Transforming Trauma

"If we want to be able to change the world, it comes down to humans changing themselves." - Adar Weinreb Host Sarah Buino interviews Adar Weinreb, a social activist in Israel who runs a grassroots project called Sulha, which comes from the Arabic word for "reconciliation" and "to make peace". Their goal is to create an inclusive community of people from all sides of the ideological spectrum who can engage in nuanced dialogues on important issues, transform the way people communicate, and inspire real-world action. Adar focuses his activism on understanding the challenging dynamics within the Israeli and Palestinian communities in order to build bridges of understanding between the two communities. Adar aligns with a NARM-informed perspective in that he works to not take sides between the two sides of the conflict, and works to hold increasing complexity and the uncertainty and distress that goes along with that. He shares, "I'm not making a comparison between injustices. It's simply a recognition that at the end of the day, the people on both sides are harmed from this conflict. And as a humanist, I approach it as valuing all life of human worth." Similar to the way NARM perceives how trauma creates objectification and dehumanization, Adar's work focuses on the elements required for mutual recognition of humanization and supporting the process of intersubjectivity. Adar sees two sides of the same coin of activism: personal responsibility and systemic change. Adar and Sarah agree that by understanding psychological processes like complex trauma, and how we can work together to address complex trauma, we can learn to listen to each other, humanize each other, and ultimately can become more effective social activists. About Adar: Adar Weinreb is an Israeli-American working in blockchain technology. He dedicates his free time to social activism, primarily building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians. Adar is the host of a YouTube show called Sulha. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com The next Level 2 NARM Therapist Training online begins April 2021. Learn more and apply: www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"To help people come back to their natural self; which means to be calm, to be connected to the heart, [and to have] good health." - Adam Tanous Brad Kammer, NARM Training Director, welcomes Adam Tanous, a therapist and facilitator who lives in Haifa, Israel. Adam works with clients in Arabic, Hebrew and English, and has a unique perspective as a trauma-informed provider who is half-Palestinian, half-Polish and living in Israel. Adam joins Brad to discuss differences and similarities between the ways that Palestinians and Israelis approach spirituality, address intergenerational trauma, and the potential role of NARM in support of personal and cross-cultural healing. Adam has a unique perspective as a trauma-informed therapist that is Palestinian by background that lives within Israel and works closely with Israelis and Palestinians alike. Brad inquires into how Adam sees that a trauma-informed lens can help us to understand the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and "what might be stuck there." Adam describes his understanding that despite the intergenerational trauma, despite the engrained survival patterns that many people are living through, and despite not having leadership in their countries that are actively interested in healing, true connection and transformation is still possible. As he states: "I believe if every person will take the decision to [face their] inner war, this is the only thing that can bring peace here." This is the NARM principle of self-agency in action. Adam shares his passion to continue spreading NARM throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and supporting individuals and groups that may not otherwise receive such support, in order to heal personal and societal patterns that are built upon unresolved developmental trauma. Adam hopes that more and more people will discover that "new answers [can] be revealed, that you have no idea such answers could exist inside you." About Adam: Adam Tanous is a therapist and facilitator who accompanies people through self Conscious processes using Focusing, Meditation, Mindfulness and Breath-Work. In addition to guiding workshops and lectures on the subject, Adam has 13 years of experience providing therapy. He's learned many modalities including Rebirthing, Focusing, Shiatsu, Energy Therapy and, of course, NARM. The individual and the group sessions are given either online or in person in English, Arabic or Hebrew. FB page link: www.facebook.com/adam.naturalself Instagram link: www.instagram.com/adamnaturalself/ To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com The next Level 2 NARM Therapist Training online begins April 2021. Learn more and apply: www.narmtraining.com/Level2Online *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"Cultural traditions are on the forefront of wellness, for Native people — and for all people." - Trilby Kerrigan Trilby Kerrigan, a NARM-trained Behavioral Health Therapist at a Tribal health clinic in Northern California, is a member of the Karuk Tribe of California and is deeply committed to supporting community reconnection through education and treatment of complex trauma. Sarah and Trilby discuss historical, intergenerational, and cultural trauma, and ways to support healing of individuals, families and communities. They share how the reconnection to oneself is at the core of the healing process, and how Trilby finds the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) to be a powerful approach that can lead to significant shifts for individuals and within Tribal communities. Trilby describes her journey of becoming a therapist as "non-traditional", but meant to be. In her thirties, Trilby was inspired by her children to go to college and pursue a Master's degree in Social Work. Trilby wanted to find some way to promote healing within her local Tribal communities. She shares that Native communities have some of the highest health disparities, lack social services, and have experienced not only extensive historical trauma, but face ongoing trauma. While there are clinics established to support Native clients, Trilby says, "I feel like having a Native professional therapist was a missing piece in the community." Specifically for Native communities, Trilby dreams of trauma education at a community level. For other therapists, Trilby dreams of more clinicians becoming trained in NARM and bringing these powerful tools back to their communities and clients, just as she has done. For us all, Trilby leaves listeners with one parting thought: "Humanity is really made to care for one another." About Trilby: Trilby is a member of the Karuk Tribe of California and has been residing in Mendocino County for the past ten (10) years. She has been working in the helping profession for the past twenty (20) years and behavioral health is where her heart lies. She's currently working as a Medical Social worker/Behavioral health Therapist at Consolidated tribal health. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

In this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Sarah Buino interviews Mark Olson, Ph.D., the owner and director of the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork (PCAB), a massage therapy school located in Kauai that integrates bodywork with somatic psychology, contemplative practice, and affective neuroscience with a trauma-informed framework. Mark describes two main reasons that clients seek massage: they are experiencing either pain or anxiety. "And so right away, we're already in this [body-mind] world. Anxiety obviously is very mind-based, and pain is a very complex topic that has numerous…elements to it." Sarah and Mark discuss the importance of a bodyworker meeting the massage client with relational curiosity, rather than meeting them with preconceived knowledge, assumptions or interpretations about what the client is experiencing. Mark shares the many ways that he is using trauma-informed, NARM-informed principles to train new bodywork students in his school. It starts with training them to invite their clients to be the one that sets the goals for the work, and the fundamental rejection of the dynamic that many physical therapy professionals actively promote: "The client feeling that they're broken and the therapist thinking that they're the ones to fix it." Mark and Sarah see how this dynamic is flawed from the outset, and how NARM has helped them to understand a deeper truth: that the client's symptoms are present for an important reason that needs to be understood and honored, rather than forced to change. He shares how being educated in developmental trauma has given him the ability to have more awareness of his own internal reactions when working with clients, and he has experienced a greater sense of spaciousness in himself that "allows for that person to be wherever they are and be just curious about whatever they're experiencing." With his deep understanding of neuroscience and trauma, and by bringing curiosity and an important relational component to the work, Mark is evolving the field of bodywork in an exciting direction. About Mark: Mark Olson, Ph.D., LMT has an M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois. He holds a specialty in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuropsychology and Neuroanatomy which focuses on memory, attention, and eye movements. He is the owner and director of the Pacific Center for Awareness & Bodywork, which integrates bodywork with somatic psychology, contemplative practice, and affective neuroscience within a trauma-informed framework. Recently he has been published, writing on the subjects of Pain and Trauma-informed Bodywork. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"You don't have to build up the muscle of compassion, because if you just get the constraints to your natural compassion to relax, then you have plenty of compassion." - Dr. Dick Schwartz We have another opportunity to listen to a conversation between authors and therapeutic pioneers Drs. Dick Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Laurence Heller, founder of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). Joined by our host, Sarah, the two authors come together for a second time to continue their rich conversation on the similarities and differences between the two modalities they've created, and to take a more specific look at how both of their works have drawn from the spiritual elements of the human experience. While IFS and NARM are both known as being exciting, emerging models for healing complex trauma, this episode highlights that Drs. Schwartz and Heller acknowledge that the deeper focus in both approaches is on the Self, that internal place within us all that provides the foundation for our lives despite the complexity of wounding and traumas that one has experienced. They reflect on this beginning of a meaningful, powerful relationship between two very important therapeutic models. What might the future hold for IFS and NARM working together to bring healing into our world? Dick's bio: Richard Schwartz began his career as a family therapist and an academic at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There he discovered that family therapy alone did not achieve full symptom relief and in asking patients why, he learned that they were plagued by what they called "parts." These patients became his teachers as they described how their parts formed networks of inner relationship that resembled the families he had been working with. He also found that as they focused on and, thereby, separated from their parts, they would shift into a state characterized by qualities like curiosity, calm, confidence and compassion. He called that inner essence the Self and was amazed to find it even in severely diagnosed and traumatized patients. From these explorations the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model was born in the early 1980s. IFS is now evidence-based and has become a widely-used form of psychotherapy, particularly with trauma. It provides a non-pathologizing, optimistic, and empowering perspective and a practical and effective set of techniques for working with individuals, couples, families, and more recently, corporations and classrooms. In 2013 Schwartz left the Chicago area and now lives in Brookline, MA where is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"This is what makes NARM different...than any other modality I've encountered, is that we're exploring or inquiring not to get anywhere, just for curiosity sake. And...that's one of the missing ingredients of healthy attachment." ~Deirdre Stewart Our host Sarah Buino interviews Deirdre Stewart, the Vice President of Trauma Resolution Services for Meadows Behavioral Healthcare in Wickenburg, Arizona. The Meadows is a well-known, cutting-edge treatment facility providing a full continuum of care, specializing in trauma and addiction. In addition to being a NARM Therapist, Deirdre is trained in Neurofeedback, Somatic Attachment Focused EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing. Sarah and Deirdre share their reflections on what the NARM training has brought to them in their professional and personal lives, and the deep sense of hope that healing from trauma does exist-- that joy and freedom are possible. Deirdre shares that she has seen a sharp increase in the complexity and disorganization of patients more recently at The Meadows. When she was introduced to the NARM approach for working with Complex Trauma, she found hope in helping clients who are suffering from such disorganization and trauma. Specifically, Deirdre shares about the fundamental shifts that she sees through how NARM supports therapeutic consent. Sarah asks Deirdre what she would do if she could wave a magic wand to change current trauma treatment systems. Deirdre emphasizes the need for trauma-informed education, specifically as our understanding of trauma shifts from shock or event trauma (PTSD) to greater recognition of complex trauma (C-PTSD). Deirdre finds that the way NARM operates through both a "top-down" and "bottom-up" perspective simultaneously, working with both the mind and the body, helps work more effectively with complexity and disorganization. She has learned that therapeutic models that support behavioral change only go so far, and that models that support self-regulation can be very helpful for many conditions, but as they say in NARM, "you can't regulate Self-Hatred away." Sarah and Deirdre discuss how going through the NARM Therapist Training has impacted them both professionally and personally. They reflect on the experience of heartfulness in NARM, and how this resonates among the training participants. Deirdre shares her personal experience of shifting old patterns in an environment of heartful support. The interview concludes with the pair reflecting on the transformation that happens within the therapist as they deepen into the principles and understanding of NARM. They both express the gratitude and inspiration they have experienced in learning to relate to themselves in a new way, and how this supports them to stay open, receptive and curious with their clients. About Deirdre: Deirdre Stewart, LPC, SEP, BCN is the Vice President of Trauma Resolution Services for Meadow's Behavioral Healthcare. She's been with The Meadows nearly 12 years - The Meadows provides a full continuum of care, specializing in trauma & addiction. Deirdre is a licensed professional in the state of Arizona, board certified in Neurofeedback, trained in Somatic Attachment Focused EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, and the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Host Sarah Buino facilitates an important discussion between NARM creator Dr. Laurence Heller and Dr. Christina Bethell, researcher, author, policy advocate, and professor at Johns Hopkins University and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Bethell is on the Board of Directors for the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) and is part of a team of trauma-informed advocates who developed the brief: A Trauma-Informed Agenda for the First 100 Days of the Biden-Harris Administration. Dr. Bethell is leading an effort to promote an agenda of healing and prevention through safe, stable, nurturing relationships, in policy and practice. She is currently involved in multiple research projects focusing on trauma healing, including an article with Dr. Heller, and how to scale trauma-informed trainings for health care professionals on a national level. Dr. Bethell's work has centered on creating the research base to "promote family resilience and parent-child connection, and looking at social determinants [for health] like alcoholism and mental health problems, emotional neglect, or emotional abuse." Drs. Bethell and Heller both agree the NARM Training Institute is at the forefront of what this trauma-informed training could look like for helping professionals from various fields. Dr. Bethell ends the episode with encouragement and a 'call to arms' for all NARM-trained, and other trauma-informed professionals, to step into places of leadership and bring their perspective and skills to healthcare, mental health, education and other social systems. As she describes, "[These systems are] aching for support and help on how to ground the concepts of healing, recognizing… developmental trauma, and doing something about it." To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"I remember asking my therapist, what does self-love even feel like? And I'd had fleeting moments of experiencing it. Now it just is. It's just there. And that's beyond any expectation that I ever thought I would have. And that's what I think of when I think of "transforming trauma."" - Sarah Buino In this special year-end episode celebrating the first year anniversary of the Transforming Trauma podcast, our host Sarah Buino and NARM Senior Trainer Brad Kammer reflect on this first year of Transforming Trauma! Brad shares that when the NARM Training Institute was founded in 2018, the intention was "to do our part in bringing trauma-informed work to so many individuals, families and communities that are dealing with the effects of complex trauma." While the NARM Training Institute has been mainly focused on training mental health and other helping professionals in the NARM approach, they have also been committed to making NARM more accessible to those in need. During a NARM Training in Chicago, Brad had the idea to create a podcast that would be widely available, free, and bring important messages about complex trauma to listeners everywhere. He invited Sarah and together they worked toward creating a podcast that would capture the magic in the work to share with the world – and thus began Transforming Trauma! Since January 2020, Transforming Trauma has had over 50,000 downloads in more than eighty countries, listenership has grown over 300%, and it has been ranked in the top 10 mental health podcasts on Apple Podcasts. As Sarah and Brad celebrate their first year of the Transforming Trauma podcast, they express how moved and inspired they feel to know that in their very first year, Transforming Trauma has made such an impact on people's lives. With humility and excitement, they commit to continuing to use this platform to promote and support personal and collective healing of complex trauma. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Level 2 Online Training begins January 2021. REGISTER NOW: https://narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma/level2/ *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

An end-of-the-year gift to listeners from the NARM Training Institute! We are sharing a special topic webinar from the NARM Inner Circle online program. This webinar provides a window into the Inner Circle learning community where helping professionals from around the world are coming together to learn more about the NARM approach to resolving Complex Trauma. In this session, NARM and Working in the Present Moment, NARM creator, Dr. Laurence Heller, and NARM Senior Faculty Brad Kammer, explore how NARM uses a phenomenological approach, which relates to working in the here and now to resolve the psychobiological patterns of developmental trauma. Laurence and Brad touch on such areas as: how childhood trauma patterns show up in the here and now working in the present moment with personal history and traumatic memories how to avoid trauma re-enactments and support trauma healing within the therapeutic relationship the spiritual dimensions of the NARM approach in supporting post-traumatic growth If you enjoy this episode, we invite you to check out the NARM Inner Circle, where we host NARM Topic Webinars like this one every month. Some topics that we cover are: Differentiating Shock and Developmental Trauma; Working with Shame, Self-Hatred and Self-Sabotage; Complex Trauma and Addictions; Relational Trauma, Intimacy and Sexuality; Addressing Burnout in Helping Professionals; and the NARM Approach for Supporting Personal and Spiritual Growth. To learn more about the Inner Circle and to sign up for a free two-week trial, please visit: www.narmtraining.com/freetrial To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Level 2 Online Training begins January 2021. REGISTER NOW: https://narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma/level2/ *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

NARM Practitioner and coach Iris McAlpin specializes in eating disorder recovery, complex trauma, and self-sabotage. Iris also hosts a podcast called Pure Curiosity which seeks to facilitate nuanced conversations about the human experience and de-stigmatize mental health challenges. Iris shares that NARM has changed her life in being able to notice the ways that she puts pressure on herself and the ways that she tells herself that she 'should' be showing up in the world. Her intention for this episode is for listeners to also notice and be able to soften around the pressure that they place on themselves. Sarah and Iris dive into how Iris began her work in eating disorder recovery, which began with her own healing and recovery from bulimia. Iris found that as she progressed in her recovery and was able to get control of the behaviors of her eating disorder, she began to turn her attention to her unresolved trauma, which was mostly relational in nature, that was at the root of the behaviors. NARM helped her to see this theme in a new way, as she came to understand that not only binging and purging, but "many other behaviors that we... throw under the umbrella of self-sabotage are really just coping tools," for unhealed relational and attachment traumas. Iris takes listeners through a deeper look at the trauma of diet culture, in which clients deal with intense self loathing and self hatred, shame of their bodies and body image, and obsessive thinking about food. Iris acknowledges that doing this deeper level of work can feel really scary at times. She shares about her own experience of confronting her triggers, and how NARM has taught her to work with her fear by using curiosity to guide her. "I really see those triggers as an invitation to open." This ability to see that nothing is 'wrong' with our survival styles, and instead look at our growing awareness of ourselves as an opportunity to learn and make different choices is central to the NARM process. Contact: https://irismcalpin.com Instagram: @irismcalpin Twitter: @irismcalpin Bio: Iris McAlpin is a NARM Practitioner and coach specializing in eating disorder recovery, complex trauma and self-sabotage. She has both a private and group practice, and works with clients all over the world. Iris also has a podcast called Pure Curiosity, which seeks to facilitate nuanced conversations about the human experience and to destigmatize mental health challenges. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Level 2 Online Training begins January 2021. REGISTER NOW: https://narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma/level2/ *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Heidi Winn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with a private practice in Fairfield, Iowa, who learned about NARM as she was grieving the loss of her teenage son, Finn, to suicide. In sharing this deeply personal story of loss, Heidi hopes listeners will feel a sense of hope and connection with themselves in their learning process, and be able to "experience a sense of the effulgence; the richness that I have had from this learning." Heidi uses the words "then-daughter" to refer to her son before he transitioned to describe the evolution of identity that took place. Heidi's journey with her then-daughter began roughly five years ago, when she began harming herself, and eventually attempted suicide four times in one year and spent over three months in a hospital for her own safety. Heidi shares that it was during the hospital stay that her then-daughter finally opened up both to himself as well as to his family about what was going on inside, and reported to Heidi, "I had a moment of clarity last night. I'm a boy inside and I want to be called Finn." This clarity had a profound effect on his suicidality, which dropped overnight from a seven on the hospital assessment scale (the highest intentionality and suicidal thoughts) to zero. As a NARM Therapist, Heidi reflects back on this time with insight and self-compassion, recognizing how she was at times misattuned to her son and the ways that she unconsciously saw her children as extensions of her own identity. What has been described as parental narcissism, NARM helped Heidi to understand these dynamics within their relationship, and most importantly, to have "compassion for who we are, and where we were, and what we did, and that we did the best [we could]." To their devastation, Finn did commit suicide in his 8th grade year, while the family was dealing with financial barriers to purchasing the hormonal treatments that were helping him navigate his body's maturation and menstrual cycle. Heidi shares the profound learning that she went through in grieving and integrating Finn's death, including the ways that she has learned to navigate her grief through staying in touch with the complexity of her love and sadness. The ability to be with the complexity of her emotion and experience after losing Finn, is what is described in NARM as her psychobiological capacity to be with her own inner experience. With support from her community and family, Heidi describes the ways that she used her agency to direct her own experience and manage when she was overwhelmed by fear and despair. Heidi closes the podcast reflecting on the ways that her relationship to her living daughter has changed, in that she has let go of trying to know what her daughter's truth is or control her in the same ways that she might have before. Not only has NARM helped Heidi to be with the complexity of her own inner experience, its influence has also supported her to continue to allow others to be complicated and unfolding in their lives as well. When she supports other parents of transgender people, she notices that she has a bigger capacity to "be with the not knowing," of who they are and who they will become. This depth has brought big changes to her practice as a psychotherapist, as she gives more space to her clients to learn who they are and what they want for themselves. As Sarah so beautifully reflects, it's "a spiritual experience to sit with somebody who is becoming fully themselves." *** About Heidi Heidi Winn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who has a private practice in Fairfield, Iowa. She has worked in the mental health field for over 30 years and has incorporated modalities stemming from Jungian Depth psychology, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and EMDR. Heidi is now a NARM therapist, working to support clients with developmental and complex trauma to sit with and uncover barriers to their aliveness and truth. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Level 2 Online Training begins January 2021. REGISTER NOW: https://narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma/level2/ *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

Our need to understand and heal complex trauma has never been greater, and accessing the NARM Training Institute's Level 2 NARM Therapist Training has never been easier! In this bonus clip, Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino shares about a brand new offering from the NARM Training Institute, an online Level 2 NARM Therapist Training, including practical course details and registration information. The NARM Therapist Training is an advanced clinical training for the healing of complex trauma. Enrollment is open to psychotherapists, counselors, social workers & other mental health professionals who work with trauma. The first online Level 2 NARM Therapist training begins in January 2021. If you're interested in learning more and to register, please visit: www.narmtraining.com/trainings/bay-area

Our host Sarah Buino is joined by therapist, social worker, and author Daniel Shaw to discuss his seminal book Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation. Daniel explores the theme of traumatic narcissism from a developmental and trauma-informed perspective. In his work, he connects the challenging symptoms and behaviors of clients diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder to the deeper understanding that they were raised in a highly traumatic environment by narcissistic caregivers. His underlying message for listeners is that, "It's important to understand what's going on in the mind of the narcissistic traumatizer in order to help patients free themselves from those relationships, in order for therapists to help the patient, and in order for the patients to help themselves." Sarah and Daniel discuss the common thread in Daniel's work and NARM. Much like in NARM, in which the therapists support clients to reconnect with their own agency, Daniel's intention in working with people that have experienced narcissistic abuse is to help them "retrieve a faith in themselves that has been taken from them by the narcissistic abuser." Sarah and Daniel close by discussing the role of the therapist, and how therapists can support the client in this process of self-reflection through being fully attuned and letting them know that we are "in their corner." If the therapist is able to do this, the therapeutic relationship then becomes a place where the client can begin to feel this unconditional, fully present relationship from another, so that they can begin to feel it for themselves. About Daniel: www.danielshawlcsw.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/DanielShawLCSW Twitter: @NyackDanShaw Daniel Shaw is the author of Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation. He is faculty and supervisor in New York City at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies. He maintains his private psychotherapy practice In New York City and in Nyack, NY. To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Level 2 Online Training begins January 2021. REGISTER NOW: https://narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma/level2/ *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"Consent is where it's at… How do I offer that? How do I ask for it? How does it inform who I am to myself in the world?" ~Colleen Millen Our host Sarah Buino welcomes NARM Therapist and Accessible Yoga instructor Colleen Millen to dive into and discuss the theme of consent. Colleen shares how her understanding of what consent means has deepened through her relationship with yoga and through her ongoing study of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). Colleen shares honestly that at first she was reticent to join the NARM training because of a traumatic experience that she had in a previous training community. She shares that she had been part of a yoga healing community where consent was not represented, and where "there were some cultic dynamics that created power differentials that were very, very difficult and abusive." She left that yoga community and continued to work as a therapist while she continued to heal from the experience of betrayal. After decades of dedicated yoga practice, she began asking herself "Do I want to teach yoga at all?" Through this process of self-referencing and self-healing, she discovered the deeper aspects of yoga that continued to call to her, which led her toward trauma-informed yoga, and a new branch of yoga called Accessible Yoga. She describes that Accessible Yoga is specifically designed to place the student at the center of their own relationship with their practice. About Colleen: Colleen works with complex trauma and regulation at Discovery Counseling Center in Danville, CA, a community mental health center. Accessibility and consent are core values and interests of her work. Colleen is also an Accessible Yoga Ambassador and trauma-informed yoga teacher and trainer. Contact Colleen: Website: www.discoveryctr.net Colleen's Accessible Yoga classes: https://www.tworiversyoga.com/ To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"Our global future of healing... is in these kind of collaborative fields that we will bring these powers together and learn from each other -- help each other to see the things that we are still not seeing ourselves and be a kind of a global healing force." ~Thomas Hübl Dr. Laurence Heller, the Creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) is joined by Thomas Hubl, a teacher, author, and founder of the Academy of Inner Science and the Pocket Project. Thomas' work combines somatic awareness practices, advanced meditative practices, and transformational processes that address both individual and collective trauma. Larry and Thomas discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the similarities between individual and collective trauma responses, and how their work overlaps in seeking to transform complex trauma through therapeutic, collective, and spiritual pathways. Thomas' organization found new ways to support his team in co-regulation during this time by offering a space to discuss the difficulties of living in social isolation. Similarly, the NARM Training Institute adapted by moving online and launched the first NARM Online Basics Training, allowing over 130 students to connect to NARM teachings. The two agree that it's very important to understand on both individual and community scales the way trauma impacts us all. This brings the conversation to the ways that individual trauma responses take place within the larger context, or network, of the collective experience. Both Dr. Heller and Thomas have experienced a growing feeling that there is a "global community interest in healing." To read the full show notes and discover more resources visit http://www.narmtraining.com/podcast *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"The relational dynamics that NARM is speaking to are so rooted in our biology and our relationships and our everything, our connection to the sacred; everything is informed by these principles." ~Dr. Mazen Atassi Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino speaks with Mazen Atassi, naturopath and NARM Practitioner, about how he uses NARM principles to support psychobiological healing in his medical practice. Throughout the episode, Sarah and Mazen explore the idea that NARM is for everyone and they take a closer look at how Mazen has applied NARM in the naturopathic realm. Mazen is passionate about the relationship between mental and physical wellbeing, a critical link that he says traditional mechanistic traditions often overlook in their response to illness. In his search for additional supportive modalities with which to treat clients, Mazen discovered the NeuroAffective Relational Model, NARM. For Mazen, the NARM model honors the somatic, bottom-up processing of the body, and also brings a needed top-down element that focuses on a crucial component: the relationship to self. He shares his experience utilizing the tools the NARM model provided him and how the tools support two key naturopathic principles: Tolle Totem, treating the whole person, and Tolle Causam, address the root cause of disease. Sarah and Mazen also discuss the stigma surrounding mental health in the Muslim community, of which Mazen is part. The pair share that within practiced religion, there can often be cultural dynamics, generational trauma, and spiritual bypassing that can fragment a person's relationship to self within these systems. Mazen shares how he's been able to employ his NARM skills and shared religious heritage to breach barriers with some of his Muslim patients. Mazen shares with listeners his hope for how NARM can touch more than just those in the clinical space. "I hope [NARM principles] can be underlined and emphasized to the greater population as a way of creating a conscious culture of a healthy civilization…These principles are crucial, and they're not just for the clinical space." RESOURCES MENTIONED: Alexander Lowen, MD | The Alexander Lowen Foundation Peter A. Levine, PhD | Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD Brené Brown, PhD Gabor Maté, MD Jalal al-Din Rumi About Dr. Mazen Atassi: Mazen Atassi is a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine and the founder of Forward To Health, a holistic wellness clinic and educational initiative. Dr. Mazen practices vitalistic natural medicine, weaving together homeopathy, botanical medicine, hydrotherapy, and nutrition with a specialty in somatic trauma therapy (NARM). He has patients and students across the world. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter. *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"I think the only thing we can do is to keep pushing back against these narratives because they're not going to go away...We have to challenge them. We need to do so more visibly and more consistently and more forcefully." ~Dani Ishai Behan In this next Jewish "High Holiday" episode, NARM Training Director Brad Kammer welcomes author Dani Ishai Behan to Transforming Trauma to discuss the nuances of the Jewish experience in Diaspora, and specifically the challenges around years of ethnic oppression, anti-Semitism and intergenerational trauma. Dani, a writer for the Times of Israel focuses his writing on the post-colonial traumas and anti-Semitism faced by Jews, and has become an advocate for reclaiming Jewish identity, as he advocates for the inclusion of Jews as an indigenous population of the Middle East (specifically, the Judean region, now referred to as Israel by the Jewish people). This isn't solely a religious or political aim for Dani, but a deeply personal one. As a child, Dani was largely disconnected from his Jewish identity, associating it through the traumatic retelling of Ashkenazi Jews who recounted the horrors of anti-Semitism in Europe in the 1800 and 1900s, as his ancestors were forced to live in squalid conditions, alienated from the mainstream society, and constantly endured individual and state-organized attacks ("pogroms") which culminated in the Holocaust where 1/3 of the world Jewish population was murdered. In his earlier life, Dani was involved in the Punk Rock community and was surrounded by people that were fervently anti-Zionist, the level to which made him question that specific hatred toward one group of people. The unease prompted Dani to look inward to his own relationship to being Jewish, and he started asking questions like: Why did my Jewish family look different from other "white" families? Why did the neighbors treat my Jewish family differently from other "white" families? He realized that something about his "being Jewish" had always nagged at him on a cellular level and he began to seek answers. The conversation comes back to the current day in the United States and elsewhere where there is a strong movement to support and empower BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) who are fighting for a more equitable future. However, while these efforts to dismantle supremacist policies and systemic obstacles have been accepted on college campuses, within the social justice movement, and in many political groups, one ethnic group is often omitted from conversations centered on these complex traumas: the Jews. In fact, Jews are being labeled the colonizers of a native people (the Palestinians), which according to Dani's research, is white-washing Jewish lineage and identity. And, yet another form of cultural trauma toward the Jews. While groups are working fervently against anti-Zionism, they are dismissing the right of an indigenous group to their native land and their collective right to self-determination. While this could lead into a larger political discussion of the dynamics between the Palestinians and Israelis, Brad differentiates between the "political and the psychological", and both Dani and Brad reflect on how these complex cultural and intergenerational traumas have and continue to impact them. And, they share the pain of the constant attack on their Jewish identity and the need for intergenerational trauma healing as a people. CONNECT WITH DANI ISHAI BEHAN: The Times of Israel *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"It's about really getting into that experience of compassion for myself, my people, for our journey, for what it means to adjust within… all those different layers." ~ Lynn Feinberg In this "High Holidays" episode, Sarah Buino welcomes guest Rabbi Lynn Feinberg, the first female Jewish Rabbi in Norway, as well as NARM Practitioner, to reflect on her research into intergenerational trauma for second and third generation Holocaust survivors in Europe. One of the tenets of NARM training is the idea that a practitioner must first attend to their own trauma before employing the model in practice with clients. For many, that means an exploration of patterns left-over from unresolved early trauma, including any cultural, historical or intergenerational themes. Lynn, who is the daughter of a Norwegian Holocaust survivor, certainly has been on this journey. While she is a Norwegian citizen and lives in Oslo, she has spent time living abroad in Israel, Denmark and the US, and has focused professionally on advanced degrees in Judaism, psychology and feminist spirituality. One of her main areas of focus is on belonging. Her current research is "really getting into that experience of compassion for myself, my people, for our journey, for what it means to adjust within [to] all those different layers." In NARM terms, Lynn says she had a "big aha" recognizing that this journey is about "disidentifying" from her historical trauma story. As she is currently writing her PhD thesis, she states "it's also about bringing in a larger story so that your story can be held in a larger story. And the more you can contain that larger story, the more you can also relax in your own story." One of the challenges for Jews living for thousands of years in diaspora has always been the conflict between adaptation to modern ways versus adherence to traditional ways. Having lived and studied in the United States has allowed Lynn to compare and contrast how Jews in Europe and Jews in America have adapted differently to life post-Holocaust amidst undercurrents of antisemitic policy. The episode concludes with Lynn comparing a cyclical view of intrapersonal and intergenerational healing against the Western notion of a singular, linear fix. "I think that's what's so brilliant with the NARM process," she says, "is this seeing the hardship for what it is and recognizing the depth of it." Lynn has found NARM to be an ideal platform with which to explore deeper into her historical and intergenerational trauma and begin to "disidentify" from the unresolved trauma patterns, thereby reclaiming deeper authenticity within herself. For the full show notes plus references and resources, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma ABOUT LYNN CLAIRE FEINBERG: I am a historian of Religion and Rabbi presently working on a PhD at the University of Oslo. In my thesis, I explore post-traumatic growth and trauma integration in children and grandchildren of Norwegian Holocaust survivors. During the course of my studies, I have completed the NARM training and apply some of the concepts learned through NARM in my approach to my interviews and analysis. I am the daughter of a Norwegian survivor of Auschwitz, (my father) and grew up belonging to the very small post-Holocaust Jewish community of Oslo. This background has brought me on a life-long journey of exploring and seeking healing for my own C-PTSD. I have, therefore, chosen to include autoethnographic perspectives in my PhD work. I work as a Spiritual Director and include a NARM perspective in my work with clients. *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"It's been really confusing. It's been painful. And trying to sort this all out for myself is my own work in… really helping me become a better therapist and working with people that are dealing with racial, historical trauma, and cultural trauma, and also just trying to make sense of where we are and where we're going in our society." ~ Brad Kammer, Senior Faculty and Training Director of the NARM Training Institute This special bonus episode of Transforming Trauma welcomes Brad Kammer, NARM Training Institute Senior Faculty and Training Director, to introduce listeners to a series of "High Holiday" episodes featuring two different Jewish leaders advocating for healing of cultural and intergenerational trauma for the Jewish people. Brad begins by framing the next two episodes that will focus on the psychological journey and struggle for the Jewish people, as well as sharing about his experience coming to terms with his own Jewish identity through the healing of intergenerational and complex trauma. Host Sarah Buino asks Brad to start off by sharing about his own personal experience, something Brad likens to a "coming out". Brad recognizes that his career in working with complex trauma has been shaped by his own personal journey in healing from cultural and intergenerational trauma, and through this process, he feels he has been reclaiming his identity. Brad reflects, "I've spent my life hiding in many different ways and it's come at a cost. And I guess this is part of my wanting to personally proclaim that I'm ready to address these issues…and not continue to pass it down." Healing complex trauma can be a vehicle for personal and collective transformation. Brad speaks to his process of reclaiming, contextualizing and decolonizing his own Jewish identity, using the NARM concept of "disidentification". This process of transforming his trauma-based identity has not been easy, but it has been affirming, healing and an opportunity for self-compassion and love. Brad also hopes that this can be an opportunity for increasing connection to the humanity within and between us all, despite all our differences. *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"We can safely say that that Self in its undamaged state is in everybody." ~ Dr. Richard Schwartz, Founder of Internal Family Systems "There's a part of us that always remains undamaged." ~ Dr. Laurence Heller, Founder of NeuroAffective Relational Model A ground-breaking discussion between Richard Schwartz, PhD, founder of the Internal Family Systems model (IFS) and Laurence Heller, PhD, founder of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). Pioneers in the mental health and trauma fields, Drs. Schwartz and Heller discuss each other's work and reflect on the intersections of the IFS and NARM models. While many think of IFS and NARM as being models for trauma, Drs. Schwartz and Heller acknowledge that the similar focus of both IFS and NARM is truly on the Self, that internal place within us all that provides the foundation for our lives despite the complexity of wounding and traumas that one has experienced. Although aspects of ourselves can become damaged and distorted by trauma, Drs. Schwartz and Heller both agree with a non-Western perspective that the Self "in its undamaged state is in everybody" (Schwartz) and "always remains undamaged." (Heller). Both IFS and NARM are oriented around supporting the organic process of individuals returning to their authentic selves; in this way, they are also models for healing complex trauma. Dr. Heller shares with Dr. Schwartz that throughout the years of teaching NARM, many people have remarked on the similarities between the IFS and NARM models. This feedback fueled the intention for bringing Drs. Schwartz onto the Transforming Trauma podcast to give an opportunity for the two to reflect on these important therapeutic models. There is a feeling of an important coming together as these two pioneers in their field reflect on their 40+ year careers, find common ground and mutual appreciation. At the end of their discussion, Dr. Schwartz shares: "It's great for me to find kindred spirits. There aren't that many of us that think this way." What might the future hold for IFS and NARM working together for bringing healing to our world? RESOURCES MENTIONED: IFS Institute Ron Kurtz / The Hakomi Institute The Gestalt Institute Of The Rockies Alexander Lowen / The Alexander Lowen Foundation Conversations with Alanis Morissette - Episode 9 *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"One of the things I really like about NARM is the fact that there's this massive focus on connection and interconnectedness as something that can be healthy...That actually recognizes the fact that we as humans... we share a certain connectivity when we're at our best." ~Cassandra Walker Host Sarah Buino is joined by Cassandra (Cassie) Walker, LCSW (they/them), a Black, queer, activist, entrepreneur, and NARM Master Therapist-in-Training located in Chicago, Illinois. They discuss growth that's possible throughout the trauma healing process, how the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) supports the resolution of complex trauma issues including systemic and racial trauma, and the critical need for more understanding of intersectionality in the therapeutic field. Cassie takes an anti-oppressive, anti-racist, trauma-informed, relational approach to discussing identity, trauma, mental wellness, and social justice. They highlight the need to address how the legacies of slavery and other unresolved cultural and historical trauma continue to impact current events and social structures. From the levels of societal institutions to our internal experiences, Cassie shares how NARM supports their understanding of how trauma-based adaptive patterns, once needed for surviving familial, cultural, and systemic trauma, lead to perpetuating cycles of oppression and pain. Through providing therapy and education that focuses on embracing compassion, accountability, and authenticity, Cassie hopes to help people open themselves and their organizations to changes that improve personal awareness and institutional inclusion. Sarah and Cassie explore NARM's ability to focus beyond the individual and recognize and address the historically minimized or outright denied layers of intergenerational pain. Cassie shares, "The culture of Whiteness is built on creating coalitions to oppress and thus also disconnects white people from their heritage. And so that's part of how we're all getting screwed." This episode also explores the role that community and spirituality play in both NARM philosophy and Black identity. Cassie reflects on the social, emotional, and spiritual need for connectedness, which is an organizing principle of NARM. Cassie shares their perspective that white supremacy and capitalism have disconnected all people - Black, Indigenous, POC, and White - from their authenticity, and that NARM provides a hopeful approach to help restore connection to self and others through focusing on healing complex trauma. CONNECT WITH CASSANDRA WALKER: Intersections Center For Complex Healing LinkedIn Patreon Intersections FB https://www.facebook.com/IntersectionsCCH/ Twitter https://twitter.com/MentalWoke *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"NARM is not a protocol, it's a relational model, and the reason why that's important to know is because humans are designed to heal in relationship." ~ Jenny Winkel Our host Sarah Buino is joined by Jenny Winkel, MA, LMT, SEP, and NARM Practitioner based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Within her private practice, Jenny works with many forms of Complex Trauma (C-PTSD), with a particular interest in religious trauma. Throughout the episode, they discuss how the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) can lead to a greater understanding of the complexities of religious trauma, a form of trauma that is often misunderstood, minimized, or dismissed. Jenny shares that NARM is so well-suited for healing religious trauma because of how well the model holds complexity. Her affinity for the NARM approach came out of her journey to heal her own complex and religious trauma. Sarah and Jenny discuss what fundamentalist religion looks like, and the impacts it often has on individuals. Through her own experiences, as well as her clients, Jenny shares how she has come to understand that fundamentalist communities and families can be sources of comfort, refuge, and love, while also being sources of terror and trauma. Jenny champions NARM for its ability to restore autonomy, agency, and reestablish the foundational relationship to Self. "When you work with a wise and seasoned [NARM] therapist or practitioner, you can feel that... they're not taking sides," she says. "They're helping you navigate that interiority." The episode concludes with a story from Jenny's practice, a beautiful example of the mind-body connection and the healing power of NARM in addressing complex attachment wounds. CONNECT WITH JENNY WINKEL Salt City Bodyworks *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"So from that lens of looking at trauma as anything less than nurturing, we all have wounding and I think that actually creates the platform for understanding the kinds of work that NARM does." ~Leslie Filsinger Our host Sarah Buino is joined by Leslie Filsinger, NARM therapist and Clinical Director at Spring Ridge Academy in Spring Valley, Arizona. They talk about how the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) supports the healing of developmental and complex trauma in adolescents, how adolescents can learn to develop their voice to find their internal truth, and how understanding complex trauma can create more compassion and grace within families. Spring Ridge Academy is a private, all-girls therapeutic boarding school specializing in treating young women and their families in overcoming the impact of emotional and developmental injuries. Families often come to Spring Ridge Academy overwhelmed by fear, hopelessness and despair regarding their children. Leslie shares how she and her team meet the families with compassion and understanding, but also using psychoeducation around Complex Trauma to support greater health within the family system. Leslie describes the importance of therapists and other helping professionals in shifting away from the focus of fixing behaviors and instead bringing greater understanding to what is driving these maladaptive behaviors. Instead of meeting adolescents with the pressure to change, meeting them with curiosity, patience, understanding and compassion. At the same time, Leslie reminds us that as therapists, we are not the ones creating the change for these young women and their families, and not to overlook the strong intention of adolescents in connecting to their own will to heal and grow. Leslie also reminds us that true change does not come from the outside, and as a NARM Therapist she focuses on respecting and reinforcing her clients' developing Adult Consciousness. As Leslie says, "We don't [want to do the work] for them… we create the space and allow them to connect with their own internal truth." *** NARM Online Basics Training begins November 13, 2020. REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma GUEST BIO: Leslie has been a practicing therapist for over 35 years and has worked in outpatient and residential settings as well as private practice. She is the Clinical Director at Spring Ridge Academy in Spring Valley, Arizona, a private, all girl's therapeutic boarding school specializing in treating young women and their families in overcoming emotional and developmental injury. Leslie is also a certified Clinical Supervisor. Leslie is also a NARM practitioner and co-training assistant, committed to assisting others in understanding the impact of developmental, attachment and relational trauma. springridgeacademy.com Leslie Filsinger on LinkedIn *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"When people start realizing they're traumatized, they forgive themselves. They need to start there. And that shame just goes away. That shame dissolves." ~Fritzi Horstman Our host Sarah Buino is joined by Fritzi Horstman, Founder and Executive Director of the Compassion Prison Project. Through her work, Fritzi aims to bring trauma-informed care to a population in high need of trauma healing and not likely to receive it: men and women in prison. Sarah and Fritzi discuss Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), how childhood trauma impacts people who are incarcerated, and how trauma awareness can support prison reform. Throughout their conversation, they talk about how both the Compassion Prison Project and the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) work to dismantle shame, humanize individuals, and heal complex trauma. The Compassion Prison Project's important mission is to "bring compassion, childhood trauma awareness, and creative inspiration to the men and women living behind bars". Earlier this year, they released a documentary, "Step Inside The Circle", which depicts what Fritzi calls the Compassion Trauma Circle. 235 incarcerated men at a maximum security prison in Lancaster, CA form a circle and for each Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) read aloud by Fritzi that they've experienced, they take one step forward into the circle. Step Inside The Circle highlights that childhood trauma is a shared experience of most people who are incarcerated. Fritzi says, "our pain is shared, and almost all of us have been victims of inhumanity and violence." Sarah asks Fritzi, "what do you imagine a trauma-informed prison system to look like?" Fritzi shares that a trauma-informed prison would be a center for rehabilitation and healing that supports people to change the underlying behaviors that were created originally by trauma. She envisions a system that helps vulnerable individuals build a bridge back to society, and most importantly, would return them back to their community as a human, and "not the felon, not the criminal that you know, but the human that [they] are." Fritzi Horstman is the Founder and Executive Director of Compassion Prison Project. She is a Grammy-award winning producer for her work on "The Defiant Ones", has been a producer and post-producer on dozens of television projects and documentaries and has directed several films. She believes it is urgent to bring humanity and compassion to those living behind bars and these acts will help transform our society. She has a Bachelor's Degree from Vassar College. CONNECT WITH THE COMPASSION PRISON PROJECT Compassion Prison Project Instagram *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Learn more about The NARM Training Institute: http://www.narmtraining.com Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"If we accept where we are, then we can actually manage our neurosis and we can be kinder, we can be more attuned, we can be better parents, and we can be better parents to ourselves." ~Bethany Saltman Our host Sarah Buino welcomes author Bethany Saltman to share the lessons she learned while writing Strange Situation: A Mother's Journey Into The Science Of Attachment. Bethany and Sarah explore the different roles that curiosity, delight, anxiety, shame, and acceptance play when looking at parent-child attachment, and ultimately one's connection to themselves. Bethany's journey of researching and ultimately writing about attachment theory began when she became a mother. Motherhood can unleash a wide-range of emotions for many new mothers. For Bethany, she was surprised by the duality of feeling an unwavering maternal love for her new baby, while also experiencing strong resentment, anger, and pain in motherhood. After jumping at the opportunity to write a column for a local magazine about being a Buddhist mother, she embarked on a 10-year quest to understand her struggles. This led Bethany to delve into the world of attachment theory - one of the cornerstones of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) in addressing Complex Trauma. Her research on attachment led her to the works of the late Mary Ainsworth, a developmental psychologist and attachment researcher. In the 1970s, Ainsworth devised a study to observe attachment between children and their caregivers. Dubbed the 'Strange Situation', the study is, as Bethany describes it, an elegant formulation of how attachment systems work. Sarah and Bethany discuss the connection between Ainsworth's Strange Situation narrative and NARM's core teachings about attachment, relational, and developmental trauma. NARM therapy supports the connection within a person to themselves, which in turn allows for deeper connection to others. Bethany, who shares openly that she is a client of NARM Therapy, reports her embodied learning that "the other side of shame is radical acceptance." This honest and moving conversation weaves together exploration of self-inquiry, self-love, and how to take a second look at shame in order to heal from developmental trauma. Bethany Saltman is an author, award-winning editor, and researcher. Her work can be seen in magazines like the New Yorker, New York Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Parents, and many others. Strange Situation: A Mother's Journey Into the Science of Attachment, published in April 2020 by Random House, is her first book. CONNECT WITH BETHANY Bethany Saltman LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Strange Situation Book RESOURCES MENTIONED NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) Peter Levine, PhD William Sears, MD Mary Ainsworth, PhD Mary Main, PhD Howard Steele, PhD & Miriam Steele, PhD Dan Siegel, PhD *** Secure your spot today. NARM Online Basics Training begins on June 26, 2020 REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"I really think it is important for us to really address our internal biases, call it out for what it is and ask yourself at that point, do we care to actually be better or do we care to stay the same?" ~Giancarlo Simpson, MS Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino and guest Giancarlo A. Simpson, MS, reconnect in the wake of George Floyd's death and the nationwide protests against racial violence and systemic oppression, providing real-time context to their previously-recorded conversation about NARM's ability to address complex trauma and support post-traumatic growth in communities of color. Giancarlo shares with listeners that now is the time to look inward, to be vulnerable, to listen to others, to address our internal biases, and to actively work to be anti-racist. In their discussion both Giancarlo and Sarah provide resources on Anti-Racist learning, which are available in this online guide. Recounting stories from his work as a therapist, mentor, and teacher of teens and young adults, Giancarlo centers the discussion on the corrosive effects of complex trauma, specifically within the Black community. "The system in itself needs to shift in order for people to feel comfortable about who they are as individuals, because right now what the system itself is telling people, communicating to people, is that you are not good enough, and that in itself is reinforcing a lot of thinking, a lot of behavior that occurs in these environments and communities, and makes it very hard for us to get out of that, because we don't have enough individuals telling us otherwise, or showing us otherwise." Giancarlo shares the ways he has begun using the NeuroAffective Relational Model, particularly in classrooms, to shift this implicit learning and the long-term effects of complex trauma, which includes the under-recognized impact of cultural, intergenerational, and racial trauma. Giancarlo reframes the current nationwide protests against racial violence and systemic oppression as protests against needs not being met for Black Americans. Communities are coming together to communicate about environmental changes needed in response to centuries of oppression and violence. Instead of using old stereotypes like "angry black man" and "angry black woman", which shut down expression of authentic experience and make people feel bad for feeling, it is time for our culture to listen to and respect people's experiences. Giancarlo suggests that our culture needs to do better in understanding the root causes for why the anger is occurring, instead of just focusing on behaviors - the outbursts, outcries, protests, violence, etc. All Americans need to listen to Black Americans, and not continue "minimizing the reasons why we feel the way we do, why we're hurting, why we're upset, what we're lacking, the things we're not receiving at the most basic human level." While this discussion can make some uncomfortable, it is essential for transforming trauma and leading to a more just, humane and healthy society for us all. CONNECT WITH GIANCARLO A. SIMPSON: CMC Therapy RESOURCES MENTIONED: Right Of Passage Program Lynn University Family First Adolescent Services Jane Elliot, PhD White Fragility: Why It's So Hard To Talk To White People About Racism - by Robin J.DiAngelo Decolonizing Therapy for Black Folk (event) Geonograms Dr. Laurence Heller, PhD *** Secure your spot today. NARM Online Basics Training begins on June 26, 2020 REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"In NARM, in the trainings, we have a real particular way of helping relieve that kind of [trauma]. First, bring it to the light. And then, help people find ways to release themselves from some of those most judging and self-projecting patterns." ~Dr. Laurence Heller Our need to understand and heal complex trauma has never been greater. Now, access to the NARM Training Institute's powerful professional course has never been easier. In this episode, Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino is joined by Dr. Laurence Heller, creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model, and Brad Kammer, NARM Training Director, to introduce Online NARM Basics Training to the world. The trio discusses NARM's transition from in-person seminars to virtual learning, touching on the training's integration of cognitive and experiential knowledge, a unique feature in the online teaching space. Sarah, Larry, and Brad also review NARM's organizing principles, including its heart-centered philosophy and support of trauma-care providers. The episode concludes with practical course details and registration information. Secure your spot today. NARM Online Basics Training begins on June 26, 2020 REGISTER NOW Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

We're grateful to have Claude Cayemitte back with us to reflect on the current events emerging from the demonstrations against ongoing systemic, cultural, racial, and complex trauma. Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino and Claude dive into the macro and micro perspectives of the traumatic response to long-term suffering that the black community, and other communities of color, have been dealing with for centuries. Claude shares his perspective, "Having these specific conversations about racism is a gateway into people's interpersonal relationship to trauma… I think that's the difference with this reaction. People are connecting emotionally to themselves while connecting also to the experiences of people of color." Claude shares his thoughts on the importance of opening up a real dialogue around racial injustice and systemic oppression. "Even though it feels uncomfortable, that's the opportunity for you to move to a different place, to respond differently, to grow. It's like there's so much opportunity in growth in talking about this topic, personally and professionally." Claude addresses the objectification that is often overlooked in racial trauma. "When I do individual therapy, I'm not engaged in the political process, because when I enter the room, especially for me as a black man, that shows up… whether it's explicitly said through the client or not. So I'm always sort of holding these dynamics in play and I can look for how they show up clinically… This is a reality because it's part of your reality and my reality… Therapy is about talking about how you relate to reality." As a NARM therapist committed to addressing the relationship between these systemic social issues and complex trauma, Claude brings an important voice to the trauma-informed movement. In this episode, Claude invites us all into this specific conversation around racism and trauma. This important conversation can help us, as therapists and people who work with and care about individuals coming from communities that face these realities, identify the complexities of addressing trauma on multiple levels. And, the need to systemically address this now. "Anything that we can do to take one brick off this pyramid, this ugly monument of racism. If we can take one brick off at a time, whatever we can do to do that, I want to just acknowledge and at the same time, you know, it's about damn time. I would say that with love, of course." CONNECT with Claude Family First Adolescent Services LinkedIn *** Learn more about the new Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"Just because someone's vulnerable doesn't mean they don't have the answer...It means being very present and being willing to be present and for it to be okay to not have the answers as someone's therapist." ~Guy Macpherson Join the new Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics Sarah is joined by NARM Senior Faculty Brad Kammer and guest Guy Macpherson. With a doctorate in clinical psychology and a passion for spreading awareness of trauma, how it impacts lives, and trauma-informed care, Guy hosts his own podcast entitled the Trauma Therapist Podcast. This is just one of his many projects that are focused on connecting mental health professionals and others to information about trauma and trauma treatment. Throughout their conversation, Guy, Brad, and Sarah explore what's so transformative about trauma-informed therapy. Guy speaks from his own experience as a therapist about the notions that he once held that have been debunked since working in the trauma field. He shares the quote, "Your job as a therapist is not to take your client's pain away -- that's their journey". By ditching the idea that a therapist has to have all of the answers, they have more capacity to show up for their client. Especially when working with clients with complex trauma, the therapist's authenticity and vulnerability can play a huge part in the process. W hat's exciting for Guy about working with complex trauma is that, "there's a whole element of being human with someone else". It may sound simplistic, but it's so powerful. "And not always easy," Guy adds. Interwoven into their conversation, Sarah, Brad and Guy share stories of times they've been humbled by their work with healing trauma. Through these humbling experiences, many ideas of what being a therapist means has been broken down: the idea that if a therapist reads enough books or goes to enough workshops they'll be prepared, the expectation that a therapist needs to know all of the answers, and the illusion that there's only one way to approach working with clients. Rebuilt from their humbling experiences is the understanding that what at first might feel like doing less is in fact the way into a more authentic therapeutic connection. A therapist being comfortable with their own vulnerability "can be the vehicle to be present, to be open, and to be willing to learn". Connect with Guy The Trauma Therapist Project Free Resource Give-Away We're offering a podcast review give-away. Each week, we're choosing one podcast reviewer to receive a NARM Clinical Protocol and NARM Personality Spectrum Worksheet. To enter, please submit a review within Apple Podcasts from your computer or mobile device and send a screenshot of your review to [email protected]. That's it! Winners will be chosen weekly. NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute YouTube Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"I'm not asking anybody to believe anything. [The] very strong orientation in NARM is to really listen to yourself, listen to your own experience, listen to the deepest experience in you and from that place, I see it over and over again, that as people get progressively more connected to the deepest elements of the small self and the big Self is that whether they use the word spirituality or not, they're describing spiritual kinds of reactions." ~Dr. Laurence Heller Join the new Online NARM Basics Training: http://www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics Dr. Laurence Heller, the Creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), is joined by our host, Sarah to answer a very common question about the role spirituality plays in the healing of trauma. How can spirituality serve reconnection to oneself in the aftermath of complex and developmental trauma? What are the ways that religious and spiritual practice might support trauma healing? What role does spirituality play in post-traumatic growth, and specifically in the NeuroAffective Relational Model for resolving Complex Trauma? Sarah begins this exploration by asking Dr. Heller how he defines spirituality. He says that it is very hard to define, and that spirituality is more than just a cognitive understanding. He says it is "an embodied understanding that there's something more to us than what we take to be our personal identity." While Dr. Heller did not explicitly build a spiritual approach to healing trauma, it is implicit in the model he created. Training in the NeuroAffective Relational Model does not involve any specific spiritual teaching or practice. What is supported is a process by which every individual learns how to better listen to themselves, to their own experiences, and from that place they get more connected to the deepest elements of self. This happens as a by-product of healing complex trauma. As people experience more secure connection to themselves, free from the psychobiological patterns of trauma, they develop a deeper sense of "Heartfulness". Sarah and Dr. Heller also discuss a spectrum of spiritual trauma, from those who've been abused by others exploiting spirituality for their own gain, to those who, as Sarah puts it, are "addicted to spirituality". They talk about what is referred to as "spiritual bypass", which is when spiritual beliefs or practices are used to disconnect, generally in the face of uncertainty, for example in minimizing emotions and pushing for forgiveness. This can happen for individuals without an embodied spiritual foundation. Before this episode concludes, Sarah and Dr. Heller reflect together on the role spirituality is playing now in the midst of the global Coronavirus pandemic. Instead of using spirituality as a way to "make meaning of the situation", Dr. Heller sees spirituality as providing the capacity to hold the possibility of not knowing what's going on in the world, and finding acceptance and calm in the face of collective trauma. Embodied spirituality provides more resources for people to be in the moment, even in the face of ongoing threat. When describing spirituality, Dr. Heller uses the word abiding, meaning being able to be with the not knowing. When we experience trauma, it exposes the cracks in our perceived identity. For people who are curious about exploring these cracks in their identity, oftentimes beautiful growth and even a stronger spiritual foundation can develop when faced with trauma. The concept of cracks in our identity reminds Sarah of Kintsugi, a Japanese artform where breaks or cracks in pottery are seen as a part of the object's history and celebrated by filling them in with gold, and reminds Dr. Heller of Leonard Cohen's line, "There is a crack in everything - that's how the light gets in". RESOURCES MENTIONED Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship - Dr. Laurence Heller YouTube Free Resource Give-Away We're offering a podcast review give-away. Each week, we're choosing one podcast reviewer to receive a NARM Clinical Protocol and NARM Personality Spectrum Worksheet. To enter, please submit a review within Apple Podcasts from your computer or mobile device and send a screenshot of your review to [email protected]. That's it! Winners will be chosen weekly. NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma This episode was edited by Th

Thanks to all your interest in learning more about NARM, we are launching the Online NARM Basics Training: an Online Training for Transforming Trauma. This is a brand new Level 1 training in the NeuroAffective Relational Model for professionals working with Complex Trauma. The intention of this online training is to make it more accessible to learn NARM. We know that during this time of COVID-19, live professional trainings are not an option. But even before this global crisis, many of you told us that you had difficulties traveling to come learn NARM, getting time off work, or affording the full NARM Practitioner Training. Despite these obstacles, many of you still wanted to learn NARM. If this rings true, then this online training is for you! This professional training is designed to support those of you working with clients or populations dealing with Complex Trauma, which with COVID and its aftermath, this includes many of us. This training is for mental health professionals, as well as helping professionals such as nurses, doctors, other healthcare providers, educators, substance abuse counselors, coaches, body-workers, and more. In this online training, participants will learn more about the changing field of trauma, a deeper understanding of the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and how NARM, one of the first models specifically designed to address C-PTSD, can support professionals in the growing trauma-informed field. This Online NARM Basics Training will be taught by NARM Creator, Dr. Laurence Heller, NARM Senior Faculty members Brad Kammer and Stefanie Klein, and a team of experienced NARM Trainers. During the four month online training, they will explore complex themes like: the difference between shock and developmental trauma; working with guilt, shame and self-sabotage; the impact of complex trauma on relationships, families and children; vicarious trauma and practitioner-burnout; post-traumatic growth; and how to apply NARM principles in a variety of settings. If you are looking for more advanced training in attachment, relational, developmental and intergenerational trauma, and are working in healthcare, education, substance abuse recovery, or allied fields, join us for this Level 1 NARM Training to become a NARM-Informed Professional. The first Online NARM Basics Training is starting on June 26, 2020 and will run one weekend a month through September. 60 continuing education units will be available for most helping professionals. There is limited space for this Level 1 NARM-Informed Professional Training, so register now to reserve your spot. We hope you will join us in learning how to Transform Trauma! For more information and to apply to the Online NARM Basics Training, please visit www.narmtraining.com/onlinebasics *** For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma Transforming Trauma is edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute

"NARM is really great at honoring that basic human need of being able to protect yourself. Being able to protect yourself doesn't mean that you have a magic wand and you can make the world a safe place. It's being able to do some things on your behalf that really honor your ability to be an actor in your own life." ~Caroline Clyborne Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino is joined by Caroline Clyborne, MA, LCP, a psychotherapist in Austin, Texas who specializes in clients with chronic illness and parents who are raising children with medical challenges. Caroline is also a NARM Therapist and has seen the positive impact that addressing complex trauma, and specifically the NARM approach, has had on clients and families managing chronic illnesses and medically complex diagnoses. After having her daughter who was born with medical complexities, Caroline observed the impact that medical trauma has on many children, as well as the impacts on parents and families. Caroline and Sarah discuss how disability, going in and out of the medical system, and other non-medical stressors influence the attachment relationship between parents of a child with disabilities and their children. These relational challenges often activate unresolved attachment and developmental trauma for already stressed and overwhelmed parents. What's often lost in the parents' overwhelm is the sense that even when a parent doesn't have the ability to change or predict their child's medical complexities, they still have their ability to be a parent to their child. In the NARM approach, this is referred to as agency. Caroline talks about finding "relative safety", even when there is still an ongoing sense of danger surrounding them. Even when a parent can't keep their child completely safe, Caroline explains that they can orient themselves to the safety measures they are taking -- this space of relative safety allows parents to experience the agency necessary to sustain themselves and their children. Sarah draws parallels between the work Caroline does with this population of parents to all child-parent relationships in situations when the issue can't be solved by the parent, such as during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Caroline shares that when she was going through a very overwhelming time in her life as a parent, she would have loved to experience the feeling of agency that she found as she began engaging with NARM. She has since become a NARM Therapist which has enriched her capacities as a trauma-informed therapist. She finds the NARM approach to have strengthened her medical advocacy in adults with chronic illness and in parents raising medically complex and neurodivergent children. CONNECT WITH CAROLINE Invincible Summer Therapy Free Resource Give-Away We're offering a podcast review give-away. Each week, we're choosing one podcast reviewer to receive a NARM Clinical Protocol and NARM Personality Spectrum Worksheet. To enter, please submit a review within Apple Podcasts from your computer or mobile device and send a screenshot of your review to [email protected]. That's it! Winners will be chosen weekly. NARM Community Gatherings We are grateful to have come together with so many of you for the recent NARM Online Community Gatherings, and we are looking forward to our next free community gathering on May 14, 2020. These events focus on how we can stay emotionally healthy during this time of isolation and are great opportunities to engage with NARM material and the NARM Community. We've made the replay videos from all of these events available on our website so that you can access them even after the events have occurred. We hope these are useful resources for you during this time. Please go to http://www.narmtraining.com/events to sign up for the replay videos. NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

The global COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges for us all. How are therapists supporting their clients in crisis? And what about the therapists themselves? How can we stay emotionally healthy during this time? NARM faculty members Brad Kammer, Stefanie Klein and Marcia Black join Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino to discuss grief and loss, relief and discomfort, agency and surrender, connection and disconnection, and opportunities for post-traumatic growth and transformation. Sarah asks Brad, Stefanie, and Marcia: What recurring themes have shown up for their clients? How have social distancing measures altered the client-therapist dynamic? What challenges are they noticing for themselves on a professional and personal level? Which self-care strategies have had the most impact on their wellbeing? How can NARM help during a time like this? The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) focuses on how therapists relate to and hold space for their clients. Brad, Stefanie and Marcia share a common bond, which is that they are passionate about their life's work. They reflect on their role as therapists, teachers, supervisors and mentors, and leaders in the NARM community, in which they find great meaning and joy. While we are all facing a global trauma, they find hope in sharing with the world the NeuroAffective Relational Model, which is designed to support post-traumatic growth and transformation. Free Resource Give-Away We're offering a podcast review give-away. Each week, we're choosing one podcast reviewer to receive a NARM Clinical Protocol and NARM Personality Spectrum Worksheet. To enter, please submit a review within Apple Podcasts from your computer or mobile device and send a screenshot of your review to [email protected]. That's it! Winners will be chosen weekly. NARM Community Gatherings We are grateful to have come together with so many of you for the recent NARM Online Community Gatherings, and we are looking forward to our next free community gathering on May 14, 2020. These events focus on how we can stay emotionally healthy during this time of isolation and are great opportunities to engage with NARM material and the NARM Community. We've made the replay videos from all of these events available on our website so that you can access them even after the events have occurred. We hope these are useful resources for you during this time. Please go to http://www.narmtraining.com/events to sign up for the replay videos. NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"The one thing I love about NARM is that it's empowering. It helps you realize that there's so much power in you. It returns your agency. The power of agency is that you let go of the helplessness." -Wangui Wanjiru Host Sarah Buino and her guest Wangui Wanjiru, a Kenyan clinical psychologist and the first NARM Therapist on the African continent, seek to humanize the culturally-specific challenges of complex trauma care in Africa. Wangui describes the cultural orientation that's very present in Kenyan culture, a strong focus on the group over the individual. She says people don't personalize themselves or each other outside of sweeping social categories. And when people do acknowledge their individuality, they are labeled as "selfish". While painting the picture of how more communal based cultures work against the individual's connection with themself, Wangui describes the bind that comes with the desire to remain in connection with your culture. Sarah and Wangui talk about what they've learned in their NARM Training-- that when someone is more connected with themselves, they actually have more capacity to be connected with others, their community, and their culture. Paradoxically, reconnecting with the self, which pushes against the Kenyan social construct of "the group over the individual", will actually allow for more connection with the Kenyan culture as a whole. Wangui brings up an important question: What are we gaining from losing touch with ourselves? And then Sarah and Wangui go even further in their discussion, reflecting on the impacts of racial oppression and cultural trauma, to ask: Who is benefiting from people losing touch with their individuality? Sarah prompts Wangui to share what it has been like to bring NARM to Africa and applying the NARM approach to her work with her clients. They discuss whether healing trauma is possible as cultures are still currently living through trauma: How can one transform trauma amidst ongoing trauma and oppression? "The beauty of reclaiming your self is that when issues come, or even though you're still living within the trauma, these issues don't come to an empty soul, or they don't come to a dead soul. They're coming to a soul that can resist and choose what gets in and what does not get in. And that's the empowering part of it. Yes, people might be continuing to go through trauma, but as long as the software within themselves is different, you're giving them the virus protection. It's not about getting people out of trauma, it's not about let's do this treatment after the trauma is done, it's letting empower people as they're going through trauma so they will carry less of it." NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"First of all, I think all trauma is complex… Secondly, it's a question of what we define as trauma. For me, the essence of trauma is the disconnection from the self." ~Dr. Gabor Maté Our host Sarah Buino facilitates an extraordinary conversation between trauma visionaries Dr. Laurence Heller and Dr. Gabor Maté centered on complex trauma, its effects on human development, and their views on the future of trauma-informed care. At the core of both Dr. Heller's and Dr. Maté's thinking on trauma is the understanding that trauma is not what happens to someone, it is what happens within someone. Both Dr. Heller and Dr. Maté address the profound effects of disconnection and misattunement that lead to complex trauma. The clinical models they have developed over the course of their careers - the NeuroAffective Relational Model (Heller) and Compassionate Inquiry (Maté) - both focus on how using aspects of the self, like compassion and agency, can support the healing of complex trauma. Sarah, Dr. Heller, and Dr. Maté address the gap in the mental health and healthcare fields with understanding C-PTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This means that many therapists are working with clients without fully comprehending the complex psychobiological patterns that leads to such suffering for their clients. As Dr. Maté puts it, "If I could pass a law...if you don't understand trauma, you're not allowed to practice psychotherapy. You can coach people. You can be a friend to people. You can lend an empathetic ear to people. That's all therapeutic. But, if you don't understand trauma, there is no basis for you doing deep therapy with people." Both Dr. Heller and Dr. Maté share the intention of bringing their important work into the trauma-informed field, and to anyone suffering from unresolved trauma, so that we can address the unrelenting personal and social impacts of unresolved trauma. At the end of this lively discussion. Dr. Heller and Dr. Maté begin making plans for future collaboration. "The word trauma itself is being thrown around a lot. I just want to emphasize that [early trauma leads to an] adaptation, a way that we distort our sense of self and the sense of other in adapting to developmental trauma that creates the difficulties that we experienced as human beings." ~Dr. Laurence Heller RESOURCES MENTIONED Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship - Dr. Laurence Heller When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-disease Connection - Dr. Gabor Maté Aaron T Beck, MD CONTACTS Dr. Gabor Maté Dr. Laurence Heller, PhD NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"It Is a very basic, ancient understanding that emotions come and they go. And if we don't push them away, we don't fight them and we don't attach to them in a strong way, they tend to move through much more quickly." - Laurence Heller, PhD In this special episode, our host Sarah is joined by Dr. Laurence Heller, creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) and Brad Kammer, NARM Training Director and Senior Faculty. As we face the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the trio reflects on how to come together in community to support each other in times of crisis. Faced with the need for physical distancing and isolation, it can be difficult to connect to the resources that we rely on to manage the stressors in our lives. Additionally, the fear and anxieties triggered by the unknown - our uncertain future - can create additional challenges for us all. Dr. Heller and Brad Kammer share constructive advice for managing the powerful emotions triggered by the COVID-19 crisis. Feelings of fear, helplessness, uncertainty, and grief, valid during any crisis, are often overwhelming. What if, instead of avoiding them, we followed Dr. Heller's suggestion and allowed ourselves to fully experience these emotions? What if we gave ourselves the same compassion we show others and created space for self-reflection and self-compassion? "Emotions are not designed to be permanent," says Dr. Heller. "They only tend to stay permanent and fixed if we run away from them." Recognizing that we're all in this together, the NARM Training Institute was created to support individuals, families and communities in facing the impacts of complex trauma, and provide effective strategies for navigating the fear, isolation and uncertainty during this challenging time for our world. "The way that we show up in ourselves is really going to be the best model for them [children]] about how to navigate this really scary time." - Brad Kammer RESOURCE MENTIONED: Netflix Watch Party NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"I believe everyone has [complex trauma]. And we may know it logically, and tell ourselves 'Oh, it's okay,' and all that. For me my journey has been to really deepen my own compassion for myself and recognize my own complex trauma." Claude Cayemitte, MSW, RCSWI Claude Cayemitte, a clinical social worker and NARM Therapist, joins our host Sarah Buino to examine how complex trauma impacts individuals from marginalized communities and how unrecognized cultural trauma can lead to misattunement in the therapeutic relationship. Using his NARM training as a foundation, and his own background as a Haitian-American male therapist, Claude addresses blind spots, such as privilege, biases and fear, that impact connection between therapists and their clients, particularly from non-dominant cultures. These blind spots can prevent much-needed introspection within and outside of the therapeutic setting, and can lead to further distrust and disconnection between individuals and communities. When talking about his own experience as a therapist who is also a person of color, Claude identifies the difference between what it feels like when people are acting-out from their own unconscious biases - even well-intended ones - versus when they show up with cultural humility. Cultural humility is not something that can be faked, it emerges from self-reflection that requires exploring one's unconscious biases. When someone shows up with curiosity and openness, and is continually doing the work of self-reflection, they build the ability to tolerate the complexity of being connected to others even in difference and disagreement. Claude sees this as an important distinction to understand, especially for therapists working cross-culturally, or anyone working with social justice issues. As a recipient of the Minority Fellowship Award from the Council of Social Work Education for his work with at-risk teens, Claude has witnessed first-hand what happens when therapists bring their whole selves, and a willingness to examine their own biases and fears, into their therapeutic practice: long-standing cultural trauma - social injustices and disconnection between individuals and communities - can begin to shift and heal. RESOURCES MENTIONED Family First Adolescent Services White Fragility: Why It's So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism Conversations With A Wounded Healer CONTACT CLAUDE Claude Cayemitte Primary Therapist Family First Adolescent Services LinkedIn NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"Complex trauma shows up in so many different ways that are covert and overt. And, the more we can recognize it, the more we're able to approach it in a way that moves towards healing and not isolation." ~Gina Essex, MA, LPC-S Our host Sarah is joined by Gina Essex, a psychotherapist, NARM Therapist and Senior Training Assistant, who began working with the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®) in 2013. Gina has a passion for making this trauma healing work accessible to everyone, as she says: "It's so important for everyone to know that the effects of trauma can be healed over time." Over the past few years Gina has been focused on introducing NARM to first responders in her community. Gina works with firefighters, paramedics, law enforcement, and military— populations that tend to present unique challenges for traditional therapists. "These people run toward danger. They run toward life threat. They're trained to go against their normal human instinct: to get away from danger." Gina describes how she thinks of running toward danger as the flip side of what these first responders are dealing with internally. She suggests that in order to run toward danger, they have to run away from themselves. In addition to the tolerance for high-risk experiences required in these professions, there's an element of fraternity that frames any evidence of vulnerability as a potential liability. The constant desensitization to high-risk experiences can prevent these deeply-caring professionals from accessing and expressing their real feelings. "There are stigmas within these communities, 'Don't show your emotion. Don't cry. You'll look weak, or you'll be weak and people don't want to work with you, or you won't have our back, or you'll be shunned if you're weak.'" As for her own journey, Gina says that NARM training has opened her up to areas where she had, in the past, focused too much attention on the doing. She's learning to trust the process more, including her clients' capacity to be their own healers. "It's a very sacred space and not to be overlooked." Hear how the work Gina does with the first responders address these stigmas head-on, and how she has witnessed the power of NARM in her private practice to transform people shackled to complex trauma into fully engaged participants of life. CONTACT GINA (616) 930-0214 View Gina's Listing Here NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"NARM really helped me through all of these protective strategies I had that were getting in the way of me showing up the way I authentically wanted to show up. So, I found something that has been personally transformative. And, whenever I do that, I want to tell everyone about it! I've seen my friends and peers go through NARM and really transform how they're showing up in the world. It's just really life-changing." ~Bianka Hardin, PsyD Our host Sarah is joined by Psychologist, Professor and NARM Therapist Dr. Bianka Hardin, to discuss the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®) and its role in professional development for helping professionals, including its central focus on the therapist's own personal development, as a tool for impacting personal healing and social change. Bianka was already an accomplished trauma therapist and professor working in Chicago, had completed many previous therapy trainings, and had been a leader in the trauma-informed movement for years when she was introduced to NARM. She recalls the moment in her NARM training when she went all in -- using her own life as case study. Although originally drawn to NARM's "bottom-up" and "top-down" methodology, and its blending of somatic mindfulness with mindful awareness, it was the experiential practice that helped her feel the power of this work and that differentiated NARM from other approaches she had studied. Bianka credits NARM for promoting an environment where a person's protective strategies are honored, not forcibly eradicated. Sarah and Bianka share the relief at finding a healing modality that provides less pressure for both the therapist and client, and a vehicle for embodying a sense of adult agency, a feeling of truly "growing up". NARM prepares therapists to bring this impactful work to their clients by giving them a learning experience to learn from the inside-out. Bianka wouldn't have it any other way: "You can't have joy if you're not able to tolerate the experience of your own pain." Bianka and Sarah reflect on the gift they're able to give to their clients in supporting their capacity to discover what they most want for themselves in their lives and to be able to more deeply connect to themselves and others. Bianka credits NARM with her growth as a therapist, teacher, mother, wife, friend and an individual. She is thrilled to be an ambassador for this cutting-edge model, in a field of complex trauma still in its infancy, and she's honored and optimistic about sharing it with the world. CONTACT BIANKA Bianka Hardin - Centered Therapy Chicago RESOURCES DISCUSSED Trauma & Recovery: The Aftermath Of Violence - Judith Herman The Body Keeps The Score: Brain Mind & Body In The Healing Of Trauma - Bessel Van Der Kolk NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

"Learning how to support someone gain greater depth of experience and tolerance for their more primary emotions that feel scary to them, that experience within myself has changed absolutely everything… I have the capacity, now, to be resilient in those moments that, if those things do happen, I can meet them. And that's what we're really supporting." ~Mike Giresi Sarah chats with Mike Giresi, Director of Clinical Development at Family First Adolescent Services in Palm Beach Gardens, FL and NARM Practitioner, about the profound impact the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®) has made in his work with adolescents and teens. The drive to help others heal often stems from one's own healing. Mike's journey to sobriety ignited a desire for personal growth and professional development that led him to the study of psychology, and ultimately his passion for helping others understand the relationship between addiction and complex trauma. These days, when he's not traveling the country speaking on the relationship between addiction and trauma treatment, or teaching on NARM, Mike is busy helping teens and adolescents navigate the tricky transition from dependency to agency. But guiding a teen through that emotional process of self-inquiry has its hazards. Regardless of how well-intentioned adults might be, teens are hyper-vigilant against anyone coming at them with an agenda. That offer of help can trigger memories of the early childhood disruptions and objectification that played a role in the teen's current challenges. For this reason, the entire staff at Family First Adolescent Services has become NARM-trained. Mike believes that the resulting agenda-neutral environment is a safer place in which young clients with complex trauma can heal old patterns that have been in their way of a healthier, happier adolescence. "With complex trauma (C-PTSD), safety is about working with a person's sense of agency, the kind of various relational and emotional difficulties that everyone faces in everyday life. Those aren't about mortal threats to the physical self, like shock trauma (PTSD). It's much more about a threat to the psychological self or our sense of self." In utilizing NARM to resolve complex trauma, Mike has been blown-away by the new possibilities opening up for the boys as they begin relating to themselves and others in new ways, including feeling more hopeful and confident in moving forward into adulthood. The changes, he says, are dramatic. Every day, Mike feels blessed to be part of supporting transformation in the teens and their families. The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma CONTACT MIKE: Mike Giresi, CAC, CTP, ICADC, RYT Director of Clinical Development Family First Adolescent Services [email protected] 561-328-7370 NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

In understanding how effective the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®) can be in support of Transforming Trauma, we must broaden the conversation around trauma to recognize Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and a new understanding of Post-Traumatic Growth. As Dr. Laurence Heller, creator of NARM®, states in his book Healing Developmental Trauma, "No matter how withdrawn or isolated we have become on the deepest level, just as a plant spontaneously moves towards sunlight, there is in each of us an impulse toward connection and healing." Sarah is joined by Brad Kammer, psychotherapist, educator, and the NARM® training director and senior trainer, to discuss the roots of developmental trauma, our current understanding of complex trauma, where NARM® fits in the current trauma field, and the transformative power of NARM®. NARM is a model specifically designed to resolve the impacts of Complex Trauma: including attachment, developmental, relational, cultural and intergenerational trauma. NARM is a top-down, bottom-up approach that integrates psychodynamic and somatic psychotherapy, within a mindful, interpersonal process, in order to provide an unparalleled full-spectrum of care. Sarah and Brad agree: "Trauma is the underlying cause of most, if not all, psychological disorders." For anyone that is interested in the trauma-informed movement - and how it can support psychotherapy, healthcare, education, public policy, and social justice - it is important to unpack the nuances of complex trauma. Sarah informs podcast listeners that they do not need to hold degrees in mental health in order to engage with NARM work. What is required is an open, inquisitive mind, with a basic understanding of complex trauma and a desire to help people with resources to move through their trauma. Brad shares that Oprah Winfrey is a fierce advocate for helping put C-PTSD and the trauma-informed movement on the map. Brad says that even though it's still early in the trauma field movement, there are models that are aimed at resolving complex trauma. "NARM is designed for working with people that have experienced and are still dealing and living with unresolved complex trauma," says Brad. "That's where NARM fits in." His vision is that at-risk individuals -- especially children -- will get the assistance they deserve to thrive beyond the confines of their trauma. Accessibility is key. Through this podcast and with its global training initiatives, NARM is expanding its reach. Brad hopes to not only help individuals who are focusing on healing from complex trauma, but also to extend the program's influence to families and communities plagued by violence, conflict and social injustice. As he says, "NARM can be a vehicle for both personal and social transformation." The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources. *** For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma CONTACTS Brad Kammer, MA, LMFT, LPCC, SEP, NMT Body Mind Psychotherapy Sarah Buino, LCSW, CADC, CDWF Head Heart Therapy NARM Training Institute http://www.NARMtraining.com *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial

In a modern world beset by trauma and a legacy of suffering, conflict and disconnection, healing trauma can serve as a vehicle for personal and social transformation. Brought to you by The NARM Training Institute and hosted by psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker, Sarah Buino, Transforming Trauma will introduce you to the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), a revolutionary approach for healing Complex Trauma (C-PTSD) and restoring connection to self and others. Interviews with NARM Therapists, and other prominent trauma specialists, will highlight how NARM fills a missing gap in our current efforts to address the legacy of childhood, cultural and intergenerational trauma. And most importantly, we'll share the stories of individuals and communities thriving after Complex Trauma. In this brief trailer, you'll meet our host, Sarah Buino, and hear how she discovered and became as student of NARM. Whether you are a healthcare professional, an educator, a parent, a public policy maker, a trauma survivor, or someone interested in personal healing and social justice; this podcast will provide you with a map for increased resiliency, greater health outcomes, healthier relationships, personal growth and social change through transforming trauma. *** We want to connect with you! Facebook @NARMtraining Twitter @NARMtraining YouTube Instagram @thenarmtraininginstitute Learn more about The NARM Training Institute: http://www.narmtraining.com Sign up for a free preview of The NARM Inner Circle Online Membership Program: http://www.narmtraining.com/freetrial