Thank you Dr. B. for answering my request on ACEs Connection for a knowledgeable guest to join me on the show to specifically address the topic of bullying! What a fun, yet informative, conversation, filled with critical information for parents/caregivers, teens, and teachers. Join us as we cover:
what is bullying?
how can a caregiver help?
empowering the vulnerable and targeted
cyber-bullying and social media concerns
and more!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Dr. B. is a Professional Keynote Speaker, Certified iPEC Coach, and an Organizational Trainer. She strives to take very complex concepts and make them manageable and understandable. Let’s talk about qualifications, briefly, she has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, with a specialization in Parent-Child Mental Health (PIMH) and a strong emphasis in Neuropsychology. She has an MA in Early Childhood Education, with a K-12 credential, and a BA in Child Development. She has presented at conferences across the country and travels all over the world to better understand human relationships, resiliency, and connection.If you want to know more, just ask!”
What a beautiful connection with a compassionate soul as I sat with Lorna Minewiser, PhD to discuss such topics as:
energy psychology and energy coaching
the benefits of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) in trauma recovery
her own personal story of triumph over a phobia
the work being done globally to aid healing
and more!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Lorna Minewiser is a Coach who is passionate about sharing what she has learned over the last 30 years. In 1988 she went back to college after more than 20 years of being a housewife, mother, realtor and volunteer. She finished her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology in 1992, her license as a Counselor in 1995, and her PhD in Psychology in 2001. She became fascinated with alternative systems of learning and healing while she was in her PhD program at Saybrook Graduate School and has been learning about and practicing them ever since.
Although she was a Licensed Professional Counselor for 15 years she prefers to work as a Coach and has done so since 2002.
She has taught Energy Psychology classes in Clinton Township, MI, Charlotte, NC, Sacramento, CA and through teleclasses and webcasts. In 2006 she received the Certified Energy Health Practitioner designation from the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology.(ACEP)
In personal coaching sessions she might use EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) or Touch and Breathe, Healing Codes, Emotion Codes,Body Code, Energy Medicine techniques, or something else that could help you make the changes you want in your life.
She has taught high school, college, and teacher continuing education classes. Her PhD dissertation “Eliciting Mental Models: Images of teaching and learning” has been published and she has had several articles published as well. In the spring of 2008 she conducted a research project on using EFT to reduce Test Anxiety. She was chair of the ACEP research subcommittee on EFT for Research. Recently she participated in the Veteran Stress Research Project. Lorna has co-authored an article about the replication project and has a case study article published.”
I very much appreciated the opportunity to chat with Dr. Kristina Brinkerhoff, Educational Consultant, to discuss such topics as:
adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
classroom management and teacher self-care
her personal story of triumph over trauma and the impact of her trauma history on her mission today
her role as an educator, principal, superintendent, adoptive mother of five foster children, and now as an ACEs advocate and consultant in the education arena
resilience
and more!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Dr. Kristina Brinkerhoff, a consultant, keynote speaker, presenter and trainer, leverages over 20 years of experience as a teacher, principal, superintendent and adoptive mom of five foster children, to help educators gain an understanding of the effects Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and the importance of trauma informed practice in schools. Her work focuses on the direct impact ACEs have on a child’s ability to self-regulate and successfully function in the classroom and school setting, and what schools can do to help students build self-regulation skills and resilience strategies. Participants will gain an understanding of specific strategies designed to help school educators navigate how to address the impact of ACEs, recognize student needs, establish caring and responsive trauma informed classroom and school expectations, and respond to difficult behaviors with compassion and self-control.”
What Participants Are Saying!!
“Really great info, one of the best PD sessions I’ve ever attended!”
“The presentation and materials were excellent!”
“This was the best session I have ever attended!”
“Love your personal connections !”
“Thank you for getting the mind thinking!”
“Thank you, this was an awesome use of my time!”
“Great charisma as a presenter!”
“It was awesome, thanks for everything!”
“Excellent. I wish I knew this at the beginning of my career and know now as I am at retirement.”
