1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Carrie Rickett, tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:03,280 --> 00:00:13,000 Okay, so my vision is to help people who have been through some kind of trauma 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:15,440 to 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:17,520 feel less isolated and 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,720 more connected with people and to provide a little bit of 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:24,680 hope 7 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:30,840 that things can get better. Tell me more about that. 8 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:33,800 Sure, so 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:39,680 about 11 years ago, I was in a very bad car accident and 10 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,760 almost died and 11 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:51,920 as a result of that accident, I had a traumatic brain injury as well as a whole bunch of other injuries and 12 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:57,480 while my acute care was so absolutely amazing 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,080 and I mean they saved my life, 14 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:08,760 what I realized when I came out of the hospital was that I really did not have a 15 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,240 roadmap for 16 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,200 what to do next and 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:22,680 so I come from a management consulting background. I have worked with hundreds of companies and 18 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:27,120 part of the thing that I do with those companies is 19 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:34,600 organizational assessment. So I understand what my clients needs are and then figure out what the resources are 20 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,400 to 21 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:42,240 meet those needs and kind of put that puzzle all together and 22 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:49,160 when I got out of the hospital, there was no roadmap. There was no, 23 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,880 there was like, okay, you're good now. Go ahead. 24 00:01:53,840 --> 00:02:00,960 And I wasn't, I wasn't good. I had no idea how to reinvent my life. 25 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:07,880 Whether or not I should be jumping right back into work or if I needed to 26 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,240 spend more time recovering and how all of this works 27 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:19,000 with my new life, right? I had just no clue and 28 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,000 so I started cobbling together 29 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:24,960 kind of my own way of 30 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:33,280 figuring all of this out and as I continued to do this, it became really important to me to 31 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:39,360 be able to share this information with other people and that is part of the reason that I wrote my book, 32 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,360 Trauma is a Catalyst, 33 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:43,720 so that I really could 34 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,240 make people feel less alone in their 35 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:50,960 recovery from trauma 36 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,200 and honestly, it doesn't matter what the trauma is 37 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:02,240 because all of us feel somewhat isolated when we have experienced trauma. 38 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,680 Because no one has experienced a trauma exactly like 39 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,560 another person. 40 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:16,560 But there are tools and resources available to help lots of people and if 41 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,000 those resources are readily available and 42 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:30,320 you know, advertised, if you will, then people can use those resources and feel less alone. 43 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:37,360 They can feel more connected in their stories and then feel hopeful about the future. 44 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:49,280 What would you say, Carrie, is your why of your vision? Why do you get out of bed and do this every day? 45 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:58,960 Because ultimately, I want people to have a different experience than I have. 46 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,280 I want people to feel 47 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:06,480 like they aren't alone. 48 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:11,760 I was so uniquely supported by my family and friends 49 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:19,760 throughout my recovery and yet I still felt alone because no one had experienced something like I did. 50 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:31,680 If I had known the resources were out there and available to me, like the Brain Injury Associations of America 51 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:39,280 and all the chapters that are throughout the states in the country or the trauma survivor networks 52 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:42,080 or 53 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,960 specialized trauma therapy or alternative therapies. 54 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:57,920 I mean, for me personally, acupuncture and meditation have done enormous amounts of good for me. 55 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:07,440 And so, my why is really sharing so that other people don't struggle as much as I did. 56 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:16,480 I can get behind that. Then how did you get started into all this? After your accident and injury, 57 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:23,440 what was the catalyst that launched you towards this direction? 58 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:33,520 Sure. So, when I got out of the hospital, I thought, oh, I should be able to just jump right back in. 59 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:42,080 I had been working for a management consulting firm at the time and I went back to work for about two weeks. 60 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:50,080 Then I realized that I actually could not do that. I couldn't physically manage. 61 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:56,080 I didn't have the same capacity right then as I had before. 62 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:04,640 So, what I had to do was figure out how to make my life work for me. 63 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:12,640 So, I started writing to process things and that writing turned into my book. 64 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:22,640 I started doing my own podcast, Transformational Trauma and Trauma and Trauma and Trauma and Trauma. 