Resiliency Within

Resiliency Within is rebroadcasting a conversation between Elaine Miller-Karas, the host of Resiliency Within, and Aziza Hasan, Executive Director, and Andrea Hodos, Associate Director of New Ground, a nonprofit dedicated to bridging divides and convening constructive conversations around challenging social issues. As 2024 is swiftly coming to an end, it is a time to amplify and be thankful for the voices working towards peaceful dialogue.

They share their wisdom on how New Ground envisions an America where Muslims and Jews are empowered to create lasting partnerships and engage in authentic communication and mutual cooperation. This vibrant model of engagement – not bound by history, theology, or politics – affirms that conflict is inevitable and yet not intractable. NewGround empowers Muslims, Jews, and allies to bridge divisions and leverage shared values to strengthen our communities’ well-being and our fragile democracy. NewGround is a community-building organization that creates, connects, and empowers Jewish and Muslim Change-makers in America. Through a professional fellowship, high school leadership council, and public programming, NewGround transforms Muslim-Jewish relations and advances a shared agenda for change. They share what we need to do differently to bring about lasting change.

Clifford D. Barnett, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Warner Temple A.M.E. Zion Church in Wilmington, NC, where he is a dedicated community organizer and team builder, passionate about connecting individuals in need with essential resources. Elected to Wilmington's City Council in 2017 and re-elected in 2021, he currently serves as Mayor Pro Tem. Joining Resiliency Within, Pastor Barnett brings his perspective on resilience, drawn from his extensive experience in ministry, government, and community advocacy. He will share insights on navigating challenging times by uncovering what else is true?

RACHEL ZIMMERMAN, an award-winning journalist, is the author of Us, After: A Memoir of Love and Suicide. Her book examines domestic devastation and resurgence, the struggle between public and private selves, life's shifting perspectives, the work of motherhood, and the secrets we keep. She will share how she confronted the unimaginable and discovered the good in what remains. When a state trooper appeared at Rachel Zimmerman's door to report that her husband had jumped to his death off a nearby bridge, she fell to her knees, unable to fully absorb the news. How could the man she'd married, a devoted father and robotics professor at MIT with no history of mental illness, have committed such an act? How would she explain this to her young daughters? And could she have stopped him? A longtime journalist, she probed obsessively, believing answers would help her survive. She interviewed doctors and suicide researchers. She spoke with a man who jumped off the same bridge and lived. She got answers, but not the answer—the answer to the question of why her husband killed himself. And so began years of learning to make peace with not knowing.

Join an open-hearted conversation with Psychotherapist Elaine Miller-Karas, host of Resiliency Within with Kevin McLeod, Director of Community Development, and Psychologist Michael Sapp, CEO of the Trauma Resource Institute. Together, they'll explore practical ways to navigate the emotional landscape following the 2024 election results. As celebrations and grief arise within workplaces, homes, and communities, this dialogue offers tools to foster understanding and resilience across differing political perspectives. Elaine, Kevin and Michael will discuss how to initiate meaningful conversations with coworkers and loved ones who may hold different political views. Discover strategies to find common ground, which can create connection and serve as an antidote to distress. Whether you're wondering how to cope with four more years of President-elect Trump or how to connect with family members who supported Kamala Harris, this session will provide guidance on managing these complex dynamics with empathy and respect. In addition, they will share simple skills to help regulate your autonomic nervous system so that you can maintain inner balance, although the wake of world events is outside of our control.

Resiliency Within's host, Elaine Miller-Karas, and her guest, Martha Parra, share the beauty and values of their Latino culture. Martha's family came to California from Mexico, and Elaine's mother and grandmother came from El Salvador. They will share the values they learned from their families and how their rich heritage has inspired their personal and professional journeys as community leaders. They will also share their families' challenges as they immigrate to a new country. Martha will discuss traditional healing practices learned from her father and how he inspired her work as a social worker. They also share the challenges of racism and colonialism immigrants face. This is a time in US history when it is essential to embrace the richness and value of Latino culture to counter the disparaging comments being made. Martha will share two programs initiated by the Reagan administration that gave her and her family a pathway to legal residency.

