Holding the Vision for a Trauma-Informed Future
If we want to create a trauma-informed future, we have to hold the vision...together. In the season two finale of A Trauma-Informed Future podcast, host Katie Kurtz reflects on the past year, expresses gratitude to the listeners and guests, and shares highlights of the most popular episodes. She emphasizes the importance of trauma-informed care as a capacity-building and healing-informed approach rooted in social justice frameworks. Katie shares a compliation of how guests from 2023 answered the question, "what does a trauma-informed future looks like to you?".
Stay tuned for season 3 launching in early 2024!
People/Things Mentioned In This Episode:
Support Small Businesses -On Sale Now: Contain Card Deck , Toolkits, & The Trauma-Informed Shop
Show Transcript:
Katie Kurtz (she/her): Hi everyone and welcome to A Trauma-Informed Future podcast, I'm your host, Katie Kurtz. And this is our 2023 finale. A wrap up of not just season two of this podcast, but the full year. I launched this podcast in June of 2023. We went through season one and now season two, we are wrapping up.
So I wanted to spend a little time today just in reflection and gratitude of what we co-created together and how we can co-create more of a trauma informed future in 2024. And give a lot of gratitude to all of you for listening for your ratings, for your reviews, for your comments for you personally, reaching out to me and our guests. I'm just so, so grateful and delighted to. Be in this community together with a shared mission and vision for a trauma-informed future. So a little spinoff of a Spotify wrapped.
I'm going to do my own Spotify wrapped at the end of 2023. And we'll share that with those you've you are on my email list or who where we're connected on social media, whether it's Instagram or LinkedIn, but I want to just share some fun facts and do a little review if you will.
This podcast began in June. And if you don't know, the first four episodes are really great way to get started to help us create shared language and understanding. So if you or someone, you know, is always like, "what is trauma? What is trauma-informed care? What are all these words? What is this trend?
Send them to episodes one through four. It's a really comprehensive understanding it's helpful. And I'll tell you why it's helpful because a little podcast stats for you-the five most popular podcasts of seasons one and two of 2023 are:
#5": Why I don't believe in big T little T trauma, which is season two, episode 13.
This episode is where I go over this very common concept of big T and little T trauma. I got a lot of opinions about it because I don't adhere to it. I don't teach it. I honor, a lot of people do, but personally do not. And I think when we create hierarchy of trauma, even if it's to help clarify or create understanding. It's still is a way to kind of delineate some people and I share how I teach trauma along a spectrum rather than a hierarchy.
Coming in at #4: An essential trauma-informed practice for all professions, season two, episode 14.
This is where I go into talking about the need for professional boundaries and scope of practice, which is so vital and something I center in the integrative trauma informed trainings I teach.
Coming in at #3: trauma-informed care, what's it all about? This is season one, episode two.
So this is where I really break down that's when I say those first four episodes, this is them. This is where I break down. What trauma-informed care is the history, the origin, where it's at and where we're going.
Coming in at #2: How to become trauma informed, which is season one, episode five.
This is where, okay, you know what trauma informed/ trauma is, what trauma informed care is, how do you become it? How do you adapt it? How do you practice it?
And coming in, #1 Let's start with the basics season one, episode one.
This is where I help us create shared language. So we're talking about defining trauma- what does it mean? I give you a quick kind of crash course on this as an introduction, so we can start there and then it'll inform the rest of the podcast.
Now, as always. If you're new here, or if you forgot which, how human have you. Everything. I do everything, I share, train, teach, talk about.-there's always a lot of nuance. There is always the, and both, and I'm never coming on here saying I know it all, I'm an authority.
Yes. I identify as a subject matter expert. But to be quite honest, I struggle with the term expert. So I'm really using that around the topic with the disclaimer that I am never arriving to a level of expertise or mastery. I am always evolving I keep showing up and learning and practicing. I believe trauma informed care is not an arrival. It's an evolution. So if you're new to me or you forgot- I'm human first and I am always in this practice.
I'm not trauma informed a hundred percent of the time. I’m slightly sarcastic, a little snarky and judgy, and that's who I am. And I'm always learning. And a lot of that learning includes unlearning. I'm in practice. I mess up. I cause harm. I repair it. I sit with the acceptance of the consequences of that. And I'm in community with people who are for me, integrity checks and supervision and mentorship and peer support.
So again, nothing I say here is prescriptive. Nothing I say here is “that's it”. I trust that you know yourself best so that you'll discern as you listen to this podcast and remember. That as you move through this podcast, I'm also not the only voice. That's why I bring other guests on to learn from them and to share other voices in this work and practice. So let's go through the highlights of guests for season one and two.
In season one, we had guest, Crystal Whiteaker. She was in season one, episode six, Crystal is amazing talks about brave leadership and values driven leadership and business. Crystal has some incredible trainings and programs and coaching for both individuals and companies. So be sure to check crystal out.
