Trauma-Informed School Systems with Brianna Young

What does it actually take to build trauma-informed schools and systems where both young people and the adults who support them can thrive?In this episode, host Katie Kurtz is joined by Dr. Brianna Young, educator, systems-change leader, and author of The Trauma-Informed Educator, for a conversation about moving trauma-informed practice beyond individual strategies and into the structures, relationships, and cultures that shape our everyday school experiences.We explore why supporting students also means supporting teachers, how organizational systems can mirror the stress responses we see in individuals, and why accountability, trust, collaboration, and creativity are essential to meaningful change.From rethinking communication and power dynamics to finding small, practical ways to create more breathing room for educators, Dr. Young reminds us that trauma-informed practice isn't another initiative or toolkit. It's developing a mindset of seeing, relating, and designing the systems we inhabit.Learn more about Dr. Brianna Young:Dr. Brianna Young, is an educator, author, strategist, and self-proclaimed professional question-asker who believes curiosity, connection, and some clear (but kind!) communication can transform the way we teach, lead, and learn. With experience spanning classrooms, universities, and organizational leadership, Bri brings a systems-level lens to trauma-informed education, challenging the idea that meaningful change has to be complicated, exhausting, or devoid of joy. As the author of The Trauma-Informed Educator, she challenges educators and leaders to move beyond buzzwords and rethink how everyday interactions shape the experiences of those around us. When she's not facilitating learning or challenging the status quo, you'll probably find her at a restaurant, walking around the lake by her house, or heading to the airport.Connect with Dr. Brianna Young:Instagram: @briannayoungteaches LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-young-educator/Purchase Her Book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-trauma-informed-educator-mindsets-and-practices-for-resilience-connection-and-change-brianna-young/fce2eeeb856fdbbd Website: briannayoungconsulting.orgSay ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

What does it look like to understand trauma-informed care as a global movement, not a framework belonging to any one country, culture, or profession?In this episode of  A Trauma-Informed Future, host Katie Kurtz is joined by Amy Smith, founder of Kindred Consulting with Purpose, joining me from Queensland, Australia. Together, they explore the connections bringing people across the world together around trauma-informed care, the Indigenous and First Nations wisdom that has long informed this work, and how we can honor its origins while building a more inclusive, globally connected movement.They also dig into what it takes to move beyond buzzwords and one-off training to embed trauma-informed principles into our everyday interactions, workplaces, and systems. From burnout and systemic harm to the power of curiosity, trust, and human connection, this conversation challenges us to think about not just what trauma-informed care means, but how we live it.Because building a trauma-informed world isn’t something any one of us, or any one country, can do alone. It’s a collective, ongoing practice of learning, unlearning, and creating systems that better honor our shared humanity.Learn more about Amy:Amy Smith is the Founder and Director of Kindred: Consulting with Purpose; a purpose-driven consultancy that partners with organisations to cultivate mentally healthy, trauma-informed workplaces and communities. An Accredited Social Worker, supervisor, facilitator and consultant, Amy has spent more than a decade working across mental health, suicide prevention, refugee and asylum seeker support, First Nations communities, and regional and remote Australia. Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to decolonising practice and recognising that many of the principles now described within contemporary trauma-informed approaches have long been understood and embodied by Indigenous peoples through ways of living, knowing, being, and relating. Amy supports organisations to honour this wisdom while translating trauma-informed principles into practical, relational approaches that create meaningful and sustainable change. Through workshops, leadership coaching, supervision, and organisational consulting, Amy is passionate about making complex ideas accessible and supporting leaders to cultivate cultures where people feel safe, connected, and able to thrive. Outside of her work, Amy is a mum to two little humans and believes the same principles that guide her work also shape her life. She intentionally nurtures trusted relationships with family, friends, and community, finds joy by the ocean and around a campfire with a guitar in her hands, and firmly believes that a good solo dance party in the kitchen can brighten even the hardest of days.Connect with Amy:Website: www.kindredconsulting.com.auLinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/in/amykindredconsulting/Instagram: kindred.consulting Say ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

What if trauma-informed education isn’t about managing students but transforming the systems they learn in?In this episode, host of A Trauma-Informed Future podcast, Katie Kurtz sits down with educator, author, and trauma-informed education expert Alex Shevrin Venet to explore what it really means to make education trauma-informed. They unpack why equity and justice must be central, how schools can unintentionally create harm, the limits of “resilience” as a feel-good solution, and why trauma-informed practice requires us to rethink, not simply add onto-existing systems. Alex shares some seriously important takes on PBIS, educator burnout, boundaries, and why sometimes the most trauma-informed choice is to leave.About Alex:Alex Shevrin Venet is an educator, author, and professional development facilitator based in Vermont. She teaches graduate teacher education at Vermont State University. Previously, she was a teacher and leader at an alternative therapeutic school, community college instructor, and after school teacher in the upper elementary grades. Alex works with educators around the country to strengthen their trauma-informed education practices, with a focus on empowering teachers to create systemic change. She is the author of the bestselling book Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education, which has been integrated into teacher education programs in several states and has been cited in education research more than 350 times. Her follow-up book, Becoming an Everyday Changemaker: Justice and Healing at School, provides teachers the tools to implement trauma-informed practices starting where they are. Connect with Alex:Website: unconditionallearning.orgInstagram: @unconditionallearningSay ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

