Tagged With "Shenandoah Chefalo"

What a delightful conversation Teri Wellbrock engaged in with the passionate and compassionate Shenandoah Chefalo, author of "Garbage Bag Suitcase: A Memoir" and faculty member of The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities. They dove into the depths of: the healing work of Crossnore and The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities; growing up in the foster care system; trauma-brain; 3 proven resilience-building factors; compassion approaches; and why they dislike tomatoes!

Ah, yes -- I have heard of Chefalo's memoir Garbage Bag Suitcase. I love hearing about people who've sublimated their experience with childhood trauma into work that helps others. Looking forward to listening!

Sorry for the delay in responding . . . I was enjoying a 9 day break at the beach on the Carolina coast! I, too, find it inspirational and heartwarming to know so many are using their triumph over trauma to guide others. A beautiful testament to becoming empowered. Thanks for listening in to the show and offering feedback. Makes my heart smile! Peace, Teri

Shenandoah Chefalo was our guest this week on the #LessStressInLife podcast. Shen is the author of Garbage Bag Suitcase, a memoir of her childhood with drug and alcohol addicted parents and life in the foster care system. We talked about why trauma awareness is important in bringing culture change and why it is an important part of healing the brokenness in the world. Listen to our conversation here

If you look at history, it’s evident that cultural change happens slowly. Many of the changes we experience hardly feel like changes at all. They happen gradually over the course of a lifetime, and they elude our attention. But when we shift our perspectives and take an intentional, measurable, and trauma-informed approach to cultural change, we discover that it is not only larger and faster than we initially believed—it is also more impactful, more achievable, and more essential. If you’re...

Throughout our last several blogs, we’ve explored the broader themes of how to accomplish trauma-informed cultural change. We’ve also discussed how embodying trauma-informed values is essential to accomplishing that change. But what does embodying trauma-informed values look like in real time? How are we practicing the values in our personal and professional lives? How do the concepts we discuss become embedded and embodied in our work? Today, we’ll give you concrete examples of how to...

The basic concept surrounding trauma-informed care is this: We all have trauma. Some of us are at a higher risk of experiencing trauma. We carry this trauma with us, and if we do not address it, we will not heal from it. Understanding reenactments is one way that we can continue healing from trauma. Our healing helps us make sure that we don’t traumatize or re-traumatize others due to our own inability to emotionally regulate. In the context of trauma healing, there are three main things we...

Dancing with Fear …and not letting it lead Welcome back, friends. For those new to my blogs, I share stories from my life as seen through the lens of one who survived adversity as a young person and adult. I grew up in an environment ripe with physical violence, emotional neglect and abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, and caregivers with untreated mental health disorders. I share these stories to open wide the door of silence and shame; and, hopefully reach someone who needs to be seen, heard,...