Resiliency Within

Marc Straus will discuss his newly published memoir, One-Legged Mongoose, Secrets, Legacies and Coming of Age in 1950's New York The book documents two pivotal years of his childhood on Long Island, beginning with him being forced by his parents to leave public school and commute four hours a day to a Yeshiva in Queens. Marc Straus will share his unflinching look at child abuse in the home and his...

MERIEL SCHINDLER will share her journey in writing The Lost Café Schindler as she recounts the history of an extraordinary family. The Lost Café Schindler is a story of tragic loss—several of Meriel's relatives disappeared in Terezín and Auschwitz—but also one of reclamation and reconciliation. Beautifully written, it is an unforgettable portrait of an era and a testament to the pull that family h...

November is National Native American Heritage Month, which pays tribute to the rich history and culture of the indigenous people of the Americas. In 2009, during President Barack H. Obama's first term in office, November became National Native American Heritage Month. Magdalena Sunshine Serrano is an Indigenous woman of Serrano, Apache, and Tarahumara descent and Julene A. Jose, is an Indigenous w...

Building accessible interventions promoting mind and body health in rural America is possible. Research suggests that individuals living in rural areas are less likely than residents of urban areas to seek professional help for psychological distress for several reasons including stigma (both public and self-directed) and limited mental health literacy. Laurie Strand and Melissa Boley, both psycho...

Karin Weiri will discuss her new book, Achieving Peace, Purpose and Prosperity. As a society we have built a myopic view of mental health blaming the majority on genetics and leaving out environmental, societal trauma and influence. She will discuss how powerful the mind is and how to access our full potential when we learn how to use simple, yet powerful tools. The role of stress is huge as is th...

We are stuck in a pattern. Urgent headlines such as George Floyd's murder or the chaos of the Afghanistan withdrawal pulls our attention, demand our support but we consistently fail to achieve meaningful systematic change. All too often once the limelight fades on the "en vogue" issues of the moment, the issue is relegated to the special interest groups whose purpose was set up to keep on fighting...

Many of us needed a break from the pandemic and the usual windstorms of life. We needed a respite: a journey reminding us of decency, kindness, compassion and folksy wisdom. Over the last two seasons of Ted Lasso, an AppleTV+ original, we have laughed, cried and been deeply touched by the lived experiences of Ted Lasso and his crew. Ted Lasso is about "an American football coach hired to manage a...

Drs. Grabbe and Duva will discuss how healthcare workers can care for themselves during the pandemic and through the experience of moral injury. Dr. Wendy Dean stated that "Moral injury occurs when health care providers are "repeatedly expected, in the course of providing care, to make choices that transgress their long-standing, deeply held commitment to healing." From June to September, Mental H...

Every Memory Deserves Respect is a book written with warmth and heart. It's about trauma, recovery, and a remarkable therapy called EMDR—Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. The authors, Michael Baldwin, a client who experienced transformative relief from trauma through EMDR therapy, and Dr. Deborah Korn, a leading expert on EMDR therapy, will discuss the circumstances that brought them...

After Michelle was diagnosed with cancer a second time and endured a challenging treatment year, she was lost - emotionally and physically. She took a job at her son's school and had to quit after 3 days due to the pain in her body. Cue major soul searching; she needed to do SOMETHING. Thankfully, Breast Friends of Oregon was literally one mile from her house and she went in to volunteer. At this...

Gloria Simoneaux is the founder of Harambee Arts and two time Fulbright Scholar. She will share the work she has done with children all over the world to promote their wellbeing through the expressive arts and through community building. Harambee Arts promotes the well-being of children living in poverty who are often homeless, orphaned, abused and neglected. The show will discuss how her programs...

Children can be caught in the crossfire of parental disagreements with school's deciding to mask or not to require masks. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased stress, fear, and anxiety for many children. Many family members have reported increased challenges with their children's' behavior, including anxiety and acting out2. Making the transition from home to school will be harder for children with...