In this solo episode of A Trauma-Informed Future, Katie opens by naming what so many of us are carrying right now : the cumulative stress and collective trauma of a world that feels like it's moving too fast, too hard, and with too much at stake. She gets honest about her own nervous system responses over the past 24 hours, and uses those personal moments to ground listeners in real nervous system education. Trauma-informed is not an adjective, it's a verb. Katie walks through five trauma-informed strategies straight from the TRUST™ Model and breaks down why these aren't just soft skills, but literally what our nervous systems need to reconnect to safety during times of collective dysregulation. Short, grounding, and packed with both honesty and practical tools, this one meets you exactly where you are.Referenced in this episode: Resmaa MenakemSay ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

Birth and death are the two most universal human experiences and somehow, two of the least trauma-informed spaces we've created.In this episode of A Trauma-Informed Future Podcast, host Katie Kurtz is in conversation with Amy Chavez-Burkett about why that matters and what we can do about it. Amy digs into what it actually looks like to move trauma-informed care from principles into practice in the moments that count: when someone is at their most vulnerable, their most open, and their most in need of feeling safe.At the center of this conversation is the nervous system. Because safety isn't just a value or a policy, it's a felt experience. And whether someone is bringing life into the world or leaving it, the conditions we create around them shape not just the moment, but what they carry forward from it.Learn more about Amy:Amy Rebekah is a visionary leader, facilitator and healer with over 20 years in practice as a licensed massage therapist, craniosacral therapist, doula, childbirth educator and doula trainer, a community herbalist, circle keeper, a story steward and story-teller, a speaker and author, a researcher and trainer of Trauma-Informed and Healing-Centered leadership.Amy is currently enjoying the experience of weaving her practical lived experiences with the theories and scholarship inside of a doctoral program in leadership and change through Antioch University. This academic journey increased Amy's capacity from supporting individuals and couples going through intense change or healing, to supporting groups and organizations working for change by supporting them in their capacity to practice a more authentic, responsible, embodied, and collaborative leadership culture through engaging a trauma-informed approach.In 2020 Amy founded ReStoryative Somatics, LLC to share her services and train other professionals in trauma-informed and healing-centered leadership. She is passionate about supporting leaders and those who support others in learning the practice of self-regulation of their nervous systems in service to co-regulation as a leadership practice. She especially enjoys working with organizational systems to implement trauma -informed care as organizational culture change.​In 2023, Amy and her daughters also joined forces to create a collaborative company called CommuniTEA Love, a company dedicated to facilitating connection within the community through access to delicious herbal tea blends and they are having a wonderful time building this legacy of love together.Connect with Amy:Website:  www.lovesomatics.orgWebsite: Www.communitealove.orgEmail: [email protected] ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

Trauma survivors don't need one person to be everything; they need a web of support, each thread held by someone who knows their role and plays it well. In this episode of A Trauma-Informed Future podcast, host Katie Kurtz is in conversation with certified coach Jaci Rogash, about what it actually means to be a trauma-informed coach: not a substitute for therapy, not a watered-down version of clinical care, but something distinct and genuinely necessary. This episode explores how coaches, therapists, peer supporters, and community practitioners can each hold their piece of the ecosystem without overextending and why staying within your scope isn't a limitation on your care, but an expression of it. If you've ever wondered where the line is, how to refer without it feeling like abandonment, or how to show up fully for someone who's been through hard things without accidentally doing harm, this conversation is for you.Learn more about Jaci:Jaci Rogash is a Certified Trauma Transformation Coach, Energy Coach, Breathwork Facilitator and speaker. Jaci works with women who have experienced trauma, have worked through that and created a life that is good but not great. These women are sick of feeling stuck and want to step into their fullest potential and bring their visions to life. Jaci grew up in country Victoria and is no stranger to trauma, experiencing a number of significant incidents before the age of 24. Jaci embarked on her own deep healing journey after years of suppressing her experiences, which allowed her to break free of her trauma and discover her true calling as a coach.Jaci supports women to move through their self-doubt, self-sabotage, fears and unsupportive subconscious patterns that show up because of their trauma, so they can find fulfillment, joy and the abundance life has to offer. Connect with Jaci:Visionaries:https://www.jacirogash.com/visionariesWebsite: https://www.jacirogash.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaci.rogash/Email: [email protected] ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

