Here’s where I’ve been

Firefighters are with people on the worst days of their lives, and that’s what I’ve been doing for over 15 years. Working alongside first responder colleagues who are in those situations of raw trauma repeatedly, I’ve also learned a lot about the cumulative effect of secondary or vicarious trauma on our overall health and wellness. When adrenaline, cortisol, trauma, exhaustion, and sleep disturbances all mix themselves up into one recipe, it becomes really important to understand the brain and body connection to our nervous systems, and I’ve been delving into the neuroscience of exactly that.

As a former foster parent in the child welfare system, I learned a lot about how the body holds trauma. There’s a lot going on inside anyone who has experienced the trauma of family separation overlapping with systemic and intergenerational traumas, and those become part of a little human’s lived experience while they’re trying to develop and learn and grow into adults. Learning how to access felt safety and calm with some of the bravest little humans I know has been the greatest privilege of my life.

For over a decade, I also worked in the education sector with exceedingly courageous folks who came to this country as newcomers. I’ve been constantly fascinated by human resilience, and a daily observer to the ways that traumatic stress changes how our brains and bodies work, but also of the actual healing powers of community and social connection.