Mindful on Purpose

Welcome to Mindful on Purpose Podcast with Dr. Christina M. Blackburn!

In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, join us for “From Trauma to Transformation,” a powerful conversation with Dr. Wayne “LYTE” Brown on domestic violence, emotional abuse, accountability, and healing. Together, they explore trauma bonding and its common misconceptions, toxic masculinity, abuse in LGBTQ+ relationships, and how power, control, and cultural norms can shape harmful relationship patterns. Discover how recognizing relationship red flags, understanding vulnerabilities, and strengthening self-awareness can support safer choices and healthier connections. This conversation offers a guide for police officers, social workers, court officials, and emergency department teams who interact directly with domestic violence survivors. Dr. Brown also discusses the inspiration behind his book, Enough Already, as the conversation examines breaking cycles of abuse and moving toward lasting change.

BIO: Dr. Wayne “LYTE” Brown, PhD in Leadership and Cultural Management. Dr. Brown is a Positive Psychology Consultant, Human Dynamics Strategist, author, thought leader and founder of Avoid Being Average Consultancy. Drawing on interdisciplinary academic training, professional expertise, and lived experience, he explores human behavior, trauma, relationships, resilience, and personal accountability, creativity bringing lightness to heavy or complex conversations. His forthcoming autobiographical work, ENOUGH ALREADY™, amplifies the often-overlooked perspectives of children navigating complex family circumstances. His mission is to transform human understanding into meaningful action while encouraging individuals to Live Your True Expression.

Keywords: domestic violence warning signs, trauma bonding, healthy communication, emotional triggers, post-separation abuse, and healing from toxic relationships

Welcome to Mindful on Purpose with Dr. Christina Blackburn—a health forward podcast dedicated to inspiring, educating, and empowering communities and professionals to prevent and eliminate gender-based violence.

Through insightful conversations with leading researchers, advocates, healthcare professionals, innovators, and policy experts, we explore evidence-based strategies for violence prevention, trauma-informed care, survivor-centered support, public health equity, and meaningful community action. Each episode offers practical knowledge and fresh perspectives to help listeners understand the root causes of gender-based violence and become part of the solution.

In this episode, you get a chance to listed in as Dr. Christina Blackburn speaks with Dr. Saad Ahmad, a population health expert specializing in health technology, wearable devices, and data-driven approaches to improving health and wellbeing. Together, they discuss how digital health tools and wearable technology can support emergency responders, clinicians, patients, strengthen population health, and help build safer, healthier communities.

ABOUT Dr. Saad Ahmad is a healthcare technology expert and commercial strategy leader with expertise at the intersection of healthcare, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. He works with leading pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations to develop and implement data-driven solutions that leverage real-world data, provider and patient analytics, and AI-enabled insights to improve decision-making, operational performance, and patient outcomes.

His career has focused on helping life sciences organizations translate complex healthcare data into actionable business strategies, with experience spanning digital health, healthcare analytics, population health, commercial strategy, and technology adoption.

Saad holds a Doctor of Health Science in Population Health from Thomas Jefferson University, where his dissertation explored racial and ethnic differences in the adoption of health technologies, including health software applications, wearable devices, and online health resources. He also earned a Master of Health Administration from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Science in Life Science from The Pennsylvania State University.

In addition to his industry work, Saad serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at George Mason University, teaching healthcare leadership and management while mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals. He is passionate about the responsible use of AI, digital health innovation, and data-driven strategies to improve healthcare delivery and shape the future of the healthcare ecosystem.

Welcome to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast!  This month we will talk with NYC Hon. NYC Judge Deborah Modica.

Deborah Stevens Modica was born and raised in Queens, New York. She attended Christ the King High School and Fordham University for her undergraduate studies. Following her father’s footsteps, Deborah attended law school, graduating from Fordham University Law School in 1976. After law school, she applied to defender organizations and District Attorney’s Offices. She was ultimately hired by the Queens District Attorney’s Office, where she got excellent experience in the Appeals Bureau, the Felony Trial Bureau, and the Homicide Bureau. She ultimately returned to the Appeals. Bureau as its Chief. Deborah next moved on to the Kings County District Attorney’s Office as Bureau Chief of the Supreme Court Trial Bureau and held Executive District Attorney positions. Starting in 1990, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office developed a very serious approach to domestic violence cases.  In 1997, Deborah was appointed to the Criminal Court of the City of New York and assigned to Queens County, where she handled all domestic violence cases in their early stages and all misdemeanor Domestic Violence cases until their conclusion. In 2003, Deborah was made Supervising Judge of the Queens Criminal Court. After almost ten years in that position, Deborah was assigned to Supreme Court, where she handled all felony domestic violence cases involving intimate partners. Deborah retired from the bench at the end of 2020.

