June 2, 2025 • 45 mins
Hi!! I would love to hear from you!
What if everything you've been told about nurse burnout is wrong? Dr. Lorre Laws, integrative nursing professor with over 35 years in the healing arts, presents a revolutionary perspective: what healthcare professionals experience isn't mere burnout – it's occupational trauma with profound physiological impacts.
With equal parts scientific authority and spiritual wisdom, Dr. Lorre unveils how chronic workplace stress triggers cell danger response, causing mitochondrial dysfunction that manifests as chronic fatigue, brain fog, autoimmune conditions, and more. This groundbreaking framework explains why traditional "self-care" approaches fail and why we need trauma-informed healing strategies that begin at the cellular level.
The conversation delves into historical nurse trauma and system-induced gaslighting that keeps healthcare professionals marginalized despite being the linchpins of every healthcare system worldwide. Dr. Lorre shares her journey from teenage CNA to founding the Halen Academy, where she helps nurses stabilize their nervous systems through evidence-based, integrative approaches.
Most powerfully, Dr. Lorre offers immediate, practical tools anyone can implement – including her 30-second "Microdoses Matter" practice for nervous system regulation and the "Dr. Lorre Tuck-in Protocol" for clearing absorbed energies before sleep. These simple yet profound techniques help healthcare professionals maintain regulation even amid workplace chaos.
Ready to transform your understanding of healthcare trauma and discover evidence-based healing approaches? This episode provides both validation and actionable pathways toward genuine recovery. Visit drlorrielaws.com for free resources, masterclasses, and information about Dr. Lorre’s book "Nursing Our Healer's Heart."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm so excited to announce our guest today.
Dr Lori Laws, affectionatelyknown as Dr Lori, is a gifted
healer, a best-selling authorand an integrative nursing
professor who masterfully blendsscientific expertise and
intuitive wisdom.
You guys, I think she is just.
(00:21):
We were just scratching thesurface with some of the topics
we were able to cover with her,but she has over 35 years of
experience in the healing arts.
She guides individuals onprofound healing journeys,
helping them reconnect withtheir inner light and higher
purpose.
She has an amazing book calledNursing Our Healer's Heart
(00:43):
Trauma and it offers a holisticpath to recovery from trauma and
burnout, nurturing the soulwhile presenting groundbreaking
research.
So, as founder of a nonprofit,the Halean Academy, dr Lori
created a sacred space fortransformative healing,
including her powerful 12-weekHealer's Heart Academy.
(01:04):
Dr Lori's heart-centered,integrative approaches have
helped thousands in theirrecovery journeys, addressing
all aspects of personhood.
It was truly a pleasure and anhonor to speak with Dr Lori Laws
.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I am fabulous and I'm so happy to be here and I'm
connecting deeply with all thosebeautiful plants in your office
space.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Oh, thank you, I love it.
They make me feel at home.
So I have them all over myhouse probably too many, and I'm
always giving away the babies.
So I have them all over myhouse probably too many, and I'm
always giving away the babies.
So well, I love, so happy thatyou're on came on the show today
.
I love your mix.
Well, I love the level of thatyou have achieved in your career
.
So you bring a lot of weightbehind these discussions, which
(01:58):
is very exciting for me, butalso this balance of, like
spirituality, the holistic sideand then the scientific side.
So tell me a little bit aboutwhere your focus is these days,
because you have been in thisfield both for a long, long time
.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You have a lot of history, so yeah, I well you
know, I got my start as a CNAand and so, yeah, so before,
before I had my learner's permitto drive a car or my driver's
license or was able to vote, Iwas working in a skilled nursing
facility helping people withtheir end of life transitions,
(02:34):
and so that's where my healer'sheart got forged was, you know,
at a really, really early age,and life had other plans for me
than going to nursing school,which is where I was headed as a
young woman and I sustainedsome back injuries and because
(03:05):
we didn't have a family, andbecame very active in the
healing arts community as apractitioner, for oh gosh, oh
wow, yes, yes.
And so I I returned to theprofession and you know,
(03:31):
interesting because I had, I had.
When you enter the professionas a mature woman, any
profession, you bring with youyour life experience.
You also your nonsense meter,your shenanigans meter, is
highly tuned, and so you findthat you're willing to not be
(03:53):
mistreated or minimized ormarginalized in the ways that
many of us find ourselves beingtreated in our professional
roles.
And so I started professionalroles and so I started trying.
I wasn't quite sure why I wasreturning to nursing, because I
was answering a calling.
I'm very intuitive and I'm veryspiritually aligned and attuned
(04:15):
, and so I kept getting thiscalling and it was heal the
healers, heal the healers, healthe healers.
And so, you know, know, Iwasn't a nurse when I started
here.
So so it's like, well,certainly, nurses are healers.
I remember that from when I wasa a young girl and a teenager.
So so let me, let me go.
You know, start there with whatI knew.
(04:37):
And then there wasn't muchhealing as I knew it as a
healings arts practitioner,having facilitated healing
through a number of modalities.
And then I got into practice,at 51, by the time I finished
nursing school, and I wasdismayed, to be honest.
It wasn't what I had hoped for,and the burnout and the
(05:05):
compassion, fatigue, narrativeshad not changed in 50 years.
We are still having the sameconversations, we are still
gaslighting and blaming thevictim.
So, as part of, I graduated from, earned my master's and then
subsequently my PhD, and I wasteaching at the time for the
(05:25):
College of Social and BehavioralSciences, and this gave me a
multidisciplinary view into adifferent evidence base.
And so I had been, you know, asall of us.
We got our nursing theory, wegot all of the you know all of
the things in nursing school.
That kind of tells us a littlebit about how nurses are in
(05:47):
their practice.
And then I get over to socialbehavioral sciences and I
learned that from that lens,through that evidence base,
nurses are considered aoppressed, marginalized and
disenfranchised occupationalclass.
And that landed in ways thatinspired my whole program of
(06:14):
research, which is focused onavoidable nurse trauma, which is
frequently marginalized as justburnout.
So that brought me into thiswhole alchemy of now.
I'm an integrative nursingprofessor.
I did two integrativepost-doctorate fellowships in
integrative health and so that'show I was able to bridge, for
(06:37):
my own life experience, you know, the science and the
integrative and the spiritualityI was able to find.
You know what resonated with me, but it certainly didn't
present itself as I wastransitioning into traditional
practice, you know, in ahospital setting.
So that's kind of like thecliff notes of an old woman's
(06:58):
story.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I love.
I love this so much because,even though our stories are not
the same, I feel like there's somuch consistency and uh and uh
like alignment in a lot of ways.
I started off in mental healthand was very into my personal
holistic practices.
Hold on one second, my headjust walked.
I will cut that out.
(07:24):
I locked the front door and Iaccidentally locked him out
Oopsies.
Okay, no, I love that.
You said that because I startedmy career in the mental health
field.
I was like, fully into psychand nursing is a second career
for me.
I went at 30 and I was veryinto holistic practices
(07:45):
personally at that time and then, when I got inspired to be a
nurse, I've had these like big,beautiful, like bright, shiny
ideas about helping people andyou know I wanted to be involved
in health for the acute careaspect of it and then I got into
it and it doesn't reallypractice.
(08:05):
A lot of what we know keepspeople mentally healthy.
Very shocking for me.
I spent my most of my time incritical care, which is a very
unhealthy population, then endedup habitual burnout myself
having medical problems.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And now that I look back on it.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
with all this, like mental health, you know, all of
this um's been like quite ajourney and I wanted to step
fully away from the professionuntil I healed from burnout and
realized that the roleleadership and healthcare can
play in it, and so recently I'vestepped back into a leadership
role in an ICU setting, tryingto be a part of that, like
(08:42):
positive change in a brokensystem.
So I'm so interested in all thethings you have to say.
I feel like you're speakingdirectly to my career here.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So you would.
You would actually be, youwould actually be one of one of
my ideal clients.
So I founded a nonprofitorganization, which a lot of
people don't know.
I wrote.
I wrote the book at a nonprofitorganization which a lot of
people don't know.
I wrote the book Nursing OurHealer's Heart, which really
helps nurses such as yourselfwho have got to the point where
they think it's burnout.
I'm ready to leave theprofession.
(09:13):
I cannot do this in this manneranymore because I'm being
ground out like into hamburger.
It feels like you know when youget there, but it's really
occupational.
It's no specific trauma, whichis a whole, a whole different
way of healing Once you realizewhat the root cause is.
(09:33):
And and so I thought writingthe book.
