Before you are a Teacher, you are - and will always be - a Human Being. And Human Beings require Care. Period. Full-stop. The End. Okay, maybe not "the end"... but certainly our beginning of acknowledging the Care we need, and prioritizing it as an essential component of living and sustaining us in the work we love to do. In this episode, I share another powerful mini-training, walking you through the Four Tiers of Teacher Care. (And if you listen through to the end, you'll hear several...

A Social Story is something that helps us create a comprehensive narrative around significant and impactful experiences in our lives, and is especially helpful for those experiences that involve trauma, loss, change or confusion. And for kids... it means everything to have an adult sit down to help us make sense and make meaning of what is going on around us, or what has happened to us. **It's a tool that (if used as much as is needed) can literally can help us process through the emotional...

What do you do when a student discloses some sensitive information to you? How to you respond to the student *and* the situation effectively? In this episode, listen to another mini-training about how you can handle a student disclosure with care and compassion, the three steps that you can use to scaffold your response, and some nuanced considerations that will keep you headed on the right path.   Meaningful Highlights from this Episode: We always need to respond to the HUMAN first....

Trust. Sometimes we adults take this bonding mechanism for granted. We assume it will occur naturally over the course of a relationship. Well, for kids who've experienced harm from the folks who are there to keep them safe, the idea of "trust" becomes infinitely more complicated. In this episode, I share with you a brief mini-training I did for my membership community a few years ago (it's now deceased - tear*), and it's all about how to build trust with distrustful students. Meaningful...

Here are some questions for you: What happens when we (the provider) are the ones in a traumatized state? What happens when a high-functioning individual finds themselves in a low-functioning, barely-keeping-their-head-above-water state? What happens when we go into a state of Collapse? Well, this episode is the bite-sized version of my experience climbing out of psychological collapse. When a human is in a state of "collapse," it means that their internal state is experiencing so much...

What if Violence were like a contagious disease? Well, according to Epidemiologist, Dr. Gary Slutkin: It absolutely is. Dr. Slutkin is the Founder and CEO of Cure Violence Global, which has treated - and cured - violence in cities around the globe using disease control and behavior change methods. Listen in to learn about the impact of his work and hear about the three-pronged approach to how we can treat - and cure - violence. Episode Show Notes: www.traumacamp.com/26

How many times have you been lectured on the importance of Self Care? And yet, how often do you struggle to actually integrate these practices into your daily routine? In this episode, therapist and supervisor Misty Ryman introduces us to her approach of “Micro Self-Cares.” These small, relevant and meaningful shifts are what can make the long-term difference between buffering our sense of wellbeing or burning ourselves out.  Episode Show Notes: www.traumacamp.com/25

White Savior Complex (WSC) is alive and well, and it's a narrative that on the surface might appear to be helpful and benign, but is actually deeply harmful to those it reaches.   In this episode, I speak with teacher-turned-PhD student, Ms. Duane, about WSC and the ways it manifests and impacts the students and families we serve.  Episode Show Notes: www.traumacamp.com/24

Listen to the second clip from Julia Rose's keynote presentation at the Trauma Informed Schools Institute, an annual conference hosted by Resilience Impact. Explore all seven stages of the newly revised Path of Progress and how it will walk you through the journey of becoming a trauma-informed teacher, and building trauma-informed classrooms and schools.

Listen to a clip from Julia Rose's keynote presentation at the Trauma Informed Schools Institute, an annual conference hosted by Resilience Impact. Explore how our current climate is akin to enduring an avalanche, and learn the four steps for climbing out of it. Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: Identify the avalanche metaphor and how it applies to our current situation. Learn the four (4) ways to climb out of an avalanche. Episode Show Notes: www.traumacamp.com/22

[2020 ELECTION EDITION] In this episode, we explore the levels of stress present in individuals and communities across the country as we approach the 2020 election. Walk through the four stress-responses, how they are manifesting individually and communally across the nation, and how to track these within yourself. EPISODE WEB-PAGE: www.traumacamp.com/21

ATTENTION FOLKS: I get a little personal in this one! Having been cracked wide open by this last year, I share some personal reflections on how I've been showing up (or not showing up) in 2020, what has kept me stuck in hiding, and what is moving me through it. Take a listen as we explore a new vision of what being a "professional" looks like, and what it would mean to show up as the full and fallible people that we are. Episode Show Notes: www.traumacamp.com/20