The MINDFUL ON PURPOSE PODCAST is a safe space where unexplored topics on gender-based violence/intimate partner violence/child endangerment are discussed with FIELD EXPERTS to increase awareness and improve care for vulnerable women and children. Target listeners: doctors, nurses, hospital and clinic executives, law enforcement, domestic violence researchers, government officials, all frontline workers, survivors/victims, family and friends of survivors/victims, and ALL concerned humans.  www.speranzaproject.org

Creator/Host:  Christina M. Blackburn, MSc - Award-winning medical educator, advocate for women and children in crisis, and survivor.

Welcome to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast! *This month will be a little different. 

In this episode, Dr. Alan Cherney. Emergency Medicine Physician, Assistant Director of Emergency Medicine, and Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, and Dr. Valentina Nikulina, Clinical Child Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Queens College, City University of New York, separately, will discuss the upcoming conference in New York City and why it's important to attend if you work with victims of domestic violence!  If you are interested in attending either in-person or virtually, tickets will reopen on November 1st at www.dvconference.org.

Dr. Cherney - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-cherney-ba598721/

Dr Nikulina - https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-nikulina-ph-d-4772201/

The MINDFUL ON PURPOSE PODCAST is a safe space where unexplored topics on gender-based violence/intimate partner violence/child endangerment are discussed with FIELD EXPERTS to increase awareness and improve care for vulnerable women and children. Target listeners: doctors, nurses, hospital and clinic executives, law enforcement, domestic violence researchers, government officials, all frontline workers, survivors/victims, family and friends of survivors/victims, and ALL concerned humans.  www.speranzaproject.org

Creator/Host:  Christina M. Blackburn, MSc - Award-winning medical educator, researcher, and survivor.

Welcome to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast!  

In this episode, we will talk with Tina Ruysseveldt. Tina is an indigenous best-selling author, wellness warrior & ICU_ SADV Nurse, Tina invites compassionate and action-based discussions and solutions to inspire workplace wellbeing and activate personal self-care into daily practice.

For the last decade, Tina has authentically found the courage to walk the solid road of recovery. As the creator of The LiveWell Recipe™, which she credits with saving her life, she shares her inspirational story and life-changing methods to invite others to thrive in the face of their challenges and turn their intent to live well into action.

Author of;  The Courage to Be True

Inspirational Speaker; keynotes. 

Tina’s; guided meditations

https://www.instagram.com/tinainspires/?hl=en

https://tinainspires.com/

The MINDFUL ON PURPOSE PODCAST is a safe space where unexplored topics on gender-based violence/intimate partner violence/child endangerment are discussed with FIELD EXPERTS to increase awareness and improve care for vulnerable women and children. Target listeners: doctors, nurses, hospital and clinic executives, law enforcement, domestic violence researchers, government officials, all frontline workers, survivors/victims, family and friends of survivors/victims, and ALL concerned humans.  www.speranzaproject.org

Creator/Host:  Christina M. Blackburn, MSc - Award-winning medical educator, advocate for women and children in crisis, and survivor.

Welcome to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast. This month we have two amazing interviewees: 

DR. CLEO SILVERS Cleo Silvers began her career as a community and labor organizer as a VISTA Volunteer and activist in the South Bronx starting in 1966. Her training as an organizer was based on the Saul Alinsky organizing method of door-to-door meetings and listening to people in the community. She was co-founder of the Trinity Avenue Block Association, the Jackson Avenue Block Association and the Kelly Street Block Association, Lincoln Detox, and the Think Lincoln Committee, TLC (a coalition of members of the community, interns and doctors, Young Lords, and Black Panthers and hospital workers). 

Cleo, as co-chairperson of HRUM (Health Revolutionary Unity Movement), which with the Think Lincoln Committee collectively penned the Patients Bill of Rights (a watered-down version is now seen in every hospital room across the country). In 2007, Dr. Steven Levin, Medical Director of the Mount Sinai Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, hired Cleo to be the Director of Outreach for the tragic 911 medical program from which she retired in 2014. In 2008 she was the recipient of the Purpose Prize Fellowship (for activists over 50 who changed careers in the second half of life), now titled the AARP Purpose Award.

Today Cleo works as a consultant for the Cossitt Library in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, and Crosstown High school. She is part of a mentoring program for sixth-graders and high school students. She will be helping youngsters design and implement a podcast on the need for protests and how to organize. The program is called Speak Your Truth: How to Stage a Protest. Black people in Memphis were NOT allowed to use Memphis Public Libraries in town until a sit-in of students from Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) at the Cossitt Library in 1961! Most recently, Cleo has received the 2022 honorary doctorate of Humane Letters - from the City University of New York/Lehman College. Cleo is also working and hoping for help to complete her memoirs within the next few years. 