The Community Resiliency Model and the Trauma Resiliency Model and how they have been accessible to the Latino community. Martha pioneered the first Community Resiliency Model Teacher Training in Spanish in the pilot study through California's Mental Health Services Act and the County of San Bernardino's Department of Behavioral Health. Martha will share her work as an Immigration Evaluations Evaluator and her work with Asylum, Hardship, the Violence Against Women Act, and victims of human trafficking. The diverse Latino culture is rich with traditions. The identities of Latinas and Latinos are shaped by geography, heritage, race, and gender. Latinas and Latinos embrace their heritage and contribute to the culture of the United States. They will share how their families taught them compassion, courage, strength, service, and hard work.

Julia Loken and Hughie Stone Fish, both Los Angeles-based artists in the area of humor, comedy, and more, join Resiliency Within to talk about their work. They will reflect on humor and comedy in this present moment. Elaine Miller Karas, the host of Resiliency Within, states that "humor is one of the elixirs of life." An elixir is described as a magical power to cure and improve something. Humor and comedy play a vital role in human life because they offer a way to relieve stress, build connections, and foster resilience. Laughter has been shown to release endorphins, elevate mood, and reduce tension, promoting physical and emotional well-being. Comedy helps people cope with difficult situations, offering a different perspective or a sense of relief, allowing individuals to process complex emotions more easily. It also strengthens social bonds by creating shared moments of joy and connection, making it an essential tool for communication and collective healing in challenging times. In today's climate of political divisiveness, humor and comedy are more important than ever because they offer a way to bridge divides, ease tensions, and encourage dialogue. Comedy can help people reflect on the absurdities of divisive rhetoric, making complex issues more approachable and less hostile. In times of heightened division, humor can create space for empathy and understanding, reminding us of our shared humanity. Join Resiliency Within as we hope to reflect on humor and comedy and have a few moments of levity during these difficult times. What else is true?

Jordan R. Murphy, PhD, RN, is a nurse scientist who specializes in behavioral health and trauma-informed care. Dr. Murphy will share her work in Gun Violence Prevention, supporting professionals and survivors. Gun violence is a major public health and social justice issue, and yet it is preventable. For the last three years, gun violence was the #1 cause of death for children and adolescents 1-17 years of age, surpassing motor vehicle accidents and cancer. Where common sense laws are lacking to protect children, violence prevention professionals and credible messengers are working on the frontlines to mediate conflict, interrupt violence, and restore peace.

Mike Sapp, the CEO of the Trauma Resource Institute, and our host, Elaine Miller-Karas, the Co-Founder of the Trauma Resource Institute, will discuss how to launch the Disaster Relief Mobilization: Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® Preparation Program (DRM:CRM) in your community post-disaster like Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene. The program is a model that can create a trauma-informed, resiliency-focused prevention program in preparation for a community disaster. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (2022) describes disaster as "A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts." They will discuss how DRM:CRM grew out of the Trauma Resource Institute's experiences around the globe after disasters to provide CRM workshops and Teacher Training Programs to community members. They will share how individuals around the world when have reached into the best part of their humanity to help themselves, their families, and the wider community during and after the most difficult life experiences with courage and strength.

Bo Dean and Jvanete Skiba of Wilmington, North Carolina, join Michael Sapp, CEO of the Trauma Resource Institute, and Elaine Miller-Karas, host of Resiliency Within, to discuss valuable lessons learned to enhance the well-being of survivors from Hurricane Florence and other disasters. Their reflections and the interventions they have adopted offer crucial insights for the people of the Northeast United States, who are grappling with the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Helene revealed that even inland, high-elevation areas are not immune to flooding and destruction, especially in a world where planetary warming fuels more intense rainfall. Preliminary analyses have linked climate change to Helene's catastrophic rains. In particular, climate scientist Michael Wehner's study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that precipitation levels in Georgia and the Carolinas—exceeding 30 inches in some areas over just three days—were up to 20 times more likely due to human-induced warming. Extreme weather events like Hurricane Helene are closely tied to a range of adverse mental health outcomes. Common mental health conditions that arise in the wake of such disasters include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, suicide, and substance abuse disorders (Cianconi et al., 2020). The recovery journey for those affected by Hurricane Helene has just begun. While emergency mental health workers and first responders provide initial support, the lasting impacts on the mental health of a disaster-stricken community often persist for weeks, months, or even years. Mental health systems can face severe strain as the demand for services frequently exceeds local capacity, compounding the challenges survivors must overcome.