Transforming Trauma

NARM Faculty Marcia Black, Stefanie Klein and Brad Kammer welcome our new Transforming Trauma host Emily Ruth, and together explore the challenges, learning and growth over this past year. They reflect on how NARM has supported them in their teaching and work with clients. They also reflect on the power of coming together in community with NARM Therapists and Helping Professionals around the world, and how this has sustained them through this time of COVID. When the Transforming Trauma podcast was just beginning, and at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marcia, Stefanie and Brad had a conversation about “Connection, Community and Transformation During Crisis”. Throughout this new conversation, they follow up on themes from their initial conversation and talk about vulnerability, curiosity, not knowing, and the different ways NARM supports them as they are supporting healing and growth in their students and clients.  They also reflect on all the various trauma-informed projects they are involved in. Brad talks about the larger mission of the NARM Training Institute in making NARM more accessible, and the ways they are continuing to get creative in offering new trainings, programs and outreach. We invite you to tune in and hear how the NARM Training Institute and the global NARM Community has adapted, grown, and been impacted by the important learning that happens in the NARM Trainings, and all of the healing that’s supported by NARM Therapists and NARM-Informed Professionals all over the world. Level 2 Online Training starts Jan 20, 2022 Online Basics Training begins Feb 4, 2022. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

In this end of the year episode, we are joined by Brad Kammer, NARM Training Director and Senior Faculty, Dr. Laurence Heller, creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), and new Transforming Trauma host, Emily Ruth.  They start by saying goodbye to Sarah Buino, the inaugural host of the podcast, and expressing their gratitude for her contributions to Transforming Trauma.  They then share a heartfelt welcome to Emily. Emily, a NARM Practitioner and NARM Training Assistant, shares a brief overview of her background and how she originally found NARM. In her early part of her career she was a movement artist and a choreographer.  Then when she became pregnant with her first son she was curious about what was happening in her body and how she was being impacted in such transformative ways. This experience led her to becoming a birth doula. Emily shares that she found NARM shortly after starting graduate school and that NARM aligned with how she was already approaching her work and her life.  Larry reflects on the tremendous growth over the last year within the NARM international community. He was able to complete several trainings in Europe, completed a book in German on Shame and Guilt, and he and Brad completed a book (which will be published July 2022). Larry shares that over the next year he plans to continue with the NARM Post Masters Immersion Training. This Level 4 NARM Training is for clinicians who have completed the Level 3 NARM Masters Therapist Training and want to continue deepening their learning.  Brad reflects on how NARM’s growth over the last year honors the mission of the NARM Training Institute, which is to create a professional community where helping professionals can receive mentorship and support in their work with complex trauma. He shares that he’s excited about the future direction of the podcast, the further development of the NARM Inner Circle, and especially about their new book coming out soon: The Practical Guide for Healing Developmental Trauma: Using the NeuroAffective Relational Model to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resolve Complex Trauma. They close by reflecting on the thousands of people now trained in NARM. As senior trainers in NARM, Brad and Larry express feeling humbled to see the growth of NARM and excited to know that this work is getting out more into the world. They are looking forward to building on the momentum in 2022 and taking on new projects to continue making NARM more accessible to helping professionals around the world. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Jacqueline Russell is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Chicago Children’s Theatre, and founded The Chicago Children’s theatre seventeen years ago with the goal of creating the best quality children’s theatre. She also started the Red Kite Project in order to support children on the Autism Spectrum, providing them and their families with theatrical and educational programs. Dexter Ellis has been with the Chicago Children’s Theatre for over four years, and now proudly serves as the Director of Education & Community Programs. Jacqueline and Dexter completed the Level 1 NARM Online Basics Training last spring and are integrating a trauma-informed approach into their work with youth and the performing arts.  Dexter and Jacqueline reflect on how their NARM training has impacted their work. Jacqueline shares that she’s noticed she’s more able to stay connected to herself and not try to “fix others”. Dexter expressed that he has more capacity to be more curious with the kids that he’s working with as well as in his personal relationships. For both Jacquelin and Dexter, a central theme of NARM, “being in the 50/50”, which means staying connected to oneself while connecting to others, has really impacted how they relate to themselves and the people they work with.  