Resiliency Within

On an unremarkable summer night at the age of fifteen, Mary Keating got into a 1965 Mustang convertible driven by a boy she barely knew. She never walked again.

In her memoir-in-verse, Recalibrating Gravity, Keating explores life before, during, and after her spinal cord injury, bringing readers into the lived experience of navigating ill-fitting wheelchairs, poorly designed buildings, well-intentioned loved ones, the medical-industrial complex, and our ableist society. It's not a story of tragedy or triumph, but of adaptation, persistence, and the daily negotiations required to live fully in a world not designed with disability in mind.

Keating earned her JD from Yale Law School, worked as an attorney at IBM, spoke at the American Bar Association's annual meeting on working with disabled lawyers and clients, and founded her own law practice—twice. Along the way, she married a man she has known since fourth grade, survived thyroid cancer, learned how to scuba dive, and published widely in journals and anthologies. Her book is a reminder that disability is an ordinary and integral part of human life.

What happens when we step away from the noise of everyday life and allow our feet to carry us toward something greater than ourselves? In this episode of Resiliency Within, I am joined by my colleague, K. Thomas, as we explore the profound physical, emotional, and spiritual transformations that unfolded during two remarkable pilgrimages. I share my experience walking the Camino de Santiago in my seventies, while K reflects on her journey to Machu Picchu in her thirties. Though our paths led us across different landscapes and cultures, they revealed strikingly similar truths about resilience, healing, purpose, and self-discovery. Together, we discuss the healing power of walking long distances, the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other, and how the solitude of the trail creates space for deep self-reflection. We also explore the unexpected gifts found in conversations with fellow pilgrims—brief encounters that often leave lasting impressions and remind us of our shared humanity. Our conversation examines how age, life experience, and personal perspective shape the pilgrimage experience while revealing the universal themes that connect us across generations. Whether you have completed a pilgrimage yourself, dream of embarking on one someday, or are simply seeking renewal in your own life's journey, this episode offers inspiration to embrace movement, mindfulness, and the transformative power of walking with intention. Join us as we reflect on two sacred paths, the resilience they cultivated, and the enduring truth that sometimes the longest journeys lead us home to ourselves.

Crisis Recovery for Kids, Parents, and Teachers

Children worldwide are living during very difficult times within the United States and globally. Current policies are impacting our schools - our children, teachers, and school staff.

Inez Tiger and Elaine Miller-Karas will discuss how educational systems worldwide are increasingly confronted with the impact of natural and human-made crises - war, genocide, wildfires, ICE raids, and community violence.

These events disrupt the stability of whole communities with profound implications to children and those who care for them.

Join our host, Elaine Miller-Karas, and Educator Inez Tiger for this encore show on implementing the Community Resiliency Model in a systematic, phased approach to support resilience for children, educators, and school staff.

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About Our Guest:

Inez Tiger, LMFT, brings over 30 years of experience as an educator, school leader, and mental health professional. She has served as an elementary and middle school teacher, counselor, principal, and most recently as Director of Wellness at The Pressman Academy.

Inez is a certified teacher of the Community Resiliency Model® (CRM), a practitioner of the Trauma Resiliency Model® (TRM), and a longtime facilitator and trainer in the practice of Council.

Specializing in self-regulation, trauma healing, and the power of storytelling, Inez recently transitioned from her role as a school-based educator to focus more deeply on healing and wellness.

A collector of stories, she finds meaning in listening to the resilience of students, parents, and teachers as they navigate their school journeys.

Originally from South Africa, Inez lives in Los Angeles with her partner and their two children. She finds joy in art-making, meaningful collaboration, and long walks with their dog, Chase.

One of her guiding mottos comes from Maya Angelou: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

In this episode of Resiliency Within, Elaine Miller-Karas, interviews Dr. Adam Barsouk about a sobering reality: cancer has surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in many developed nations.

Yet there is hope—up to half of cancer deaths may be preventable through lifestyle changes, environmental awareness, and thoughtful public policy.

Dr. Barsouk shares important information from his recently published book, Outsmarting Cancer, which reframes one of the most pressing medical challenges of our time: how to prevent cancer.

Dr. Barsouk presents a sweeping examination of cancer's true origins—biological, environmental, dietary, infectious, industrial, occupational, and behavioral—and makes a compelling case for why cancer prevention must become a central priority in public and personal health.

His book explores a wide range of overlooked and misunderstood risk factors, as well as how inequities in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention disproportionately impact underserved populations.

This conversation invites us to rethink cancer not only as a medical diagnosis, but as a public health and societal challenge—one that calls for evidence-based prevention strategies, informed choices, and collective responsibility.

About Our Guest:

ADAM BARSOUK, MD is a resident-physician at the University of Pennsylvania. His articles about science, medicine, and policy have been featured in Forbes, Newsweek, Fox News, and Business Insider.

We must not forget that the greatness of America has been shaped by the immigrants who have come for that hopeful opportunity of a better future.

People have immigrated to the United States from many places around the globe. They have often escaped the horrors of war and oppression to come to a country hoping for a future where their families could thrive in a Democratic Republic.

The host of Resiliency Within will share aspects of her first-generation view with her colleague, Martha Parra, LCSW, who came to the United States as a child with her family. 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.

Martha's family came to California from Mexico, and Elaine's mother and grandmother came from El Salvador. They will share how their families taught them compassion, courage, strength, service, and hard work. 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.

Essential funds are being cut for important programs helping youth.

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.

Jordan R. Murphy, PhD, RN, is a nurse scientist who specializes in behavioral health and trauma and resiliency-informed care.

In this encore episode, 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.

A greater understanding of the issues involved and the development of innovative programs are critical to the well-being of our Nation.