Then we had on season one, episode eight, Natalie Topalian. Nat is an amazing trauma-informed copywriter. We talked all about trauma informed copy and content. She gave some amazing easy to use tips if you're somebody that writes content, delivers any type of copy.
In season one, episode 10, we had Annie Gichuru. Annie is a teacher of mine, a colleague, somebody I refer to often. We talked a lot about in this episode, how to integrate anti-racism into our businesses and the intersection of anti-oppression and anti-racism and trauma-informed care.
And then wrapping up guests in season one, we had Laura Thomas. She was in season one, episode 12 Laura and I talked a lot about trauma from care and the fitness. And training and wellness world and how imperative it is that if we work with people's bodies, how we need to adopt this approach.
And season two, we kicked off with our first guest, Julie Johnson.
I love this episode in season two, episode 15 Julie and I talk about the importance of vetting and I share how I didn't like this term or this concept and how working in community with Julie helped shift that for me, as well as the importance of self setting. It's super important. I really recommend listening to that episode.
Then we had Alyssa Chang on season two episode 17. Alyssa really helps us demystify and create shared language around the nervous system. And we're going to have future guests, and we're going to keep talking about the nervous system and all of that, because it's so important and it's needed because a lot of these terms. A lot of these concepts are becoming quite popular and it's important that we have shared language and understanding.
And then season two episode, 19, my very own a coaching supervisor, friend, colleague, Sas Petherick came on. And we talked about the importance of supervision in, especially in coaching, but in any human care helping profession and the importance and roll in it, especially as somebody who leads with integrity, ethics, and a trauma-informed approach.
Season two episode 20 Shirin Eskandani was on and we talked all about unpacking the word, decolonization, the concept of decolonization, and really helped us create shared language and understanding around that concept and how it is tandem practice within trauma-informed care.
And then we close season two, episode 21 with Nicole Lewis-Keeber. Another like brain exploding, heart exploding episode, where we talk about the intersection of trauma and business. And you quite literally hear me live real time. Have my head explode with some of Nicole's incredible wisdom as both a therapist and coach. All of these episodes are so great.
And our season three lineup is equally as great coming in with more conversations around trauma informed care and the intersection of other practices. Going deeper and delving into other topics either within trauma-informed care related.
I really honestly should have done a tracker of how many times I've said trauma and trauma-informed care on this podcast. It's probably a million. So I'm so grateful for the 2,733 downloads since June.
And all of you, who've taken the time to listen and share with me your insights, your ahas, and your invitations to go deeper. This episode like anything I have done or launched in my business was happening again during some type of historical trauma, whether it was around the world or within my own backyard.
And this year, this fall, especially in 2023. I'm ending this year feeling very deeply about the things I want to release and what I want to receive in the new year. And there are moments this year where I have been in reflection with myself, with my partner. with my colleagues and friends and my community. About how to show up in these times. And I was reminded that for a trauma informed leader , our business is actually unusual because trauma-informed care is not the norm. Trauma-informed care is not the standard of care. And as this podcasts mission is to create actively create. So not way, way in the future, but every minute, every day right now to create a trauma informed future. And in order to do that, we need to show up with business as usual, because our usual is the unusual everywhere else.
And that can be very hard. And impractical and heavy. Because we know the realities, especially of ancestral and historical trauma and how that keeps manifesting over and over again in the context every da., I feel like I'm reminded of Resmaa Menakem- one of my teachers quotes from the book, My Grandmother’s Hands, which I highly recommend as a go-to if you're starting off or wherever you land in your journey and practice.
I highly recommend his book, My Grandmother’s Hands and I'm grateful to have been through his Somatic Abolitionism program. But I'm constantly reminding myself of what he said, that
“trauma in a person decontextualized over time, looks like personality. Trauma in a family decontextualized over time, looks like family traits. Trauma in a people decontextualized over time, looks like culture.”
I am just reminded every day of how this is playing out worldwide, how this is playing out in your community, in my community. In my family and your family in my home, in your home. And although trauma-informed care does not solve or fix anything. It is a way for us to take small shifts every day to point towards a future that is more empathetic and compassionate and more human. And I am committed to that.
I'm not going to do it perfectly. I'm going to mess up- I'm human first as are you. But as somebody who has been in this work a while and looks forward to a future where I will continue to do this work, I'm committed to showing up. And this 2023 has renewed my commitment. Not that it was wavering, but it just feels. More and more important to spread this approach, to help others understand it and adopt it. So that we can find ways to build our capacity.