I did the research and wrote thebook and I thought that that
would be my contribution to theprofession.
Right Cause here's, here'ssomething that any nurse
anywhere on the planet for under$20 can get in their living
room, as though they are in aconversation, in a coaching
sessions with me as we gothrough this whole healing
(09:55):
journey.
And then I quickly realizedthat healing needs to be
facilitated.
You know, we get informationand there's a limited amount of
healing that you can facilitatethrough the written medium.
So I don't want to discountthat.
As you know, it's a great placeto start, but the nurses I was
(10:15):
working with, they wanted moreand you know hospitals were like
how can we attract and retain ahealthy new graduate nurse
intern workforce Because we'reburning them out?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I was going to say the burnout rates are the
highest in our new nurses.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yes, yes, and they're the greatest at risk.
And so that led me to found theHalen Academy, where I offer
12-week programs that you cantake up to a year to really, and
for hospitals, so they canpartner and bring in their new
graduates so we can reallystabilize the nurse's nervous
(10:56):
system, because what we have nowit's occupational trauma.
So Dr Karen Foley, who works at,is a professor at Purdue
University.
She brought forth the nursemiddle range theory for nurse
psychological trauma and it's agift to our profession and it's
what my book is grounded in,because it gives us as nurse
(11:19):
leaders, as nurse advocates, asnurse practitioners, clinicians
and scientists, it gives us acommon, evidence-based language
now that we can really call whatis happening to us what it is.
So it's not burnout, it's notcompassion fatigue.
When you start doing a symptomcluster analysis amongst
(11:49):
nurse-specific trauma, ptsd, theSAMHSA's immediate and delayed
responses to trauma, and youstart, as I did, doing all of
the symptom cluster analysis,what you find is there's
tremendous, tremendous overlap.
And so, while we use the termsburnout kind of casually and
it's sort of this universallyaccepted phenomenon when you
(12:10):
start looking at the evidenceHealth Organization defines it
which gaslighting alert, it'soccupational stress that is not
(12:32):
being effectively met.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I know the definition is so silly and it's just that
it's occupational.
I'm like what a joke Our lives.
We wear so many hats these days.
It's such a joke.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I love that you put that out, though.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Thank you Well thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Well, it's like we have two bodies and it's that
mechanistic, you know, it's thatreductionistic sort of oh, you
have one nervous system and onebrain when you go to work, and
then you have another one Right,and so, by I mean, if you
really start leaning into that,then really what the World
Health Organization sorry, notsorry is saying, is that, well,
(13:06):
please dissociate as soon as youget to work.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Which a lot of us do.
That's why we were good at itsometimes, which this is
something I was going to ask youabout, because so two things I
found in speaking with peoplethat work specifically with
nurses through this podcast andthen myself and working with
people is that nurses sometimesare a very hard population to
treat because they are just oneof the last populations I feel
like to help themselves.
(13:29):
I feel like that's inherent inthe kind of people that choose
to be nurses, and I also knowthat you're talking about trauma
, healthcare trauma.
Like for me personally, part ofmy burnout was also healing
some trauma that I had prior tobecoming a nurse that made being
a nurse easier for me than itwould maybe someone who came
from a healthier background.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Right.
Well, we all self-select intothis for very personal reasons
and a lot of times it's becausewe do have trauma or we have
witnessed or been a part of aloved one's traumatic experience
, and so we feel drawn to theprofession.
I also think it's importantthat we recognize and bring
(14:12):
light to the fact that,historically speaking, we have
been conditioned to, to feelsubordinate less than secondary
to, and that we should just suckit up, buttercup and while you
should just, you know, pick upthe extra shift and oh, it's
your work, family, and oh, it'syour calling, and all of this,
(14:35):
you know, empathy, manipulation,that happens and I feel well
it's not even if I mean I dofeel it, but also my research
suggests is that this is what'sknown as historical nurse trauma
, right Of which nurses eatingtheir own is sort of a
subcategory of the last severalcenturies that you know we have
(15:03):
been in, these patriarchal,colonial systems and paradigms,
that nurses have beenhistorically conditioned to
think that we need to besubordinate to the AMA or
whatever you know, or providers,or physicians or the
organization, and this isreflected so glaringly in the
(15:33):
fact that physicians andproviders and nurse
practitioners you know they havereimbursement models.
Nurses are part of the room,charge like the fan in the
corner, like the pillow on thebed.
How much more egregious can yoube in subordinating and
(15:54):
minimizing the healers that areon the front line?
So you know, we have these hugesocial structures that I think
are contributing to keep nurses,because I find this too.
I've written the book, I have anon-profit, I have programs like
it's all light work for me, so,so I'm not here preying on the
suffering of my colleagues.
(16:14):
Right, this is, this is all.
This is all for for us, for usas a global community, and the
reasons that you say is that wehave been so beat down in our
professional roles and have been, you know, gaslit so many times
that we fundamentally, at ourcore, many of us, not all feel
(16:37):
that there is some deficit ordefect or flaw within us, as
opposed to turning that on theorganization and the system and
asking the hard question whereis your accountability?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I love that you say this.
I love this so much.
It's so powerful, and I don'tthink a lot of nurses see it
that way.
You know what I mean Until it'stoo late or until they're like
really suffering.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Right, and then.
So I have a good number ofnurses just as you described
your own beautiful story of here.
I was, you know, and my owndaughter.
My own daughter is a hospicenurse and she's in her third
year of practice now and she gotburned out within and
traumatized within four months.
And I was doing this researchat the time she was living in my
(17:23):
home, getting all the supportfrom one of the world's experts,
I say with humility, and Ihired an integrative nurse coach
for her to have weekly sessionsso that she would get the
support that she needed in thatvery rough first year.
That transition to practice andI'm watching this happen in my
(17:44):
own living room and I'm watchingit happen to nurses such as
yourself and so many is that weget dismayed, we think we're
getting burned out, but what isreally happening is that these
organizational and systemfactors result in avoidable
nurse-specific traumatization,right, and that leads to a whole
(18:06):
sequela of health consequencesand chronic conditions.
And I don't know if anyone onyour shows I'm sure people have
talked about polyvagal theory,but I don't know if anybody's
talked about cell dangerresponse theory to let people
know what is happening at thecellular level as a result of
the allostatic, chronic stressand trauma exposure load, and
(18:30):
that is really the root cause ofwhat is driving people like you
, like me, out of the profession, looking to pivot into
different ways to be of healingservice in our professional
roles.
That doesn't require us to besubjected to this trauma
exposure, because what really ishappening at the end of the day
, on the most fundamentalphysiological level, is that our
(18:55):
mitochondria we all rememberour good friends of mitochondria
right the the powerhouse of thecell, that which modulates so
many hormones and and our hpaaxis and is so involved in so
many things.
Well, what is happening andthis is why it's not burnout and
why we need to just reallyplease stop having that
(19:15):
conversation and start callingit what it is, which is no
specific trauma is that we needa whole approach, different
approach, evidence-basedapproach, which I have written
about and others to bring thishealing in, because what's
happening is that our cells,particularly the mitochondria,
they go into their own versionof fight or flight, if you will,
(19:38):
it's called cell dangerresponse and so the cell wall
thickens, it cannot produce theamount of energy that is
required to continue to keep upwith the inordinate amount of
trauma, exposure and stress thatwe are not built for chronic
stress.
We are built for acute bursts ofhyper acute or acute stress,
(20:00):
and so this is what iscontributing to the brain fog,
to the GI distress, thegut-wrenching, chronic fatigue,
to the point like on theweekends I can't even go on date
night with my partner or to mychild's sporting event because I
am so exhausted I can't dragmyself off the couch and we
(20:21):
think that there's somethingwrong with us.
But what we're experiencing isa natural physiological response
to the avoidable stressexposure.
86% of nurses report havinglittle to no and you know this
from being in mental healthlittle to no resources or
support to manage the trauma,and what really happens is that
(20:43):
we get another layer of what'scalled system-induced trauma.
So if you, like me, have everbeen battered in the line of
duty, which has happened to well, recently I spoke at a
conference and I had 200 nursesin my audience and I asked them
to please raise their hand.
How many of you have either?
Every single one, didn't theyAll but nine in 200.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I told my Surprised.
There's nine that haven't.
Were they brand new?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Right, I mean, they might have been students, yeah.
So then you go in, you know andfollow the chain of command and
policy, and then what's thefirst question you're asked when
you're reporting being batteredhow did you handle the
situation?