On this episode of Resiliency Within, host Elaine Miller-Karas welcomes Heather Lilly, co-founder and past Executive Director of Yoga Village in Wilmington, North Carolina, for a thoughtful conversation about the integration of the Community Resiliency Model (CRM) with Trauma-Informed Yoga. Together, Elaine and Heather explore how these complementary, body-based approaches can help individuals and communities strengthen resilience, regulate the nervous system, and support healing in the face of stress, adversity, and trauma. Drawing from years of experience serving diverse populations, Heather shares the vision behind Yoga Village and its commitment to making trauma-informed practices accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. Elaine and Heather discuss how CRM skills naturally align with trauma-informed yoga practices that cultivate mindful awareness, self-compassion, and a deeper connection to the body. Their dialogue highlights the growing recognition that healing is not simply a cognitive process but one that involves the whole person—mind, body, and spirit. Through stories, insights, and practical wisdom, they explore how integrating CRM and trauma-informed yoga can help create safer, more compassionate communities where individuals can rediscover their strengths and capacity for well-being. Join Elaine and Heather for an inspiring conversation about resilience, healing, and the transformative power of bringing together evidence-informed practices that help people reconnect with themselves and with one another.

On this special episode of Resiliency Within, host Elaine Miller-Karas sits down with Michael Sapp, Executive Director of the Trauma Resource Institute, for a heartfelt conversation reflecting on the remarkable global journey of the Trauma Resource Institute. What began as a small idea rooted in compassion and neuroscience has grown into an international movement of healing, hope, and human connection, reaching communities across cultures, languages, and lived experiences worldwide.

They will share reflections on the profound lessons learned from decades of working alongside educators, therapists, healthcare workers, parents, community leaders, and young people who have brought the Community and Trauma Resiliency Models into their daily lives. Together, Elaine and Mike discuss the importance of understanding that reactions to stress and trauma are not signs of weakness, but part of our shared human biology—and how practical wellness skills, compassionate relationships, and community connection can restore dignity, resilience, and hope. This dialogue also explores the realities of building an international nonprofit organization: the vision, perseverance, partnerships, and deep trust required to sustain a mission dedicated to human resilience.

The Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® contains powerful skills for nervous system regulation that can be used anywhere and anytime.

CRM in Schools is a strengths-based, compassionate approach that is helping school staff and students re-connect to their bodies and understand new ways to support their well-being through nervous system regulation.

Since 2019, the Community Resiliency Model has been shared with thousands of educators and students, world-wide. Pro-active and preventative skills like resourcing, grounding, and the Help Now! strategies can be practiced daily as classroom routines, during class meetings and brain breaks, or at crucial moments like before a test or during conflict resolution.

Feedback from educators and students suggests that the CRM skills can improve students body literacy, self-compassion and sense of empathy towards others. Educators report feeling more resourced to manage the physical and emotional demands of their profession.

How can CRM be brought into schools in a way that supports teachers and students, rather than burdening them with "one more thing" to do.

How can CRM be integrated systemically so that the climate of school becomes a place that is welcoming to the educators and students "whole selves"?

Can schools truly become places where trauma-and-resiliency informed practices are understood and applied by everyone from the support staff, to the principal?

This episode with Lindy Settevendemie and Christa Tinari explores the use of CRM in school contexts and their insights about how CRM can support individuals and transform the learning environment.

In this episode of Resiliency Within, Elaine Miller-Karas interviews Cathy Salser about a deceptively simple proposition: that time and connection — not paint or canvas — can be one of the most powerful art supplies we have.

Cathy is the founder of A Window Between Worlds (AWBW), a non-profit dedicated to nurturing art-based journeys of transforming trauma. Since 1991, AWBW has grown into a national circle of co-creation reaching nearly 150,000 participants annually across 44 states and 8 countries.

She shares the orgins of how she came to this work, and what it looks like when art becomes a circle of co-creation where every person is welcomed as an innovator and a founder of their own path forward. She draws on stories from across her 35 years of practice — from the personal level to the relational, organizational, and national.

She is also honest about what art is not: it doesn't replace therapists, hotlines, or economic justice. But it does something that nothing else does — it can help people create quick, but lasting, tangible tools to hold onto their strength, vision, and one another across time.

Cathy shares from a very personal place. Her home burned in the Palisades fire, along with her studio and 35 years of AWBW archives. The spirit of that work is not defeated — it is sprouting back up, even through this conversation.

This conversation welcomes us to rethink what art is and what it can do — not as a luxury or a talent, but as an accessible scaffold for change that anyone can build a life around.

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About Our Guest:

Cathy Salser is a social practice artist and the founder of A Window Between Worlds (AWBW), a non-profit dedicated to nurturing art-based journeys of transforming trauma. She holds time and connection as her primary art media — co-creating and mentoring site-specific works that welcome people to crystallize leadership in the face of challenge, sustain action over time, and replace isolation with community.

In this too-busy world, she loves the magic of art practices that are super quick yet super lasting — practices that disrupt and divest from legacies of trauma, and invite space for something new.

Since founding AWBW in 1991, Cathy has nurtured a circle of co-creators that today includes 600+ active community sites, reaching nearly 150,000 participants annually across 44 states and countries including Australia, Canada, Cameroon, Guam, Malawi, Mexico, South Korea, and Venezuela — engaging hundreds of thousands of adults and children who've experienced domestic violence, homelessness, incarceration, sexual assault, and intergenerational trauma.

She's been nationally recognized with the Women's Caucus for Art President's Award, the Bank of America Local Heroes Award, the LA Domestic Violence Council's Betty Fisher Award, and the CA Partnership to End Domestic Violence's Karen Cooper Lifetime Achievement Award.

Cathy is dedicated to living art as a brave and vulnerable practice — a catalyst for interactive journeys transforming trauma that lives in our bodies, relationships, communities, and systems.