“Mrs. Brinkerhoff is confident, poised, and well-versed when it comes to delivering ACE strategy training to teaching/educational staff. She is able to build quick rapport with the staff which then allows her to work directly with them when faced with a challenging scenario.” Valerie Uhlorn, Principal Amity Elementary
“Dr. Brinkerhoff presented to our K-5 administrative group about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). I was so impressed with her presentation that I asked if she would be willing to come and speak with my staff before the school year had started. This was an area, that my staff was not super familiar with and I felt that bringing her in as an outside source would give a different perspective. She spent half the day with us and really spoke to the depths of childhood trauma and the disruption to the learning environment. The understanding that my staff had after her presentation allowed us to start our year off with compassion and patience for those kids in need. She has the experience and the gift to present with influence and impact for our educators. ” Tony Bonucelli, Principal, Moscow Charter School
“Dr. Brinkerhoff connected her research to personal stories from her days teaching and being an Elementary Principal. Her on-the-ground experience, warm personality, and sense of humor allowed her to relate well to her audience of over 100 administrators. In my eight years of attending the IASA annual conference, Dr. Brinkerhoff was by far the best keynote speaker we have had at the final IAESP session. In fact, once she was finished, a fellow administrator immediately booked her to present at a fall back-to-school training for their charter school staff. ” Dr. Kendra McMillan, Ph.D, Lena Wittmoore Elementary
I feel honored to have had the opportunity to sit with Louise Godbold, executive director of Echo, whose mission is “to educate trauma survivors (including parents and service professionals) about trauma and resilience in order to promote survivor empowerment, resolve individual and community-level trauma, and create the safe, stable, nurturing relationships that break the cycle of generational trauma”. We engaged in a beautiful conversation covering such topics as:
survivor-led healing
her Harvey Weinstein #metoo experience
the purpose and passion of Echo
resilience
alternative approaches outside of therapy for healing
and her upcoming 2020 Annual Conference featuring Survivors Becoming Empowered!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Louise Godbold is the Executive Director of Echo. Before joining Echo in 2010, she worked for over 15 years in the nonprofit field, both in nonprofit management and as a consultant. For several years she was retained by UC Berkeley to provide statewide technical assistance to county alcohol and drug administrations. She has also worked for The California Endowment and the Los Angeles County Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, as well as innumerable nonprofits, providing assistance with evaluation, strategic planning and creating research-based programming. Louise is the developer and lead trainer for Echo’s curricula on trauma and resilience. She is a trauma survivor and #MeToo silence breaker.”
I so enjoyed the opportunity to sit with the soft-spoken, brilliant, passionate, and enlightened Sarah Peyton of Empathy Brain and author of Your Resonant Self: Guided Meditations and Exercises to Engage Your Brain’s Capacity for Healing to discuss:
the concept of time-travel practice (returning to a younger self for healing)
the neurobiology of trauma
prison work and the statistics of trauma injury
constellation work in healing
emergence of emotions
and so much more!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Sarah Peyton, Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and neuroscience educator, integrates brain science and the use of resonant language to heal trauma. She brings together depth work and self-compassion that integrate relational neuroscience with the transformative potential of language. She teaches and lectures internationally, and is the author of the book ‘Your Resonant Self: Guided Meditations and Exercises to Engage Your Brain’s Capacity for Healing.'”
I have said for years, as I felt my way along a sometimes rugged and dark healing path, that I had to return to the darkness in order to make it into the light. Those dark spaces held my trauma, the negative energy needing to be released from my body, mind, and spirit. I used to dish this advice to my then-best-friend in regards to her traumatic past. She would scoff me off.
Just when I thought I had processed the worst of my traumas (sexual abuse, bank robberies, murder, physically abusive parent), this said-friend ghosted me. Gone. Just like that. No closure. No good-bye. No “piss off” to send me on my way. Just silence. After seven years of texting every day, weekend hang outs, girls’ trips adventures, deep talks, and laugh-til-we-peed gatherings. Done.
Only two weeks prior had I sat across from her at one of our impromptu lunch dates, telling her that my therapist and I had discovered my biggest fear during my last EMDR session: the fear of abandonment. I told her how it linked back to my mom and her alcohol addiction, how she had left me feeling emotionally abandoned my entire childhood. She knew most of the history of life with my mother: partying with her co-workers after banking hours, stumbling into our apartment hammered a few nights a week; pouring herself a vodka over ice with a squirt of lemon juice on those nights she came straight home from her teller job, sinking into the worn recliner, held together in places with duct tape, losing herself in a book from the library, yelling for my dad to silence the children, which always came with the jingling of a belt-buckle prepping to beat us quiet; belittlement at our not using our God-given talents and, therefore, disappointing Jesus, God Himself, and all of the heavenly hosts; attempted stabbing of my dad when she raged at him with a butcher knife; attempted drowning of her children when she decided we’d be better off with Jesus in lieu of living in this “valley of tears” called life; showing my school photo to church friends, in my presence, and laughing as she declared, “Look how ugly she is!”, later to remind me, “I was just joking”; and so on.
