This season delves into the topic of secondary and vicarious trauma experienced by people who work in the field of human services. You’ll hear from researchers, authors, clinicians, and people with lived experience who share about the importance of this topic, along with ways to care for yourself, and the value of having a community of support. In each conversation, we hope you find a nugget of information that will support you in the work you do.
Host: Heather Haslem
S4 E1: The Myth of Normal: An Interview with Daniel Maté
You won’t want to miss this dynamic interview with Daniel Maté, co-author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness &
S4 E2: Understanding Compassion Fatigue and the Inherent Impact of Caring
In this episode Beverly Kyler, an author, speaker, and compassion fatigue specialist shares the wisdom she’s developed over the course
S4 E3: Under the Influence of Survival Physiology
Kathy Kain joins us for her second enlightening conversation. Kathy is a wealth of information with her 42 years of experience, and she shares the impact that she’s seen both on herself, and in colleagues who do the work of supporting trauma survivors. We discuss trauma physiology and survival habits due to secondary traumatic stress, along with resilience habits that human services teams can adopt.
S4 E4: The Emotional Residue of Responding to Trauma
In episode 4, you’ll hear from Dr. Steven Nicholas an author and practicing marriage and family therapist. He shares about his work with first responders and highlights how their emotional needs are different from the general public. He describes what it means to be a culturally competent clinician when it comes to working in the first responder community, and what it takes to serve them well. Key words: warrior servants, living ideation, trauma, vicarious trauma, critical incident stress management, crisis management, emotional first aid.
S4 E5: Real Stories of Healing
Nick Brown shares his lived experience as a veteran, paramedic, firefighter and peer support specialist. He gives voice to the impact of unhealed PTSD on his personal life, and the many techniques he’s tried to heal over the last couple of years. He also notes what’s been most helpful. You won’t want to miss this real and vulnerable conversation.
S4 E6: Social Connection and Belonging: The keys to Navigating Sanctuary Trauma
Dr. Steven Rose joins us this week to discuss his research with Verteran’s and how social connection plays an important role in preventing and healing trauma. We discuss many relevant theories including transitional injury, sanctuary trauma, and moral injury and how these theories may apply to first responders and health care professionals.
S4 E7: Metahab: Moving Beyond Trauma
Within this conversation, Dr. Joyce Mikal Flyn, an expert in resilience and trauma care joins us. We discuss post traumatic growth, and the 6 stages of meta-rehabilitation that Dr. Joyce discovered from her many conversations with trauma survivors. She highlights commonalities among found among trauma survivors, and the program she’s developed based on people’s lived experience of finding meaning after trauma.
S4 E8: Mental Health is Health: The Need for Services
Melissa Petersen, a practicing Marriage and Family Therapist, joins us to discuss her experience as a Wildland Firefighter, along with her passion for supporting the mental health of first responders. She shares how she has seen the first responder culture change with regards to mental health over the course of her career, along with how she hopes to see mental health evolve in the future. In addition, we discuss one of her favorite treatment modalities.
S4 E9: The Role of Spirituality in Healing from Trauma
Dr. Michael Christie is a chaplain for the Department of Correction. He has been working within the prison system for over a decade. In this conversation, he shares the role of spirituality in healing from trauma, and lessons he learned about the need for trauma-informed care.
S4 E10: Remembering our Humanity
Dr. Anne Weisman is the Director of Well-Being & Integrative Medicine with Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. She joins us to discuss how she has worked to restore well-being within the field of medicine, along with her wealth of experience teaching mind-body medicine. She shares practical ways she supports herself when working with people who have experienced trauma.