Trauma informed care is capacity building. The more we're able to go within and look at how we are holding ourselves what we're holding. We're able to build our capacity and we need that because it's a long game. And a reminder that trauma-informed care is rooted in social justice frameworks. I talk a lot about this with Crystal and Annie and Shirin. That we need to look at these things and our role within them and how we can decolonize, detach, divest, learn, unlearn and heal. And our healing benefits collective healing. And I believe that we can't be trauma-informed without being healing informed. And that healing doesn't just happen 60 minutes in your therapist, but we need to be more accepting and honor that healing comes in many pathways.
It can happen in our therapist office. It can happen on a yoga mat. It can happen in nature. At the ocean in the woods, it can happen while dancing or singing or expressing yourself. It can happen at home with your pets, wherever. And what's healing for me may not healing for you. And to build our capacity to be with that to build our capacity to understand that so that we can build our capacity to honor the humanity of ourselves and others.
I'm looking forward to connecting more with you and other people in 2024. I am excited to share with you a revitalized option of trainings with me next year. To help create more accessibility and pathways for people to start or strengthen their trauma informed journey and how we don't just let it live in our heads, but we begin to allow it flow through our body. So it becomes an embodied practice. It becomes integrative. And that keyword is practice and community.
So I am eager to share all the new and reimagined ways to work together in 2024. I'm really excited to share episodes was with you for season three. I'm going to sit on my hands for that one because I want it to be just a really delightful surprise. And I'm going to close this episode with the gentle spritz I share with all our guests. So if you've listened to our guests episodes, I always close with asking them three gentle spritz questions.
So a lot of times on podcasts, people have you know, like a rapid fire. And they ask them questions. You have to say what's your favorite coffee order? Your favorite color? Your favorite book? And so just as a spinoff I did a gentle spreads with just like three questions that people get ahead of time so they can feel equipped to prepare and. Also add a little levity because. Although trauma is serious. We have to remember that joy is a part of healing.
And so I always try to infuse joy into my work, to express my own joy. And to invite others and give themselves permission to express joy too, because joy is how we build our capacity and helps us build resilience. And it's so, so important to our humanity and our healing. Remember to not always take yourself so seriously, I have to remind myself that every five minutes. And that I'm looking forward to infusing more joy into my world and work now, but also next year. So I'm gonna ask you those gentle spritz questions.
If you want to sit with breathe with, reflect, with walk, with movement, with cry, with dance, with you. Choose. But, what does trauma mean to you? If this is new to you? If you've been here a while, thinking about as we head into a new year. While we close a very heavier we're entering another year of a global historical pandemic where we have all been effected.
Remember every single person on this planet has been affected by that historical global trauma. And each year there have been multitudes of compounded, collective and personal traumas in between and stressors.
What are your go-to nervous system practices right now,
This doesn't have to be a lot or specific or consistent, but what , what go-to things do you do to help you regulate to get back to neutral? Right now for me it’s been hard to be honest with you. A lot of things in my personal life has increased anxiety and dysregulation. When my nervous system is dysregulated, I tend to be in that flight mode.
And so that often looks like a lot of anxiety overwhelmed, et cetera. So I've had to find ways to go from that hyperarousal, flight to ground a little bit. And that's been through my two unofficial emotional support dogs, Trudy and Mabel, 20 second hugs with my husband. New husband got married in November of 2023. Another big thing in life. Walking. The cold weather. I don't love it, but it's felt really good to breathe in cold air. I've been drinking sleepy time tea at night. I am truly an 85 year old at heart, but I love it. And it's been so grounding just to hold my two hands between a hot mug of sleepy time tea. I'm listening to like really cheesy holiday romcoms, which I've never done, but kind of loving it and not, feeling like I should catch up with all these trauma books that sit behind me or anything like that, but just allowing myself to listen to those so it's just how I'm answering that question right now.
And lastly, what does a , trauma informed future. look like for you? And I collected all the answers from our guests from seasons one and two, and put them into almost like a little word, cloud type of thing. And you can see the cloud if you go to my social media, LinkedIn, or Instagram, and I'll share it in the email, but I'm going to say it out loud for you, just so we can kind of sit with this and hold this vision together.
So the question is what does a trauma informed future look like to you? And here is how our guests respond.
It looks like practicing the pause. It looks like considering how people make decisions and behave impact others. It looks like value driven leadership. Accessible safety and spaces. It looks like everyone being more mindful and aware of trauma. It looks like giving people more grace, empathy and compassion. It looks like allowing us to exist easier. Spaces where you are seen for who you are. It looks like people not making assumptions and rather genuinely celebrating you. It's about honoring other people's humanity. Being cognizant of client experiences and beliefs and honoring our differences. It looks like systems in place to customizing our experiences and allowing for voice and choice. It looks like the norm. The only way you are cared for. Not hierarchical. Instead, let's meet together as human beings. It looks like making trauma a part of the conversation and collectively putting down our armor. It looks like respect. It becomes embedded in the way we do things.It looks like just the work of being human and being in community. It's about being human with another. It looks holistic.
I'm just sitting with us for a moment. Taking a breath and holding this vision of so many incredible humans who came on this podcast. In season one and two, to share what their vision of a trauma-informed future looks like and to share how they are actively participating in creating that together. I hope you can sit with that question too.
And if you want to share what your answer of what a trauma informed future looks like to you. Feel free to email me at hello@katie-kurtz.com. Share it on social media. I'd love to hear it. I love to see how you're co-creating that future together. And so I can hold with you that vision.
Again, I'm super excited to connect with you in the new year. And before I go, I just want to lend you a few reminders that this week, which is the week of December 10th until December 14th, I'm really doing something outside the box for myself.
I've never done anything like this. I would never traditionally do that, but I did, I took a chance and I'm joining, Lizzy's Christmas Party. And this is a really cool event. I wasn't sure to be honest, what to expect. And it is this incredible opt into receive like over 385 free gifts from. People around the world related to so many business specific topics, but also just like being human topics.
There's all sorts of really interesting programs, workshops, templates, eBooks on topics related to. All things business, but also like how to brush your cat's teeth and parenting and like travel and all this cool stuff. I think I signed up for over 200 things already because I just can't believe how amazing it is and how accessible, like free that's as accessible as it gets.
So, , I'm really honored and delighted that I contributed the the Nervous System Care Toolkit. So it comes with a 30 minute trauma aware workshop so it helps again create that shared language, understanding. And then the Nervous System Care Toolkit is an actionable skill based template to help you build your nervous system care plan personally.
So you learn how to personally attune when you're holding space for other people. So, whether it's interacting, facilitating, holding space, being in spaces with other humans, being with yourself, this nervous system care plan helps you build your capacity to understand and tend to your nervous system so that you can show up regulated to offer co-regulation in the spaces you live in lead in.
So when you sign up for Lizzy's Christmas Party, you opt in and then you pick all the different gifts you want for yourself. Kind of like that game in the supermarket you run around and grab whatever you want. Mine's in there and so many other people, I just can't get over this offer.
So please check it out if you're into accessibility, especially for those of you like me, you're an entrepreneur. Sometimes it can get pricey and overwhelming with all the things you have to do. And so this is a really amazing gift to be able to get a lot of the things you might be eying for free. And also note, there is a Premium Goody Bag with items in there that are over a hundred dollars.
So bigger items that I think is over like $30,000 worth of workshops and templates and things like that. And it's a hundred dollars for the whole Goody Bag There's already things in there that I've checked like, oh, I can't wait to dive in. Who doesn't love a gift? And also it just has brought me a lot of joy.
And again, I think this time of year, we need some joy and a lot of the proceeds go to some charities. Again, it's not just business related. It's, it's literally for everyone. And it's fun. It's been really fun to like, look around and see what is there.
I always love to give a transparency reminder that, , whenever I do affiliate work, which is not very often. Is that I am honor to be an affiliate of Lizzy's Christmas Party. And so it's because I believe in it. And I think it's a really great way to share some joy and some accessibility this time of year.
And so please be mindful that if you do click on any links, I may get a small commission from anything you purchase. And yeah, also a great way to test out or check out trauma-informed care if you are new to it, this free Nervous System Toolkit offers one of my most popular workshops that I've done thousands of times.
And after this workshop, I've had a hundred percent feedback. Yes. A hundred percent feedback that people want to learn more. So please check it out. If you've been curious or dancing around the idea of becoming trauma-informed, this might be a great. And free way to do so. I will link that link in the show notes. so, you can go ahead and, and shop around, but please know.
With natural urgency that Lizzy's Christmas Party ends December 14th, Thursday at 1159pm Pacific Standard Time.
I also want to remind you that until December 31st, 2023, all the Contain Card Decks are on sale. The Trauma-Mindful Toolkits are on sale and the new Trauma-Informed Shop, which was super fun and creative and joyful to create is live and open and although the sales end, December 31st, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.
The Trauma-Informed Shop will be open all year long, fun stickers and sweatshirts and t-shirts and. , like all sorts of things are on there with some of our favorite sayings and things that. You hear me say a lot you can definitely get your future is trauma-informed t-shirt swag on there to help us kind of in a fun way, collectively live out loud, our vision of a trauma-informed future.
So again, you can go to katie-kurtz.com/shop and check out the Trauma-Informed Shop is held on Redbubble.
All right, friends. That is it for the season. That is a wrap for season two. It is a wrap for 2023. I'm eager to share with you what's to come in 2024 and how we can really amplify this approach and build the groundswell towards the trauma-informed future.
But for now, if you celebrate holidays of any kind happy holidays to you.
If you find yourself in the liminality between now and the new year, I'm there with you.
If you're feeling joy and lightness, I love that for you.
If you're feeling heavy and full of grief, I honor that for you.
And I hope you can find some glimmers of joy along the way. But for now take a care.
