After 146 episodes, we have reached the final chapter of the Trauma-Informed Lens Podcast. In this final episode, Matt reflects on the journey and future. Thank you so much for being part of this journey!

In this episode of the Trauma-Informed Lens Podcast Dr. Judith Rabinor joins the show to share her expertise on eating disorders, developmental trauma, and share the insights in her recent book.

In this episode of the Trauma-Informed Len Podcast, Karen Gross and Matt discuss trauma-sensitive and responsive schools and the impact of Covid on students and educators.

Karen Gross is an educator and an author of adult and children’s books.  She also serves as Senior Counsel at Finn Partners, where she consults on higher education crisis management.  She specializes in student success across the educational pipeline and focuses her attention on students who are traumatized or otherwise at risk based on socio-economic status, race or ethnicity.   She is regularly quoted in the media or participated in broadcasts and podcasts about issues involving education, including PBS, NPR Cross Currents, The New York Times, The Week, Readers Digest, Thrive Global and Insider, all as detailed on her website.

She has worked all along the educational pipeline — with early childhood educators and professors and academic leaders as well as students at all ages and stages.  She currently serves as a continuing education instructor at Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work (teaching courses in trauma) and as a visiting professor at College Unbound (also a course in trauma).  She has been the author in residence at a 100% free and reduced lunch elementary school in Bennington, VT.

Her newest adult book, Trauma Does Not Stop at the School Door (released by Teachers College Press June 2020), focuses on how to create trauma responsive educational institutions from PreK — College.  It was named one of top five education book releases in June 2020.  It extends the arguments from her earlier award-winning adult book Breakaway Learners (also published by Teachers College Press 2017).   She is also the author of 10 children’s books, including the Lady Lucy series. Several of her children’s books have been translated into Spanish and one is bilingual (as is the author).

Her most children’s recent book is titled Tongue Twisters and Beyond: Words at Play, useful for schools reopening after COVID closures.  This book, along with her just released The Feeling Alphabet Activity Set (with Dr. Ed Wang of Harvard Medical School), are focused on the mental health needs of students in this complex world of COVID and racial and ethnic tensions. Her next book will launch in London in October 2020 and is titled Lady Lucy’s Dinosaur Quest.

In this episode, Nathan Gerbrandt joins Matt to discuss the importance of trauma-informed workplaces and organizations.

Nathan Gerbrandt is co-author of “A Little Book About Trauma-Informed Workplaces” and the Managing Director of the Crisis & Trauma Resource Institute (CTRI). In this role, he is passionate about promoting trauma-informed practices that support individuals, organizations, and communities. Prior to working with CTRI, Nathan coordinated service delivery and rehabilitation planning for people with co-occurring disorders and complex trauma in conflict with the law. He has refined skills in violence prevention, risk management, and collaborative treatment planning for vulnerable people. In addition, Nathan specializes in the areas of disability services, case management, and working with people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. He holds a Master of Social Work degree and is a Registered Social Worker. Nathan believes that the key to improving people’s lives through training is to find the right fit. When this connection is made, it inspires a ripple effect that can extend to everyone we meet.

Get your copy of A Little Book About Trauma-Informed Workplaces.
Access the FREE Trauma-Informed Workplace Assessment.
Find out more about the Crisis & Trauma Resource Institute.

In this final episode of the transition back to normal series, Jeff and Matt examine the importance of health and wellness during a transition into the new normal and a post-covid reality.

One of my goals in creating Optimal HRV was to bring heart rate variability to everyday folks and not just elite athletes. In this episode, Jeff and Matt discuss their HRV through the good times and tough ones. Plus, we look at Matt’s data during burnout and after his vaccination.

In this episode, Jeff Somers and Matt discuss the nature of stress and trauma and the need to focus on recovery as we transition into a “new normal.”

In this episode, Melissa Vine joins the show to discuss the link between trauma, entitlement, and domestic/intimate partner violence.

Melissa Vine, MA, LMHC, a licensed mental health counselor with 13 years of experience in business ownership, is the current Executive Director of Beacon of Life, a trauma-informed, equity-centered transitional home and programming for women recovering from domestic violence, incarceration, and substance use.  As a professional speaker, leader, and domestic violence survivor, she passionately empowers others to act with courage in the face of life and work challenges.  She received a bachelor’s in Communication Studies in 2002 and graduated summa cum laude with a master’s in Professional Counseling in 2016.  Melissa was in the 2021 class of the Des Moines Business Record’s Forty Under 40, 2018 recipient of One to Watch, and the 2014 recipient of Service Business of the Year by the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce.  She has spoken for the Business Record’s Fearless launch, Iowa Board of Regents Campus Safety and Security Summit, Arts Midwest, Banker’s Trust, UnityPoint Clinic, the UNI Center for Violence Prevention, and the Iowa Small Business Summit.  Melissa lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her four teenage boys and volunteers with the Downtown Chamber of Commerce, ACES Steering Committee, and Des Moines Public Schools.

Website: www.melissavine.com

Email: melissa@melissavine.com

Phone: (515) 402-1463

Established in 1980, the nonprofit organization Beacon of Life is a trauma-informed, equity-centered, evidence-based 34-bed home in Sherman Hill that provides community, healing, and growth for women who have faced trauma, abuse, substance use, incarceration, and homelessness.  Clients live in this sober, 24-hour-staffed environment as they work through a structured program for 6 – 24 months with a Case Manager. Programming addresses mental health, substance use recovery, career development, financial literacy, trauma recovery, healthy relationships, and physical health.

Beacon of Life website: www.beaconoflifedm.org

Beacon of Life email: director@beaconoflifedm.org

Phone: (515) 244-4713

In this episode, Melissa Vine joins the show to discuss the link between trauma, entitlement, and domestic/intimate partner violence.

Melissa Vine, MA, LMHC, a licensed mental health counselor with 13 years of experience in business ownership, is the current Executive Director of Beacon of Life, a trauma-informed, equity-centered transitional home and programming for women recovering from domestic violence, incarceration, and substance use.  As a professional speaker, leader, and domestic violence survivor, she passionately empowers others to act with courage in the face of life and work challenges.  She received a bachelor’s in Communication Studies in 2002 and graduated summa cum laude with a master’s in Professional Counseling in 2016.  Melissa was in the 2021 class of the Des Moines Business Record’s Forty Under 40, 2018 recipient of One to Watch, and the 2014 recipient of Service Business of the Year by the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce.  She has spoken for the Business Record’s Fearless launch, Iowa Board of Regents Campus Safety and Security Summit, Arts Midwest, Banker’s Trust, UnityPoint Clinic, the UNI Center for Violence Prevention, and the Iowa Small Business Summit.  Melissa lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her four teenage boys and volunteers with the Downtown Chamber of Commerce, ACES Steering Committee, and Des Moines Public Schools.

Website: www.melissavine.com

Email: melissa@melissavine.com

Phone: (515) 402-1463

Established in 1980, the nonprofit organization Beacon of Life is a trauma-informed, equity-centered, evidence-based 34-bed home in Sherman Hill that provides community, healing, and growth for women who have faced trauma, abuse, substance use, incarceration, and homelessness.  Clients live in this sober, 24-hour-staffed environment as they work through a structured program for 6 – 24 months with a Case Manager. Programming addresses mental health, substance use recovery, career development, financial literacy, trauma recovery, healthy relationships, and physical health.

Beacon of Life website: www.beaconoflifedm.org

Beacon of Life email: director@beaconoflifedm.org

Phone: (515) 244-4713

Denis Thompson joins the show to talk about the relationship between trauma and pain. Trauma and stress are the often overlooked aspects of the opioid epidemic and addiction in general. Denis shares his expertise in pain management and provides a new way to think about and treat a common struggle of people with trauma.

Denis Thompson

For the past 25-years, Denis has helped more than 500,000 patients worldwide eliminate their pain without drugs and speed up the process of healing and recovery.

Denis is an Exercise Physiologist by education, so he also has been the man behind the curtain in most national championships and world championships and has taken hundreds of athletes and nonathletes out of wheelchairs.

One of the other things he is known for is patenting therapy called Neuro Therapy which treats why you have symptoms not where you have symptoms.

Those who want to try a treatment for a chronic condition here is link:arpwave.com/fst

Those who want to try a technology for 30 days FREE to control pain at home instantly here is link: arpwave.com/f30

Our website is www.arpwave.com