Yeah, how did you handle it?
Yeah, what could you have donedifferently?
And so what that is known as issystem-induced trauma, and so
(21:32):
that's putting workplaceviolence, trauma and adding a
whole nother layer of trauma ontop of it, and then we normalize
it and think that there'ssomething wrong with us as the
nurse.
And so that's why it's just soimportant.
I'm so grateful to be here,because you know we are all
together, coming together.
We know that a lot is wrong andwe can't fix the broken system,
(21:55):
right?
No, it is beyond us, right?
You know that would have beendone long and it's not in, quite
frankly, it's not in thesystem's interest to fix itself.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
No, it's not.
They don't want to fixthemselves.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So what we?
So what we do is we?
We stop drinking the burnout,compassion, fatigue, Kool-Aid
Now that we have new evidence,new science, a new middle range
theory surrounding nursepsychological trauma and we
start calling it what it isright.
And then that opens the gatewayso that we can start true
(22:31):
healing.
We can learn how to insulateour nervous system.
So, even though we're carryingthat trauma exposure in our
workplaces, we aren't affectedby it because we have learned
the language of our autonomicnervous system, our vagus nerve.
We understand how cell dangerresponse works.
This is evidence that is notbeing taught.
(22:52):
These are theories that are notbeing taught in nursing
curriculum.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I'm an integrative nursing professor, I was going
to say why don't they teach thisin nursing school?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well, I mean, I'm an integrative nursing professor at
an R1 university here in theUnited States.
So and so we're doing all ofthe curriculum redevelopment
using the ACN essentials, whichis the American Association of
College of Nursing ago now,where they asked for public
(23:27):
comment on on how the essentialsthat I and all nurse educators
in the country need to use toguide our, our curriculum and
how we teach and make sure thatevery nurse is prepared, right,
well prepared, to pass NCLEX.
Not necessarily, you know, butthat's a whole.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
nother, it's not really about the students either
.
Exactly, exactly.
It's a whole other issue and awhole other episode.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And none of this was in there.
So it's still the same burnoutgaslighting narrative that
nurses need to do betterself-care there was no
accountability for system ororganizational factors and
nurses need to do more with lessand we need to suck it up
buttercup.
And nurses need to do more withless and we need to suck it up
buttercup.
There was no trauma-informedself-care whatsoever and zero,
(24:10):
zero strategies surrounding howto get or keep ourselves from
going into a permanent state ofcell danger response, and and
that cell danger response leadsto things like migraines,
fibromyalgia I was going to sayall these um autoimmune diseases
that like every, every client Ihave what?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
so many of them?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
autoimmune diseases, you know, yes, rampant in women
in general right now yeah, theanxiety and depression and the
brain fog, gut dysbiosis, whichyou know.
You know the axis and those.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I think so many people are functioning with and
not even acknowledging that thatis existing in their life.
Do you know what I mean?
They're so used to it they'renot even acknowledging that
that's happening.
So many people.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And that's what's keeping them sort of like as you
said, you know earlierrefractory to seeking the help
that we need, because, becausethis has been going on for so
long, and then you know you'reyou're, in polyvagal theory, the
dorsal aspect of the vagusnerve over over prolonged stress
, after we burn through,sympathetic overdrive, the
(25:15):
hamster wheel phase right, andthen we go into the kind of the
freeze collapse phase wherewe're just like, we just can't,
we don't have, we don't have anymore fumes coming from the tank
for us to meet these demands.
And so it's really easy for anurse to feel, as I have been
told, and I am sure you have oh,there's nothing we can do.
(25:36):
Oh, you have migraines, youhave chronic fatigue.
All of these I have literallybeen diagnosed with chronic
fatigue.
All of these I have literallybeen diagnosed with Chronic
fatigue syndrome, migraines, ibs, anxiety, depression and, as it
turned out in my case I'm nottrying to generalize but, and
for a good number of the nursesthat I work with that once we
(26:00):
unwind and we heal the traumanot only the work-related trauma
, because it's often, as youastutely noted, connected to our
own personal trauma, whichevery person on the planet has
experienced, trauma right, andso this is a universal
phenomenon and so reallyunderstanding that and then
(26:32):
taking an approach to healingthe nervous system first, and
the cells, the mitochondria inparticular, that will give us
some energy.
We'll get out of that freezeresponse so that we can start
actively engaging in and I don'tuse the word self-care, but I'm
going to use it here, it hereso self-caring.
I use self-nurturing practicesto nourish our nervous system so
that we can stay in a state ofregulation, even if it's a
dumpster fire situation in yourworkplace.
(26:54):
And that is how we can keepourselves safe, healthy and
thriving in our roles,independent of external factors.
And then this is kind of theimportant thing and then, as
nurses who are not hemorrhagingfrom our wounds but instead are
healing together, individuallyand in community, that's when we
(27:18):
can start reclaiming ourempowerment.
We can come together ascommunities and and advocate and
lead the changes that we needto see.
But we, but the system.
Now I don't know if it's bydesign or not, I don't want to
be all conspiracy theory, butyou know.
But there is.
(27:38):
There is a systematic change,oppression of nurses that keeps
us unsafe and unwell in ourroles.
Whether intentional or not, thenet effect is the same.
Is that?
That is why we cannot cometogether as a global profession,
(28:00):
who we are?
Literally the linchpins ofevery health care system on this
planet, but we can't seem toget our advocacy together, we
can't seem to coalesce into thiscommunity that is requiring
these changes, and part of it isbecause we are so unwell that
(28:23):
we don't have the bandwidth,physiologically, we don't have
the energy, our mitochondriacan't take that on.
So we have to start there.
We start there and then, whenwe start getting regulated in
our own nervous system and westart getting our cells and our
mitochondria unstuck from thatdanger response, well then we
(28:47):
can start co-regulating.
So if you and I were co-workersand we had done all of this
work, then we would be the twopeople on our unit that people
would want to be around, andthey wouldn't even know why.
It wouldn't be our sparklingpersonalities, although that
might be part.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
It would be our grounded nervous systems that we
just I know know those peopleI've worked with them where I'm
just like right, let me talk toyou, let me bounce things off
you, because I want that I knowwhere they're at and where I'm
at buzzing you know right andthen below the level of our you
know higher brain functions.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
That's how mammals have survived.
We co-regulate and so so it'sour kind of our reptilian brain,
our reptilian nervous system isdrawn.
So if you're regulated andyou're grounded, I call them the
people of my life, I call themmy buddha incarnates, because no
matter what happens, they'rejust like zen right they're just
they just are so grounded andpresent and nothing really
(29:43):
knocks them off their center inthe ways that you know.
that you know, even I, after allof this, you know I still I'm a
human too and I'm still ahealing work in progress.
And so we find ourselves drawnto those in our kind of more
reptilian autonomic nervoussystem, because we are hardwired
evolutionary to co-regulate,and so we don't have to fix each
(30:07):
other as nurses.
We don't have to know eachother's trauma story.
In fact, please know, don'tthat will further traumatize, as
you well know, and so, but whatwe can do is show up in our
window of tolerance, where we'reregulated, and then, and let
nature's wisdom, the innatewisdom of each of our bodies,
(30:29):
knows what to do.
But we have to get out of offight or flight, we have to get
out of fawning and freeze and wehave to get out of cell danger
response before this is possiblein the collective.
And so then, when thecollective heals, anything is
possible.
When the collective heals,anything is possible, everything
is possible.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
So for nurses that are listening right now and are
like yes, yes, you're describingme.
What would you, what would youtell them, or where would you
advise them to start, or whereto you know, for people that are
really identifying with thisconversation and like I need
that, what advice would you givethem?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well, I mean again with humility.
This is, you know, I'm one ofthe top experts in this topic
because I've devoted my wholenursing career to it because it
just has to stop.
So I would recommend going tomy website, which is
drlaurielawscom, which I'llspell d-r-l-o-r-r-e-l-a-w-scom,
(31:29):
because my mom got real creativeand I have lots of resources.
Of course there's the bookNursing Our Healer's Heart.
I offer free masterclassesevery month.
I have a deep dive healers.
I have a free quiz.
A free assessment really isfive questions, where you can
just sort of like stick your toein the water, be curious, don't
have to pay anything.
(31:49):
I'll send you a report and kindof let you know where you're at
.
On the nurse trauma and it'snot just for nurses, it's
occupational trauma.
So if you're a healer, ahealthcare professional or a
nurse, this is for all of us.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
In this line of healing work I've heard massage
therapists carry a lot of trauma, which really surprised me.
