Medical Trauma Support

How can group work help you heal from medical trauma? Psychotherapist Colette Hart shares why connecting with others who truly understand can be so powerful, and why your medical appointment is your time.

Colette is a psychotherapist based in Wales who specializes in medical trauma. In this conversation, she shares how her own health experiences led her to this work as a “wounded healer.” We explore the unique magic and safety of group work, and her advocacy to bring trauma-informed, compassionate care training to healthcare professionals and hospitals to help change the culture of care.

This episode is for anyone living with medical trauma, and for the clinicians who support them.

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Colette’s path into medical trauma work02:27 Lived experience and the “wounded healer”04:26 Regulation, empathy, and creating a sense of safety06:21 How supportive therapy groups help people heal11:46 Community, shared experience, and feeling less alone14:13 You can join a group without sharing17:17 Medical trauma’s impact on identity19:21 Why facilitated groups can feel different from online forums23:02 Connection in online and in-person groups25:36 Developing trauma-informed training for hospitals26:00 Colette’s father’s hospital experience and patient advocacy29:13 Compassionate care—and supporting healthcare professionals32:07 Holding the nuance: harmful experiences and compassionate providers36:08 Complaints, self-doubt, and DARVO39:02 Rebuilding strength, wisdom, and courage40:00 Changing systems and workplace culture44:38 A practical reminder for medical appointments46:52 How to contact Colette47:55 Closing thoughts

🔗 Connect with Colette and access her free resources: https://heart2hartsolutions.co.uk

💛 Looking for community with people who understand medical trauma? Join the Medical Trauma Support Circle: https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org/befriend-your-body-community

Follow for more conversations on healing after medical trauma.

#MedicalTrauma #TraumaInformedCare #GroupTherapy #PatientAdvocacy #MedicalTraumaSupport

I am really excited to share this conversation with Dr. Michelle Flaum and Dr. Sacha McBain. They are two of the original researchers and advocates in the field of medical trauma.

Michelle shares her personal experience as a patient and how it led her to this work. Sacha explains the concept of "pre-sourcing" and how it helps prepare us for medical events. We talk about their new book, which is written to support both patients and clinicians, and discuss how giving a name to your experience can bring a sense of relief. Having a name for your experience allows you to view your body's natural reactions with compassion.

Remember that you are not alone, and your experience is completely valid.

You can request their new book about medical trauma at your local independent bookstore as well as find it on their websites.

https://www.sachamcbain.com/

https://www.drmichelleflaum.com/

If you are looking for community who understands medical trauma, please join us in the Medical Trauma Support Circle: https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org/befriend-your-body-community 

#MedicalTraumaSupport #MedicalTrauma #TraumaRecovery #PatientAdvocacy #Therapy

In this episode of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast, Sarah Stasica sits down with Christina Kantzavelos, a licensed clinical social worker, to delve into the intricate relationship between our nervous systems and our health, especially in the context of chronic illness.

We talk about the importance of understanding your Nervous System and how it plays a part in everything you do, essentially, everything you are, because it's part of your whole body's system.
We also talk about chronic stress and its effect as well as the Four F's: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn and how knowing this information is a way to empower yourself.

To learn more about Christina's work you can find her at BeginWithinToday.com

If you would like to join the Medical Trauma Support Circle community, you can Join Here.

Are you a healthcare professional dealing with stress and burnout? Or a patient who has experienced care from a provider who didn't treat you with the compassion and care that you needed?

In this episode of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast, Sarah Stasica speaks with Dr. Sharon Chang, a retired surgical oncologist and current mental fitness coach.

They discuss the signs of physician burnout, the reality of working as a cancer surgeon, and how building a daily mental fitness routine helps doctors provide better care.

Episode Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to the Medical Trauma Support Podcast 02:24 - Why Dr. Chang became a surgical oncologist 08:24 - How a doctor's emotional support impacts patients 16:56 - The daily stress and reality of being a surgeon 22:47 - Dr. Chang shares her personal experience with burnout 28:22 - Working with a coach to find career clarity 33:44 - Using self-compassion to improve patient care 42:49 - What is mental fitness and how to practice it daily

Connect with Dr. Sharon B Chang on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-b-chang-md/

Listen to more from Medical Trauma Support: Subscribe to the channel for more episodes on healthcare recovery and patient advocacy.

#PhysicianBurnout #MentalFitness #HealthcareProfessionals #MedicalTraumaSupport #DrSharonChang

Medical mistakes are one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. and many are preventable. In this episode, critical care physician and pulmonologist Dr. Gerardo Garza shares how to protect yourself and your loved ones, from finding the right doctor to preparing for appointments, asking better questions, and navigating a safe hospital discharge.

We also talk about post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), why how you’re treated can matter as much as what happens to you, and what it really means to feel safe in medical care. Whether you’re a patient, a caregiver, or a clinician, this conversation is full of practical, nervous-system-aware tools you can use right away.

Dr. Garza's Book Link

Follow Dr. Garza

🔗 Free guide — https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org/free-guides    

Befriending Your Body After Medical Trauma (course) — https://your-bc-befriend.mn.co/plans/1948719  

In this episode of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast, Sarah Stasica sits down with Ingrid Nishimoto, LCSW a certified EMDR therapist who also lives with a genetic cancer condition diagnosed at 17. Together they explore what EMDR actually is, how it helps shift the felt sense of powerlessness after a frightening medical experience, and why grief, collapse, and the long “in-between” after treatment deserve so much more compassion than they usually get. Ingrid shares how she helps clients feel safe in their bodies again, reconnect with their own wisdom, and move from “I’m powerless” toward “I have agency.” A warm, nervous-system-informed conversation for anyone healing after a hard diagnosis and for the clinicians who walk alongside them.

