1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,280 Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast, the space where education 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:12,080 meets resilience. I'm Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:19,120 of educators, students, leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:24,800 of modern education. Whether you're just starting your teaching journey, or are a seasoned 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:31,040 professional looking for inspiration, we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, 6 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:36,160 and build trauma-informed communities in our schools. Now, let's take a seat at the front of 7 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:41,920 the classroom and get started. Today we are honored to have Pamela Rosenblum as our guest. 8 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:48,480 Pamela is a seasoned trauma therapist with over 38 years of experience in psychoanalysis and trauma 9 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:54,720 informed care. She's also a dedicated advocate and facilitator at the Lewy Body Dementia Resource 10 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,760 Center, where she supports caregivers and raises awareness about this often misunderstood disease. 11 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:06,080 Her personal journey, particularly as a caregiver for her late husband, Paul, during his battle with 12 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:11,520 Lewy Body Dementia, has provided her with deep insights into trauma and its long-lasting effects. 13 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:17,040 In today's episode, Pamela will share her expertise on how trauma impacts both educators and 14 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,920 students, and how trauma-informed practices can make a meaningful difference within our classrooms. 15 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:26,080 So please join me in welcoming Pamela to our podcast. Pamela, welcome. Thanks for being here. 16 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:27,520 Thank you. Hi, Joey. 17 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:34,240 So Pamela, first, we know that you've been a trauma therapist for 38 years, and I wanted to 18 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:40,000 know if you can briefly share some of your experiences as a psychoanalyst and a caregiver 19 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,520 for somebody with Lewy Body Dementia. And first of all, what is Lewy Body Dementia? And what 20 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,320 should people in education settings know about how different types of diseases impact the students 21 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:55,840 that they may work with? Lewy Body Dementia is the second most common form of dementia after 22 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:02,160 Alzheimer's, but many people have not heard of it. It was the disease, sadly, that Robin Williams 23 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:07,360 had, but never got properly diagnosed. He didn't understand what was going on with him. It's 24 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:14,000 different than Alzheimer's in that it is often starts with things like inability to do your daily 25 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:23,040 tasks, but also involves hallucinations and delusions and isn't so much often memory as more 26 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:29,360 what appear to be psychiatric kind of symptoms. That's Lewy Body Dementia. 27 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:33,760 So we'll learn more in a bit as to how this disease has impacted your life and your family 28 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,880 members. But first, tell us more about the types of patients you've seen throughout your years of 29 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:44,640 practice. Well, I didn't work with children or teenagers, but I worked with human beings. 30 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:51,680 I worked with adult human beings. And I think what's really important, one of the points I 31 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,880 hope to make today is for people to get some understanding of what trauma actually is. 32 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:03,440 I think it's often misunderstood as an emotional condition and that if people just talk about their 33 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:09,040 emotions or tell you about the trauma, then it'll all go away. And that's not true. Often 34 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:15,200 talking about it, depending how talking about it is handled by the listener, can actually be 35 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:22,480 re-traumatizing and reinforcing patterns in the brain that were laid down by the trauma. 36 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:30,080 So it's important, I think, for people to understand where trauma lives and why people get it. 37 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:35,520 That's a fascinating response. And the reason why I'm so drawn to that is because a lot of the work 38 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:41,360 that I do in my own classroom is on almost like this version of talk therapy and writing therapy. 39 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:46,640 So what I'm hearing is that sometimes that can re-trigger a student. So for some English 40 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:53,280 professors like myself who try and trope their classrooms in ways that allow trauma to come out 41 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,040 on paper, how would you guide us? What are some of the strategies that you would tell us to do 42 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:01,520 and some things that we should avoid in our practice? Well, I think that's a really good 43 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:06,400 question and very hard to parse out. I mean, I think that there is a form of therapy called 44 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:13,280 narrative therapy. And I think you may be involved in that where people write out the story. 45 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:20,880 The point of trauma therapy is that you don't want to remove the experience from the person's life. 46 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:27,440 We can't do that. Bad things have happened to people, but we want the memory of it to be able 47 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:34,320 to go back into the part of our brain where we hold the narrative of our life so that we can 48 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:40,720 actually say, oh yes, that happened, not it's happening right now. So it might be worthwhile 49 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:48,080 to talk right now about where trauma lives and how understanding that can help you in the classroom. 