Transforming Trauma

Marjorie Florestal is a trauma-informed law professor, storyteller, and fiction writer who trained in the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). Sarah and Marjorie discuss the integration of trauma, law, storytelling, and ways to support healing through a trauma-informed lens.  While still a law professor, Marjorie completed a Masters’ degree in Jungian Psychology where she met Brad Kammer, NARM Senior Faculty. Marjorie shares how she was greatly impacted by Brad's teaching, not only professionally but also personally.  She followed her intuition that learning the NeuroAffective Relational Model would somehow benefit her in better supporting her law students.  Marjorie and Sarah discuss the struggles many law students have with their mental health, specifically in their last year of school. Marjorie states, “40% of our students are clinically depressed and then it just snowballs from there into the profession.” She plans to utilize what she’s learned in her NARM training and incorporate that into her class that she’s developing called “Trauma-Informed Lawyering”. Marjorie hopes that if we can help law students with trauma, we can change the culture of the whole profession.  Marjorie also shares her experience as being a woman of color in teaching law, and how she relates to the current state of criminal justice in the United States. She shares, "as a black woman I could not fathom being part of a system that wholesale channels people of color into cages.” Marjorie recently facilitated an hour-long session at her law school looking at racial trauma and the healing potential of myths and stories. This episode concludes with Marjorie sharing a beautiful story called, The Stolen Mother Moon. She expresses that she has a personal connection to the story due to the loss of her mother when she was nine. She relates this story to collective trauma, symbolic of the stolen mothers from Africa who were abused and enslaved yet they persevered and demanded justice. She states, “there will always be darkness, and we can see that darkness as an opportunity for more work to be done.” *** Marjorie Florestal has been a lawyer and law professor for over 25 years. She began her career as an international trade and development lawyer for the Clinton Administration before heading up a multimillion dollar project of technical assistance training for subSaharan Africa. Marjorie later became a full-time, tenured professor at McGeorge Law School in Sacramento where she began to recognize the role of trauma in legal education. This spark of the unexpected led her to the Masters program in Jungian psychology at Sonoma State University, and she is completing a PhD in human development at Fielding Graduate University. Marjorie continues to teach law part-time at the University of California, Davis. When not occupied with issues of trauma and healing, she writes legal thrillers and is a pet mom to four unruly dogs. 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 Level 2 NARM Therapist Trainings: http://www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** 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

Dave Berger, MFT, PT, LCMHC, MA, SEP is a somatic psychotherapist, physical therapist, bodyworker and educator. He owns and runs a training program for trauma practitioners called BASE: Relational Bodywork and Somatic Education Training. Dave’s intention for this episode is to educate and inform practitioners about the need to understand how the structures and systems in the physical body are involved with trauma and trauma healing. Sarah and Dave talk about the overlap between Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and its impact on the organization of the physical body, and its correlation to chronic pain.  Dave explains that the relationship between chronic stress and various medical syndromes, including pain syndromes, is not well understood. Dave shares that his experiences have helped him develop the understanding that "chronic distress patterns lead to and are part of medical syndromes.” He finds that these syndromes manifest in physical as well as psychological symptoms and disorders, and that it’s important to know and understand both.  Sarah and Dave reflect on the similarities between Dave’s perspective and the NARM perspective, and they both agree that to address complex trauma the interventions have to include the body, the mind and be embedded in relationship. Dave believes that we have to have the capacity to be in our own bodies if we want to be able to invite deeper relationships and hold complexity. Sarah reflects on how NARM invites therapists to explore their own relationship with themselves and how this impacts the therapeutic relationship.  Dave ends with a quote by Peter Levine that trauma “is not a life sentence,” signifying the possibilities of transforming trauma.  Sarah reminds us that this idea inspired the intention, and name, of the NARM podcast, Transforming Trauma. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** To celebrate our growing NARM international community, we’re offering a special 50% discount for new annual members of the Inner Circle online program. For those interested, go to www.narmtraining.com/innercircle to sign up and use the checkout code: JUNE2020 -- offer available until June 30th, 2020. *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com View upcoming Level 2 NARM Therapist Trainings: http://www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** 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

