Trauma-Informed Leadership and Workplace Culture Insights

Sometimes, we know we need something, but we don’t know what that thing is. You might find it here. In the journey of self-discovery and...

There is a strong connection between childhood trauma and addiction, which is why preventative trauma-informed interventions are crucial...

What is financial trauma? Learn common signs, real-life examples, and how money stress shapes beliefs and behavior. Practical reflection prompts and next steps to build safety, reduce shame, and create a healthier relationship with money.

We are proud to announce another successful project. Our work with ODRC has already begun to transform lives for Ohio state employees and...

The foster care system in the United States is broken. More often than not, the system actively harms those it seeks to protect. There...

Recognizing trauma responses is an important skill for trauma-informed leaders to learn—and knowing these common trauma responses is a great place to start. When we view the world with a trauma-informed lens, we can identify two distinct states of mind or headspaces. Of course, this is an overly simplified model that helps us understand the neurobiology of trauma —but it can help us easily identify when someone (including ourselves) is experiencing a trauma response. These t

Establishing safety at work is one of the most important aspects of creating a trauma-informed workplace, but creating safety is easier said than done. When we discuss trauma-informed beliefs, practices, and values, we often explore big-picture concepts and systems. While this is an essential piece of the work, sharing specific, actionable steps can often improve our understanding better than big-picture ideas can. Here are some concrete and relatively simple ways to create s

Trauma-informed leadership is crucial if you want to accomplish trauma-informed change in your organization. Here’s some expert advice on how you can become a trauma-informed leader. 1 Acknowledge that cultural change is just as important as technical change When we talk about organizational change, our problem-solving brains are often focused on technical change. We ask, “ What processes can we put in place to prevent this issue?” when we should be asking, “What cultural

Download this newsletter as a printable PDF: Monthly Reflections As the end of summer approached, many of us prepared for the incoming...

When we discuss implementing trauma-informed change, the conversation largely surrounds how we live trauma-informed values. How does our behavior reflect our values? What about our lifestyle choices, how we engage in relationships, or our attitude toward life’s challenges? When we reflect, we recognize that there are many ways we live trauma-informed values, but there are also many areas where we can improve. So, once we’ve identified the areas we’d like to change, the questi

Throughout our last several blogs, we’ve explored the broader themes of how to accomplish trauma-informed cultural change. We’ve also discussed how embodying trauma-informed values is essential to accomplishing that change. But what does embodying trauma-informed values look like in real-time? How are we practicing the values in our personal and professional lives? How do the concepts we discuss become embedded and embodied in our work? Today, we’ll give you concrete examples

Last week I spent 3 days with a room full of exhausted yet engaged teachers, who were eager to learn about trauma and not only how it applied to their students, but how it was showing up for them. In the process of the training, we spent considerable time talking about Maslow's Hierarchy. Later that night, I was invited to the school board meeting, to share our progress and the important work being done in the district. Unprompted, their board president started talking about

Despite the importance of vulnerability at work to promote a trauma-informed environment, the stigma surrounding emotional vulnerability...

Although trauma-informed leadership is gaining traction in the education and healthcare sectors, it is not a topic reserved for these industries. In fact, private, public and government should all be considering moving a trauma-informed framework not just for their customers, or clients but for their staff. Additionally, trauma-informed leadership is meaningful and beneficial in nearly every sector, including law. Melissa Lucio’s Wrongful Conviction In her recent article , Mi

Most people will say that work stresses them out—but it’s possible that your job as a leader is causing chronic traumatic stress. If you suffer from leadership trauma, these five trauma-informed strategies can help you move forward and cope with your stress. 1. Recognize harmful symptoms through mindfulness. First, you need to know if you have leadership trauma. You might think that everything is okay or that you’re experiencing a “normal” amount of stress. But you may be

In the past several weeks, we’ve explored what resilience is and how we can create resilience in our lives and organizations through positive, stable adult relationships and a greater connection to faith and cultural traditions. Today, we’re going to dive even deeper and explore how to build resilience through mastery of a life skill. How mastery of a life skill helps us cultivate resilience Whether your life skill is communication, carpentry, or commercial waste management,

Resilience is built in three core ways: positive and stable adult relationships, a strong connection to faith and cultural traditions, and the mastery of a life skill. When you incorporate these three components into your life, you will experience resilience. And as you build your own resilience, you enable yourself to be a trauma-informed leader who can build organizational resilience. Today, we’re discussing the first aspect of building resilience: positive and stable adult

No matter what type of organization you help run, if you are a leader, you should be promoting resilience and agility in the workplace. Why? When the individuals that make up an organization are better able to face challenges, the entire system is strengthened. Resilience mitigated risks, ensuring that challenges won’t set your business back as far they could. Organizations improve their overall resilience when they can: · anticipate disruptions · prepare for roadbl

It's almost impossible to help a child or a parent in need and not be affected by what we are seeing. This is true for any professional...