What does business actually look like when it's built for your brain? In this episode of A Trauma-Informed Future, host Katie Kurtz sits down with neurodivergent business coach Pippa Parfait (she/they) of Disobedient Business Co. for an honest, validating conversation about why so many neurodivergent entrepreneurs feel like they're failing — when really, the systems were never designed for them in the first place. This is for anyone who has or is currently masking, conforming, and trying to squeeze their neurodivergent brain into a business model built on neurotypical norms. This episode offers a glimpse at what a brain-friendly business actually looks like in practice: flexible systems that work with your nervous system, not against it and a radically simple approach to starting a business that ditches the obsessive niche-drilling in favor of just getting out there and connecting with humans. This episode is for anyone who has ever looked at conventional business advice and thought I know this should be working, so why does it feel so wrong? because the answer might not be you. It might just be the blueprint.Learn more about Pippa:Pippa Parfait (she/they) is a coach and mentor for ADHD and Autistic business owners, and co-founder of The Disobedient Business® Co. Having spent years in corporate and public sector leadership before retraining as a coach in 2016, Pippa brought her systems expertise and strategic thinking with her — and quickly realised that almost all of her clients were neurodivergent founders who needed a completely different approach to business. Her own late AuDHD diagnosis made everything click into place: what had always been labelled disobedience was just her brain working in a system not designed for it.Through the Disobedient Business® Mastermind and brain-friendly digital tools, Pippa helps established ADHD and Autistic business owners build strategy, structure and self-trust so they can create a business they can actually live inside. Always armed with an inventive swear word, an 80s/90s reference and three drinks on the go. Fair warning: if she says "lovingly", a truthbomb is incoming.About The Disobedient Business® CoThe Disobedient Business® Co. exists to make business actually possible for ADHD and Autistic founders — in a way that works with their brain, not against it.Founded in 2016 by mother-and-spawn duo Pippa (she/they) and Lucy Parfait (they/them), DBCo. was built on a pretty simple (and apparently radical) premise: that the reason so many neurodivergent business owners are struggling isn't a personal failing. It's that they've been handed a neurotypical blueprint and told to get on with it.Through their high-touch Disobedient Business® Mastermind and brain-friendly digital tools, Pippa and Lucy help established ADHD and Autistic business owners build the strategy, structure, and self-trust to create a business they can actually live inside. Momentum without burnout. Priorities that stick. Plans that don't gather dust.Strategic, unmasked, wildly effective, and disobedient on purpose. Based in the Southwest of the U.K.Connect with Pippa:Website: https://disobedientbusiness.com/https://pippaparfait.com/https://disobedientbusiness.school/ IG: @disobedientbusinessco (IG and Threads)Say ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

How do you define resilience? In American culture, resilience is often equated with “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps”. But in reality, it is all about. nervous system capacity.  In this episode of A Trauma-Informed Future podcast, host Katie Kurtz is joined by Jen Schneeman for a rich, trauma-informed conversation that challenges the idea that people should simply “bounce back.” Together, they explore the difference between resilience and malleability, drawing on neuroscience, somatic wisdom, and lived experience to unpack how stress, trauma, and healing live not just in the mind, but in the body.Learn more about Jen:Jen Schneeman is a soul-driven scientist, holistic mental health coach and trauma-informed nervous system specialist who helps individuals and communities reclaim personal energy, prevent burnout and live in their bodies with ease. With a deep understanding of the nervous system, trauma recovery, and human energy patterns, Jen bridges science + spirit to guide people toward resilience, self-trust, and inner freedom.Jen began her career as a science + tech advisor with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Defense Sciences Office, and later as a Deputy at the Air Force Research Lab, Human Performance Wing. There she managed a collaborative research portfolio focused on how nutrition, disease, brain injury and stressors uniquely affect human susceptibility, resilience and future determinants of health.Her lived experience of toxic stress-related burnout in a post-9/11 environment catalyzed her personal and professional transformation. Jen committed to the applied science of therapeutic mindbody connection programs to support sustainable healing and energy restoration. She knows firsthand that no amount of bootstrapping can truly reignite a system shut down by chronic stress, concussion, addiction, trauma, or pain — but that regenerative nervous system care can.Jen brings this knowledge to life through her Self-Care and Resilience (SCAR) program, a multi-tiered nervous system restoration framework tailored to reduce stress, improve coping, and restore vitality. Her signature offering, Everyday Resilience, empowers people to stay present in joy and grounded in struggle using the ABCs of Presence that makes recovery and regulation tangible, practical, and embodied.She has brought trauma-informed, nervous system-based programming to three VA Medical Centers, PTSD and TBI residential programs, addiction treatment centers, treatment courts, support groups, and beyond. She has also launched mindbody connection programs within two NFL teams, three military branches, four addiction treatment centers, dozens of corporations, hundreds of veterans and thousands of medical, mental health, and caregiving professionals.Today, Jen facilitates resilience-based programs for medical professionals, caregivers and survivors of sexual assault, addiction, PTSD and brain injury. Since COVID she expanded programming to real humans just like us.Jen is a sought-after public speaker, coach, facilitator of retreats and workforce wellness trainings, bringing humor, depth, and practical wisdom to her audiences. Her work is featured across local and national platforms, with data outcomes presented at major behavioral health conferences. Her passion lies in making mental health education trauma-informed, accessible, and regenerative. She’s also deeply committed to the power of peer support, serving as the resilience coach in Hey I’m Here Ohio, a youth-led movement growing resilience in Ohio’s young people.She is also a mother, spouse, nature lover and an adventurer who values autonomy, awe, connection to spirit and walking barefoot. Her personal healing journey informs her work and fuels her mission to build a world where trauma-informed nervous system literacy is the norm, not the exception.Connect with Jen:<Say ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

