Podcasters: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the concept of virtue. How does the research and values help us understand resiliency and post-traumatic growth?

Discussion Questions:

1. What does virtue mean to you?
2. How could you help those you serve to identify and develop their strengths?
3. Could the research on virtue inform your programing?

Podcaster: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the positive and negative effects of adversity. We spend so much time talking about the negative effects of trauma, what about Haidt’s argument that it could serve as a positive in our life story?

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think about the famous quote, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”?
2. Could you integrate any of the strategies we discuss into your programming?
3. When you look at adversity in your own life, what role does it play?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the environmental impact on love. We explore the history of attachment theory and what that history adds to our understanding of parent-child connection. Then we shift to how attachment plays out in loving relationship into adulthood.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does attachment theory help inform you on the personality and behaviors of those you serve?
2. Could our understanding of attachment change how we approach helping people that our struggling in our society?
3. Can you see the connection between your early attachment and adult relationship?

Podcasters: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the environmental impact on happiness, depression, and our general outlook on life. Are we born with a certain outlook? Do our environmental factors such as wealth, marriage, or illnesses influence happiness? We’ll tackle these and more big questions in this episode.

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you view the nature and nurture influencing those you serve?
2. Could your program use the happiness formula to inform services?
3. How could you improve your happiness through improving conditions or starting new voluntary activity?
4. Could your programs offer more autonomy (choices) for those you serve?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on hypocrisy. Why do people seem to act against their own beliefs and values? Does the research on hypocrisy inform our work? What about our advocacy?

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you identified any implicit biases in your own life and thinking?
2. How might the research on hypocrisy inform your advocacy?
3. Any way to integrate this research into your thinking about trauma?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on reciprocity. We explore how reciprocity might explain our own behavior and choices and the role reciprocity plays in the trauma recovery process.

Discussion Questions:

1. Did reciprocity have any role in your choice to become a helper?
2. How could you give those you work (when appropriate) with a chance to provide reciprocity for the support and resources they receive?
3. Could you use any of what you learned to better inform your advocacy or to change certain aspects of your community?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the process of changing how our minds operate in the world. Both the historical wisdom and modern science hold important lessons to inform the recovery process.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you see a range of pessimism and optimism in those you serve or does one mindset dominate?
2. How do you see Beck’s cognitive triad of depression (negative view of self, future, and world) impacting those you serve?
3. Does Haidt’s suggested tripod of interventions of mindfulness, cognitive behavioral, and medication give you any new ideas for structuring services?
4. Could priming improve your interventions and approaches?

Welcome to the first podcast in our Big Idea Series where we explore the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. In this episode, we put the trauma-informed lens on the idea of the divided self. Throughout history, great thinkers used analogies to speak to the distinct, and often contradictory, nature of human behavior. In trauma research, we see extreme examples of the divided self in dissociation and intense emotional swings that seem illogical to the uninformed observer.

Discussion Questions:

1. How have you seen the divide self manifest in your work with those you serve?
2. Do you have any insight into the divided nature of your own thinking and behavior?
3. How could you use Haidt’s analogy of the rider and elephant to help those you serve to gain a great understanding of their own behaviors?
4. Think about the committee inside your head, who is a part of your committee and what are their influences on your personal narrative?

Podcasters: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, Matt and Jerry wrap up our Trauma-Informed Workplace series. We finish by looking at the second half of Dr. Bloom’s great article Organizational Stress as a Barrier to Trauma-Informed Service Delivery. We focus on the challenges facing helping organizations and how we can overcome them.

Discussion Questions:

1. Take a moment to list the stress inherent to your work. How does it impact you? How do you keep yourself healthy?
2. How does your team work together to ensure your collective health?
3. What are some steps you could take to further your journey to become a trauma-informed workplace?

Dr. Bloom’s Article

Podcasters: Matt Bennett, Curt Mower, & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, Matt, Curt, and Jerry start to explore an article that impacted all our thinking in a major way. Dr. Sandra Bloom’s Organizational Stress as a Barrier to Trauma-Informed Service Delivery is a must read for anyone working in the helping professions. We start our exploration by looking at the concepts of trauma-organized systems and parallel processes.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does your organization or program think or discuss the relationship between staff’s trauma histories and working with people with trauma?
2. Can you identify anywhere that parallel processes are occurring in your organization or program?
3. Do you see any evidence of trauma organization in your organization or systems in which you work?

Dr. Bloom’s Article