Dexter reflects on how this framework has impacted how he relates to and holds space for the kids. The trauma-informed curriculum they created at the Chicago Children’s Theatre supports young children to connect to their emotions and build resilience. Jacqueline explains that the NARM training has helped her to see the important need for children to be seen, heard, and understood by the adults in their life. This builds a heart connection that is often lacking for children and even for many adults. She reflects on a central theme of the NARM Training: heartfulness. “We talk all the time now that [in our] work for children and with children about how important it is that the work is heartful.” To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Chaz Franke, LCSW, is the owner of Light Source, a private practice in Belleville, Illinois, is an adjunct professor in the MSW program at St. Louis University, and has over 15 years of experience working with trauma. Chaz shares his journey to becoming a trauma therapist, the role curiosity can play in the therapeutic relationship, and how his work has impacted him and his clients.  Chaz had many opportunities early in his career that supported him to better understand trauma and how to be with clients in a way that supports their healing. He was mentored by highly skilled figures in the field of trauma and therapy such as Dr. Ira Chasnoff and Dr. Bruce Perry. Chaz shares that Dr. Perry helped him to look beyond the behaviors and to try and understand the person, not pathologizing them, but to hold compassion and curiosity. Chaz also shares about his background in Zen Buddhism which helped him better understand suffering and the importance of not putting pressure on himself or his clients to rush the healing process. The relational framework that Chaz uses, which involves the therapist slowing down and not pressuring themselves, or their clients, is aligned with the NARM framework as well. Chaz reflects on the reality that despite their best intentions, helping professionals over the years have created harm for their patients due to the lack of support and competency around trauma. He explains that an important area of trauma-informed focus for therapists is on their own connection to Self as helping professionals. He shares about how he uses supervision as an opportunity for therapists to be self-reflective, shifting patterns of self-criticism and self-shaming that lead to over-efforting, pressuring, comparing and other disruptive strategies for therapists.  When give the right kind of support, therapists can be more effective in connecting with themselves and their clients, and more effective in their healing work.   Chaz finds hope in the healing work of trauma therapy.  He shares, “I think that therapy is 100% the coolest thing in the world.” Bio: Chaz Franke, MSW, LCSW owns Light Source, a private practice in Belleville, Illinois and is an adjunct professor in the MSW program at Saint Louis University. Chaz has over 15 years experience working with trauma and has been providing clinical supervision since 2010. Learn more at: www.findyourlightsource.com To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Althea Simpson, founder of Brighter Day Therapeutic Solutions, Unicorn Life Training and the Black Play Therapy Society, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in Trauma Recovery, a Registered Play Therapist, and a Certified Lego Serious Play Facilitator. Althea shares that she would like for listeners to learn that play therapy is not just for children, but that it is a trauma-informed treatment. She was drawn to play therapy early in her career, which is a therapeutic modality that supports clients to express themselves in ways other than just verbal communication. She discusses a play therapy intervention that is aligned with NARM, which is using inquiry in the play therapy process. “It’s not for us [as therapists] to give meaning to [the client’s experience], that's for the client,” she says. Similar to the NARM approach, Althea invites curiosity which supports clients to connect more deeply to themselves.  Althea reflects on the importance of deconstructing the stigma around mental health with black families. She explains that many black families believe that the answer to their mental health problems is through church. She challenges this notion through addressing the intersectionality of spirituality, religion, and mental health. She also started the Black Play Therapy Society to address the disparities for black therapists not being able to showcase their work, as well as the inconsistencies and information that was being talked about in the black communities.   Althea details many important aspects that therapists need to understand in order to work with black families. She states, “We need more black therapists.” She also asks an important question for non-black therapists who are working with black families, which is, “Are black clients allowed to show up in their authentic self with all their pain, and can they express what they need to express?” Althea acknowledges that utilizing play therapy helped her to also address her own healing. Althea’s lived experiences of trauma, as well as healing from her trauma, has supported her in her capacity to help her clients. She explains, “I’m a great therapist because I understand [the work] both personally and professionally.” About Althea: Althea is the founder of Brighter Day Therapeutic Solutions and Unicorn Life Training. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specialized in trauma recovery, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, and Certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator. She has an active psychotherapy private practice in Northern, VA and has experience treating children, adolescents, and adults with diverse backgrounds and ranges of concerns, including anger, substance use/abuse, domestic violence, anxiety, and depression. Her approach to treatment is tailored to the unique needs of her clients and she brings a range of educational, professional and life experiences to her work as a therapist, clinical supervisor, and mental health consultant. Learn more: https://unicornlifetraining.net To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Brad Kammer, Senior Faculty and Training Director of the NARM Training Institute, is joined by Lara Eisenberg. Lara is a bilingual licensed professional clinical counselor, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and women's spirituality and sexuality therapist. Lara shares that her lived experiences informed much of her work including witnessing violence in her community and her home, and also the oppression she has experienced because of her Jewish ethnicity. Lara and Brad explore together their shared view on complex trauma healing which supports individuals to move from experiencing themselves as an object to a subject. Lara explains how objectification of women in American society disconnects a woman from her own pleasure and body and that through somatic work, a woman can be supported to embody and to connect back to herself and her pleasure.  Lara embodies this natural pride of the sacred feminine and models it for the women she works with in her life. About Laura: Lara is a Bilingual (English/Spanish) Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Women’s Spirituality and Sexuality Coach. She is the owner of Body Mind Wellness--a private virtual somatic psychotherapy and coaching practice specializing in developmental trauma, anxiety, depression, ancestral healing, sexuality and spirituality.  She incorporates ritual and trauma informed touch in her work with clients. Learn more: http://mybodymindwellness.com/ https://www.laraeisenberg.com/  https://www.facebook.com/mybodymindwellness /       https://www.instagram.com/lara.eisenberg/ To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Brad Kammer talks with Dr. Martin Lemon, a clinical psychologist who has been practicing in Chicago's western suburbs for more than 25 years. Dr. Lemon’s work focuses on the psychology of men and male identity. Dr. Lemon shares how he integrates NARM into his work, both conceptually and in practice.  Brad and Dr. Lemon also discuss their own personal experiences of trauma in the context of what is often called “toxic masculinity”. Dr. Lemon began facilitating men’s groups to promote an opportunity for deeper connection between men. Dr. Lemon encourages the men in his group to be curious, reflective, and to allow space for one another to open up in a deeper way, beyond more surface-level connection. Since being trained in NARM, Dr. Lemon has incorporated what in NARM is called “contracting”, meaning asking what the participants want for themselves out of the group meeting. He also is guided internally by the NARM framework and shares about how he is better able to hold the complexity of the group versus only aligning with a “positive” position.  Dr. Lemon shares that healthy vulnerability is the key to a deeper relationship with others as well as with oneself. Deepening one’s capacity for vulnerability seems to be the antidote to toxic masculinity. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

This extraordinary conversation between mind-body physician and author Dr. Lissa Rankin, MD, and NARM creator Dr. Laurence Heller, PhD. centers around healing through the integration of western and non-western healing modalities. Dr. Rankin believes that to optimize healing it takes an integrated approach between the sciences, traumatology, spirituality, and collective healing.  Dr. Heller acknowledges the powerful overlap between these approaches, and more specifically shares how science is now validating the various forms of complex trauma that NARM addresses, for example, working with pre and perinatal trauma. Dr. Rankin reflects on her own experiences with developmental trauma. She distinguishes the type of trauma she experienced compared to the trauma that was assessed in the ACES study. She further explains that despite having an ACE score of 0, she still believes she experienced developmental trauma. She compares her trauma to what NARM calls the Attunement Survival Style. Dr. Heller acknowledges the distinction she is drawing and the limitations that the ACE study has when it comes to children experiencing misattunement. They reflect together on how there is a spectrum of experiences that can create developmental trauma and the importance of expanding the definition of complex trauma. Dr. Rankin and Dr. Heller reflect on the various ways they’re both working to make trauma healing more accessible. They discuss the importance of shifting the paradigm from chronic stress to relational health, and that if we can educate frontline workers about how to assess trauma and how to support relational health, we can increase the amount of support people are receiving and start to address trauma collectively. Bio: Lissa Rankin, MD, is a mind-body medicine physician, author of 7 books, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute, and mystic who researches radical remission, trauma-informed medicine, and spiritual healing. Her TEDx talks have been viewed over 5 million times, and she starred in two National Public Television specials- Heal Yourself: Mind Over Medicine and The Fear Cure. Lissa’s interest in the link between loneliness and disease led her to spearhead her latest project, Heal At Last, a non-profit organization which aims to bring effective trauma healing and spiritual healing methods to anyone ready for the deep dive of healing.   