I was struck with an inkling of curiosity when this friend’s head cocked a bit to the side as she replied, “Really?” to my announcement that my biggest discovered fear was that of abandonment. Not bridges or highways, even though I cannot drive on them. Not death, even though I had faced it too many times, from beneath bathtub water, when staring into a revolver placed to my head, when confronted with the firing end of a Luger during a second bank robbery. Not heights, even though my dad had found it funny to dangle me from the Natural Bridge in Kentucky on a rare family outing or had me look out the window of our beat up station wagon at the Ohio River below us as we crossed the humming bridge into Covington, Kentucky to visit my grandparents, as he proclaimed, “See those river sharks? Some day this bridge will crumble. It was built in the 1800’s you know. And when we fall in, those river sharks will eat you”, then he’d laugh and laugh at his humor, while I stared at the muddy water, positive I saw those river sharks. Not flying, though I could not even think of climbing onto a plane without Xanax in my blood. Not cockroaches. Nor being buried alive. Nor fear itself. Abandonment – linked to my fear of rejection, my insecurities, my unstable sense of self, and my deep craving for approval and affection.
Really? That word would haunt my next year as I sorted through the processing of her disappearance from my life.
Only by giving yourself over to your feelings can you find your way out of them.
Susan Anderson in “The Journey from Abandonment to Healing”
Detoxing after a drinking binge
Sober mom and Teri
I am guessing God’s timing was, yet again, perfect. It was time for me to visit the darkness that was my relationship with my mother. Still swirling in the chaos of her addiction, I never knew who I would encounter upon my calls to check in or visits to her retirement community. Sober mom was kind and doting. “Teri, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank God I have you.” Drunk mom was cruel, “I hate you. I want to put a meat cleaver in your forehead.” When I brought that one up during a sober conversation, she insisted, “Oh for Pete’s sake. I was joking. Get a sense of humor. You know I’d never say something like that to you.”
Okay, mom.
And then the friend-ghosting occurred. And I cried into my journal for a year. I cried at restaurants. I cried at sappy commercials. I cried when I’d hear songs, listening purposefully to tear-jerker ballads. I cried at Facebook memories popping up. I cried all . . . the . . . time. I just cried. For a year.
And as I did so, I read this book. This amazing book filled with comfort and wisdom, reminding me I would survive this, too. Just as I had survived all of the horrors of my past. This ghosting was a reminder that I had not yet faced the pain I had stored away in regards to trust and love, a heart-hurt melded in the hands of my parents. God was opening that attic door and shining a light on that long-avoided box of sadness.
Being left by someone we love can open up old wounds, stirring up insecurities and doubts that had been part of our emotional baggage since childhood.
Susan Anderson in “The Journey from Abandonment to Healing”
My grieving journey had begun. What was triggered by a ghosting, turned into a beautiful journey of healing those old insecurities and heartaches, helping me find forgiveness for my parents, as well as helping me release the ghosts from that abandonment attic. All of them.
The author takes us into an understanding of the five states of abandonment: shattering, withdrawal, internalizing rejection, rage, and lifting. All of which I circled through. The beautiful gift I discovered during this grief journey was that of embracing my own vulnerability even more than I already had. I learned to console little Teri all the while learning to empower adult me.
Susan Anderson, author of this powerful book, offers an action plan for readers to help us along our continued healing journey, as well. An action plan I fully implemented.
The key to change is opening your life to new experiences. Even small changes in your daily routine can lead to new discoveries about who you are becoming.
The key to reconnecting is to cherish the gift that abandonment has given you, to remain open to your vulnerabilities and to the vulnerabilities of others.
Susan Anderson in “The Journey from Abandonment to Healing”
Since reading this beautiful book, I have done exactly that. I opened myself up to new experiences: starting a successful podcast with a growing global audience (The Healing Place Podcast); meeting amazing souls from all over the world who are working to help others along their healing journeys; starting this blog; creating a website aimed at helping others heal from ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) and trauma; becoming a YouTuber (that is still in its infancy stages); standing on stages to share my story of hope; creating our Sammie’s Bundles of Hope project to help children struggling with anxiety and trauma history; volunteering with our sweet therapy dog, Sammie Doodle; and opening myself up to new friendships.
Thank you, Dr. Gretchen Schmelzer, for enlightening us even more about the “journey through trauma”. Listen in as Gretchen shares her insights on trauma GPS, her work in the field of trauma-recovery and healing on individual and societal levels, Nelson Mandela, her five phase cycle for healing repeated trauma, and more!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube. These hope-infused episodes are also now available on Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more!
Bio:
“Gretchen Schmelzer, PhD is a licensed psychologist, trained as a Harvard Medical School Fellow and the author of Journey Through Trauma published in 2018 by Penguin Random House. She is a trauma survivor, who has worked for twenty-five years with the complex issues of trauma, integration and behavior change across every level of system from individuals, to groups, to large systems and countries, including her role as the expert consultant for documentary film The Silence which aired on April 19, 2011 on Frontline regarding priest sexual abuse in a Native Alaskan Village to ensure adequate resources for viewers and for proper follow on support for trauma survivors.
