RISEUP: Voices From the Frontlines

RISEUP: Voices From the Frontlines

By Krista Phoenix FeeBusinessHealth & FitnessMental HealthEducationNon-Profit
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RISEUP: Voices From the Frontlines episodes

  • TIL 15/40 Scars as Credibility

    🎙️ New Episode Announcement

    Every leader carries scars. Some are visible. Others are hidden deep

    within.

    In Episode 15, we explore the way personal scars shape leadership—not

    as liabilities, but as sources of wisdom, empathy, and resilience. Drawing from my own journey as the throwaway daughter of a victim of human trafficking, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and a victim of domestic violence, I’ll share how scars became the compass for my work and why acknowledging pain can amplify—not diminish—our ability to lead.

    We’ll also look at how scars shape collective movements. From communities rising after tragedy to organizations that rebuild after failure, scars are both reminders of wounds and markers of survival. When leaders choose to lead with their scars, they give permission for others to heal and rise as well.

    This episode is deeply personal, deeply human, and deeply necessary. If

    you’ve ever wondered whether your pain disqualifies you from leading, let this be your reminder: scars don’t silence us—they teach us how to speak.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    17 min
  • RISEUP PRO- Neural Command- Trauma Informed Leadership Under Pressure

    Neural Command™: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Under Pressure

    RISEUP Voices From the Frontlines | RISEUP PRO Edition

    Host: Krista Fee, M.A.

    High-stress helping professionals are not failing. They are being asked to operate in environments that ignore how the human brain actually works under pressure.

    Neural Command™ is an applied neuroscience certification designed for leaders, educators, medical professionals, first responders, and mission-driven organizations operating in high-risk, high-stakes environments. This program bridges neuroscience, psychology, biology, and trauma-informed leadership to answer a critical question:

    How do humans think, decide, lead, learn, and perform under real-world

    stress, and how do we design systems that support that rather than destroy it?

    In this introductory episode, Krista Fee, M.A., founder of RISEUP Phoenix

    Trauma & Crisis Institute explains:

    Why intelligence, training, and motivation alone do not predict

    performance under stress

    How leadership culture, workload, communication, and expectations shape nervous system capacity

    Why burnout, disengagement, moral injury, and attrition are brain-level

    phenomena, not personal failures

    How Neural Command™ differs from traditional leadership, productivity,

    and resilience programs

    Why this work is essential not just for performance, but for well-being,

    retention, and suicide prevention

    Neural Command™ is built to be:

    Trauma-informed without being fragile

    Scientifically rigorous without being inaccessible

    immediately applicable without overwhelming

    Leadership-level without shaming or pressure

    Each lesson is delivered in small, digestible segments designed to be

    applied in real time — in classrooms, hospitals, command centers, agencies, and organizations where seconds, decisions, and human lives matter.

    This is not a program about pushing harder.

    It is a program about building leadership, systems, and cultures that the

    The human nervous system can actually sustain.

    Who This Program Is For

    Leaders in high-stress, high-risk professions

    Educators, medical professionals, first responders, and crisis leaders

    Organizations struggling with burnout, turnover, disengagement, or morale

    Professionals who want excellence without sacrificing their health,

    relationships, or humanity

    Learn More & Get Connected

    Register for the Neural Command™ Program: Type NC Course

    Book a Connection Call: Type Connect

    Listen to the Podcast: Type Podcast

    Sponsor the Podcast or Partner with RISEUP PRO: Type Connect

    A portion of all course, training, and podcast revenue supports the nonprofit partners providing critical care and recovery services in times of crisis.

    When pressure is unavoidable, understanding the brain becomes

    non-negotiable.

    13 min
  • TIL 14/40 Fire As Teacher

    🎙️ New Episode Announcement

    Every flame casts a shadow.

    Episode 14 confronts the dark side of leadership fire—when

    ambition, ego, or unchecked rage consume leaders, organizations, and movements.
    From historical atrocities to modern scandals, we’ll examine what happens when fire is no longer fuel but destruction.

    This episode doesn’t shy away from the darkness. It takes us into the

    wreckage left when leaders abandon integrity, when power corrupts, and when movements born of hope spiral into harm. But it also offers a way forward: how trauma-informed leaders can recognize shadow tendencies in themselves and their organizations, and how to create accountability structures that prevent the blaze from consuming everything.

    This is a sobering but essential conversation for every leader who wants

    to harness their fire without losing their way.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    13 min
  • TIL 13/40 The Myth of Endless Grit

    🎙️ New Episode Announcement

    Fire is one of the most powerful forces in nature—and in leadership. It

    can ignite movements, warm communities, and light the way forward. But if left
    unchecked, it can also consume everything in its path.

    In Episode 13, we explore the paradox of fire as fuel and fire as

    destruction. What does it mean for a leader to burn brightly without
    burning out? How can passion be harnessed as energy for transformation rather
    than chaos?

    Drawing from history, crisis response, and trauma-informed psychology,

    we’ll dive into the balance between fervor and discipline, and why leaders must
    learn to tend their internal fires if they want to sustain the flames of their
    movements.

    If you’ve ever felt your passion turning into exhaustion—or your drive

    tipping toward destruction—this episode is your guide to turning fire into
    fuel.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    16 min
  • TIL 12/40 When Leaders Drift The Cost of Compromise

    🎙️ New Episode Announcement

    How do we hold nuance without losing fairness? How do we honor complexity without abandoning responsibility?

    In Episode 12, we wrestle with one of the hardest questions in

    leadership: when leaders make discretionary decisions that cause harm, how should they be held accountable?

    We’ll explore the balance between empathy and justice, the importance of separating intent from impact, and why trauma-informed leadership doesn’t mean excusing failure—but does mean handling failure with dignity and clarity.

    With real-world stories from crisis response, politics, and

    organizational leadership, this episode pushes us to consider what
    accountability looks like when lives, trust, and futures are on the line.

    This is a must-listen for anyone responsible for making hard calls—andfor anyone who has lived through the fallout of leaders who got it wrong.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    14 min
  • TIL 11/40 Systems and Scars: The DNA of Trauma Informed Leadership

    🎙️ New Episode Announcement

    What do organizations and human beings have in common? Both can carry trauma. Both can repeat harmful patterns. Both can heal.

    Episode 11 explores how the principles of trauma-informed care

    apply not only to individuals but also to organizations and systems. We look at how toxic workplace behaviors mirror addictive behaviors, how burnout spreads like contagion, and how leaders can embed new habits that actually rewire
    culture.

    By treating unhealthy systems as diseases that can be healed rather than failures to be punished, trauma-informed leaders create environments where trust, dignity, and resilience become the norm.

    If you’ve ever seen a toxic workplace poison good people—or wondered how to turn an organization around without losing its mission—this episode offers a

    framework for real, lasting change.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    16 min
  • TIL 10/40 The Crisis of Leadership Identity

    🎙️ New Episode Announcement

    Every leader follows a compass—but not every compass leads to truth.

    In Episode 10, we dig into the idea of false north stars—the

    values, metrics, or ambitions that can look like guidance but actually lead us astray. Whether it’s the lure of profit over people, popularity over integrity, or ideology over humanity, leaders who follow false stars often take their
    communities into dangerous waters.

    We’ll explore how trauma-informed leadership helps us recognize when our compass is misaligned, how to recalibrate in real time, and how to ensure our direction remains tethered to core values rather than shifting winds.

    This is a wake-up call for every leader who wants to avoid drifting into compromise, and a roadmap for staying grounded in what truly matters.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    12 min
  • TIL 9/40 My Compass: Scars, Story, Steadfastness

    🎙️ New Episode Announcement

    Every leader has a compass. But for many of us, that compass isn’t

    abstract—it’s etched into our very scars.

    In Episode 9, I open up more personally than ever before. As the

    throwaway daughter of a victim of human trafficking, a survivor of childhood
    sexual abuse, and someone who has lived through domestic violence, my compass was forged in fire. Those scars don’t define me, but they anchor me. They remind me why integrity matters, why healing matters, and why leadership without compassion is hollow.

    This episode is about more than my story—it’s about yours. It’s about

    understanding that your scars can be part of your compass too. Trauma-informed leadership doesn’t deny pain; it transforms it into direction.

    If you’ve ever wondered how your own story—especially the broken

    parts—can shape your leadership, this conversation will speak directly to you.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    12 min
  • Relationship Reset: The Overuse of "Narcissist": When Labels Replace Accountability

    Not Everyone’s a Narcissist: Episode 1 of the RISEUP Narcissism Series

    These days, it feels like everybody’s ex is suddenly a narcissist.

    Social media turned the word into the new “toxic,” and while it can feel good to slap that label on someone who hurt you…
    👉 Labels don’t heal you. Accountability does.

    In this first episode of the new Narcissism Series inside RISEUP

    Relationship Reset™, I’m diving deep into:
    ✨ The difference between narcissistic traits vs. true Narcissistic
    Personality Disorder
    ✨ Why our nervous system often confuses survival patterns with personality
    disorders
    ✨ How labeling others can keep us stuck in victim mode (and off the hook
    for our own growth)
    ✨ Tools from neuroscience, Internal Family Systems, EFT, and NLP to help
    you notice patterns and shift toward accountability
    ✨ The one question to keep you grounded: WIN – What’s Important Now?

    💡 Your seed to notice this week: Where am I using labels instead of taking

    back my power?

    🎙️ Listen now on RISEUP Voices From the Frontlines.


    Blog version available at RISEUP Phoenix Trauma and Crisis Institute


    Book a Complimentary Call With Krista


    Join Us Now in the Relationship Reset Room

    And if today stirred something in you—please know, you’re not alone. In

    the U.S., dial 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or 1-800-799-7233
    for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

    #RiseUpPhoenix #RelationshipReset #AccountabilityHeals #NarcissismSeries

    11 min
  • TIL 8/40 Blind Spots That Break Leaders: When Fire Consumes: The Shadow Side of Leadership

    New Episode Announcement

    Fire can warm. Fire can illuminate. But fire can also consume everything in its path.

    In Episode 8, we face the shadow side of leadership—when passion turns destructive, when charisma becomes manipulation, when movements burn too hot and leave nothing but ashes.

    We’ll walk through examples of leaders in history and today whose

    unchecked intensity fueled destruction instead of transformation. We’ll look at how trauma can feed this fire, and how unhealed wounds in leaders often spill out as control, rage, or reckless ambition.

    But this isn’t just about cautionary tales—it’s about naming the danger

    so we can choose differently. A trauma-informed leader recognizes the risk of consumption, and learns to hold fire as both sacred and dangerous: powerful when tended, devastating when unleashed without boundaries.

    This episode is both a warning and an invitation—to tend your own fire wisely, to guard your community from destructive flames, and to ensure the light you carry never becomes the inferno that destroys.

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Trauma-Informed

    Leadership Series

    📅 Book a call with Krista to see how this program can transform your

    leadership or schedule your organization’s custom training series: https://calendly.com/riseupphoenix/compass

    8 min

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