But once I listened to themtalk I was like this makes sense
.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Right and you know, if you think about it, they're
really.
You know there's a, there's anenergetic transfer that's very
physical and very felt that if amassage therapist and I've
worked with many if they don'thave a really good grounding and
clearing before and postsession practice and they know
how to not sponge that up, theycan think it gets transmitted.
(32:40):
It's a.
You know, everything at the endof the day is an energy
frequency.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I love that you say that, because that's actually
something that's new to me.
In the last couple months thatI've started doing, I felt like
I've done a lot of healing work,but someone specifically said
to me you need to actively andconsciously clear your energy
every single day, especially thedays you're at the hospital
before and after you leave, andI something I've been doing and
(33:03):
I've totally noticed adifference, like in my personal
life and in my work life well, Ihave a two and I'll just share
this in case it's of help to toyou or your.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Your beautiful community that I, that I now
feel like I'm a part of, I'm sohappy.
So my on my bedside table Ihave a feather that I found.
You can buy feathers, you canfind that.
They come to me, feathers cometo me, feathers come to me, and
so you know and again that'spart of this my spiritual walk
is pretty profound for me and soI have a nice feather.
(33:36):
So at the end of the day, I donot get into my bed.
I will not get into my beduntil I use the feather to clear
my energy field from anythingthat is not mine.
And then I use a clear crystalyou can use anything that feels
good for you and then I do akind of a verbalization where I,
(33:57):
you know, I release any and allfrequencies, energies,
contracts, karmic bonds, anyenergies that are not mine or in
alignment with my divineblueprint, and I take that
crystal and I just kind of runit across all my body, just to
you know, really just settingthe intention that I am not
(34:20):
taking this into my sleep withme because that is a really
potent time for healing andrestoring that we all need.
And so why would you go to bedcarrying I mean even just in the
right day to day?
Because we're out at the grocerystore and we're we're in our
workplaces or we're at our, ourkids school for an event or
(34:42):
whatever, wherever life takes us.
But we are energetic beings andso we are picking up what's in
the energy field, just much likewe co-regulate, right, it's how
, it's how we survive below thelevel of our prefrontal and
frontal cortex that we arealways.
(35:02):
Porges calls it a threatdetector.
It's a process in the midbrainthat is 24-7 surveilling for
cues of danger internally orexternally.
And so we pick up all of thesecues, right, it's just part of
being alive, and so we have tojust like you know, you wouldn't
go a month without taking ashower, right?
(35:23):
Because we have to wash it offof us, and so the same thing is
true in our energy field andmaking sure that we do that
every night before bed.
And drop me an email and let meknow how that works for you,
because I'm telling you it's agame changer.
So I invite you all to join mein the Dr Lori tuck-in protocol.
There we just made a name forit.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I love it.
I mean, I've been practicing itjust for a few weeks now and
I've noticed a completedifference in how I feel like
walking and walking into work,so I love that you say that.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Thank you so much You're so welcome.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
There's one thing I asked all my guests.
I don't want to forget to askyou is whenever I always ask
everyone what their go-toself-care is.
When life is feeling veryoverwhelming, you know, when
you're in a real angsty periodlike what do you do to get
yourself back on track?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Or I will call it self-nurturing.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
When I ask you what is your go-to self-nurturing?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Well, one of the key practices in the book that I
have.
It's called the microdosesmatter and microdoses meaning
for our nervous system.
So microdoses of nurt, meaningfor our nervous system.
So micro doses of nurturancefor our nervous system.
And it can be done in as littleas 10 seconds and as many as 30
minutes, but usually on averageit's 30 seconds.
(36:38):
So maybe I can just quicklyoutline it and then we'll do one
together.
So the whole idea is that weneed to feel safe in our nervous
system for it to be regulated.
We have to feel safe and wehave to be safe and we can
accomplish that.
Even if the externalcircumstances suggest we're not,
we can partner with our body'swisdom and help it.
(36:59):
All right.
So the steps there's four stepsto the micro doses matters
practice.
The first one is to be in asafe space.
All right.
So right now I am, I can seethat you are.
But if you're at work andyou're really, you know I mean
it's a dumpster, fire, therestroom counts, an empty
patient room, an empty office,the stairwell, the garage, any
(37:23):
place that you can just dip intofor 30 seconds.
Now your overworked nervoussystem is going to tell you you
don't have 30 seconds.
I don't have 30 seconds.
Do it anyway, go find 30.
You do have 30 seconds unlessyou are actively giving
compressions during a code.
You have 30 seconds becauseI've even done this.
Walking to a coat right takesyou that long to walk.
(37:45):
So you know, insulate up mynervous system.
So the first thing is whatevera safe space, and if there
simply isn't one, then put abubble of protection around you
and put just an energetic bubble, so in your mind, yep, pop it
in.
Okay, so safe, safe.
The next thing is to ground andcenter.
Now I almost always have agrounding stone, as I have um
(38:08):
here.
But if you don't put your feeton the floor, because you always
have your feet with you andjust feel the connection between
your feet and the and the floorbelow you, oftentimes I will, I
will just notice the texture ofthis grounding stone.
I will let Mother Gaia, motherEarth, ground and nurture me,
because she's holding me all thetime, whether I'm aware of it
(38:30):
or not.
So we start with a safe space.
We're now grounding andcentering.
Now the third step is the mostimportant, which is signaling
safety to our nervous system,and the best, fastest way to do
that is to do a round of four byfour breathing.
So let's inhale two, three,four.
(38:51):
Hold two, three, four.
Exhale two, three, four.
Relax, two, three, four.
Another thing if breathingisn't your thing because it's
not for everybody, then lookaround the room and notice and
name five things.
Okay, so I'm noticing the pinkflowers behind me.
I'm noticing that I have a book.
(39:13):
I'm noticing that I have ablack shirt on.
I'm noticing that I have anecklace.
I'm noticing that I have agrounding stone.
And that's another way, becausewhen we're running from a
saber-toothed tiger, we don'tnotice a name, right?
So it's another way for us tosignal safety.
And then the last step isputting both of your hands over
your heart, which of itself isso therapeutic.
(39:35):
Notice what happens.
You are now self-grounding, andthen take a moment, soften or
close your eyes and remember andconnect with your why?
For what matters most, the lovethat you are and the love, the
divine love, that is here foryou every waking moment of every
(39:59):
waking day.
And all we need to do is thisto receive Just tune in.
All right, so now let's do oneof these.
Let's say we're at a really busyday at work and it's a dumpster
fire and my patients or mycolleagues are on my last frayed
nerve.
I've got 2 000 things to do andI've got 10 minutes to get them
done, and I'm freaking out alittle bit and I'm like, oh my
(40:22):
god, I can't, I can't get to,and we're kind of in that
anxious kind of state.
All right, so let's do it in 30seconds or less, okay?
First, safe place.
I'm walking to a safe place.
I'm going into the restroom.
I'm going to an empty room.
I'm putting a bubble around me.
If there isn't one, okay, I'min my safe place.
I'm noticing that I'm eitherreaching in my pocket and
(40:42):
pulling out a grounding stone,I'm feeling my feet on the floor
, I'm connecting to mother earth, our beautiful mother gaia.
She is holding me and groundingme and I'm releasing all that
stress at the bottom of my feetand bringing up all this
nourishment while I take a roundof four by four, breathing,
inhale two, three, four.
Hold four.
(41:04):
Exhale two, three, four.
Relax, two, three, four, handson healer's heart, feeling the
love that I am, the love that weare, the unconditional love
that is here for me Every wakingmoment, connecting to my why,
(41:27):
what matters most?
And then you usually find youhave more than 30 seconds, so
take, take the full minute, andso my recommendation is to do
this at least once an hour.
You can do it while you'rewalking down the hall.
A lot of times I'll use that'swhy I use this necklace as my
(41:48):
grounding stone.
Or sometimes I just have a postearring which I'm allowed to
wear at work and I might justtouch my earring.
You know, there's so many waysto get creative about doing this
, and I have a hundred practiceslike this in my book, but
that's one that we can all takewith us and no matter where you
are, no matter how horrific orchallenging the circumstances,
(42:11):
microdose some nurturance toyour nervous system so it can
stabilize.
It will then help yourmitochondria relax so they can
produce more energy.
It will get you out of flightor fight or it will elevate you
out of that freeze response soyou can approach nervous system
regulation.
(42:31):
And don't you even feel betterafter doing that?
