Trauma-Informed & Cultural Humility Strategies in Healthcare

In this final episode, subject matter expert, Ebony Williams walks us through how to navigate cultural missteps with integrity, compassion, and curiosity. Drawing from personal stories, this episode dives into what happens when things go wrong, and more importantly, how to make them right.

Ebony shares trauma-informed and cultural humility strategies for repairing trust, the power of direct communication, and why leading with curiosity is more impactful than fearing mistakes. She also examine how these strategies shows up in patient outcomes—from increased engagement with the patient portal to more thorough documentation and improved satisfaction scores.

Additional Resources:

Trauma & The Nervous System

How Childhood Trauma Effects Health Across the Lifespan

Trauma-Informed Healthcare: A Reflective Guide for Improving Care & Services

Trauma-Informed Pediatrics: A Resilience-Based Roadmap to Foster Early Relational Health

Integrating Cultural Humility Strategies

In this episode, Tristan Keelan, founder of Qi Folio and Director of Development and Growth at Informed, offers a powerful perspective on trauma-informed leadership through the lens of data and continuous quality improvement (CQI).

With a background rooted in organizational systems and development, Tristan explores how trauma-informed  and cultural humility strategies must extend beyond clinical spaces to shape the entire culture of an organization. He challenges how we typically engage with data and proposes a reframing rooted in safety, collaboration, and curiosity.

Learn more about Tristan:

Tristan Keelan has had an extensive career in multiple areas of the behavioral healthcare system. He spent many years working in Electronic Health Records where he learned the various processes for mental health and substance abuse treatment for both inpatient and outpatient settings, including medication assisted treatment.

Subsequent to that, he spent time as the Quality Improvement Director of multiple non-profit human services organizations. Here he used his technical skills and trauma informed approach to quality improvement to drive projects that created lasting improvements on dozens of programs.

Tristan has a B.A. in English Literature from Elmira College, and an M.B.A. from St. Bonaventure University.

Connect with Tristan:

Website

LinkedIn

In this episode, community connector and educator Carey Gibbons (she/they) shares trauma-informed and cultural humility strategies from their work with LGBTQ+ communities, people experiencing homelessness, and trauma-impacted individuals. Carey highlights how these strategies shows up in action—grounded in safety, mutual trust, collaborative care, and genuine human connection.

From medical systems to street outreach, Carey challenges us to shift from transactional to relational care, create inclusive spaces in binary systems, and remember that real impact happens when we walk with, not for, others. 

Learn more about Carey:

Carey Gibbons is a passionate community advocate and leader with over a decade of experience advancing equity for marginalized populations, with a strong focus on the LGBTQ+ community. As Director of LGBTQ Navigation at the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH), Carey led transformative outreach, education, and advocacy efforts to support unhoused LGBTQ+ individuals—building vital partnerships and creating pathways to safety, stability, and dignity.

In July 2025, Carey will make history as the first-ever LGBTQ Liaison for the City of Cleveland, where they will continue their work as a trusted connector, fierce advocate, and champion for visibility, inclusion, and policy change.

Carey’s career includes impactful roles at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland and the May Dugan Center, where they provided trauma-informed care, coordinated life-changing resources, and deepened community ties. A firm believer in joy as resistance, Carey is also an active member of Stonewall Sports, where they bring people together through sport and shared purpose.

Carey’s work is rooted in compassion, collaboration, and the belief that everyone deserves to be seen, safe, and supported.

Connect with Carey: 

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn

In this episode, founder and executive director of Courage to Caregivers, Kristi Horner, shares what it truly means to lead from lived experience in both personal and professional caregiving. In this conversation, Kristi unpacks the practical side of trauma-informed leadership—how self-care, emotional check-ins, and boundary-setting aren't luxuries, but essential tools for sustainable leadership.

Drawing on her experience as a family peer supporter and non-profit leader, she offers real-world strategies to prevent burnout, build workplace cultures of support, and advocate for caregivers inside and outside the workplace.

Learn more about Kristi:

Kristi Horner is the Founder and Executive Director for Courage to Caregivers. She is certified through the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services as a Family Peer Support Specialist and NAMI Ohio Trainer for this program. She is also certified through the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board as an Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist Assistant (OCPSA), and is a Question Persuade Refer (QPR) Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Instructor.

In 2014, she lost her brother to suicide. She had been one of her brother’s mental illness long-distance caregivers for four years. He lived with depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. As someone who supported someone she loved very much, living with mental illness, she knew there had to be a better way to support caregivers of those living with behavioral health needs and the idea for Courage to Caregivers was born!

Connect with Kristi:

Website

LinkedIn

In this episode, licensed clinical social worker, Alyssa Pressman shares her deeply personal and professional perspective on trauma-informed leadership in healthcare. As a BRCA1 genetic mutation carrier and “professional patient,” Alyssa offers insight into the emotional landscape of navigating the medical system—and how clinicians can lead with empathy, even in small, simple ways.

She unpacks how honoring a patient’s experience through trauma-informed and cultural humility strategies can radically shift outcomes. Alyssa offers tangible ways to how to truly see, hear, and care for the person in front of you.

Learn more about Alyssa:

Alyssa Pressman is a licensed therapist and certified coach from North Carolina currently living in Texas. She supports clients navigating difficulties in interpersonal relationships, health diagnoses/changes and people moving through transitional life periods. In addition to being a professional helper, Alyssa is a BRCA1 genetic mutation carrier and a brain tumor survivor. When not working she enjoys spending time with her husband and their pup Sage.

Connect with Alyssa:

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, trauma-informed pediatrician, Dr. Anu French, shares how she and her team are transforming pediatric care through compassion, co-regulation, and cultural humility.

