Resiliency Within

Dr. Joy Miller will join Resiliency Within to talk about her remarkable work with global resilience. Miller created a new forum for training in the area of resiliency. Resiliency Productions became a gift of love to the global world, offering free access to mental health techniques for those struggling with the pandemic, loss, grief, anxiety & depression. Dedicated to offering personal empowerment & resiliency strategies to global participants, Miller created the remarkable event, Resilience 2023, bringing together global leaders to speak about resiliency. This amazing free event will take place on September 8, 2023. Her vision is joined by like-minded celebrities, global influencers, musicians, noted clinicians, and professionals who donate their time and talent, sharing their voices and messages to help our global community grow, heal and thrive. She has appeared on Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessie Raphael, Montel Williams, Geraldo, and many radio and podcast presentations throughout the years. She hosted a mental health segment on ABC and NBC affiliates for 25 years and hosted her own radio show for four years. She will again share her wisdom about Resilience. She will share her definitions of resilience. In addition, she will share her vista about the upcoming September event and why it is essential for all of us to attend.

Vanessa Kettering and Rhonda Rodgers, co-founders of Way of Well-Being, will share their experiences with the life-changing work from the early days of the Trauma Resource Institute (TRI) to translating the skills for others in their community to find peace and resilience in a world full of heteronormative ideas and sometimes hostile or misinformed views. Their connection with TRI, tools of contemplative practice, and positive psychology have not only transformed their work in higher education and the private sector but also continued to inspire them on their personal journeys toward healing and self-acceptance. The two have been in a committed relationship for over a decade and have navigated romance, business, travel, pet parenthood, and more.

This show is a story of hope, resilience, and love. Resilience is sometimes the outcome of some of the darkest moments in one's life. My guests, a mother, Sue Borrego and her daughter, Kelsey Bunker Robertson, had very different experiences following Sue's coming out when Kelsey was 9. Sue was occupied by the fear of losing her children and job and moving through the generational shame of her sexuality. Kelsey became a fierce advocate, proud of her parents and much less touched by the shame her mom felt. Sue gave birth to her children, Kelsey and Bryce in the 1980s. When they were toddlers, it became clear to Sue that she was a Lesbian. Nothing about her life and work had space for her truth. She was married to a man and working successfully at a Christian University. She chose to live closeted until she could no longer live so incongruously. Sue needed to find a different job and initiate divorce proceedings. Initially, Sue was not public about her sexual orientation. Ironically, Kelsey's dad came out several months later. Together they lived as a "non-traditional" family in a very traditional town. Sue, consumed by the worldview of sexual orientation she grew up with, was terrified of costing her kids a "normal" life and losing the world she had carefully built.As an "emancipated minor" she had carefully constructed a world that she thought would protect her future. Kelsey continued to develop her sense of justice and love. She was a guest on panels, an advocate at school and an educator in her life. Today Kelsey is a mom of 6 and Bryce a father of three. Both of their parents are married to their partners and have lives filled with joy and love. There are many LGBTQ+ parents who wonder about the impact of their lives on their families and LGBTQ+ young adults who wonder about their futures. The culture wars, with vitriolic rhetoric and attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals, are taking their toll. They will share their journey of love, hope and resilience.

Welcome to Resiliency Within and part 2 of my discussion with the Rev. Dr. Keith Menhinick of Emory Univesity's Candler School of Theology. Part 1 aired on July 3, 2023. Today's show will explore Queer Theology. Rev. Dr. Keith Menhinick will discuss his views about Queer theology, and the course he teaches at Emory University. Sexuality and spirituality are often pitted against each other in religious community and doctrine. In sociological and psychological research on LGBTQ+ folks, religion is often cited in terms of stigma and risk factor for a variety of poor health outcomes. How might we understand LGBTQ+ spirituality beyond an association with stigma, trauma, and exclusion? Can we imagine a world in which sexuality and spirituality are not opposed, but rather intimately interrelated? It would be a world in which we are not asked to diminish parts of ourselves, but rather bring the fullness of our lives (our bodies, dreams, longings, and loves) to explore questions of gender, sexuality, and faith formation together in community. Queer theology is about questioning what is considered "normal" for humans and "orthodox" for religion. By historicizing and politicizing the labels we use to understand ourselves and the divine, queer theology exposes the power relations at the heart of the ways that we claim identities, organize society, and do theology. We learn from both queer theology and resilience studies that there is more freedom, justice, and compassion than we have yet to live into.

K Thomas will discuss the current state of Queer and trans rights across the US and the deep history of resiliency within the LGBTQIA2S+ communities. K will address how racism, reproductive justice, and LGBTQIA+ rights are intertwined within recent SCOTUS decisions. We will also explore how embracing the strengths of the Queer and trans communities enables us to choose compassion over comprehension towards marginalized identities. Lastly, K will provide a few tangible ways to be an active ally to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Resiliency Within will highlight the strength, resiliency, and positive contributions of the queer community during several episodes. The Rev. Dr. Keith A. Menhinick joins us in this episode, Chasing Resilience in Queer Communities. Dr. M, as his Theology students call him at Emory University, states, Many people in helping and caregiving professions see LGBTQ+ people in terms of their trauma--the ways they've been hurt, excluded, rejected, harmed--without a focus on resiliency. Queer folks and communities have immense gifts, blessings, resources, and wisdom to offer us all about how to build resilient lives and communities. We will have a dialogue about the gifts, blessings, and wisdom of the queer community. Dr. M will share his experiences integrating the Community Resiliency Model into his teachings and work. The Rev. Dr. Keith A. Menhinick will join me later in another episode to describe his course at Emory University on Queer Theology.

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.

A team of multi-generational civil rights leaders, historians, educators, community leaders and clinicians gathered together to participate in a landmark initiative, the Kellogg Foundation’s Racial Equity 2030 grant opportunity. Reena Evers-Everette assembled a team of progressive thinkers dedicated to empowering future generations with historic civil rights truth through a trauma-informed lens. In the process, new partnerships were formed and new meanings about race, equity, and healing were articulated. Kenneth Mason, Kevin McCleod, and Jordan Murphy will share their thoughts and insight into what it means to take steps in courage and confront the truth about race and trauma through a lens of healing and resilience.

Michael Sapp, the CEO of the Trauma Resource Institute, and Elaine Miller-Karas the host of Resiliency Within and the Co-Founder of the Trauma Resource Institute, will reflect on pressing contemporary issues of war, wokeism, healing, and forgiveness through the wisdom of the characters of Ted Lasso, a series on AppleTV. Their working definition of woke is not politicized but rather a word that has been used as far back as the early 1900s to mean being conscious of racial discrimination in society and other forms of oppression and injustice.

Guy MacPherson, Ph.D., will share his journey as the founder of the Trauma Therapist Project, which has grown to include the Trauma Therapist Podcast and Newsletter. He has interviewed over 700 therapists who have dedicated their lives to helping those people who have been impacted by trauma. He will share what he has learned that is important for all of us who are healing from the traumas experienced from our lived experience. Guy focuses on honoring and cultivating trauma therapists' authenticity, vulnerability, and courage. Elaine Miller-Karas, the host of Resiliency Within, had the honor of being interviewed by Dr. MacPherson.