For just 30 seconds, I feltbetter immediately.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Honestly, when we did the first time immediately, I
loved it.
I appreciate that.
That's so helpful and so useful.
So, and I feel like we're justscratching the surface of what
you have to share, dr Laurie,honestly.
So this is well you know what?
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I will come back whenever your community is ready
for another dose of Dr Laurie.
I will be here for y'allbecause I just I'm feeling you
and I'm just, I'm just sograteful for each and every one
and all that you are and do,because I see you in your divine
light and your radiance.
So keep leaning in, keephealing and keep being you in
(43:12):
your most authentic expression.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Oh, that's so beautiful.
Thank you so much, and I reallyI we're going to definitely
have to have you back to learnall the wonderful things that
are in your head, because I cantell you are just a wealth of
knowledge.
So thank you so much for beinghere, thank you.
I'm so excited to announce our guest today.
Dr Lori Laws, affectionatelyknown as Dr Lori, is a gifted
healer, a best-selling authorand an integrative nursing
professor who masterfully blendsscientific expertise and
intuitive wisdom.
You guys, I think she is just.
(00:21):
We were just scratching thesurface with some of the topics
we were able to cover with her,but she has over 35 years of
experience in the healing arts.
She guides individuals onprofound healing journeys,
helping them reconnect withtheir inner light and higher
purpose.
She has an amazing book calledNursing Our Healer's Heart
(00:43):
Trauma and it offers a holisticpath to recovery from trauma and
burnout, nurturing the soulwhile presenting groundbreaking
research.
So, as founder of a nonprofit,the Halean Academy, dr Lori
created a sacred space fortransformative healing,
including her powerful 12-weekHealer's Heart Academy.
(01:04):
Dr Lori's heart-centered,integrative approaches have
helped thousands in theirrecovery journeys, addressing
all aspects of personhood.
It was truly a pleasure and anhonor to speak with Dr Lori Laws
.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I am fabulous and I'm so happy to be here and I'm
connecting deeply with all thosebeautiful plants in your office
space.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Oh, thank you, I love it.
They make me feel at home.
So I have them all over myhouse probably too many, and I'm
always giving away the babies.
So I have them all over myhouse probably too many, and I'm
always giving away the babies.
So well, I love, so happy thatyou're on came on the show today
.
I love your mix.
Well, I love the level of thatyou have achieved in your career
.
So you bring a lot of weightbehind these discussions, which
(01:58):
is very exciting for me, butalso this balance of, like
spirituality, the holistic sideand then the scientific side.
So tell me a little bit aboutwhere your focus is these days,
because you have been in thisfield both for a long, long time
.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You have a lot of history, so yeah, I well you
know, I got my start as a CNAand and so, yeah, so before,
before I had my learner's permitto drive a car or my driver's
license or was able to vote, Iwas working in a skilled nursing
facility helping people withtheir end of life transitions,
(02:34):
and so that's where my healer'sheart got forged was, you know,
at a really, really early age,and life had other plans for me
than going to nursing school,which is where I was headed as a
young woman and I sustainedsome back injuries and because
(03:05):
we didn't have a family, andbecame very active in the
healing arts community as apractitioner, for oh gosh, oh
wow, yes, yes.
And so I I returned to theprofession and you know,
(03:31):
interesting because I had, I had.
When you enter the professionas a mature woman, any
profession, you bring with youyour life experience.
You also your nonsense meter,your shenanigans meter, is
highly tuned, and so you findthat you're willing to not be
(03:53):
mistreated or minimized ormarginalized in the ways that
many of us find ourselves beingtreated in our professional
roles.
And so I started professionalroles and so I started trying.
I wasn't quite sure why I wasreturning to nursing, because I
was answering a calling.
I'm very intuitive and I'm veryspiritually aligned and attuned
(04:15):
, and so I kept getting thiscalling and it was heal the
healers, heal the healers, healthe healers.
And so, you know, know, Iwasn't a nurse when I started
here.
So so it's like, well,certainly, nurses are healers.
I remember that from when I wasa a young girl and a teenager.
So so let me, let me go.
You know, start there with whatI knew.
(04:37):
And then there wasn't muchhealing as I knew it as a
healings arts practitioner,having facilitated healing
through a number of modalities.
And then I got into practice,at 51, by the time I finished
nursing school, and I wasdismayed, to be honest.
It wasn't what I had hoped for,and the burnout and the
(05:05):
compassion, fatigue, narrativeshad not changed in 50 years.
We are still having the sameconversations, we are still
gaslighting and blaming thevictim.
So, as part of, I graduated from, earned my master's and then
subsequently my PhD, and I wasteaching at the time for the
(05:25):
College of Social and BehavioralSciences, and this gave me a
multidisciplinary view into adifferent evidence base.
And so I had been, you know, asall of us.
We got our nursing theory, wegot all of the you know all of
the things in nursing school.
That kind of tells us a littlebit about how nurses are in
(05:47):
their practice.
And then I get over to socialbehavioral sciences and I
learned that from that lens,through that evidence base,
nurses are considered aoppressed, marginalized and
disenfranchised occupationalclass.
And that landed in ways thatinspired my whole program of
(06:14):
research, which is focused onavoidable nurse trauma, which is
frequently marginalized as justburnout.
So that brought me into thiswhole alchemy of now.
I'm an integrative nursingprofessor.
I did two integrativepost-doctorate fellowships in
integrative health and so that'show I was able to bridge, for
(06:37):
my own life experience, you know, the science and the
integrative and the spiritualityI was able to find.
You know what resonated with me, but it certainly didn't
present itself as I wastransitioning into traditional
practice, you know, in ahospital setting.
So that's kind of like thecliff notes of an old woman's
(06:58):
story.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I love.
I love this so much because,even though our stories are not
the same, I feel like there's somuch consistency and uh and uh
like alignment in a lot of ways.
I started off in mental healthand was very into my personal
holistic practices.
Hold on one second, my headjust walked.
I will cut that out.
(07:24):
I locked the front door and Iaccidentally locked him out
Oopsies.
Okay, no, I love that.
You said that because I startedmy career in the mental health
field.
I was like, fully into psychand nursing is a second career
for me.
I went at 30 and I was veryinto holistic practices
(07:45):
personally at that time and then, when I got inspired to be a
nurse, I've had these like big,beautiful, like bright, shiny
ideas about helping people andyou know I wanted to be involved
in health for the acute careaspect of it and then I got into
it and it doesn't reallypractice.
(08:05):
A lot of what we know keepspeople mentally healthy.
Very shocking for me.
I spent my most of my time incritical care, which is a very
unhealthy population, then endedup habitual burnout myself
having medical problems.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And now that I look back on it.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
with all this, like mental health, you know, all of
this um's been like quite ajourney and I wanted to step
fully away from the professionuntil I healed from burnout and
realized that the roleleadership and healthcare can
play in it, and so recently I'vestepped back into a leadership
role in an ICU setting, tryingto be a part of that, like
(08:42):
positive change in a brokensystem.
So I'm so interested in all thethings you have to say.
I feel like you're speakingdirectly to my career here.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
So you would.
You would actually be, youwould actually be one of one of
my ideal clients.
So I founded a nonprofitorganization, which a lot of
people don't know.
I wrote.
I wrote the book at a nonprofitorganization which a lot of
people don't know.
I wrote the book Nursing OurHealer's Heart, which really
helps nurses such as yourselfwho have got to the point where
they think it's burnout.
I'm ready to leave theprofession.
(09:13):
I cannot do this in this manneranymore because I'm being
ground out like into hamburger.
It feels like you know when youget there, but it's really
occupational.
It's no specific trauma, whichis a whole, a whole different
way of healing Once you realizewhat the root cause is.
(09:33):
And and so I thought writingthe book.
I did the research and wrote thebook and I thought that that
would be my contribution to theprofession.
Right Cause here's, here'ssomething that any nurse
anywhere on the planet for under$20 can get in their living
room, as though they are in aconversation, in a coaching
sessions with me as we gothrough this whole healing
(09:55):
journey.
And then I quickly realizedthat healing needs to be
facilitated.
You know, we get informationand there's a limited amount of
healing that you can facilitatethrough the written medium.
So I don't want to discountthat.
As you know, it's a great placeto start, but the nurses I was
(10:15):
working with, they wanted moreand you know hospitals were like
how can we attract and retain ahealthy new graduate nurse
intern workforce Because we'reburning them out?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I was going to say the burnout rates are the
highest in our new nurses.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yes, yes, and they're the greatest at risk.