Content Warning: This episode is focused on discussing, educating and uplifting the voices of survivors of sexual violence. In this episode, we will be discussing sexual violence, the rape crisis movement and healing avenues for survivors. Please be mindful as you listen and share this episode. We encourage survivors to honor themselves and those who are not to be present with this reality and be open to ways we can together create a more survivor informed care standard. This is not an episode to “consume and move on from.”  In this episode, host Katie Kurtz sits down with Molly Boeder-Harris, founder of The Breathe Network, for a conversation that goes far beyond headlines and statistics. We talk about what survivors actually need, how systems of care can unintentionally cause harm, and why healing must be part of how we show up.It’s an invitation to pause, listen deeply, and reckon with how we respond to survivors of sexual violence personally, professionally, and collectively. At a time when sexual violence is once again dominating headlines, this conversation asks an essential question: What does it actually mean to believe survivors and what are we willing to do once we say we do?Learn more about Molly:Molly Boeder Harris is the Founder and Executive Director of The Breathe Network, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), and a trauma-informed yoga teacher and trainer (E-RYT). Her own experiences of surviving sexual trauma catalyzed her to enter the trauma healing field in 2003, beginning with her work as a medical and legal advocate with children and adult survivors, a violence prevention educator, and later, as a yoga instructor specializing in working with survivors of sexual trauma. She earned a Master’s Degree in International Studies and a Master’s Certificate in Women’s & Gender Studies, which inform the way she holds individual and collective forms of trauma, oppression, and healing close together in her work and in her life. Over the last 2 decades of her career and her ongoing healing trajectory, she has found that the practices that recognize the whole person – body, mind and spirit – while also attending to the ways in which both trauma and resilience manifest physiologically, offer the greatest possibility for embodied justice and social change.Connect with Molly:https://www.thebreathenetwork.org/https://www.mollyboederharris.com/Say ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!

In nearly every community, pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers: seeing patients up to 12 times a year or more. Yet burnout rates are staggering, and meaningful connection often gets lost in the grind. On this episode of A Trauma-Informed Future podcast, host Katie Kurtz talks to Dr. Ashley Builta who reveals how trauma-informed care is changing everything in pharmacy delivery.  She shares how it's not another task to add to an overwhelming workload, but rather a simple mindset shift that takes just three extra minutes and transforms both patient outcomes and professional purpose. From a life-changing Sunday morning encounter to training the next generation of pharmacy students, discover how Dr. Builta is using this approach to reshape pharmacy practice across Michigan and beyond.Learn more about Ashley:Dr. Ashley Builta is a dedicated pharmacy professional and educator currently serving as the Director of Professional Development and Education at the Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA). In this role, she leads initiatives that empower pharmacists to better support the mental well-being of their patients and communities. She brings a wealth of experience to her role in advancing pharmacist education and public health initiatives.Ashley holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and is a certified Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Instructor, a credential that enables her to expanded her impact with healthcare professionals, training them in recognizing and responding to mental health and substance use challenges. Her work bridges the gap between pharmacy practice and mental health support, helping to reduce stigma and promote early intervention.Ashley’s work reflects a deep commitment to holistic patient care, emphasizing the critical role pharmacists play in early intervention and mental health advocacy. Her leadership continues to shape a more compassionate and informed healthcare landscape across Michigan.Connect with Ashley:Website: https://www.michiganpharmacists.org/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-builta Say ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedInCatch up on podcast episodesFREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent TimesBook a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie Get certified + create a sustainable practice with TRUST™ Works Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!