The Trauma-Informed SLP

A new episode!! FINALLY!! I took a bit of time-off from this topic for my own mental health, but now I'm back, baby!

Herein lies my info-dump on dehumanization in medical (read: clinical) practice. We go through Haque &b Waytz's functional and nonfunctional causes and also some very valid counterpoints from Kalina Christoff's paper.

AND, as a bit of ADHDer magic, this whole thing ended up dove-tailing into articles on burnout, ...

As the Gen-Zers say, we live in a society. And so do scientists, which means that science is never truly bias-free...despite frequent claims otherwise. To be trauma-informed, however, we have to pay attention to that man behind the curtain. Cause sometimes, research is based in dehumanizing societal biases. And treatments based in that research ends up harming people.

This episode covers:

1. A model of dehumanization to conceptua...

To introduce dehumanization in medicine and science, I decided to use this fun, light-hearted* tail of "crazy" (cis?**) women and the (cis?) men who sought to figure out the source of the crazy.

On this episode, we go through:

• The study of female hysteria in the late 19th century in Paris, France and Vienna, Austria
• Origins of the s...

Sorry this one took so long to get out! (Had some software snafus to deal with.) But here we go with the second episode towards becoming trauma-sensitive. Heavy topics, but super important to confront our discomfort with these if we want to truly be trauma-informed.

On this episode:

1. The three stages of historical trauma
2. A reframining of a few mass traumas (i.e., stage 1 of historical traumas) experienced by minorites in U.S. h...

Here it is. We've arrived at some tough topics. In order to become trauma-sensitive (per the The Missouri Model), we have to increase our awareness of historical (i.e., generational) and system-oriented traumas/retraumatization.

This is where trauma-informed meets cultural humility and cultural awareness. And also where, if we continue to hold on to our cultural blindness (and the implicit biases that go along with that), we cannot...

Happy New Year, Everybody!

Before going into trauma sensitive topics, I felt I needed to provide everyone with some tools to process any upsetting and/or uncomfortable feelings that might arise from discussions of historical traumas and systemic oppression. Also, it's a tough time of year, so these might just be useful for you if you're feeling upset about other things/people at this time.

Episode outline includes:

• Strategies ...

Whew! We made it!

Here's what I consider the final material you need to officially be trauma-aware (per the Missouri Model). This episode covers the types of potentially traumatic events, how trauma is characterized, and potential life-long impacts per the CDC-Kaiser study ACE Study (and a little side-note on epigenetics).

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What's a podcast by an ADHDer without more info-dumping, amirite?? I felt I would be remiss to not include something on the Polyvagal Theory as it comes up A LOT in trauma-informed courses, trainings, and literature. So, here it is! (Along with a bit of neuroscience info-dumping cause I'm a Nerd who just can't help herself.) 

References:

Liem, T. (2021). Critique of the Polyvagal Theory. Critique, 22, 48. Retrieved f...

This episode goes through the three physiological survival mechanisms: Fight, flight, and freeze. We touch a little on what is known as the "fawn" response before moving into defining each survival mechanism, the physiological cascade that occurs when we go into "survival mode" and how trauma responses occur as a result of this. 

There will be a bonus episode that touches on the Polyvagal Theory and why it wasn't directly inc...

Okay, here's the info-dump I promised during episode 2. It just got kinda long, so I figured I'd make a bonus episode about it. Covers the topics of:

1. Different rates of memory encoding in key brain structures
2. (Theoretical) different motor pathways for emotionally driven vs. volitional movement
3. Nerve trivia! What is the largest single nerve in your body and why we have poor pain localization in the torso area (particularly ...

On our journey to becoming trauma-aware, we need to first learn something about the (healthy) emotional system. Sure, this is a physiology-heavy episode, but it comes with my brand of weird references and analogies that (hopefully) help make it not-such-a-snoozefest. This episode is broken down into three main sections:

1. The peripheral autonomic nervous system
2. The mid-brain structures involved in our limbic system
3. The highe...

Episode Summary

In this informational episode, Kim takes us through three key topics to start our trauma-informed journey:

1. The working definition of trauma (per behavioral science/psychological research).
2. What trauma-informed care is per the TIP 57 definition of it (see reference below).
3. The process of becoming trauma-informed and the common steps along the way.

About The Trauma-Informed SLP:

This is...

Trauma. Super fun topic. Amirite? However, Trauma-informed Care is a framework, a paradigm, of how to build resiliency and self-empowerment our clients, colleagues, friends, family—and even ourselves. It actually includes A LOT things that are being actively discussed all the time: The neurodivergency movement; presuming competence; cultural competency; toxic work environments; professional burnout; etc…