COVID-19 exacerbated stress and trauma universally, creating a secondary pandemic that increased demand for mental health care in a system on the verge of crisis. An intense and immediate need for population well-being support resulted, and subsequent requests for resiliency training quickly followed. In response, Dr. Ingrid Duva and nurses in Georgia certified to teach the Community Resiliency Model (CRM) fast tracked efforts to share this mental wellness training program across their state. This successful nurse-led response to the crisis capitalized on statewide organizations’ existing efforts to bolster well-being and reduce trauma. Partnerships were formed and joint aims identified to disseminate the Community Resiliency Model, as a self-care modality to individuals in organizations and communities throughout the state. An evaluation of this program was recently published in the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Duva will discuss the results of their efforts and the implications to the well-being of front-line workers nationwide.

Shelly Sood and Nikhil Torsekar, husband and wife, will share that with an understanding of mental health conditions and receiving support and guidance, and accepting help, health, and life can be transformed.

They navigated a harrowing, but ultimately redemptive journey with the growing understanding of Nikhil’s Bipolar condition.

Shelly went through a challenging ordeal to get Nikhil to accept what was hiding in plain sight: and that he suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. It nearly destroyed their marriage - and their lives - until he agreed to get a proper diagnosis and seek treatment in 2016.

This also inspired the launch of GIOSTAR Chicago - a leading regenerative medicine center. Six years later, they run a successful business, and have developed a robust content platform called The Shelly Story.

This encompasses a book, a forthcoming movie, a blog, and a podcast where they speak with guests on a broad array of topics including mental health in the South Asian diaspora, technologies that can assist with managing bipolar disorder, advocacy efforts, and alternative treatment modalities such as Ayurveda and meditation.

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Interview with Shelly Sood, Untether Your Life   Shelly Sood is the co-founder of Untether Your Life, a wellness platform that empowers individuals to reconnect with their inner peace, cultivate mindfulness, and create a life filled with purpose. Her approach is informed by more than 20 years of entrepreneurial and leadership experience in healthcare and other industries.   Shelly’s upcoming book Practicing Mindfulness on the Go offers accessible techniques for staying present in the midst of daily pressures and curveballs. Alongside this, her transformative course Reinvent Your Reality™ provides custom meditations, groundbreaking breathwork practices, and other tools to push clients past their limits to achieve the life they’ve imagined. Learn more at shellysood.com, or follow her on Instagram at @shellysoodofficial.

We live in a world of violence and sometimes we can feel overwhelmed and helpless. From the streets of our town and cities like Chicago to the Genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia what lessons can we learn from peacemaking in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lesley Carroll has been involved in peacemaking and healing the historical traumas of the past, she will share her wisdom of what she has experienced to bring solutions to respond to the violence in our world today.

November is National Native American Heritage Month, which pays tribute to the rich history and culture of the indigenous people of the Americas. In 2009, during President Barack H. Obama’s first term in office, November became National Native American Heritage Month. Magdalena Sunshine Serrano is an Indigenous woman of Serrano, Apache, and Tarahumara descent and Julene A. Jose, is an Indigenous woman of the Tohono O’odham Nation who also serves on the Pasqua Yaqui Tribe. Magdalena and Julene will share their perspectives and their wisdom about healing, hope and empowerment in their communities. We can all learn from their collective wisdom. They both will also address how the Community Resiliency Model is congruent to their organic views of healing. Over the last decade the Trauma Resource Institute, our sponsor, has had the honor to learn about the true history of the Indigenous people who lived in these lands prior to the Europeans who settled in the Americas. The suffering has been great, and the maltreatment of Indigenous people has been a holocaust often not acknowledged. The strength and beauty of the diverse cultures and traditions of Indigenous people will be discussed as well as the strength that springs forth from their cultural traditions.