“I have recently started sharing my own personal journey with DID to fight stigma and to advocate that we deserve to be treated like people as well.” - Erin Lewis, NARM Therapist Clinical Mental Health Counselor Erin Lewis is a trauma therapist from North Carolina who specializes in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Erin herself has been treated for DID and is committed to promoting education and supporting the needs for traumatized individuals, including those with DID. Her mission is to further treatment across the US in terms of how we view and treat DID.  She is a strong proponent for using NARM in her efforts. Erin not only wants to help others who are impacted by Dissociative Identity Disorder, she wants to change the stigma and educate those who might not otherwise know about it, including medical and mental health professionals. Erin, who recently completed the Level 2 NARM Therapist Training, describes how the NARM framework for understanding complex trauma is so helpful in working with individuals with DID. She has been integrating NARM with Internal Family Systems (IFS) in her practice. Erin has studied other clinical theories and approaches and feels strongly that many miss the mark. She shares that she really appreciates how NARM addresses consent, specifically how NARM starts sessions with inquiring about what the client wants for themselves.  *** At the NARM Training Institute, we’re excited to unveil a new video series we’re launching this month in the NARM Inner Circle online program.  Over the course of the next year, the focus of Senior Faculty Brad Kammer’s demonstration sessions will be on NARM and DID.  Erin has made herself available to demonstrate how NARM can be applied in working over multiple sessions with a client with DID.  The June 2021 NARM Demo is the first in a series of these NARM demos with Erin and Brad that will continue in the Inner Circle every other month this year.  To celebrate our growing NARM international community, we’re offering a special 50% discount for new annual members of the Inner Circle online program. For those interested, go to www.narmtraining.com/innercircle to sign up and use the checkout code: JUNE2020 -- offer available until June 30th, 2020. *** Erin’s contact info: Website: https://www.nccuttingedgecounseling.com/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/Nccec2020  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nc-cutting-edge-counselling-pllc-2507b6204/  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 Level 2 NARM Therapist Trainings: http://www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** 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

“Music definitely opened up my heart and I started to actually feel things. The next thing I know, I’m using music to make sense of my experience.” - Nick Larson Sarah talks with musician Nick Larson, California-based songwriter, musician, and member of the band Próxima Parada. He uses his experiences growing up in dysfunction and working through trauma to create uplifting music that promotes healing.  They discuss the stigmas that surround therapy, familial and intergenerational trauma, vulnerability, reconnecting to our hearts, and the role music can play in the process of healing trauma. Nick hopes listeners feel encouraged “to give themselves permission to use music, poetry, or whatever outlet that may be, to use their suffering and trauma as fuel for creating art, beauty, and something meaningful for them.”  So much of what Nick shares aligns with NARM, and Sarah reflects that what Nick describes is a process of using self-shaming and self-rejection to shut oneself down in order to survive. These adaptive survival strategies, though life-saving as children, become obstacles as we move into adulthood.  Nick reports that going to therapy, and learning a new way of relating to himself, was a game-changer.  Through therapy and through his music, Nick has learned how to reconnect to himself. Through the pandemic, while touring and playing shows has not been possible, Nick has focused on what is available to him, and has taken the time to write songs -- more than thirty of them. Proxima Parada self-recorded a new album, “Second Brother” which will be available in August 2021. To listen to Nick’s music, you can find Proxima Parada on Spotify and YouTube and at http://www.proximaparadamusic.com  About Nick:  Nick Larson is a songwriter, musician, and member of the band Próxima Parada who uses his experiences growing up in dysfunction and working with trauma to create uplifting music that promotes healing. Born and raised in California, Nick currently lives in San Luis Obispo.   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 Level 2 NARM Therapist Trainings: http://www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** 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

Neuroscientist Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett joins host Sarah to explore the brain-body budget, trauma, emotions, and the importance of understanding our brains for a better life. The podcast highlights the alignment between science and the NARM model, debunking myths about the brain, and the significance of self-compassion and responsibility in healing from trauma.

