We are coming back to our new series, “In the Thick of It: Small Steps for Quick Wins”. During this series I will be bringing you some of my favourite tools. These are things that are not rocket science, are totally able to be integrated into your life, no matter how crazy and chaotic it is, and that are guaranteed to make a difference if you apply them consistently. 

I teased this one a bit at the end of last week’s episode, so you might already know that this week we’re talking about how we tell the story. Last week we talked about Opposite Action, which is a way we can actively engage in doing something different with our trauma experience. Opposite action is practical and tangible – it is about doing different. Today, as we talk about story, we are talking about thinking different and actively participating in shaping the narrative of who we are, how we’re defined, and how we allow our trauma and experiences speak to this in...

During the month of March, we are going to be launching our latest series called “In the Thick of It: Small Steps for Quick Wins”. During this series I will be bringing you some of my favourite tools – things that are not rocket science, are totally able to be integrated into your life, no matter how crazy and chaotic it is, and that are guaranteed to make a difference if you apply them consistently. 

Today I want to tell you about one of my all time favourite tools – called Opposite Action. Before I tell you about the tool, let’s talk about when you are going to use it. 

The most substantial way we can use this tool is when we are in trauma reactivity. When you experienced something traumatic, you had a response in the moment. It might have been to fight back, to run away, to hold still and wait it out, or to placate the situation to get through it by the skin of your teeth. More commonly we know these responses as fight, flight,...

As we continue in our “Normal People Problems” series we are diving in to the common challenges of managing a home and the unique and nuanced features of staying organized while working in first response or front line work. I am delighted to be joined by the pair behind Simply Organized For You, Christine & Naddine. These two professional home organizers know their stuff and are sharing their tips for staying on top of things. 

Check out Simply Organized For You on their website, or go be soothed by their pretty pictures on Instagram!

·        What are some of the challenges you face in managing your home that are impacted by your work? What are some small ways you can work at implementing systems that support feeling more on top of your home?

·        Register for Beating the Breaking Point, my online resilience training program.

Check out Simply...

As we continue in our “Normal People Problems” series we are diving in to the common challenges of mastering money and the unique and nuanced features of finances while working in first response or front line work. I am honoured to be joined by Sandy Yong, author of The Money Master: What They Don’t Teach You About Wealth & Investing, and her husband, Albert Ho, nurse and author of Checkmate: How to Win The Sales Game in Healthcare. 

Today we touch on the challenges of saving, maximizing opportunities to build wealth, and being proactive around planning for today and into the future with our finances.

Check out Sandy’s work including her awesome book, The Money Master, here. Learn more about Albert’s work and his book, Checkmate, here. We are honoured to have 2 of each book to offer as a free giveaway thanks to Sandy & Albert – jump over to my social media on Facebook and Instagram and comment on one tip you took away...

As we continue in our “Normal People Problems” series we are diving in to the common challenges of parenting and the unique and nuanced features of parenting while working in first response or front line work. I am thrilled to be joined by one of my favourite people on earth, Karen Peters. Karen is a child and family therapist who specializes in parenting support, and she is bringing the goods!

Today we touch on the challenges of shift work, the difficulty of being present at home, the transition from work to home, the impact of calls that impact our sense of safety for our kids, and more.

Check out Karen’s work including her awesome parenting podcast, Parenting in the Trenches, as well as her many free parenting resources available here, and her valuable paid programs included in her Living Room Learning platform, here.

·        What are some of the challenges you face in parenting that are impacted by...

Today I am joined by Raina Beugelink, a registered dietitian who is luckily (and happily) married to a first responder. She’s worked in private practice for almost ten years in weight management and chronic disease management.  She feels incredibly passionate about supporting shift workers and first responders increase their energy and improve their health, as she’s seen firsthand the toll it can take on them and their families.  She’s worked with police officers, dispatchers, fire fighters, paramedics, heavy equipment operators, physicians, nurses, and other front-line workers use nutrition strategies to fuel their body properly for shift work.  

 

Raina is joining me as we dive into a new series called “Normal People Problems” where we identify common problems plaguing most people (things like nutrition, finances, parenting and home management) and try to tackle them from the angle of understanding and...

We have been talking about how to know when you have “done” the work of healing from trauma and stress-related concerns. We have touched on what to look for to let you know that you are through the thick of it, as well as what comes next to maintain the gains you’ve worked so hard for. Today, we are focusing in on the last major piece of the puzzle that comes when you have done the hard work of healing. To tell you about it, I am going to quote from Judith Herman’s book, Trauma and Recovery, which is known as one of the foundational works on trauma therapy and from which most trauma therapies are based. In the book, Judith proposes a 3 stage model for treating trauma – stage one involves building safety, which includes coping skills, reducing actual risk, and supporting people in their ability to regulate their emotions and feel safer in themselves. Stage two is about processing, reconciling what has happened to who we see ourselves as. And...

Today, I want us to talk about resilience, and how we work at retaining the resilience we have cultivated so that we don’t find ourselves in over our heads again. This piggybacks on what we talked about last week – we can’t know what we need to do for resilience if we can’t see the forest for the trees and know what’s going on for us. Awareness is ALWAYS the first and most important step – everything else works from there. 

Now, resilience is a word that I find has some cultural impressions and even stigma around. I was actually scrolling through social media recently and a past colleague who I respect and admire, had posted on his page a meme that said something to the effect of “I hope to never be called resilient ever again, don’t praise me for surviving things I had no choice but to survive and pretend that made me stronger.” I get it. Resilience has connotations of meaning things like “bouncing...

The last couple of episodes we established some of the things to look for to help guide you in knowing where you are at in the process of healing. To get here you’ve put in a ton of work, and I’m sure that it has not been easy. But, now what??

The primary focus is to stay on top of things and to maintain all you’ve worked so hard to accomplish. How do you do that? Well, this may sound too simple, but the answer is this: assess and adjust.

Let’s start with assess. One of the reasons that people wind up in burnout, traumatic stress responses and other stress-related challenges, is because they let things that were too big go for too long without recognizing them for what they were and doing something effective about them. When we avoid, ignore, and leave things too long, pretending that we’re “fine”, we make it all so much worse. Now, I want to be clear that I don’t think people generally purposefully neglect their trauma...

 If you missed the intro to our latest series last week, here’s a quick recap: 

Based on listener feedback, we received a request to talk about how to know when you’re done the work of trauma processing, and what to do once you have “done” the work of therapy or healing. If you missed last week, you’ll want to be sure to go back and start there as it was part one of a two-part intro around how to know when you’re done the work – and today’s episode follows closely as part two. 

I gave you 3 things last week including:

1.      You are not ignoring, avoiding and distracting a substantial amount of the time.

2.      Coping feels established and stable. And

3.      We are aware of our common triggers, the feeling of being triggered, and have a tool kit to support us.

Carrying on from there, here’s what you can look for:

4.      You are...