She walks us through how simple mindfulness and relational care practices are reshaping outcomes for medically complex children and their families. Dr. French highlights the power of presence, the science behind positive childhood experiences, and how leadership rooted in self-regulation and empathy can ripple through entire systems.

A reminder that trauma-informed leadership isn’t just a framework—it’s how we show up, every day, to heal and be healed.

Learn about & connect with Dr. French: 

Anu French is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a member of the AAP's Section on Integrative Medicine and participated in the AAP’s Pediatric Integrative Medicine Leadership Initiative contributing to Pediatric Integrative Medicine: Vision for the Future in Children 2019. She is board-certified in Pediatrics and Integrative Medicine, completing a 2014 fellowship in Integrative Medicine through Dr. Andrew Weil's Center/University of Arizona and a 2020 fellowship in Integrative Psychiatry. She was an AAP grant recipient and her 2017 biofeedback research was presented at the AAP’s2018  National Conference Exhibition. Anu has completed Kids Yoga Teacher Training through the Yoyoyoga School, St Louis. She coauthored a review on Yoga in Children published in PIR 2015 and included in the AAP’s 2016 Mind-Body Therapies Clinical Policy Statement. She received her Heartmath Trauma-Sensitive Certification in 2024.

Dr French is approaching 30 years in pediatric practice and 25 years working for SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital St Louis MO, opening a Pediatrics Integrative Medicine office in 2019 to provide trauma informed, accessible, affordable, equitable pediatric care.

She is the pediatric course director for the 2024-2026 UCI Integrative Functional  Medicine Fellowship program. She created a group integrative nutrition visit model which was published in 2019 JACAM. 

Her mission at her website A New Wellness,is to create healthier communities through healthier kids. Having found balance through the creative arts after professional and personal burnout, Dr French teaches community workshops on sound healing and mindful art. She serves on advisory boards for Whole Health Ed, supporting whole health learning experiences in schools,

In this episode, subject matter expert Ebony Williams shares her powerful insights on practicing cultural humility in real-world healthcare settings. Drawing from personal experience and professional expertise, Ebony explores how curiosity, self-awareness, and trauma-informed care can transform patient relationships, promote healing, and create inclusive environments.

From navigating power dynamics to fostering psychological safety, Ebony walks us through practical ways to build trust, listen deeply, and lead with compassion. Her lived experience offers a compelling reminder: it’s often the smallest actions—curiosity, care, a moment of play—that leave the greatest impact.

Learn more about Ebony:

Ebony Williams (she/her/hers), MS, CSM, is an Epic Applications Supervisor at Johns Hopkins Health System with over fifteen years of experience in health information technology. She has led initiatives across training, security systems, project management, and application development to support clinical operations and improve patient care. 

In addition to her leadership role, she serves as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University in the Biomedical Informatics and Data Sciences department, where she focuses on health technology, education, and patient advocacy. 

Ebony has collaborated across departments to strengthen communication between patients and care teams through strategic, patient-centered solutions. 

Beyond her institutional work, she is the host of The Thyroid Warrior Podcast, where she shares her journey with Hashimoto’s Disease and offers tools to support others managing chronic illness. She also supports her community through wellness coaching, including aromatherapy, fitness, and nutrition education. 

Ebony is currently completing her doctorate in Health Administration with a concentration in Advocacy and Policy and is committed to advancing equitable, human-centered healthcare systems.

Connect with Ebony:

Website

LinkedIn

Podcast

In this episode, trauma-informed subject matter expert and trainer, Katie Kurtz will walk you through the six R strategies to help you lead with empathy, build trust, and create safer, more human-centered healthcare environments.

We’ll explore how these strategies—Recognize, Regulate, Reconnect, Realign, Resist, and Resource—can help you shift from intention to impact, support resilience, and practice mindful leadership no matter your role.

This isn’t about perfection—it’s about practicing leadership rooted in compassion, cultural humility, and connection. Whether you’re a provider, caregiver, or healthcare professional, this episode offers a helpful review of the Trauma-Informed Strategies in Healthcare training to apply in real, everyday ways.

Learn more about Katie Kurtz: 

Katie Kurtz, MSW LISW-S (she/her) is a recognized subject-matter expert on trauma-informed care and its integration into leadership and organizational culture. Her innovative training model has equipped thousands of professionals globally, earning her international recognition and awards for her leadership. Katie's integrative approach enables her to provide keynotes, training and consulting services across various disciplines and industries. She collaborates with renowned organizations, including the University of Southern California, OhioHealth, Diabetes UK, and the State of Ohio, delivering impactful solutions tailored to their needs. Katie is the host of A Trauma-Informed Future Podcast, and an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve and Cleveland State Universities. She holds Master's degrees in Social Work and Non-Profit Management and serves in various leadership roles, including co-chair of the State of Ohio’s Trauma-Informed Care Collaborative and the Integrate Trauma-Informed Network

Connect with Katie: 

Website

LinkedIn

Podcast

Welcome to the Trauma-Informed and Cultural Humility Strategies in Healthcare private podcast. Hosted by Katie Kurtz, with Cultural Humility insights from Ebony Williams, and guest experts: Dr. Anu French, Alyssa Pressman, Kristi Horner, Carey Gibbons and Tristan Keelan. 

You’ll hear key takeaways from our trauma-informed and cultural humility trainings, plus guest experts sharing how they apply these practices across provider, patient, caregiver, data/quality, and LGBTQIA+ experiences.

Expect real-world strategies you can integrate into your role. Use this podcast as a companion to the trainings—and a resource to return to anytime you need a refresh.

Check out each episode, show notes, and additional resources to help you lead with a human-first approach.