65 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:28,640 I started doing my own podcast, Transformational Trauma and Healing. 66 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:42,640 That it was so that I could bring either practitioners or other trauma survivors and share stories and resources for other people. 67 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:56,160 I kind of changed my approach to management consulting and made it a little more people-centered as opposed to business and process-centered. 68 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:08,960 Because every person that I interact with has their own story and has their own challenges that are impacted by those stories. 69 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:24,160 So, what can I do to give people a safe space to share that and not feel judged or alone in their story but to feel supported. 70 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:30,640 And to know that there is hope and there is a way forward. 71 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:38,160 It just may not be what you had pictured in your mind. 72 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,160 That's awesome. 73 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:55,360 To get to the more depth of what you do, if you have someone who is struggling with trauma or they are struggling with something in their life that they can't get out of, 74 00:07:55,360 --> 00:08:09,760 what tips would you have for those leaders, what tips would you have for those people who are like, I don't know what the next step is or maybe there was something traumatic they had. 75 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:32,240 Yes. So, I would suggest one, talk to someone. And if that is not someone who is directly related to you, and I don't mean like blood related, but I mean like somebody who is a friend or family member or coworker or boss or whatever, 76 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:47,280 talk to someone who has experienced some kind of trauma. There are fabulous resources out there. Like I said, the Trauma Survivor Networks, they have all kinds of things available. 77 00:08:47,280 --> 00:09:11,680 So, reach out to those networks and find someone or find a therapist that is trauma informed. Because really, to be able to formulate a new version of your life, you have to talk about what's working and what isn't working. 78 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:29,840 So, for me, in my experience, I would meet with clients and spend a half a day in meetings and then I would be so wiped out that I would need like two days of recovery. 79 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:43,520 Now that brain fatigue has gotten less over time, but in that very first beginning when I was trying to figure out like, how do I go back to work? 80 00:09:43,520 --> 00:10:02,080 How do I manage my capabilities and manage my responsibilities to the best of my ability, knowing that I don't feel like I'm up to par. 81 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:13,120 You know, I'm not recovered in the way that I thought that I should be. So, kind of setting that expectation, what does recovery look like for you? 82 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:23,520 What does, and if you are leading somebody who has gone through something traumatic, be that person they can talk to. 83 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:37,360 What does recovery look like for you? Be open to, okay, so maybe we have to do things in a different way to set you up for success in this new version. 84 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:52,080 I think that so often people can feel overlooked or like their life is going on around them and they are not as connected to it as they used to be. 85 00:10:52,080 --> 00:11:14,320 And that's a scary place to be. So, being the person that someone can talk to and come to and be honest with when and not be met with judgment or like, oh, you're not going to work out for this company anymore. 86 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:26,880 Is really important and any traumatic experience gives a new perspective for anyone who's experienced it, right? 87 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:37,200 And sometimes those new perspectives can be so important in business. It can make a light go on and say, hey, you know what? 88 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:43,120 Maybe we should do this a little bit differently. Have we thought about doing it this way? 89 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:53,920 I know this would be easier for me. Maybe this would be easier for the rest of the team if we tried this. Would you be open to doing that? 90 00:11:53,920 --> 00:12:07,200 So, having that safe space for conversation, I think, is the biggest tip for leaders, whether they are going through something themselves or one of their team members is going through something. 91 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:20,320 Yeah, I think that space can most times, I think, should create a lot of great things that can happen and people can come out of their shell or whatever they're struggling with. 92 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:25,040 So, thank you for that. I have one more question for you, Kerry. 93 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:29,600 Sure. 94 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,640 I want to make it a good one. 95 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:41,440 Okay. 96 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,920 What is success to you, Kerry? 97 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:53,520 That is a good one because I have had to redefine success. 98 00:12:53,520 --> 00:13:05,120 I have always been an incredibly high achiever. In high school, success looked like straight A's. 99 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:15,760 In college, success looked like straight A's and getting the internships and getting a job right out of college. 100 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:25,520 Work-wise, in my management consulting career, it has always been helping my clients grow. 101 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:54,880 Success to me has taken on more of a holistic approach now. So, how do I make a positive impact on the people, on the clients, on the businesses around me, on my family and my friends without sacrificing myself and my health? 102 00:13:54,880 --> 00:14:19,600 So, a successful life for me is creating peace and joy while doing the things that I find valuable and other people find valuable, but not doing it to such an extent that I burn myself out because burnout isn't success. 103 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:28,480 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 104 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:36,400 This is going to get more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention. 105 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:51,760 Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.