Trauma-Informed Lens

I’m back! Yes, it has been a long time. In this episode, Matt updates listeners on why there hasn’t been a show in a while and what to expect in 2020.

Podcasters: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the meaning of life. How does helping those we serve to find meaning help them build resiliency and post-traumatic growth?

Discussion Questions:

What “meaning” do you believe guides clients in their life and decision making?

How does your work help you fulfill your “meaning” of life?

Can you identify ways to help clients find meaning through love, work, religion, or culture?

Podcasters: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the concept of higher powers and experiences. How does the research and values help us understand resiliency and post-traumatic growth?

Discussion Questions:

How do you see religion or spirituality affecting the resiliency of those you serve?

What effects has trauma had on the spirituality of those you serve?

What ways might spirituality, higher powers, peak experiences help those you serve to recover?

Podcasters: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the concept of virtue. How does the research and values help us understand resiliency and post-traumatic growth?

Discussion Questions:

What does virtue mean to you?

How could you help those you serve to identify and develop their strengths?

Could the research on virtue inform your programing?

Podcaster: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the positive and negative effects of adversity. We spend so much time talking about the negative effects of trauma, what about Haidt’s argument that it could serve as a positive in our life story?

Discussion Questions:

What do you think about the famous quote, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”?

Could you integrate any of the strategies we discuss into your programming?

When you look at adversity in your own life, what role does it play?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the environmental impact on love. We explore the history of attachment theory and what that history adds to our understanding of parent-child connection. Then we shift to how attachment plays out in loving relationship into adulthood.

Discussion Questions:

How does attachment theory help inform you on the personality and behaviors of those you serve?

Could our understanding of attachment change how we approach helping people that our struggling in our society?

Can you see the connection between your early attachment and adult relationship?

Podcasters: Matt Bennett & Dr. Jerry Yager

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the environmental impact on happiness, depression, and our general outlook on life. Are we born with a certain outlook? Do our environmental factors such as wealth, marriage, or illnesses influence happiness? We’ll tackle these and more big questions in this episode.

Discussion Questions:

How do you view the nature and nurture influencing those you serve?

Could your program use the happiness formula to inform services?

How could you improve your happiness through improving conditions or starting new voluntary activity?

Could your programs offer more autonomy (choices) for those you serve?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on hypocrisy. Why do people seem to act against their own beliefs and values? Does the research on hypocrisy inform our work? What about our advocacy?

Discussion Questions:

Have you identified any implicit biases in your own life and thinking?

How might the research on hypocrisy inform your advocacy?

Any way to integrate this research into your thinking about trauma?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on reciprocity. We explore how reciprocity might explain our own behavior and choices and the role reciprocity plays in the trauma recovery process.

Discussion Questions:

Did reciprocity have any role in your choice to become a helper?

How could you give those you work (when appropriate) with a chance to provide reciprocity for the support and resources they receive?

Could you use any of what you learned to better inform your advocacy or to change certain aspects of your community?

In this episode, we continue our exploration the intersection of some of the biggest and most powerful ideas in history and modern science using Johnathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis as our guide. This week we put the trauma-informed lens on the process of changing how our minds operate in the world. Both the historical wisdom and modern science hold important lessons to inform the recovery process.

Discussion Questions:

Do you see a range of pessimism and optimism in those you serve or does one mindset dominate?

How do you see Beck’s cognitive triad of depression (negative view of self, future, and world) impacting those you serve?

Does Haidt’s suggested tripod of interventions of mindfulness, cognitive behavioral, and medication give you any new ideas for structuring services?

Could priming improve your interventions and approaches?