Since 2002, Dr. Schmelzer has also been a senior consultant with Teleos Leadership Institute, an international consulting firm serving leaders of fortune 100 businesses and major not-for-profit organizations such as the United Nations. Her expertise in long term trauma was used to inform the design and delivery of a four year large scale intervention for the UN in Cambodia. She and her colleagues worked with 150 leaders each year who were survivors of the Khmer Rouge in a large scale leadership initiative to strengthen the county’s response to HIV/AIDS. The program integrated work in self-awareness and self-regulation, gender issues, communication skills, relational skills and action learning. This program was rated one of the most successful leadership development programs run through the United Nations Development Program by an independent research team.
Gretchen received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University, and her Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology from Springfield College, and BA from Mount Holyoke College. She completed her clinical training as a Harvard Clinical Fellow and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at UMASS Medical Center and The Center for Mindfulness. Since October 2014 she is the founder and editor of The Trail Guide, a web-mag featured on www.gretchenschmelzer.com dedicated to healing repeated trauma.”
Thank you, Dr. Kathleen Friend, for sitting down with me to discuss your philosophies on mind/body/spirit connection in regards to healing, your recently released children’s book The Greatness Chair, your beautiful approach to honoring children and their caregivers in the therapy setting, and much more!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Kathleen Friend MD is a Child Psychiatrist, children’s author, musician and heart rhythm meditation teacher currently living in Tucson, Arizona. Her mission is to expand the paradigm of Child Psychiatry to embrace a holistic view of mind, body and spirit. Dr. Friend now teaches a simple, accessible method to help grownups bring out the best in children through the concept of the greatness chair. Her recent book, The Greatness Chair (2019) published by Words Matter Publishing is a children’s story to inspire a shift to seeing the positive in children in order to build their emotional wealth from the inside. This work is based on seeing clearly with our hearts what is true about a child and helping them see themselves in a new light. This is not false praise or “good job”. Finding greatness means uncovering the truths about a child’s individuality so they can grow into that and learn to contribute to the world in their own unique way.
She is available for book signings, workshops and lectures and can be reached at drfriend@drfriend .net or through www.greatnesschair.com or through the Facebook page: The Greatness Chair. Further information can also be found on her author page at Words Matter Publishing.
The Greatness Chair is available through Amazon (kindle or paperback) or Words Matter Publishing.” Learn more about Kathleen and her mission at: https://greatnesschair.com/
I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to sit down with Alison Morris of Full Potential Parenting to discuss her work with parents where she offers support solutions for challenging behaviors in children, along with her philosophies on adverse childhood experiences, trauma, Emotional Freedom Technique, and more. Join us for a brief EFT session at the end of the interview!
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Alison Morris is a certified, accredited “trauma mama!” As the single adoptive mom of a child with attachment and developmental trauma challenges, Alison started looking for answers, and one of the answers she found was Emotional Freedom Techniques, otherwise known as EFT or Tapping. Alison created Full Potential Parenting to help other parents of children with emotional and behavioral challenges understand what’s really going on with their children and what’s going on for them. Through the Full Potential Parenting Summit and the Full Potential Parenting Show, she interviews providers, doctors, therapists, and parents about non-pharmaceutical approaches to healing, and she offers individual coaching and group tapping classes so parents can make friends with their own emotions, and thereby provide a safe and compassionate space for their children to express their big feelings.” Learn more about Alison and her mission at: http://www.full-potential-parenting.com/
What a joyous, informative, powerful conversation I savored with Matthew (Matt) Bennett as we discussed his work as a speaker, author, podcaster, trainer, and healer. Thank you, Matt, for teaching me even more about ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), trauma recovery, your books Connecting Paradigms: A Trauma-Informed & Neurobiological Framework for Motivational Interviewing Implementation and Connecting Paradigms, Talking about Trauma & Change: A Connecting Paradigms’ Supplement, and so much more.
Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.
Bio:
“Matt Bennett, MBA, MA, has a master’s degree in community psychology and executive development (nonprofit management), as well as a master’s in business administration in health care. Mr. Bennett specializes in the delivery of trauma-informed care, quality improvement, results-based leadership, and Motivational Interviewing. Mr. Bennett has successfully combined his academic pursuits as a researcher, blogger, podcaster on the Trauma-Informed Lens Podcast, and published author of articles and the book Connecting Paradigms: A trauma-informed and neurobiological framework for Motivational Interviewing Implementation, Talking about Trauma & Change, and Trauma-Sensitive Early Education with his practical experience in leading nonprofit organizations and educational institutions to develop research-based solutions to improve the health of individuals, organizations, and systems.
As a sought-after trainer, Mr. Bennett utilizes a participant-centered approach, which includes interactions and adult learning activities to maximize learning, retention, and application. These approaches, combined with a strong mastery of the topical research, allow delivery of in-depth subject matter in a practical manner, targeted to the audience. Mr. Bennett’s presentations are a dynamic dance of innovative research, practical applications, and a passion for the art and science of helping others.”
