It is turning into a very nerdy November! Today I had the honor of speaking with Dr. Paula Thompson. Paula is a Professor and dance coordinator in the Department of Kinesiology, California State University, Northridge. She is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist, a certified Sport Psychologist, and works in private practice in Tarzana, California. For over thirty years Paula Thomson has been a teacher at numerous international schools, most notably Julliard School of Music, Banff School of Fine Arts, University of Cape Town - South Africa, the University of Limerick in Ireland, Opera Works,  Stratford Shakespearean Festival, and the Canadian Opera Company. Paula has an impressive body of research on several mental health topics for dancers. Today we spoke about how childhood and adult trauma can affect the rate of injuries, orthopedic surgeries, and recovery outcomes. It was fascinating and really sheds some light on why managing mental health is so important! To learn more about Paula’s work, click here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paula-Thomson To read her books, click here: https://g.co/kgs/6b15cu For the IADMS webinar on mental health for dancers, watch here: https://iadms.org/our-programs/webinars/ Please remember that I am not a mental health professional, and anything you hear me say on the show is based on personal experience and perspectives, and should not be considered medical advice. If you are in crisis, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24-hour crisis center, text MHA to 741741, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room. To find a local MHA affiliate who can provide services, check out https://www.mhanational.org/ Theme music is, "A Journey" by Kevin Hartnell It has been edited and reproduced under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Follow us on Instagram! Dance; Better Podcast @dancebetterpodcast Send in your questions or episode suggestions to [email protected] If you relate and find this episode helpful, please click follow/subscribe and leave me a review. (We might even read it on the next episode!) This helps to make our show more searchable, and will make it more accessible to more people...plus, we’d love to hear from you!