And so that led me to found theHalen Academy, where I offer
12-week programs that you cantake up to a year to really, and
for hospitals, so they canpartner and bring in their new
graduates so we can reallystabilize the nurse's nervous
(10:56):
system, because what we have nowit's occupational trauma.
So Dr Karen Foley, who works at,is a professor at Purdue
University.
She brought forth the nursemiddle range theory for nurse
psychological trauma and it's agift to our profession and it's
what my book is grounded in,because it gives us as nurse
(11:19):
leaders, as nurse advocates, asnurse practitioners, clinicians
and scientists, it gives us acommon, evidence-based language
now that we can really call whatis happening to us what it is.
So it's not burnout, it's notcompassion fatigue.
When you start doing a symptomcluster analysis amongst
(11:49):
nurse-specific trauma, ptsd, theSAMHSA's immediate and delayed
responses to trauma, and youstart, as I did, doing all of
the symptom cluster analysis,what you find is there's
tremendous, tremendous overlap.
And so, while we use the termsburnout kind of casually and
it's sort of this universallyaccepted phenomenon when you
(12:10):
start looking at the evidenceHealth Organization defines it
which gaslighting alert, it'soccupational stress that is not
(12:32):
being effectively met.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I know the definition is so silly and it's just that
it's occupational.
I'm like what a joke Our lives.
We wear so many hats these days.
It's such a joke.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I love that you put that out, though.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Thank you Well thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Well, it's like we have two bodies and it's that
mechanistic, you know, it's thatreductionistic sort of oh, you
have one nervous system and onebrain when you go to work, and
then you have another one Right,and so, by I mean, if you
really start leaning into that,then really what the World
Health Organization sorry, notsorry is saying, is that, well,
(13:06):
please dissociate as soon as youget to work.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Which a lot of us do.
That's why we were good at itsometimes, which this is
something I was going to ask youabout, because so two things I
found in speaking with peoplethat work specifically with
nurses through this podcast andthen myself and working with
people is that nurses sometimesare a very hard population to
treat because they are just oneof the last populations I feel
like to help themselves.
(13:29):
I feel like that's inherent inthe kind of people that choose
to be nurses, and I also knowthat you're talking about trauma
, healthcare trauma.
Like for me personally, part ofmy burnout was also healing
some trauma that I had prior tobecoming a nurse that made being
a nurse easier for me than itwould maybe someone who came
from a healthier background.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Right.
Well, we all self-select intothis for very personal reasons
and a lot of times it's becausewe do have trauma or we have
witnessed or been a part of aloved one's traumatic experience
, and so we feel drawn to theprofession.
I also think it's importantthat we recognize and bring
(14:12):
light to the fact that,historically speaking, we have
been conditioned to, to feelsubordinate less than secondary
to, and that we should just suckit up, buttercup and while you
should just, you know, pick upthe extra shift and oh, it's
your work, family, and oh, it'syour calling, and all of this,
(14:35):
you know, empathy, manipulation,that happens and I feel well
it's not even if I mean I dofeel it, but also my research
suggests is that this is what'sknown as historical nurse trauma
, right Of which nurses eatingtheir own is sort of a
subcategory of the last severalcenturies that you know we have
(15:03):
been in, these patriarchal,colonial systems and paradigms,
that nurses have beenhistorically conditioned to
think that we need to besubordinate to the AMA or
whatever you know, or providers,or physicians or the
organization, and this isreflected so glaringly in the
(15:33):
fact that physicians andproviders and nurse
practitioners you know they havereimbursement models.
Nurses are part of the room,charge like the fan in the
corner, like the pillow on thebed.
How much more egregious can yoube in subordinating and
(15:54):
minimizing the healers that areon the front line?
So you know, we have these hugesocial structures that I think
are contributing to keep nurses,because I find this too.
I've written the book, I have anon-profit, I have programs like
it's all light work for me, so,so I'm not here preying on the
suffering of my colleagues.
(16:14):
Right, this is, this is all.
This is all for for us, for usas a global community, and the
reasons that you say is that wehave been so beat down in our
professional roles and have been, you know, gaslit so many times
that we fundamentally, at ourcore, many of us, not all feel
(16:37):
that there is some deficit ordefect or flaw within us, as
opposed to turning that on theorganization and the system and
asking the hard question whereis your accountability?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I love that you say this.
I love this so much.
It's so powerful, and I don'tthink a lot of nurses see it
that way.
You know what I mean Until it'stoo late or until they're like
really suffering.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Right, and then.
So I have a good number ofnurses just as you described
your own beautiful story of here.
I was, you know, and my owndaughter.
My own daughter is a hospicenurse and she's in her third
year of practice now and she gotburned out within and
traumatized within four months.
And I was doing this researchat the time she was living in my
(17:23):
home, getting all the supportfrom one of the world's experts,
I say with humility, and Ihired an integrative nurse coach
for her to have weekly sessionsso that she would get the
support that she needed in thatvery rough first year.
That transition to practice andI'm watching this happen in my
(17:44):
own living room and I'm watchingit happen to nurses such as
yourself and so many is that weget dismayed, we think we're
getting burned out, but what isreally happening is that these
organizational and systemfactors result in avoidable
nurse-specific traumatization,right, and that leads to a whole
(18:06):
sequela of health consequencesand chronic conditions.
And I don't know if anyone onyour shows I'm sure people have
talked about polyvagal theory,but I don't know if anybody's
talked about cell dangerresponse theory to let people
know what is happening at thecellular level as a result of
the allostatic, chronic stressand trauma exposure load, and
(18:30):
that is really the root cause ofwhat is driving people like you
, like me, out of the profession, looking to pivot into
different ways to be of healingservice in our professional
roles.
That doesn't require us to besubjected to this trauma
exposure, because what really ishappening at the end of the day
, on the most fundamentalphysiological level, is that our
(18:55):
mitochondria we all rememberour good friends of mitochondria
right the the powerhouse of thecell, that which modulates so
many hormones and and our hpaaxis and is so involved in so
many things.
Well, what is happening andthis is why it's not burnout and
why we need to just reallyplease stop having that
(19:15):
conversation and start callingit what it is, which is no
specific trauma is that we needa whole approach, different
approach, evidence-basedapproach, which I have written
about and others to bring thishealing in, because what's
happening is that our cells,particularly the mitochondria,
they go into their own versionof fight or flight, if you will,
(19:38):
it's called cell dangerresponse and so the cell wall
thickens, it cannot produce theamount of energy that is
required to continue to keep upwith the inordinate amount of
trauma, exposure and stress thatwe are not built for chronic
stress.
We are built for acute bursts ofhyper acute or acute stress,
(20:00):
and so this is what iscontributing to the brain fog,
to the GI distress, thegut-wrenching, chronic fatigue,
to the point like on theweekends I can't even go on date
night with my partner or to mychild's sporting event because I
am so exhausted I can't dragmyself off the couch and we
(20:21):
think that there's somethingwrong with us.
But what we're experiencing isa natural physiological response
to the avoidable stressexposure.
86% of nurses report havinglittle to no and you know this
from being in mental healthlittle to no resources or
support to manage the trauma,and what really happens is that
(20:43):
we get another layer of what'scalled system-induced trauma.
So if you, like me, have everbeen battered in the line of
duty, which has happened to well, recently I spoke at a
conference and I had 200 nursesin my audience and I asked them
to please raise their hand.
How many of you have either?
Every single one, didn't theyAll but nine in 200.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I told my Surprised.
There's nine that haven't.
Were they brand new?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Right, I mean, they might have been students, yeah.
So then you go in, you know andfollow the chain of command and
policy, and then what's thefirst question you're asked when
you're reporting being batteredhow did you handle the
situation?
Yeah, how did you handle it?
Yeah, what could you have donedifferently?
And so what that is known as issystem-induced trauma, and so
(21:32):
that's putting workplaceviolence, trauma and adding a
whole nother layer of trauma ontop of it, and then we normalize
it and think that there'ssomething wrong with us as the
nurse.
And so that's why it's just soimportant.
I'm so grateful to be here,because you know we are all
together, coming together.
We know that a lot is wrong andwe can't fix the broken system,
(21:55):
right?
No, it is beyond us, right?
You know that would have beendone long and it's not in, quite
frankly, it's not in thesystem's interest to fix itself.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
No, it's not.
They don't want to fixthemselves.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So what we?
So what we do is we?
We stop drinking the burnout,compassion, fatigue, Kool-Aid
Now that we have new evidence,new science, a new middle range
theory surrounding nursepsychological trauma and we
start calling it what it isright.
And then that opens the gatewayso that we can start true
(22:31):
healing.
We can learn how to insulateour nervous system.
So, even though we're carryingthat trauma exposure in our
workplaces, we aren't affectedby it because we have learned
the language of our autonomicnervous system, our vagus nerve.
We understand how cell dangerresponse works.
This is evidence that is notbeing taught.
(22:52):
These are theories that are notbeing taught in nursing
curriculum.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I'm an integrative nursing professor, I was going
to say why don't they teach thisin nursing school?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well, I mean, I'm an integrative nursing professor at
an R1 university here in theUnited States.
So and so we're doing all ofthe curriculum redevelopment
using the ACN essentials, whichis the American Association of
College of Nursing ago now,where they asked for public
(23:27):
comment on on how the essentialsthat I and all nurse educators
in the country need to use toguide our, our curriculum and
how we teach and make sure thatevery nurse is prepared, right,
well prepared, to pass NCLEX.
Not necessarily, you know, butthat's a whole.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
nother, it's not really about the students either
.
Exactly, exactly.
It's a whole other issue and awhole other episode.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And none of this was in there.
So it's still the same burnoutgaslighting narrative that
nurses need to do betterself-care there was no
accountability for system ororganizational factors and
nurses need to do more with lessand we need to suck it up
buttercup.
And nurses need to do more withless and we need to suck it up
buttercup.
There was no trauma-informedself-care whatsoever and zero,
(24:10):
zero strategies surrounding howto get or keep ourselves from
going into a permanent state ofcell danger response, and and
that cell danger response leadsto things like migraines,
fibromyalgia I was going to sayall these um autoimmune diseases
that like every, every client Ihave what?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
so many of them?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
autoimmune diseases, you know, yes, rampant in women
in general right now yeah, theanxiety and depression and the
brain fog, gut dysbiosis, whichyou know.
You know the axis and those.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I think so many people are functioning with and
not even acknowledging that thatis existing in their life.
Do you know what I mean?
They're so used to it they'renot even acknowledging that
that's happening.
So many people.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And that's what's keeping them sort of like as you
said, you know earlierrefractory to seeking the help
that we need, because, becausethis has been going on for so
long, and then you know you'reyou're, in polyvagal theory, the
dorsal aspect of the vagusnerve over over prolonged stress
, after we burn through,sympathetic overdrive, the
(25:15):
hamster wheel phase right, andthen we go into the kind of the
freeze collapse phase wherewe're just like, we just can't,
we don't have, we don't have anymore fumes coming from the tank
for us to meet these demands.
And so it's really easy for anurse to feel, as I have been
told, and I am sure you have oh,there's nothing we can do.
(25:36):
Oh, you have migraines, youhave chronic fatigue.
All of these I have literallybeen diagnosed with chronic
fatigue.
All of these I have literallybeen diagnosed with Chronic
fatigue syndrome, migraines, ibs, anxiety, depression and, as it
turned out in my case I'm nottrying to generalize but, and
for a good number of the nursesthat I work with that once we
(26:00):
unwind and we heal the traumanot only the work-related trauma
, because it's often, as youastutely noted, connected to our
own personal trauma, whichevery person on the planet has
experienced, trauma right, andso this is a universal
phenomenon and so reallyunderstanding that and then
(26:32):
taking an approach to healingthe nervous system first, and
the cells, the mitochondria inparticular, that will give us
some energy.
We'll get out of that freezeresponse so that we can start
actively engaging in and I don'tuse the word self-care, but I'm
going to use it here, it hereso self-caring.
I use self-nurturing practicesto nourish our nervous system so
that we can stay in a state ofregulation, even if it's a
dumpster fire situation in yourworkplace.
(26:54):
And that is how we can keepourselves safe, healthy and
thriving in our roles,independent of external factors.
And then this is kind of theimportant thing and then, as
nurses who are not hemorrhagingfrom our wounds but instead are
healing together, individuallyand in community, that's when we
(27:18):
can start reclaiming ourempowerment.
We can come together ascommunities and and advocate and
lead the changes that we needto see.
But we, but the system.
Now I don't know if it's bydesign or not, I don't want to
be all conspiracy theory, butyou know.
But there is.
(27:38):
There is a systematic change,oppression of nurses that keeps
us unsafe and unwell in ourroles.
Whether intentional or not, thenet effect is the same.
Is that?
That is why we cannot cometogether as a global profession,
(28:00):
who we are?
Literally the linchpins ofevery health care system on this
planet, but we can't seem toget our advocacy together, we
can't seem to coalesce into thiscommunity that is requiring
these changes, and part of it isbecause we are so unwell that
(28:23):
we don't have the bandwidth,physiologically, we don't have
the energy, our mitochondriacan't take that on.
So we have to start there.
We start there and then, whenwe start getting regulated in
our own nervous system and westart getting our cells and our
mitochondria unstuck from thatdanger response, well then we
(28:47):
can start co-regulating.
So if you and I were co-workersand we had done all of this
work, then we would be the twopeople on our unit that people
would want to be around, andthey wouldn't even know why.
It wouldn't be our sparklingpersonalities, although that
might be part.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
It would be our grounded nervous systems that we
just I know know those peopleI've worked with them where I'm
just like right, let me talk toyou, let me bounce things off
you, because I want that I knowwhere they're at and where I'm
at buzzing you know right andthen below the level of our you
know higher brain functions.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
That's how mammals have survived.
We co-regulate and so so it'sour kind of our reptilian brain,
our reptilian nervous system isdrawn.
So if you're regulated andyou're grounded, I call them the
people of my life, I call themmy buddha incarnates, because no
matter what happens, they'rejust like zen right they're just
they just are so grounded andpresent and nothing really
(29:43):
knocks them off their center inthe ways that you know.
that you know, even I, after allof this, you know I still I'm a
human too and I'm still ahealing work in progress.
And so we find ourselves drawnto those in our kind of more
reptilian autonomic nervoussystem, because we are hardwired
evolutionary to co-regulate,and so we don't have to fix each
(30:07):
other as nurses.
We don't have to know eachother's trauma story.
In fact, please know, don'tthat will further traumatize, as
you well know, and so, but whatwe can do is show up in our
window of tolerance, where we'reregulated, and then, and let
nature's wisdom, the innatewisdom of each of our bodies,
(30:29):
knows what to do.
But we have to get out of offight or flight, we have to get
out of fawning and freeze and wehave to get out of cell danger
response before this is possiblein the collective.
And so then, when thecollective heals, anything is
possible.
When the collective heals,anything is possible, everything
is possible.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
So for nurses that are listening right now and are
like yes, yes, you're describingme.
What would you, what would youtell them, or where would you
advise them to start, or whereto you know, for people that are
really identifying with thisconversation and like I need
that, what advice would you givethem?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well, I mean again with humility.
This is, you know, I'm one ofthe top experts in this topic
because I've devoted my wholenursing career to it because it
just has to stop.
So I would recommend going tomy website, which is
drlaurielawscom, which I'llspell d-r-l-o-r-r-e-l-a-w-scom,
(31:29):
because my mom got real creativeand I have lots of resources.
Of course there's the bookNursing Our Healer's Heart.
I offer free masterclassesevery month.
I have a deep dive healers.
I have a free quiz.
A free assessment really isfive questions, where you can
just sort of like stick your toein the water, be curious, don't
have to pay anything.
(31:49):
I'll send you a report and kindof let you know where you're at
.
On the nurse trauma and it'snot just for nurses, it's
occupational trauma.
So if you're a healer, ahealthcare professional or a
nurse, this is for all of us.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
In this line of healing work I've heard massage
therapists carry a lot of trauma, which really surprised me.
But once I listened to themtalk I was like this makes sense
.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Right and you know, if you think about it, they're
really.
You know there's a, there's anenergetic transfer that's very
physical and very felt that if amassage therapist and I've
worked with many if they don'thave a really good grounding and
clearing before and postsession practice and they know
how to not sponge that up, theycan think it gets transmitted.
(32:40):
It's a.
You know, everything at the endof the day is an energy
frequency.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I love that you say that, because that's actually
something that's new to me.
In the last couple months thatI've started doing, I felt like
I've done a lot of healing work,but someone specifically said
to me you need to actively andconsciously clear your energy
every single day, especially thedays you're at the hospital
before and after you leave, andI something I've been doing and
(33:03):
I've totally noticed adifference, like in my personal
life and in my work life well, Ihave a two and I'll just share
this in case it's of help to toyou or your.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Your beautiful community that I, that I now
feel like I'm a part of, I'm sohappy.
So my on my bedside table Ihave a feather that I found.
You can buy feathers, you canfind that.
They come to me, feathers cometo me, feathers come to me, and
so you know and again that'spart of this my spiritual walk
is pretty profound for me and soI have a nice feather.
(33:36):
So at the end of the day, I donot get into my bed.
I will not get into my beduntil I use the feather to clear
my energy field from anythingthat is not mine.
And then I use a clear crystalyou can use anything that feels
good for you and then I do akind of a verbalization where I,
(33:57):
you know, I release any and allfrequencies, energies,
contracts, karmic bonds, anyenergies that are not mine or in
alignment with my divineblueprint, and I take that
crystal and I just kind of runit across all my body, just to
you know, really just settingthe intention that I am not
(34:20):
taking this into my sleep withme because that is a really
potent time for healing andrestoring that we all need.
And so why would you go to bedcarrying I mean even just in the
right day to day?
Because we're out at the grocerystore and we're we're in our
workplaces or we're at our, ourkids school for an event or
(34:42):
whatever, wherever life takes us.
But we are energetic beings andso we are picking up what's in
the energy field, just much likewe co-regulate, right, it's how
, it's how we survive below thelevel of our prefrontal and
frontal cortex that we arealways.
(35:02):
Porges calls it a threatdetector.
It's a process in the midbrainthat is 24-7 surveilling for
cues of danger internally orexternally.
And so we pick up all of thesecues, right, it's just part of
being alive, and so we have tojust like you know, you wouldn't
go a month without taking ashower, right?
(35:23):
Because we have to wash it offof us, and so the same thing is
true in our energy field andmaking sure that we do that
every night before bed.
And drop me an email and let meknow how that works for you,
because I'm telling you it's agame changer.
So I invite you all to join mein the Dr Lori tuck-in protocol.
There we just made a name forit.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I love it.
I mean, I've been practicing itjust for a few weeks now and
I've noticed a completedifference in how I feel like
walking and walking into work,so I love that you say that.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Thank you so much You're so welcome.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
There's one thing I asked all my guests.
I don't want to forget to askyou is whenever I always ask
everyone what their go-toself-care is.
When life is feeling veryoverwhelming, you know, when
you're in a real angsty periodlike what do you do to get
yourself back on track?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Or I will call it self-nurturing.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
When I ask you what is your go-to self-nurturing?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Well, one of the key practices in the book that I
have.
It's called the microdosesmatter and microdoses meaning
for our nervous system.
So microdoses of nurt, meaningfor our nervous system.
So micro doses of nurturancefor our nervous system.
And it can be done in as littleas 10 seconds and as many as 30
minutes, but usually on averageit's 30 seconds.
(36:38):
So maybe I can just quicklyoutline it and then we'll do one
together.
So the whole idea is that weneed to feel safe in our nervous
system for it to be regulated.
We have to feel safe and wehave to be safe and we can
accomplish that.
Even if the externalcircumstances suggest we're not,
we can partner with our body'swisdom and help it.
(36:59):
All right.
So the steps there's four stepsto the micro doses matters
practice.
The first one is to be in asafe space.
All right.
So right now I am, I can seethat you are.
But if you're at work andyou're really, you know I mean
it's a dumpster, fire, therestroom counts, an empty
patient room, an empty office,the stairwell, the garage, any
(37:23):
place that you can just dip intofor 30 seconds.
Now your overworked nervoussystem is going to tell you you
don't have 30 seconds.
I don't have 30 seconds.
Do it anyway, go find 30.
You do have 30 seconds unlessyou are actively giving
compressions during a code.
You have 30 seconds becauseI've even done this.
Walking to a coat right takesyou that long to walk.
(37:45):
So you know, insulate up mynervous system.
So the first thing is whatevera safe space, and if there
simply isn't one, then put abubble of protection around you
and put just an energetic bubble, so in your mind, yep, pop it
in.
Okay, so safe, safe.
The next thing is to ground andcenter.
Now I almost always have agrounding stone, as I have um
(38:08):
here.
But if you don't put your feeton the floor, because you always
have your feet with you andjust feel the connection between
your feet and the and the floorbelow you, oftentimes I will, I
will just notice the texture ofthis grounding stone.
I will let Mother Gaia, motherEarth, ground and nurture me,
because she's holding me all thetime, whether I'm aware of it
(38:30):
or not.
So we start with a safe space.
We're now grounding andcentering.
Now the third step is the mostimportant, which is signaling
safety to our nervous system,and the best, fastest way to do
that is to do a round of four byfour breathing.
So let's inhale two, three,four.
(38:51):
Hold two, three, four.
Exhale two, three, four.
Relax, two, three, four.
Another thing if breathingisn't your thing because it's
not for everybody, then lookaround the room and notice and
name five things.
Okay, so I'm noticing the pinkflowers behind me.
I'm noticing that I have a book.
(39:13):
I'm noticing that I have ablack shirt on.
I'm noticing that I have anecklace.
I'm noticing that I have agrounding stone.
And that's another way, becausewhen we're running from a
saber-toothed tiger, we don'tnotice a name, right?
So it's another way for us tosignal safety.
And then the last step isputting both of your hands over
your heart, which of itself isso therapeutic.
(39:35):
Notice what happens.
You are now self-grounding, andthen take a moment, soften or
close your eyes and remember andconnect with your why?
For what matters most, the lovethat you are and the love, the
divine love, that is here foryou every waking moment of every
(39:59):
waking day.
And all we need to do is thisto receive Just tune in.
All right, so now let's do oneof these.
Let's say we're at a really busyday at work and it's a dumpster
fire and my patients or mycolleagues are on my last frayed
nerve.
I've got 2 000 things to do andI've got 10 minutes to get them
done, and I'm freaking out alittle bit and I'm like, oh my
(40:22):
god, I can't, I can't get to,and we're kind of in that
anxious kind of state.
All right, so let's do it in 30seconds or less, okay?
First, safe place.
I'm walking to a safe place.
I'm going into the restroom.
I'm going to an empty room.
I'm putting a bubble around me.
If there isn't one, okay, I'min my safe place.
I'm noticing that I'm eitherreaching in my pocket and
(40:42):
pulling out a grounding stone,I'm feeling my feet on the floor
, I'm connecting to mother earth, our beautiful mother gaia.
She is holding me and groundingme and I'm releasing all that
stress at the bottom of my feetand bringing up all this
nourishment while I take a roundof four by four, breathing,
inhale two, three, four.
Hold four.
(41:04):
Exhale two, three, four.
Relax, two, three, four, handson healer's heart, feeling the
love that I am, the love that weare, the unconditional love
that is here for me Every wakingmoment, connecting to my why,
(41:27):
what matters most?
And then you usually find youhave more than 30 seconds, so
take, take the full minute, andso my recommendation is to do
this at least once an hour.
You can do it while you'rewalking down the hall.
A lot of times I'll use that'swhy I use this necklace as my
(41:48):
grounding stone.
Or sometimes I just have a postearring which I'm allowed to
wear at work and I might justtouch my earring.
You know, there's so many waysto get creative about doing this
, and I have a hundred practiceslike this in my book, but
that's one that we can all takewith us and no matter where you
are, no matter how horrific orchallenging the circumstances,
(42:11):
microdose some nurturance toyour nervous system so it can
stabilize.
It will then help yourmitochondria relax so they can
produce more energy.
It will get you out of flightor fight or it will elevate you
out of that freeze response soyou can approach nervous system
regulation.
(42:31):
And don't you even feel betterafter doing that?
For just 30 seconds, I feltbetter immediately.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Honestly, when we did the first time immediately, I
loved it.
I appreciate that.
That's so helpful and so useful.
So, and I feel like we're justscratching the surface of what
you have to share, dr Laurie,honestly.
So this is well you know what?
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I will come back whenever your community is ready
for another dose of Dr Laurie.
I will be here for y'allbecause I just I'm feeling you
and I'm just, I'm just sograteful for each and every one
and all that you are and do,because I see you in your divine
light and your radiance.
So keep leaning in, keephealing and keep being you in
(43:12):
your most authentic expression.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Oh, that's so beautiful.
Thank you so much, and I reallyI we're going to definitely
have to have you back to learnall the wonderful things that
are in your head, because I cantell you are just a wealth of
knowledge.
So thank you so much for beinghere, thank you.
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