To connect with Ingrid: https://www.ingridnishimototherapy.com

To find support: https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org

Most ICU survivors are sent home and told they're lucky to be alive. But for millions of people, that's where the real struggle begins.

Kali Dayton, nurse practitioner and ICU consultant, joins me to talk about Post-ICU Syndrome (PICS): the physical, cognitive, and psychological aftermath of critical illness that almost no one is warned about. We talk about why medically induced comas cause more harm than most clinicians realize, what ICU delirium actually feels like for survivors, and why the "awake and walking ICU" model is changing outcomes and saving lives. We also talk about the deep power of peer support, of having a name for what you've been through, and of knowing you are not alone in your recovery.

This one is for survivors, for families, and for anyone who has ever felt like something was terribly wrong after a hospital stay that everyone else called a success.

Find more about Kali's work and podcast here.

If you are looking for a peer support community who gets it, join us in the Medical Trauma Support Circle.

You know your body. You've lived in it your whole life. So what happens when you're experiencing 23 different symptoms — some of them truly bizarre — and your doctor looks you in the eye and says, "There is nothing medically wrong with you"?

In this episode, I sit down with Pam, who experienced serious, life-altering adverse effects following her COVID vaccines. What followed was a painful journey through medical gaslighting, dismissal, and the relentless search for answers — all while the political climate made it even harder to be believed.

But this is also a story about what happens when you finally find the right people. A naturopathic doctor who looked Pam in the eye and said, "That is medical gaslighting, and I'm sorry." A peer support group of people who got it completely. A therapist who helped her through one of the darkest seasons of her life.

Pam shares what it felt like to be dismissed, how peer support became a lifeline, what she wishes she had known earlier, and why — no matter what you're going through — firing a doctor who isn't helping you is not just okay, it's necessary.

Whether you're navigating COVID vaccine injury, long COVID, a chronic illness, or any experience where you've felt unseen by the medical system, this conversation is for you.

In this episode:

• What medical gaslighting looks and feels like from the inside
• The moment a doctor finally said "I believe you" and what that did for Pam's nervous system
• How peer connection became a cornerstone of her healing
• The overlap (and differences) between COVID vaccine injury and long COVID
• Why it's okay to fire your doctor and find someone new
• Pam's contact info for anyone who wants support navigating COVID vaccine injury

Medical trauma is real. Millions of people are living with it. And most of them don't even have a name for it yet.

In this episode, Sarah sits down with Dr. Jim Jackson, neuropsychologist at Vanderbilt University and author of Reclaiming Your Life from Medical Trauma, for a deeply human conversation about what medical trauma actually looks like, why avoidance is so much more dangerous than we realize, and why you don't have to be symptom-free to live a meaningful life.

Dr. Jackson has spent over 25 years working with ICU survivors, long COVID patients, and people navigating the aftermath of life-altering medical experiences. He brings both clinical expertise and his own lived experience with OCD to a conversation that is honest, warm, and genuinely hopeful.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why medical trauma is "hiding in plain sight" and what it costs people to not have a name for it
• How avoidance quietly shrinks your world (and what actually helps you move through it)
• What acceptance and commitment therapy offers people who can't imagine returning to medical care
• The "beach ball in the pool" approach to distressing symptoms
• Why shame keeps people stuck, and how to begin gently moving out of it
• Jim's own story of being diagnosed with OCD and what it taught him about healing without a cure
• Why post-traumatic growth isn't about gratitude, it's about finding a new opportunity

Resources mentioned:

• Reclaiming Your Life from Medical Trauma by Dr. Jim Jackson (available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold, including an audio version)
• ICU Recovery Center at Vanderbilt University
• Critical Illness Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship Center at Vanderbilt
• Medical Trauma Support Circle: https://your-bc-befriend.mn.co/landing/

• medicaltraumasupport.org

The Medical Trauma Support Podcast is a human-centered, nervous-system-informed space for anyone whose relationship with their body, safety, and trust has been shaped by medical experiences. Because your experience deserves recognition.

Have you ever been dismissed by a doctor, told your pain wasn't real, or watched the people you love begin to doubt you? You are not alone — and this episode is for you.

Sarah sits down with Deborah Weed, founder of the Self Worth Initiative, author, artist, and creator of the upcoming musical Paisley: The Fashion Forest — a story born directly out of her own experience with medical trauma. Deborah spent three excruciating years bedridden, told by doctors she might have MS or ALS, and ultimately dismissed as making it all up. All while a grapefruit-sized tumor hidden behind her uterus was slowly hemorrhaging her body to near death.

What Deborah discovered on that journey, about self-worth, the difference between self-esteem and self-worth, and the healing power of creativity, is something every survivor of medical trauma needs to hear.

In this episode, you will hear:

• What it felt like to be disbelieved by doctors and by the people closest to her
• The difference between self-esteem and self-worth, and why losing one does not mean losing the other
• How gadolinium poisoning and a mismanaged black-box antibiotic added to her medical trauma
• Why she believes creativity is what saved her life — not once, but three times
• The Broadway-bound musical she is building as a movement for women who have lost their voice
• Sarah's vision for a peer support certification program so no one ever faces a medical procedure alone

Whether you are healing from a misdiagnosis, navigating a mystery illness, supporting a loved one, or working in healthcare, this conversation will remind you: your quills grow back. So does your power.

Connect with Deborah: paisleysfashionforest.com

Keywords: medical trauma, misdiagnosis, dismissed by doctors, chronic illness support, medical PTSD, self-worth, mystery illness, long COVID, rare disease, reclaiming your voice, women's health, gadolinium poisoning, peer support