The Dignity Lab

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this conversation on The Dignity Lab, guest host and neonatologist Dr. Staci Olister brings together trauma-informed care expert Mary Coughlin and host Dr. Jennifer Griggs to explore how trauma and dignity are deeply intertwined in healthcare and beyond. They trace the evolution of trauma from a narrow f...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode, Jennifer and Vanessa deepen their conversation on healing from past hurts, exploring forgiveness, the importance of bodily awareness, and the journey from victimhood to creator. They share personal stories, insights from their season of solo episodes, and tease upcoming season themes on dig...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. This episode explores what comes after the work of healing, how to decide whether to renew or release a relationship with someone who caused harm. Jennifer walks through both paths, emphasizing that forgiveness does not require staying connected and that this decision is deeply personal. Renewal means creat...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. This episode explores what it means to reclaim your dignity after harm—without requiring forgiveness, apology, or explanation. Jennifer shares her own profound shift in thinking about healing after harm. Healing comes from reclaiming your role as the subject of your story, rather than remaining the object o...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. This short episode explores "The Impossible Question": Why did they do it? Jennifer discusses why people universally seek reasons after experiencing harm, how this search can deepen emotional disorganization or shame, and why answers often do not heal. The core message: understanding others'...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. Jennifer explores the benefits of forgiveness on emotional, psychological, physical, and organizational health. She discusses the neural changes associated with forgiveness. She also shares her personal experience with forgiveness on her health. The conversation emphasizes the importance of understanding fo...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode of the Dignity Lab, Jennifer explores the complex relationship between pain and positive emotions. She emphasizes the importance of acknowledging difficult emotions while also cultivating positive feelings such as love, joy, and gratitude. Through a discussion of ten specific positive emotio...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this conversation, Jennifer Griggs discusses the significance of naming emotions in the healing process, emphasizing how it aids in emotional recovery and allows individuals to explore deeper feelings that may have been suppressed. Takeaways The literature on forgiveness highlights the importance of nami...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode of the Dignity Lab, Jennifer Griggs discusses the importance of storytelling in the healing process after experiencing harm. She emphasizes the need to tell our stories in a way that allows for emotional detachment, which in turn can facilitate healing. Jennifer provides practical techniques...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode, Jennifer explores the universal needs that underpin human dignity and healing after harm. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing and understanding these needs, both for oneself and in relationships with others. The conversation delves into the impact of dignity violations, the collect...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode of the Dignity Lab, Jennifer Griggs explores the concept of dignity in the context of forgiveness and its alternatives. She discusses how understanding dignity can aid in healing from past hurts, emphasizing the importance of validating one's own experiences and recognizing the elements...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode of The Dignity Lab, Jennifer discusses the complexities of forgiveness, outlining five reasons why it may not be the right time to forgive. She emphasizes the importance of understanding what forgiveness is not, clarifying misconceptions, and ultimately defining forgiveness and its alternati...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast.  This season is for you if you’ve been hurt, and who hasn’t? It’s for you if healing feels complicated, unfinished, or unfair. It’s for you if you’ve ever been told to forgive before you were ready. In Season 5 of The Dignity Lab , we explore what it truly means to heal after violations of dignity. Drawing...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. This episode is for you if you want a comprehensive overview of dignity, exploring its definition, elements, and the impact of power dynamics on dignity violations. It’s for you if you’re a leader. It’s for you if you’ve been hurt, and who hasn’t? We discuss the vulnerability of dignity, how trauma and sham...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. Episode Resources: Dignity & Social Justice with Megan Albertson Megan Albertson on LinkedIn Exploring what it means to live and lead with dignity at work, in our families, in our communities, and in the world. What is dignity? How can we honor the dignity of others? And how can we repair and reclaim ou...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this conversation, Michelle Bernabe shares her journey from being a Columbia-trained nurse to her experiences in psychiatric emergency rooms and prisons. She emphasizes the importance of dignity in healthcare, the need for accountability in relationships, and the implications of cancel culture. Michelle...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Griggs speaks with Megan Albertson, the director of the Jackson Care Hub in Jackson, Michigan. They discuss the work being done in Jackson to create a more just and equitable healthcare system. Megan emphasizes the importance of understanding and addressing disparities in healt...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this bonus episode of The Dignity Lab , join us for a guided visualization that takes you to the top of a mountain, where you’ll call back a hawk as a symbol of reclaiming your dignity. This sensory meditation is perfect for grounding yourself, finding perspective, and reconnecting with yourself and your...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode of the Dignity Lab, Jennifer explores the relationship between dignity and listening. She discusses various listening approaches, including active, deep, and radical listening, and highlights the importance of emotions and of empathy in communication. Jennifer identifies common empathy block...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this dose of dignity, Jennifer describes the purpose and important of having a weekly meeting with oneself to enhance self-awareness, personal growth, and effective time management. She discusses the benefits of self-reflection, including improved problem-solving skills and stress management. Jennifer pr...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this conversation, Jennifer discusses the impact of the Victorian era and the Pre-Raphaelite movement on modern craft and dignity with designer Natalie Chanin. They explore the significance of hand craftsmanship, the relationship between dignity and work, and the need for a cultural shift in how we perce...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. This episode of the Dignity Lab focuses on how to receive feedback with dignity, exploring the physiological and emotional responses that occur when receiving critiques. Jennifer discusses the importance of understanding these reactions, especially for those who have experienced trauma, and offers practical...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode of the Dignity Lab, Jennifer discusses the importance of giving feedback through the lens of dignity. She explains how dignity relates to feedback, the preparation needed before giving feedback, and a structured process for delivering feedback that honors the dignity of all parties involved....

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this episode of the Dignity Lab, Jennifer explores the complex relationship between Thanksgiving and dignity, particularly in relation to Indigenous peoples. She discusses the true meaning of gratitude, differentiating between superficial forms of gratitude and a deeper, transformative practice that hono...

Join the dialogue - text your questions, insights, and feedback to The Dignity Lab podcast. In this brief update, Vanessa Aron, Producer of The Dignity Lab , shares that host Dr. Jennifer Griggs is taking this week off to support a dear friend in need. Vanessa highlights the importance of practicing the compassion and care often discussed on the podcast. She encourages listeners to use this pause...