Trauma-Informed Leadership and Workplace Culture Insights

As a trauma-informed consultant, I work with trauma-informed phrases and ideas every day—and here are some of the most common phrases you'll hear me say. Start here:  Want the full set of trauma-informed tools for leaders? Visit our Trauma-Informed Leadership Toolkit  for scripts, boundary phrases, regulation tools, and practical next steps. These seven phrases distill some complex trauma-informed topics into understandable and actionable phrases that can help you embed the T

Universal precautions at work means leading as if anyone may be carrying trauma or chronic stress. Learn why it matters for communication, psychological safety, and follow-through plus 11 trauma-informed leadership habits you can use immediately.

Universal precaution means assuming anyone may be carrying trauma or chronic stress. Learn what it is, what it is not, and how to apply it at work to reduce harm and build safety.

Also referred to as compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma is a major contributor to chronic stress, especially for those who work with populations at a higher risk of trauma, such as social workers, healthcare workers, therapists, educators, and emergency workers. Vicarious trauma, aka compassion fatigue, is one of the most visible signs of trauma in our workforce. Compassion fatigue, aptly named, is a sort of tiredness and apathy that comes from expending our compassion on ot

As trauma-informed leaders, we often confront individuals who misunderstand (or are completely unaware of) systemic and institutionalized...

This Monday, people across the US will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day to mark the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, which...

Download this newsletter as a printable PDF: Monthly Reflections For many, December is a month full of festive holiday activities and gratitude. It can also be a month that triggers us into our trauma responses. As we walk along our healing journey, we often see others who have not chosen healing. This experience can be deeply frustrating, especially when we care for those people. And, during the holidays, feelings of loneliness may increase. When we look back at this month,

Use these 11 trauma-informed boundary phrases to say no, pause conflict, set work-hour expectations, and protect wellbeing without escalating tension.

Learn the trauma triangle and how workplace reenactments show up in teams under chronic stress. Identify the common roles, spot early signs, and use practical interruption strategies that protect trust and accountability.

We’ve all heard it: “our team is a family.” Organizations across every industry use this language. From non-profits to corporate teams, the idea that our working relationships should be as close-knit as our familial ones has become embedded into cultural norms—and even some of our mission statements. But “The Corporate Family” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. This news might be hard for some of you to hear: calling your work team a family is not a trauma-informed practice. I

Committing to trauma-informed work can be a real challenge. Most trauma-informed practices involve cultural changes and large-scale...

All human beings are born with a capacity for empathy, but ultimately, empathy is a learned behavior—much like language. Just as language...

Trauma-informed care is like an umbrella that encompasses the social determinants of health, social-emotional learning, and actionable solutions to create real change. I think a lot of people don’t understand this yet. Understandably, when people hear “trauma-informed,” they’re confused. If you’re not already informed about the impacts of and solutions to widespread trauma in our society, it’s hard to imagine what type of information relates to trauma. So, let me frame it wit

“ Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves.” - Bessel Van Der Kolk Trauma-informed care is impossible without self-awareness. Anyone who practices TIC needs self-awareness, and most of us would benefit from greater self-awareness. In this complete guide to self-awareness, we’ll explore why self-awareness is core to the trauma-informed mode

Download this newsletter as a printable PDF: Monthly Reflections As October ends and Halloween marks the transition into November, we may be quick to plan for the holidays. However, I urge you to set aside time to reflect on your wins this month. What did you learn? How did you grow? Did you rest or discover a new coping skill? Celebrating your wins, no matter how small they may seem, is a step on your trauma-informed journey toward wellness. Looking Ahead For many, the holid

Organizational restructuring is often on the table when companies decide they need transformational change. And when organizations take on the major change of trauma-informed implementation, many of them also decide to change their organizational layout. When we talk about organizational structures through a trauma-informed lens, we often focus on moving away from a hierarchal structure and toward a flat structure—but those are not our only two options. There are 5 other orga

Last week, we discussed how to recognize trauma states at work. The classic fight, flight, freeze, and appease trauma responses can reveal themselves in subtle ways, and other lesser-known trauma states can plague professional environments. Now that we know how to spot when someone is stuck in survival mode at work, it’s time to talk about how to help someone get out of that mindset. Today, we’ll explore the answer to the question: how can we respond to someone when they’re

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

If you asked me what the single most important aspect of trauma-informed implementation is, I’d say it’s much more complex than that. But then I’d say safety at work . To be fair, there are a lot of moving parts when we aspire to create safety at work. It’s not an easy task to undertake. From encouraging employees to develop individual safety plans to creating a comprehensive organizational safety plan , truly establishing safety at work can take years to achieve. It’s a lot

If you’re familiar with the trauma-informed space, you know that we often talk about the experience of feeling seen, heard, and valued. We talk about creating space at the table for everyone, practicing vulnerability to strengthen relationships, and holding ourselves accountable when we make mistakes. These are all great topics to discuss, but it can prove challenging to distill these larger ideas into practice. But, when we talk about apologizing, we wrap all of these comple