicemembers and Veterans. You can apply via their mobile app or online and, in most cases, get a decision in seconds. For those of you looking to refinance your current auto loan, you could get $200 cash back when you refi your loan from another lender. Find out more at navyfederal.org/auto. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission. Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship. Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com. Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review! Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published 500 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship. As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.
20 Ways to Break Free From Trauma: From Brain Hijacking to Post-Traumatic Growth by Philippa Smethurst https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Break-Free-Trauma-Post-traumatic/dp/1805013106 Philippasmethurst.com 'An important and insightful contribution to the mental health literary landscape.' - Alastair Campbell Trauma is a wound - one that we often hide from ourselves and others. Philippa Smethurst - a psychotherapist with decades of experience - has written this compassionate and practical guide to help you to understand, process and move beyond trauma. The book explains twenty common ways that trauma can show itself - from dissociation and anger to brain hijacking and trust issues - but also how you can move on from them. Drawing on the latest brain- and body-based research, this book uses stories, poetry and reflective exercises, to give you the guidance and tools you need.About the author Philippa Smethurst is a psychotherapist specialising in trauma. She has worked in the NHS and as an external supervisor for charities. She has written for many publications, including the BACP journal Therapy Today and The Psychologist, the journal of the British Psychological Society. She trained at the Metanoia Institute, and is an advocate for Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Her aim is to make psychological information accessible and creative, particularly the more hidden and subtle aspects of trauma. "20 Ways to Break Free from Trauma", which she describes as a Trauma Kit for a general audience, was published by Jessica Kingsley in November 2024. The book has been endorsed by human rights advocate and trauma survivor Sir Terry Waite who has also written the foreword. Philippa has worked in the field of homelessness and has an interest in promoting the ideas on trauma gleaned from her study and long psychotherapy practice for trauma mitigation. She travels widely to talk about her book in webinars and in person at various institutions in UK including Oxford University, Edgehill University, Banbury Therapy Group and St Martin-in-the Fields, London.
In this episode, we review the high-yield topic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the Psychiatry section at Medbullets.comFollow Medbullets on social media:Facebook: www.facebook.com/medbulletsInstagram: www.instagram.com/medbulletsofficialTwitter: www.twitter.com/medbulletsLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/medbullets
Today we're diving into the ways our own trauma can shape how we show up as parents, and how we can begin to break those inherited cycles with Dr. Robyn Koslowitz, a clinical child psychologist, trauma treatment expert, and author of Post-Traumatic Parenting: Break the Cycle, Become the Parent You Always Wanted to Be. In our conversation, Robyn shares insights from her book, including the concept of “secret ACEs,” the “trauma app” that can override our instincts, and the different subtypes of post-traumatic parenting. We also talk about how to recognize our triggers, the importance of self-care, and the role of the inner child in this work. Robyn's approach blends research, clinical wisdom, and lived experience, and she offers practical hacks for navigating the challenges of parenting when trauma is part of our story. About Dr. Robyn Koslowitz Dr. Robyn Koslowitz is a clinical child psychologist, trauma treatment expert, and author of Post-Traumatic Parenting: Break the Cycle, Become the Parent You Always Wanted to Be. As the founder of the Post-Traumatic Parenting model, Dr. Koslowitz helps parents break free from inherited patterns and become the parents their children—and their inner child—need. Her core message is simple yet profound: Your inner child can't raise a child, but raising your real-world child can heal your inner child. Dr. Koslowitz combines research-backed tools, clinical insights, and lived experience to help parents transform trauma into growth. As she says, Adulting is hard. Adulting is especially hard if you never childed.And parenting? That's adulting on steroids. Her “trauma app” metaphor has reached thousands, empowering parents to recognize and rewrite the patterns that no longer serve them—or their children. Things you'll learn from this episode How trauma can shape parenting by acting as a mirror, map, and motivator for healing Why hidden or “secret” ACEs accumulate and impact the way parents show up with their children How children often reveal a parent's triggers, creating opportunities for growth and repair Why post-traumatic parenting can manifest in patterns like paralysis, perfectionism, or disengagement How healing begins with befriending our instincts and using the AIM method of acceptance, integration, and meaning-making Why self-care and play are essential tools for connection, regulation, and attunement in parenting Resources mentioned Dr. Robyn Koslowitz's website Post-Traumatic Parenting: Break the Cycle, Become the Parent You Always Wanted to Be by Dr. Robyn Koslowitz Post-Traumatic Parenting Podcast Dr. Robyn Koslowitz on Instagram Dr. Robyn Koslowitz on LinkedIn Dr. Robyn Koslowitz on Threads Dr. Robyn Koslowitz's YouTube channel Erik Erikson Georgie Wisen-Vincent on Unlocking Our Kids' Emotional Balance and Resilience with The Way of Play (Tilt Parenting podcast) The Way of Play: Using Little Moments of Big Connection to Raise Kind and Confident Kids by Tina Payne Bryson and Georgie Wisen-Vincent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What if the biggest thing standing in the way of the parent you want to isn't your lack of patience, or the right parenting strategy—but your own unresolved trauma? My guest today, Dr. Robyn Koslowitz, is a clinical child psychologist, trauma expert, and author of Post-Traumatic Parenting. She explains how the “trauma app” we download in childhood keeps running in the background of our parenting—and how to finally rewrite it. LINKS AND RESOURCES Support the podcast by making a donation (suggested amount $15) 732-763-2576 call to leave a voicemail. info@authenticparenting.com Send audio messages using Speakpipe. Join the Authentic Parenting Community on Facebook. Work w/Anna. Listeners get 10% off her services.
Danielle is a survivor, public speaker, author, nurse, and quality abstractor.
Have you ever felt like you needed to bounce back fast after something traumatic happened? Or felt pressured to show people that you've actually grown and become better because of what you went through? Post-traumatic growth is real. But the concept is often misunderstood, and it leads to unrealistic expectations and unnecessary guilt. In this episode, I explore what it really means to grow after trauma — and why your growth isn't proof of how mentally strong you are. Some of the things I share are: The biggest misconceptions surrounding post-traumatic growth. What post-traumatic growth actually means. Why we shouldn't jump to look for a silver lining or strive to bounce back overnight. How growth and pain can coexist — and why it's okay to have ongoing emotional scars. Why resilient people actually experience less growth compared to people who lack resilience. Why you shouldn't pressure yourself (or anyone else) to find meaning in your trauma right away (skip the '"everything happens for a reason" speech). Five areas where growth often occurs after trauma — and why growth looks different in different people. How to work through a traumatic experience and the science-backed strategies that can help you grow and recover. Mentally Strong App Get free mental strength coaching — Episode 234 Exercise Subscribe to the app to unlock all the features — MentallyStrong.Downpat.Ai Connect with the Show Buy a copy of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do Connect with Amy on Instagram — @AmyMorinAuthor Visit Amy's website — AmyMorinLCSW.com Sponsors Lola Blankets — Get 35% off your entire order at Lolablankets.com by using code STRONGER at checkout. Experience the world's #1 blanket with Lola Blankets. HoneyLove — Save 20% Off Honeylove by going to honeylove.com/STRONGER #honeylovepod BetterHelp — Give online therapy a try and get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/mentallystrong CocoaVia — Get 20% off with code Amy2025 at cocoavia.com. OneSkin — Get 15% off OneSkin with the code STRONGER at https://www.oneskin.co/ ZocDoc — Go to Zocdoc.com/STRONGER to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today! AirDoctor — Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code STRONGER to get UP TO $300 off today! Shopify — Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at Shopify.com/mentallystronger Life Kit — Listen to the Life Kit podcast from NPR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices