Tagged With "Leadership"

Keeping your organization afloat in challenging conditions... Following up on "Adaptive Change in Behavioral Health Organizations Serving Survivors of Trauma" (posted 2/20/19), here is the first of 3 webinars Villa of Hope presented through the Alliance for Strong Families & Communities. It's called "REBUILD: Adaptive Change to Rebuild the Perspective, Courage, & Leadership of Your Organization." Enjoy!

Are we born leaders or is it a skill that we cultivate? Strong leadership is a lot like resiliency. Although we can be born with qualities that may make it a little easier, it develops in relationship with others. It is truly cultivated by building our individual skills, having the support of others, and being willing to do our own work. Being a leader means you know Who you are, you get that How you do the work matters, and you are intentional about What you do. Combining these three...

Many may think that self-awareness can only occur at the individual level. However, for companies to be successful, they must have self-awareness throughout the individual and the organizational levels. As you read through this article, thinkabout how you can apply these concepts to your business as well as your personal life. Remember, self-awareness is a journey that starts with yourself. For corporations to truly embrace diversity and inclusion, they must examine their mission, values,and...

When reading an article on LinkedIn about leadership, I realized that Simon Sinek was right...but not for the reasons leaders assume. For a few years now, I've been trying to harmonize the various writings by authors whom I like. For example, how do Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking , and Simon Sinek's Start With Why compliment each other? In addition, how does Bruce Perry's The Boy Who Was...

While serving as a Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Mississippi, I first learned about the concept of "adverse childhood experiences" through a newspaper article. But when I wanted to learn more, I wasn't sure where to turn. After lots of research and trial and error, I found these resources to be some of the best. (Yes, ACESConnection is on the list!) I'm convinced EVERY leader needs to be trauma informed. While there is significant focus on helping children overcome their adversity,...

Do you know anyone who thinks the Earth is actually flat? I'm not sure why that question occurred to me. Perhaps, I was looking for a unique or different way to talk about trauma-informed leadership. Don't laugh too hard! Stay with me for a minute, please. If you asked a random person if they had ever heard that centuries ago people thought the Earth was flat, I'm going to guess they will say, "Yes." In fact, some people still do! Not sure about that? Ever heard that people thought...

We all know that burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary/vicarious trauma are problems in the helping and healing professions. The Job Demands and Resources Model provides trauma-informed leaders a simple way to evaluate and mitigate the impact of stress and trauma on their workforce. In this three-episode series, the Trauma-Informed Lens Podcast explores this model with the added bonus of examing how biometrics can help quantify organizational stress. ...

Online Compassionate Leadership Online Training focused on leading teams who work in high-stress and trauma-exposed environments starting in March. The Compassionate Leadership Online Program will give you the skills and knowledge needed to cultivate a culture of compassion within your teams and organization. It is a series of 5 2-hour long sessions and runs from March-May 2021. This program is led by experts in the field of compassionate leadership - Cambria Walsh, Consultant and Trainer on...

I'm sat down with Jered Odegard for his podcast where on, "Each episode we talk to senior leaders to uncover the powerful yet counterintuitive ways to be a high performer. Learn to build a better career and company." Trauma-informed Leadership definitely fits that mission! I encourage you to subscribe to his podcast and to also give a listen to our conversation.

Achievement and success can mask underlying pain in such a way that it festers and continues to hold power over us.

As someone who focuses on trauma-informed leadership and self-care as well as trauma-informed care, I've been working hard to get the idea of a Recovery Plan out there into the world. I wanted to share a training description with the PACEs community, not as an advertisement but what I think people need to be focusing on in this crucial time. I have just finished my first series with the United Way here in Denver and it went great and was well received by leaders. Few periods in recent...

La Maida Project is thrilled to share videos from our recent webinar series “Exploring the Role of Culture in Healing”. We had an great audience turn out and robust dialogue with our panel of guest speakers including Ken Epstein, PhD LCSW , leader in trauma-informed systems transformation, Anil Vadaparty , CEO of child-welfare agency McKinley, and Omid Naim, MD , integrative psychiatrist and founder of La Maida Project. In these webinars we discuss the role of leadership in trauma-informed...

The healthcare workforce is amid a unique epidemic, coping with the ravages of collective occupational trauma . Physicians and nurses have been heavily impacted, but also an endless list of behavioral health professionals (behavioral analysts, counselors, social workers, psychologists), case managers, community health workers, medical assistants, nutritionists, pharmacists, phlebotomists, public health workers, rehabilitation professionals, respiratory therapists, not to mention those...

Organizations, agencies, departments, businesses, and industries, the list goes on and on. They all seem to be struggling with employee retention, recruitment, and issues of burnout. If we were to take a peek into the organizational cultures of these organizations I'm wondering if we would find a culture that is thriving or surviving? Do they care for their employees through a human lens, or as just a number? Do they employ compassion or authority when managing employees? A trauma-informed...

Trauma-informed leadership equips us to navigate an increasingly complex landscape in the workplace. We don’t all need to become clinical psychologists to lead our teams, but it is important to gain an understanding of the impacts of trauma exposure.

Despite the importance of vulnerability at work to promote a trauma-informed environment, the stigma surrounding emotional vulnerability in the office is still running rampant. Mental health has become an increasingly popular topic of conversation in mainstream media, especially among high-profile athletes like Simone Biles and entertainers like Ariana Grande. This shift towards mental health awareness hasn’t transitioned as quickly among business leaders—but it’s about time it did. Our...

A safe and healthy workplace is the goal—but there is a concerning number of toxic workplaces out there. Is yours one of them? There’s a common dynamic where executive teams turn a blind eye to problems while those without power can see the glaring issues of a toxic workplace unfolding before their eyes. Today, we discuss nine common signs of a toxic workplace—and how to solve each issue with a trauma-informed approach. 1 High Turnover Rates Usually, when an employee leaves a job, it’s not...

Safety plans serve as a great resource for individuals to practice healthy coping skills and develop a sense of safety and security that can carry them through a crisis. Last week, we discussed the basics of creating your first personalized safety plan . Now, it’s time to discuss how an organizational safety plan can support your trauma-informed agency—and how to build one. If you work with an organization, sharing how to create an individual safety plan with your team members is a great...

There is a common trend where organizations acknowledge that we need change. They see the value in DEI work, and they genuinely want to embody social justice in their work. But nothing changes. If leaders value change and are ready to create change in their organizations, why are they still struggling to achieve equitable treatment, anti-racist working environments, and safety at work? One reason for this barrier is that while leaders are ready to create change at work , they skip over an...

Trauma-informed leadership is crucial if you want to accomplish trauma-informed change in your organization. Here’s some expert advice on how you can become a trauma-informed leader. 1. Acknowledge that cultural change is just as important as technical change Our problem-solving brains often focus on technical change when we talk about organizational change. We ask, “ What processes can we put in place to prevent this issue?” when we should ask, “What cultural norms are contributing to this...

“The first and last task of a leader is to keep hope alive.” You might be familiar with that saying from John W. Gardner which was first published in No Easy Victories (1968) and repeated in his popular book, On Leadership (1993). As someone who promotes Hope-Centered Leadership, I gotta say, I really like that quote! But would Gardner agree with how I view Hope-Centered Leadership? I think so; allow me to explain. Dr. Rick Snyder, the father of Hope Theory, defined hope as a positive...

Last week, we discussed how to recognize trauma states at work. The classic fight, flight, freeze, and appease trauma responses can reveal themselves in subtle ways, and other lesser-known trauma states can plague professional environments. Now that we know how to spot when someone is stuck in survival mode at work, it’s time to talk about how to help someone get out of that mindset. Today, we’ll explore the answer to the question: how can we respond to someone when they’re stuck in trauma...

There is one question that all helping professionals should be able to answer.... What is your scope of practice? Your scope of practice are your professionabl boundaries that highlight the skills, services & responses that are within your competency as an individual professional. One of the most important components of trauma-informed care is setting professional boundaries. Professional boundaries are an expression of your capacity. Your capacity being your ability to receive, contain...