Website: www.lissarankin.com   To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Trauma therapist, somatic practitioner, and speaker, Becky Carter specializes in complex trauma (C-PTSD) with a focus on supporting transracial adoptees and their families. Becky talks about her work with somatic healing of racial trauma, her own connection to her ancestral trauma, and how embodiment can serve as a vehicle for healing. She shares her personal experience of being biracial and adopted at ten months old into a white family, reflecting on the varying experiences she had growing up that were informed by her biracial identity and the family that she grew up in. Somatic healing work has been helpful for Becky not only with her clients, but also in her own healing. “To be able to listen to my body as a woman of color and to connect with it and know that it has something to tell me, and has its own wisdom — that has been transformative,” Becky says.  Becky also reflects on racial trauma on an individual and societal level. She shares the importance of being present with and holding curiously for others, specifically people of color. The episode concludes with Becky reflecting on hope and the role embodied healing approaches can play in manifesting new possibilities.   About Becky: Becky Carter is a biracial, cisgender, transracially adopted female. Her ancestors are West African and Sicilian. She has two black adopted children. Becky is a trauma therapist with 20+ years experience in helping both women and men heal the wounds of relational trauma that occur in-utero and beyond. She’s trained in both Somatic Experiencing and Transformative Touch Therapy. She strives to create a space where clients can understand, through a new lens, the impact of trauma, stress and pain on their whole being.  She enjoys the process of nurturing resilience in clients and supporting the regulation of the nervous system. Becky works with adults and teens and have special expertise with repairing complex trauma, dissociation and sexual abuse, and has a special dedication to supporting adoptees and their families. She often writes about her work whether through blogging or poetry. https://www.beckycarterlcpc.com/   To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming trainings: https://narmtraining.com/schedule Join the Inner Circle: https://narmtraining.com/online-learning/inner-circle *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Julie Brown Yau, Ph.D. specializes in developmental trauma, intergenerational trauma, and acute trauma, and has a unique perspective on integrating spirituality into trauma healing. She's an author, speaker, and the Trauma and Spiritual Care consultant for Compassionate Care ALS. Her background in psychological, somatic, and spiritual traditions provides a rich combination of knowledge. She has a private practice in Laguna Beach, California, and sees clients virtually from all around the world. Julie is also a NARM Therapist and was in the first North American NARM training with Dr. Laurence Heller. She integrates NARM into her work to support clients in healing from complex trauma. Julie is also an authorized teacher of Shri Vidya, which combines the resolution of trauma with spiritual practice. Julie explains that Shri Vidya are embodied teachings, and that a lot of spiritual teachings do not include embodiment, at least not in an explicit way. Julie shares about how she weaves together spirituality and trauma healing and how they support one another. “Healing trauma begins to look spiritual as we open up and go beyond our ordinary sense of self.” Julie distinguishes spiritual healing as “waking up to our true nature and being with expanded states of consciousness. Whereas trauma healing is about grounded and embodied states of being.”  Julie shares with the listeners deep experiences she has had with people she’s been working with. “What comes forward right now is people having an experience of their heart opening, to feeling not only love, but grief or pain or sadness, and directly in a field in which they're more able to be with it because both in these teachings of awakening and in healing trauma, we want to be able to feel more.” This is very aligned with the NARM Emotional Completion Model, which teaches that as individuals connect to their unresolved emotions, they are connecting to themselves; they are connecting to that which they had to split off from in order to survive. This is a reclaiming of one’s wholeness, which is what Julie supports in working with trauma healing and spirituality. Bio:  Julie Brown Yau, Ph.D., has a 33-year background in psychological, somatic, and spiritual traditions, providing a unique depth of knowledge and experience. Julie specializes in developmental trauma, intergenerational, and acute trauma. She is an author and speaker, and also the trauma and spiritual care consultant for CCALS. Julie is an authorized teacher of Shri Vidya, where she combines the resolution of trauma with specific spiritual practice. Julie has a private practice in Laguna Beach CA and works on Skype/zoom world wide. www.juliebrownyau.com   To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming Online Basics Trainings: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.   We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute