Think Peace Podcast: Where Peace Crosses the Mind

The media can be a powerful platform, keeping us informed and providing us with relevant news and important information. It can also serve as the ultimate connecting tool when it comes to bridging divides within certain communities and society at large. In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with Emmy nominated filmmaker and social scientist Lindsay Branham to discuss her international experiences which led to her interest in visual storytelling, how media can change perceptions and behavior, and the power that it holds in post-conflict communities.

Most humans naturally feel repulsed by violence and tend to avoid violent scenarios. However, human nature grants us an inherent capacity for violence if ever necessary. So what causes us to choose violence in certain situations? Do we always have the choice? Or is it more reactionary? In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, host Colette Rausch sits down with neuroscientist Dr. R. Douglas Fields to discuss the roots of human aggression, how the brain facilitates the commission of violence and what situations could prompt us tap into our violent nature.

In a post-conflict community, there is much rebuilding to be done. There is often rebuilding of the structures, both physical and institutional, but what about the people and communities? How do you rebuild lives and relationships after conflict? Can they be rebuilt? In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with applied neuroscientist Mike Niconchuk of Beyond Conflict to discuss the social and neurobiological dynamics of intergroup conflict and violence, the different ways in which people can react to traumatic experiences, and the importance of trauma-informed approaches in conducting peacebuilding work.

Many know the quote, “Those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it,” but not many realize that the past can find ways of affecting us whether we know it or not, and this can manifest itself in different ways. Trauma can have a multigenerational impact. It’s the epitome of how we feel the effects of history everyday within our society. In this episode of Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with Dr. Corey Henderson to discuss how historical trauma works, why the study of historical trauma is so important, and the role that it plays in the modern context.

When many people think of trauma, they think about the effect that it has on our mental wellbeing. However, not many people realize that trauma affects our physical bodies and health too. In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with psychologists Dr. Abi Blakeslee & Dr. Glyndie Nickerson to discuss trauma: What it is, how it affects us, what we can do about it, and the body-based trauma resolution approach known as Somatic Experiencing (SE). They discuss how interoception—the awareness of one’s own bodily sensations—can support trauma healing as it gives individuals access to their nonconscious memory and to signals between their brains and bodies that register whether they are safe or in danger.

Epigenetics is a relatively obscure field yet it plays such an integral role in how certain experiences shape us and how said experiences can be passed down to future generations. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence. In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with neuroscientist Dr. Ali Jawaid to discuss some of his experiences working as a neuroscientist in the field of epigenetics, how intergenerational trauma can be passed on, what can be done to mitigate its effect, and why more research needs to be conducted on the role of epigenetics within our lives.

Humans are united by the fact that we all share the same biological makeup, yet somehow along the way, we created a culture of dehumanization against the “others” within our society. How did we get to this point? What can we do to stop it? In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with social neuroscientist Dr. Lasana Harris as they discuss the intricacies of dehumanization, what contributes to racial bias, and the role that the brain plays in this social phenomena.

What does it mean to heal? Depending on who you ask, you’d get many different answers. In this episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with award winning social change agent Dr. Gail Christopher of the National Collaborative for Health Equity as they discuss the various ways to define healing, Dr. Christopher’s nationwide racial healing efforts, and the concept of cultural humility, which helps us appreciate the diversity of the human experience and allows us to foster social transformation.

Peace. Everyone wants it but not many know what it takes to achieve it nor understand all that goes into building a lasting peace. In this first episode of the Think Peace Podcast, our host Colette Rausch sits down with full time peacebuilder Melanie Greenberg of Humanity United as she explains her journey into the field of peacebuilding, the connection between peacebuilding and neuroscience, and what we can do in our everyday lives to serve as peacebuilders to bridge divides on the individual level.

 We are set and ready to launch our first episode on January 27th!