Gratitude, Happiness, Empathy, Kindness and Courage can be cultivated when faced when the unspeakable heartache and tragedy of the human experience. These themes are the essence of Joy Miller's gifts. She has asked world leaders from a bouquet of backgrounds to bring forth their wisdom on how to get through our current tumultuous times by asking them to reach into their hearts and share how they h...

As children are returning to school, many parents and children are experiencing anxiety. The anxiety may be sparked as parents leave their children in the care of others with a nagging worry about Covid-19 and whether it can spread throughout a school. Parents who believe in vaccinating may be worried about children who live with non-vaccinated parents and how that could impact their children's he...

Dr. Randall Bell will discuss his book, Post-Traumatic Thriving, the Art, Science and Stories of Resilience. Today we see crime, abuse, alcoholism, drugs, anger, and anxiety everywhere. Jails and prisons are crammed on an industrial scale. Recovery centers are packed with patients. Extreme political and religious groups regularly trap more members. Too many schools are simply factories for dropout...

Fires are devastating to communities and to the children, teens and adults grappling to survive and to recover. During the last week in Western United States, over 22,000 firefighters were combating wildfires, homes burned, and thousands of residents fled from the fast-moving flames. The Dixie Fire in Northern California and the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon are being further sparked by very dry...

Meet Me At the Shore: Tracking the Tide of Posttraumatic Growth After Human Trafficking and Trauma K Thomas, a trained trauma therapist and a survivor of sexual and relationship violence. K will weave their personal and professional journey through the challenges of healing, finding appropriate care, and the constant ebb and flow of posttraumatic growth. Working with North County Lifeline's Projec...

How do we fund innovative reforms to make mental health services that are trauma-informed and resiliency-focused more accessible? Two leaders in the field, Carey Smith Sipp and Jesse Kohler, advocates for reform in communities and in our legislature, will share their views and the importance of community members working together and using their voice to create change. They will help us understand...

Drs. Larry Ward and Peggy Rowe-Ward will address how we are all as a world community are impacted by Racism and how we can heal from the traumas that arise from Racism. Dr. Ward's book, America's Racial Karma published in September 2020 addresses how America can begin to heal. They have been teaching and practicing with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist...

Heidi Williams-Cooper and Lindy Settevendemie began working together just prior to the pandemic with Emory University's Social, Emotional, and Ethical (SEE) Learning program.  SEE Learning is an innovative K-12 education program, providing educators with the tools they need to foster the development of emotional, social, and ethical intelligence for students and themselves. Ms. Williams-Cooper and...

This month is PTSD Awareness Month. Kate Wheeler and Elaine Miller-Karas will dialogue about the treatment of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and how through two treatment methods, EMDR and the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM), healing is possible. EMDR treatment was recently highlighted by Oprah and Prince Harry as a treatment for trauma. PTSD is a mental health condition. It can occur in chil...

The internet and social media are often perceived as the bad guys as they have unfortunately been abused by perpetrators to target children, teens, and adults for bullying, sexual harassment, predatory grooming and sex-trafficking. But what if this same technologies could be used in a positive way to provide individuals, organizations, and communities with the knowledge and tools they need to addr...

During a two-year period in Santa Maria, California -a city of 103,000- there were 23 murders within 17 months. This epidemic had many contributing factors, including gun violence. As the community reeled and came together, one factor that arose was the need for accessible mental health services. Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley (FBSMV) was asked during this time to develop a violence reduction pr...

Preventing Child Abuse in Residential Facilities is the passionate commitment of our guests who are two of the founders of Breaking Code Silence, a newly formed nonprofit. Vanessa Hughes and Kathryn McNamara, both survivors of residential facilities, will share their lived experiences and discuss the Troubled Teen Industry, a multi-billion-dollar industry profiting off vulnerable children. They wi...

Clive Corry will discuss the mission and purpose of Action Trauma, the nonprofit he started in 2016 in the memory of his wife, after discovering that trauma, anxiety and stress may have contributed to her death from cancer. He will share the wisdom of his journey beautifully expressed, when he states, "my greatest personal achievements have been to discover, nurture, and practice, love, kindness,...