LOIS MOSES, ESQ Lois Moses, a native of Philadelphia, is a professional Poet and trained Actress, Lawyer, Clinical Therapist, Director, Playwright, and Filmmaker. She graduated from Temple University School of Law, where she was the Political Social Awareness Committee Chair for the Black Student Law Association. She was also the founder and co-editor of BLSA Speaks, a newsletter that sought to give voice to and empower African American law students. Lois has a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from LaSalle University and has worked as a Clinician/Therapist with Human Service agencies and educational institutions. Lois was also the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of an African-Centered Charter school in West Chester, Pennsylvania, that operated from 2007 to 2016.

WELCOME to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast - 

Thank you for showing up! In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Jackie Harounian, Esq a family law attorney in New York City. We will discuss what every clinician and first responders need to know when caring for victims who have decided to leave the toxic and hurtful relationship for good. Now what?

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Jacqueline Harounian, Esq., Managing Partner of the Law Firm of Wisselman Harounian Family Law (est. 1976) is a recognized leader in the field of matrimonial and family law. Her unique multidisciplinary background, including a graduate degree in Behavioral Forensic Psychology and Family Systems Therapy, enables her to adeptly handle - and successfully resolve - complex divorce, custody, and support matters in the Family and Supreme Courts of New York.

She believes that a negotiated settlement is often the best strategy, especially if there are minor children and co-parenting is desired. Her approach is straightforward, responsive, and client-focused. She emphasizes respect and compassion during the divorce process and guides her clients towards a holistic and cost-effective resolution of their matter that is in their best interest.

Her many exceptional achievements during 25 years of practice include Martindale Hubbell's highest rating for ethics and professionalism (2022) and US News and World Report Best Lawyers (2022). She was chosen to the Super Lawyers list for seven consecutive years, and also twice selected to its most prestigious list - “Top 50 Women Lawyers” in New York. Her research articles, including, "Legal Implications of Religious Divorce", “Fertility Law” and “Intellectual Property in Divorce Matters” have been published and presented at national and state-level conventions.

Ms. Harounian has a long history of public service, including pro bono work for The Safe Center. She has raised awareness and funds for a range of social and legal causes on Long Island. She served as an Instructor of Family Law at Hofstra Law School for over ten years, and lectures regularly to attorneys, judges, mental health professionals, accountants, and women’s groups. She is a sought-after speaker on a range of topics including financial and legal empowerment, cultural competence in mediation, fertility law, cyber harassment, intellectual property, negotiating skills, and mental health/addiction issues. She is fluent in Farsi and well versed in the Jewish Gett and Middle Eastern religion and culture. 

https://lawjaw.com/practices/divorce/complex-divorce-issues/domestic-violence-orders-of-protection/

Creator/Host:  Christina M. Blackburn, MSc - Award-winning tech innovator, medical and first responder educator, advocate for women and children in crisis, and survivor.  

WELCOME to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast. Every first Friday at 10 ET we speak with first responders and leading experts on critical topics important to those working on the frontline of this global issue. In today's episode, we will speak with Dr. Elena Hill, a family medicine physician practicing in the Bronx, NY. Her clinical interests include underserved health care, chronic pain and addiction medicine, and integrated health. We will discuss Dr. Hills' most recent research on the cross-section between addiction medicine and domestic abuse.

Profile: https://www.doximity.com/pub/elena-hill-md

Articles: https://opmed.doximity.com/authors/elena-hill-md

The MINDFUL ON PURPOSE PODCAST is a safe space where unexplored topics on gender-based violence/intimate partner violence/child endangerment are discussed with FIELD EXPERTS to increase awareness and improve care for vulnerable women and children. Target listener: doctors, nurses, hospital and clinic executives, law enforcement, domestic violence researchers, government officials, all frontline workers, survivors/victims, family and friends of survivors/victims, and ALL concerned humans.  www.speranzaproject.org

Creator/Host:  Christina M. Blackburn, MSc - Award-winning tech innovator, medical and first responder educator, advocate for women and children in crisis, and survivor.

WELCOME to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast that airs every first Friday of the month. In today's episode, we will listen to a past recording from our 2021 Domestic Violence Awareness Month webinar when we spoke directly with a New York State representative and hospital legal compliance official on the importance of this new law for health systems and victims experiencing domestic violence in the state. Public Health Law §2805-z.