In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr. Barbara Stroud is here to share insights and ideas with teachers for how to re-imagine education in this time of global crisis. It’s time to repurpose the One Room Schoolhouse for a digital world, and adapt our learning time to the crucially needed social-emotional supports and experiential learning our children need more than ever right now. Episode Show Notes: www.traumacamp.com/19

How do we teach our African American students from a place of Freedom instead of Fear? How can we discipline instead of punish, respond instead of react, connect instead of crack-down? These are all questions we explore with our guest today, Aretha Hampton, LCSW, who shares her story as a mother to a black son who experienced harsh punishment from a teacher for an innocent mistake... or was it even that? This episode is all about learning, exploring, sitting in the complexity, reflecting and...

Trauma-informed Reflective Supervisor and Occupational Therapist, Julia Bantimba, is here to introduce teachers to Reflective Practice and specifically - her model of Reflective Practice “On-the-Go.” This practical tool is one way for teachers to access the ongoing support they need to provide sustainable, regulated, reflective care day-in and day-out. Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: Reflective Practice is an essential component of relationship-based organizations.

Founder & Executive Director of Prosecutor Impact, Adam Foss, is here to outline the “School to Prison Pipeline” and help teachers understand how punitive disciplinary practices and Zero Tolerance Policies increase a child’s risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system and also tend to be imposed more frequently upon students of color.

Protests have erupted around the country after the horrific killing of George Floyd.   In this bonus episode, I'm inviting you to use this moment to learn about and practice what I call:   Non-Pathologizing & Loving Limit-Setting.   I show you two recent examples of these concepts in practice in speeches by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom and Rapper / Activist Killer Mike.

Let's break down - through the lens of understanding trauma in human beings and communities - what is going on as people collectively respond to the murder of George Floyd, and how this response is connected to unaddressed patterns of Police Brutality and the legacy of White Supremacy that we all still live with. [PLEASE NOTE] The woman I mentioned who spoke of the origination of American "looting" other people is: American activist, Tamika D. Mallory, who organized the largest march in the...

Best-selling author, John Lee, outlines the core experiences of emotional regression - What is is, Why it happens, and the 5 Ways we can grow ourselves back up! (Plus, we discuss his aptly titled book: Growing Yourself Back Up: Understanding Emotional Regression.)This is a MUST-LISTEN for all educators! Important Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: How regression is linked to our own childhood trauma, and how unearthing it can unlock us from our past.

Teachers need to hear honest accounts of the challenges and trials we encounter as we embark on the journey to becoming trauma-informed. Here to tell some of her story is my friend - and trauma-informed expert Speech & Language Pathologist - Jennifer Black. Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: Jennifer’s encounter with doubt and uncertainty in her abilities to really “do” this work. How her thoughts shifted from “This isn’t my job” to “This is essential to my job.”

In this super special, all-heart, all-soul episode we have Chinese Medicine Doctor-in-training (and my cousin!) Camellia Dao-Ling McDermott Lee to talk about finding our “Divine Assignment” - what that is, where it comes from, and how to find and follow it in our lives! Join us for this off-the-cuff, metaphor-filled, resource-rich episode that will hopefully light your fire and move your spirit.

NYT best-selling author, Shaka Senghor, reflects on the eight practices and activities that helped him transform his time in solitary confinement from meaningless isolation to a personal journey of self-discovery and creativity that would change the rest of his life. Important Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: The 8 practices that can transform your social isolation into personal opportunity for self-discovery, enlightenment, creativity and fueling your personal vision.

Domestic Violence is on the rise globally as a result of the in-home quarantines combined with higher levels of stress connected to COVID-19. In this episode, we talk with Kristen Thomas - Training and Development Manager at the National Domestic Violence Hotline - about the current situation and what resources and supports are available to those in need of help. 

What if you received a letter from your principal instructing you to take a load off? What if your administrators encouraged you to just focus on surviving right now? In this episode, we talk to one such leader, Principal Mathew Portel, who encouraged his students, their families and his staff to place academics in the backseat and focus on taking care of themselves for the time-being. Check out this episode to hear the letter he sent and the impact it’s making