“Once we understand [how adverse childhood experiences impact our development]… it removes blame and shame and judgment because it’s not something we’ve actually done.” - Veronique Mead Our host Sarah Buino is joined by somatic therapist Veronique Mead, a former practicing physician and assistant professor of family medicine. For 20 years Veronique has been researching and integrating science with her personal journey of chronic fatigue syndrome, finding powerful evidence of the connection between childhood adversity and chronic illness. Veronique’s findings align with the growing body of research about the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on our health. As Veronique and Sarah explore the topic of developmental trauma and its impact on long-term health, they find much overlap between the way Veronique frames her understanding and the NARM model. Both perspectives are based in a non-pathologizing orientation and view symptoms as intelligent, survival responses to environmental failures. Veronique and Sarah conclude the episode discussing the beauty in understanding and recognizing our own trauma and adversity experiences, and how they affect us personally. Veronique closes with her own feelings of hope: “Once we understand [how adverse childhood experiences impact our development]…it removes blame and shame and judgment because it’s not something we’ve actually done…If we can shift the perception of threat that’s gotten caught...it then gives us all these tools to work with that may really contribute to a much higher, greater capacity for healing and improvement...Then there may be a whole lot more encouraging, hopeful, empowering things we can do.”   About Veronique: Veronique Mead was an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and practicing physician when she decided to change careers and retrained as a Somatic Trauma Therapist. For the past 20 years she has been integrating the science with her personal journey of gradual recovery from disabling chronic fatigue syndrome into a new model for making sense of chronic illnesses of all kinds.The research explains how effects of trauma are not psychological as is still often mistakenly believed. She shares the science on her blog, Chronic Illness Trauma Studies.com. www.chronicillnesstraumastudies.com www.facebook.com/chronicillnesstraumastudies   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 Level 2 NARM Therapist Trainings: www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** 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

“If we want to be able to change the world, it comes down to humans changing themselves.” - Adar Weinreb Host Sarah Buino interviews Adar Weinreb, a social activist in Israel who runs a grassroots project called Sulha, which comes from the Arabic word for “reconciliation” and “to make peace”.  Their goal is to create an inclusive community of people from all sides of the ideological spectrum who can engage in nuanced dialogues on important issues, transform the way people communicate, and inspire real-world action.    Adar focuses his activism on understanding the challenging dynamics within the Israeli and Palestinian communities in order to build bridges of understanding between the two communities. Adar aligns with a NARM-informed perspective in that he works to not take sides between the two sides of the conflict, and works to hold increasing complexity and the uncertainty and distress that goes along with that. He shares, “I'm not making a comparison between injustices. It's simply a recognition that at the end of the day, the people on both sides are harmed from this conflict. And as a humanist, I approach it as valuing all life of human worth.” Similar to the way NARM perceives how trauma creates objectification and dehumanization, Adar’s work focuses on the elements required for mutual recognition of humanization and supporting the process of intersubjectivity.  Adar sees two sides of the same coin of activism: personal responsibility and systemic change. Adar and Sarah agree that by understanding psychological processes like complex trauma, and how we can work together to address complex trauma, we can learn to listen to each other, humanize each other, and ultimately can become more effective social activists.  About Adar: Adar Weinreb is an Israeli-American working in blockchain technology. He dedicates his free time to social activism, primarily building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians. Adar is the host of a YouTube show called Sulha.  To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com The next Level 2 NARM Therapist Training online begins April 2021. Learn more and apply: www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** 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

“To help people come back to their natural self; which means to be calm, to be connected to the heart, [and to have] good health.” - Adam Tanous Brad Kammer, NARM Training Director, welcomes Adam Tanous, a therapist and facilitator who lives in Haifa, Israel. Adam works with clients in Arabic, Hebrew and English, and has a unique perspective as a trauma-informed provider who is half-Palestinian, half-Polish and living in Israel. Adam joins Brad to discuss differences and similarities between the ways that Palestinians and Israelis approach spirituality, address intergenerational trauma, and the potential role of NARM in support of personal and cross-cultural healing. Adam has a unique perspective as a trauma-informed therapist that is Palestinian by background that lives within Israel and works closely with Israelis and Palestinians alike. Brad inquires into how Adam sees that a trauma-informed lens can help us to understand the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and “what might be stuck there.” Adam describes his understanding that despite the intergenerational trauma, despite the engrained survival patterns that many people are living through, and despite not having leadership in their countries that are actively interested in healing, true connection and transformation is still possible. As he states: “I believe if every person will take the decision to [face their] inner war, this is the only thing that can bring peace here.”  This is the NARM principle of self-agency in action. Adam shares his passion to continue spreading NARM throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and supporting individuals and groups that may not otherwise receive such support, in order to heal personal and societal patterns that are built upon unresolved developmental trauma. Adam hopes that more and more people will discover that “new answers [can] be revealed, that you have no idea such answers could exist inside you.” About Adam: Adam Tanous is a therapist and facilitator who accompanies people through self Conscious processes using Focusing, Meditation, Mindfulness and Breath-Work. In addition to guiding workshops and lectures on the subject, Adam has 13 years of experience providing therapy. He’s learned many modalities including Rebirthing, Focusing, Shiatsu, Energy Therapy and, of course, NARM. The individual and the group sessions are given either online or in person in English, Arabic or Hebrew. FB page link: www.facebook.com/adam.naturalself Instagram link: www.instagram.com/adamnaturalself/ To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com The next Level 2 NARM Therapist Training online begins April 2021. Learn more and apply: www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** 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

“Cultural traditions are on the forefront of wellness, for Native people — and for all people.” - Trilby Kerrigan Trilby Kerrigan, a NARM-trained Behavioral Health Therapist at a Tribal health clinic in Northern California, is a member of the Karuk Tribe of California and is deeply committed to supporting community reconnection through education and treatment of complex trauma.  Sarah and Trilby discuss historical, intergenerational, and cultural trauma, and ways to support healing of individuals, families and communities. They share how the reconnection to oneself is at the core of the healing process, and how Trilby finds the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) to be a powerful approach that can lead to significant shifts for individuals and within Tribal communities. Trilby describes her journey of becoming a therapist as “non-traditional”, but meant to be. In her thirties, Trilby was inspired by her children to go to college and pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work. Trilby wanted to find some way to promote healing within her local Tribal communities. She shares that Native communities have some of the highest health disparities, lack social services, and have experienced not only extensive historical trauma, but face ongoing trauma. While there are clinics established to support Native clients, Trilby says, “I feel like having a Native professional therapist was a missing piece in the community.” Specifically for Native communities, Trilby dreams of trauma education at a community level. For other therapists, Trilby dreams of more clinicians becoming trained in NARM and bringing these powerful tools back to their communities and clients, just as she has done. For us all, Trilby leaves listeners with one parting thought: “Humanity is really made to care for one another.” About Trilby: Trilby is a member of the Karuk Tribe of California and has been residing in Mendocino County for the past ten (10) years. She has been working in the helping profession for the past twenty (20) years and behavioral health is where her heart lies. She’s currently working as a Medical Social worker/Behavioral health Therapist at Consolidated tribal health. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** 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 episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Sarah Buino interviews Mark Olson, Ph.D., the owner and director of the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork (PCAB), a massage therapy school located in Kauai that integrates bodywork with somatic psychology, contemplative practice, and affective neuroscience with a trauma-informed framework.  Mark describes two main reasons that clients seek massage: they are experiencing either pain or anxiety. “And so right away, we’re already in this [body-mind] world. Anxiety obviously is very mind-based, and pain is a very complex topic that has numerous…elements to it.” Sarah and Mark discuss the importance of a bodyworker meeting the massage client with relational curiosity, rather than meeting them with preconceived knowledge, assumptions or interpretations about what the client is experiencing. Mark shares the many ways that he is using trauma-informed, NARM-informed principles to train new bodywork students in his school.  It starts with training them to invite their clients to be the one that sets the goals for the work, and the fundamental rejection of the dynamic that many physical therapy professionals actively promote: “The client feeling that they’re broken and the therapist thinking that they’re the ones to fix it.”  Mark and Sarah see how this dynamic is flawed from the outset, and how NARM has helped them to understand a deeper truth: that the client’s symptoms are present for an important reason that needs to be understood and honored, rather than forced to change. He shares how being educated in developmental trauma has given him the ability to have more awareness of his own internal reactions when working with clients, and he has experienced a greater sense of spaciousness in himself that “allows for that person to be wherever they are and be just curious about whatever they’re experiencing.”  With his deep understanding of neuroscience and trauma, and by bringing curiosity and an important relational component to the work, Mark is evolving the field of bodywork in an exciting direction. About Mark: Mark Olson, Ph.D., LMT has an M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois. He holds a specialty in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuropsychology and Neuroanatomy which focuses on memory, attention, and eye movements.  He is the owner and director of the Pacific Center for Awareness & Bodywork, which integrates bodywork with somatic psychology, contemplative practice, and affective neuroscience within a trauma-informed framework. Recently he has been published, writing on the subjects of Pain and Trauma-informed Bodywork.   To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** 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