Senator Julia Salazar represents New York’s 18th State Senate District, including the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick, Cypress Hills, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg, as well as parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and East New York. Upon her election in 2018, she became the youngest woman elected in the history of the New York State Senate. Senator Salazar is a strong supporter of tenant rights, criminal justice reform, equal protection for women, and immigration justice. Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act mandating insurance companies cover all FDA-approved contraceptive drugs, devices, and products for women. Responding to concerns raised by constituents about services provided to victims of domestic violence in the health care system, Senator Salazar has also introduced bills mandating training for hospital staff regarding domestic violence and guaranteeing victims free and safe transportation home from the hospital.

Until her election to the State Senate, Julia Salazar worked as a community organizer in the neighborhoods she represents and across New York City. She began her advocacy during her time as a college student at Columbia University, where she advocated for the rights of fellow tenants and service industry workers. She worked for United Auto Workers Local 2110 to support Barnard College adjunct faculty workers in the campaign for their historic first contract. She served as a community organizer for Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, working within city-and-state-wide coalitions to advance criminal justice reform and police accountability legislation. Senator Salazar is also an active member of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), UAW-NWU Local 1981, and the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Andrea Crawford, Esq., CPHRM has been a health care attorney for over 20 years.  She began her career as a Medical Malpractice defense attorney with one of the premier defense firms in NYC.  Following this, Ms. Crawford joined the New York City Law Department in the Medical Malpractice Department representing the hospitals in the New York City Health & Hospitals System.  In 2004 this Division became part of the New York City Health & Hospitals Claims and Litigation Division.  Ms. Crawford specialized in Labor & Delivery and Mother-Baby matters.  She then was responsible for negotiating settlements for the hospital system.

In 2015 Ms. Crawford became the Associate Executive Director of Risk Management in a Queens New York City Health & Hospitals facility.  Here her responsibilities touch every section of the hospital where she concentrates on patient safety, equitable delivery of care, quality improvement and develops and implements educational sessions for licensed staff.

Ms. Crawford is also a community activist in her hometown in Queens, NY where she is a member, and past chairperson, of her community board, and is involved with local elected officials in managing a broad range of community-based programs.

Creator/Host:  Christina M. Blackburn, MSc - Award-winning tech innovator, medical and first responder educator, advocate for women and children in crisis, and survivor.

Welcome to the Mindful on Purpose Podcast!  In episode 10 we will talk with Enid Ocasio, NYPD domestic violence instructor, and community advocate.  We will discuss how she landed in the NYPD, her work in the community, what impact she has had on women and children in crisis, and how the police can be more of an advocate to these victims of violent crimes.

BIO:

Enid Ocasio is an advocate and lead trainer for Domestic Violence. Enid’s expertise includes EEO Law, EEO Policy, Equity and Inclusion, Freedom of Information Law, and Criminal Justice.

Enid Ocasio began her career at the NYPD as a Police Administrative Aide in June 1993. While employed she attended John Jay College for Criminal Justice where she achieved a Bachelor’s degree in May 2002. Due to life circumstances, her plans of attending law school were detoured, but her passion for law and helping people kept her focused. As a Police Administrative Aide, she provided assistance to community members with filing reports, attaining forms among other community relations.

In pursuit of her passion for law, Enid Ocasio transferred to NYPD’s Legal Bureau in December 2001 where she worked with members of the service in the Freedom of Information Law/Document Production Unit.

Enid’s determination to do more prompted her to transfer to NYPD’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity in October 2003. She also enrolled in a master’s graduate degree course at Walden University and achieved a master's in Public Administration in 2009 together with NYPD Enid was trained and certified to instruct on employment practices management and leadership.  There she trained members of the service for 13 years as the lead civilian trainer. She also facilitated an Online Ethics course for undergraduate students at the University of Phoenix.

Throughout her career, Enid has acquired and received merits, awards, mayoral citations, and certifications from community leaders, city agencies, and educational institutions.

Enid is currently assigned to the Office of Chief of Department, Domestic Violence Unit where she continues to instruct members of the service and the community. Outside of the NYPD Enid is a community advocate and therefore collaborates, and partners with outside city agencies and not-for-profit organizations in facilitating, rendering aid, and creating domestic violence awareness and services as needed and required.

The MINDFUL ON PURPOSE PODCAST is a safe space where unexplored topics on gender-based violence/intimate partner violence/child endangerment are discussed with FIELD EXPERTS to increase awareness and improve care for vulnerable women and children. Target listener: doctors, nurses, hospital and clinic executives, law enforcement, domestic violence researchers, government officials, all frontline workers, survivors/victims, family and friends of survivors/victims, and ALL concerned humans.  www.speranzaproject.org

Creator/Host:  Christina M. Blackburn, MSc - Award-winning tech innovator, medical and first responder educator, advocate for women and children in crisis, and survivor.