After over two years of disconnection, frequent trauma, and grief, so many children are longing for connection, belonging, and the opportunity to process experiences. Meaningful conversations offer them all these gifts and more. They also reduce stress, burnout, and anxiety for adults. This session will introduce listeners to the power of back-and-forth-conversations with children, as a way of promoting resilience and healing for both children and adults. Delivered by a speech-pathologist, lecturer, and mother of two, this session will offer listeners a toolbox of fun, playful, and actionable strategies and ideas to enhance their relationships with children. Also, through discussing the neuroscience behind these strategies, this session will support listeners in understanding just how powerful and urgent it now is to have meaningful conversations with kids.

Drs. Larry Ward and Peggy Rowe-Ward will address how we are all as a world community are impacted by Racism and how we can heal from the traumas that arise from Racism. Dr. Ward’s book, America’s Racial Karma published in September 2020 addresses how America can begin to heal. They have been teaching and practicing with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, revered throughout the world for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. They received the lamp (teacher transmission) from him at Plum Village in 2001. They co-authored Love’s Garden and this book was featured in The Best Buddhist Writing of 2009. Peggy and Larry work with CEOs of Fortune 500 programs to integrate cultural diversity, corporate change and transformation. They will also address the Wisdom School they have created to bring healing to our global community.

Today’s show is about navigating a successful life as you age. Just over 34 percent of the US population is aged 50 and over, and the numbers are rising rapidly with the aging of the baby-boom generation. The numbers are projected to climb from 21.7 million in 2010 to 32.8 million in 2020 and then to 38.6 million in 2030. Crafting a meaningful and successful life over fifty well be explored with Ron Roel, the radio show host of 45 Forward, a nationwide internet talk radio show on VoiceAmerica.com.

In the United States, the nineteen children murdered in Uvalde now are tragically added to the 4,357 American children from the ages of one to nineteen who died from gun violence in 2020. After every mass shooting, the dialogue is the same, and the themes run fast and furious – gun control, the internet, and mental illness. How did this happen? Why did he do it? What can we do to stop the subterranean secret life of the web that spews hate adding fuel to disturbed and distorted thinking? While mass shootings grab our attention momentarily, gunfire takes the lives of more children and teens every year than the Parkland, Sandy Hook, Uvalde, and Columbine massacres combined. Jenee Littrell, the Deputy Superintendent, of Educational Services at San Mateo County Office of Education, will bring forth her ideas and that of her school district to create safety and support within school districts. She will discuss how to support children, parents, and teachers. Dr. Michael Sapp, CEO of the Trauma Resource Institute, will also join to add perspective as trauma therapist and father of two teen-age boys.

Shannah Kennedy is one of Australia’s foremost strategic executive life and health coaches, working with clients to help them transform their careers, well-being, and lives. She is a bestselling author, well-being specialist, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, media contributor, and a wife and mother of two. Her most recent publication The Life Plan: Simple Strategies for Building Confidence in a Changing World released in May 2022 from Beyond Words Publishing. The Life Plan is an invaluable guide and workbook offering the tools you need for success, fulfillment, and happiness in every aspect of your life.

Brain diseases are now the world’s leading source of disability. One of the most debilitating, Parkinson’s disease, is the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world. Over the past 25 years, the number of people with the condition has jumped from 3 million to over 6 million. By 2040, it will likely double again. In addition to impacting millions of lives and livelihoods, Parkinson’s is poised to crush our healthcare system and our economy. This, while harmful pesticides and other toxic chemicals that contribute to Parkinson’s surround us, disproportionally affecting our farmers, our veterans, and even those in Silicon Valley. The most effective treatment is now a half century old, yet research funding stagnates. In short, we’re failing to stop a runaway train. As we confront this coming wave of Parkinson’s disease—one of the great health challenges of our time—we must turn to recent public health crises such as polio and AIDS, and what we can learn from them. In that same vein, we must look at what the global effort to address COVID-19 has taught us about how to martial scientific and financial resources to halt the insidious spread of a pandemic, because Parkinson’s disease is fast on its way to becoming a pandemic—one that, if left unaddressed, will persist long after COVID-19 disappears.