Announcements - TraumaWise

The November 2023 Becoming TraumaWise Summit brought together over 300 people from around the world – compassion-drained caregivers from every social sector learned from each other, connected with community, and left the summit with practical tools.

One of the things that we learned is that people are currently craving more context and containment when it comes to how they spend their time and energy. After months of discussion, research, and reflection, we believe we are ready to share the next best step for TraumaWise Summits!

Registration for each summit will open 3-4 weeks before the event, but if you would like to join the VIP list, you’ll be notified of any updates and notifications in advance!

Also, if you work in one of these areas and have lived experience and trauma wisdom to share, we invite you to apply to participate as a speaker.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to email Renae at renae@traumawise.com

It might surprise you to know that some days, I have an imaginary raincloud over my head.

Why am I sharing this with you?

Because yesterday was one of those days, and in the midst of it all, I realized something that might help someone else.

As you know, TraumaWise is all about equipping people who are ready to make changes to their systems through healthy relationship.

The thing about systems is that when they work well, we don’t think much about them. When they are functioning, we don’t experience friction or breakdowns. But when they don’t work….well, we tend to feel that pretty keenly. Even if we don’t think of it as a system issue, we know that something is not working.

I had a live webinar scheduled yesterday at 10 am, and I had tested my equipment the night before, had my slides all ready to go, and was so excited to talk about how to help people in a way that actually helps.

I did my morning routine, got everything ready, and logged in.

Except, I couldn’t.

For about 3 hours, I couldn’t get my computer to stay connected to the internet or to pretty much do anything it was supposed to. I’m fairly tech-savvy, but it got kind of ridiculous over here. I did ALL the things (yes, Earl, I restarted everything at least twice – thanks for checking). I called the interweb people. I took a break. I tried my hotspot.

In an effort to be vulnerable here (and it is often an effort), I admit I had some tears.

My system was broken – I felt stuck and kind of hopeless for a while.

So, I did what any reasonable person would and asked my bestie to text me gifs to make me laugh. And it worked. The clouds lifted, and I didn’t feel as stuck. I thought of a possible solution and began to put a plan in place.

My friend co-regulated me, which helped me feel connected and safe; I could finally access my internal wisdom.

This is what it is all about, friends. We need felt safety, connection, and co-regulation in order to overcome the fog of fear, hopelessness, and the effects of trauma.

If you have been trying to figure out how TraumaWise intersects with your work and life, I want you to know that wherever you are on your journey of bringing hope, community, and sustainability to your spaces and places, we’re here to support and equip you.

You have a role to play in creating the environments that bring people together to access their wisdom and heal systems that aren’t working.

When you are ready to take your next step, please let us know, and we’ll be right there with you!

As a person who cares, I’d be willing to bet that “avoiding burnout” is pretty high on your list of goals for how to end this year.

You’ve already done the face mask and the coffee break, you’ve done at least one trauma-informed training, and now you’re ready for more. You want to find a sustainable system solution filled with practical tools.

I’ve found that to access your internal wisdom, you usually need to have these 3 things:

1. Felt-Safety
While we are walking alongside people who are on a healing journey, we know that no lasting healing occurs when people are experiencing a lack of felt-safety. The truth is that when our brains and bodies are focused on staying safe, there are fewer resources and energy available to do that healing work, and sometimes the lack of safety can even re-injure. This can make the caregiving journey feel like it is never going to move to the next phase – it’s so frustrating!

2. Connection
Strengthening your connection to your authentic self and to other healthy people will give you the support that is needed when on a caregiving journey. The seat of mental health and whole-person wellness is activated and developed through our connections with others. Experiences may disrupt that connection, weakening our access to the parts of us that cope and lead us to clear strategies.

3. Co-Regulation
When we start to feel a stress response, it’s going to go one of two ways; either to where we can regulate our brains and bodies, or where we have moved outside of that capacity. Our best functioning comes when we have developed strategies for getting our needs met in healthy ways, and that is always done in relationship.

When we increase any of these in our individual systems and the ecosystems around us, we begin to create an environment in which we see healing, resilience, and the kind of sustainability required to maintain access to the best of ourselves.

That’s why I’m so excited that we’ll have whole days dedicated to all three of these areas of TraumaWise practices during The Becoming TraumaWise Summit, a free, online event from November 9-11!

At the summit, you will hear from 15+ lived-experience speakers who share their personal and professional experiences, followed by actionable tools to help you find hope, community, and sustainability.

The Becoming TraumaWise Summit was created with people who care like you in mind to help you sustain in your caregiving journey.

Grab your free ticket to The Becoming TraumaWise Summit, and I’ll see you there!

If you can’t make it for the live event, or if you want to go deeper, you’ll have a chance to nab a TraumaWise ToolKit, which will set you up for a fantastic start to 2024.

...it won't be as good!

At TraumaWise, we're all about making sure that what we do (1) meets expressed needs AND (2) is developed collaboratively.

We mean that so much that we're even doing something a little wild - we're inviting the community to participate in building the October 2023 TraumaWise Conference!

That's right - even if you can't make it or it's not your cup of tea, your voice and input matter, because YOU know what YOUR people need. Whether in your home, neighborhood, church, community, or workplace, you have a perspective that is important for us all to hear and be aware of.

So, with that in mind, we invite you to co-create with us!

Please feel free to share this form with others in your community or circles if you think they would like to help us build this next gathering to transform systems and expand trauma-informed communities.