50 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:54,880 Trauma is not in the event, but it's in the nervous system, how the nervous system responds 51 00:04:54,880 --> 00:05:01,440 to the event. So you may have a classroom of 30 students. Each one is going to have their own 52 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:11,520 specific unique reaction to a situation. And it's informed by how resilient they were before the 53 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:20,480 event. So everyone has a different reaction. And trauma lives in the present moment. Trauma is the 54 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:30,640 nervous system basically believing on a certain level that the traumatic event or events aren't 55 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:39,600 over. And so it's already always vigilant, always ready to go. And I think this evolved from our 56 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:45,120 hunter gatherer brains. It's in a way you think of it, it's a sort of survival technique that if 57 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:52,960 you're out and a saber tooth tiger almost attacks you or attacks some members of your tribe, 58 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:58,720 then you're going to be on alert for that all the time. And the problem with trauma is it just 59 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:05,200 sits in our nervous system and we're ready as if it's going to happen again. So Pamela, one 60 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:10,400 disclaimer worth mentioning is that you are not a narrative therapist, but since we already mentioned 61 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:15,520 some distinctions between both talk and narrative therapies here, tell us some of your thoughts on 62 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,520 the behalf of our audiences here that may be doing work within writing-based classrooms. 63 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:26,560 There are many ways that people are addressing trauma these days. And when I say talking about 64 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:32,880 it can re-traumatize, it depends how it's being talked about. If a person talks about a trauma 65 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:39,280 and then gets completely upset and almost decompensates each time they talk about it, 66 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:45,520 that's not healthy. You have to see what is the effect of the writing about it in the classroom, 67 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:53,200 or I would imagine painting or writing a poem, anything that's going to help the person move 68 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:58,880 through it and move it to a different part of their brain, dancing. It's in the body, 69 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:05,760 it's not just in our thoughts or in our emotions, it's in our whole body. If I were with students 70 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:11,120 and asking them to write, I would first get them grounded in their bodies before they start writing, 71 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:15,120 feeling their feet on the floor, feeling near their bodies, and maybe ask them to write something 72 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:22,080 about what does your body feel like right now and what's happening in your body as you write your 73 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:27,440 story. So when it comes to like maybe yoga or meditation or some dancing, what would be some 74 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:32,320 good simple exercises that maybe teachers can use in the classroom before having students 75 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:40,560 communicate with them? Well, I think one of the really simplest things you can do to help anyone 76 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:46,160 in a situation is help them work with their breath. When people are activated, and that's a term we 77 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:51,280 would use if someone's in a trauma state, they're activated, their nervous system is sort of hot, 78 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:57,040 you know, ready to be triggered, you'll notice, and this is something teachers can become very 79 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:03,920 easily aware of. How are the students breathing? Do they seem to be breathing quickly and taking 80 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:13,280 short quick breaths? That's an activated system. When we breathe out longer than we breathe in, 81 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,920 so if I breathe in to the count of five and breathe out to the count of seven, 82 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:24,560 I'm prompting my parasympathetic nervous system, the part of my nervous system that can relax me. 83 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:32,480 That's called the rest and rejuvenate part of the nervous system. Because the trouble with trauma is 84 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:42,400 the body often in our modern world, we are in situations where as the animal we are, 85 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:50,000 we are triggered into a fight-flight situation, but we can't fight and we can't flee. Right. 86 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:56,960 And so we're stuck with amazing amounts of adrenaline, an unbelievable amount of adrenaline, 87 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:02,880 which we are then, we come back and we're told, you're safe, you're safe, you're safe, and people 88 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:09,680 are living with huge amounts of stimulation and adrenaline. In the wild, animals don't get 89 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:16,560 traumatized. Domesticated animals can be traumatized. But in the wild, if say a bunny 90 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:22,720 rabbit is being chased even by a house cat, okay, the bunny rabbit is triggered into fight. Well, 91 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:29,680 not fight because it's a bunny rabbit into flight. Right. It will run. It has a huge upsurge of 92 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:37,040 adrenaline. It will hop away. But even after the cat gives up, the bunny rabbit keeps hopping and 93 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:45,040 it hops and hops until all the adrenaline is out of its system. And in the kind of trauma we're 94 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:54,480 in, in the kind of trauma work I've done, we help people go to the event very slowly as they feel 95 00:09:54,480 --> 00:10:01,280 into what's happening in their body, into their felt sense. And oftentimes we have them imagine 96 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:08,560 running. I've had people actually pound their feet up and down as if they're running and 97 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:15,200 actually get to move through the fight or flight response that they did not get to have. 98 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:19,680 A lot of the work that you've also done has been with adults as well. So let me turn the tables 99 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:25,920 here and let's talk about the teacher image who is now maybe dealing with all of this post-traumatic 100 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:32,880 stress. I myself, when I went back to teach in the Parkland schools for a semester after the tragedy 101 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:38,080 happened, I got terrible secondary trauma and I was having nightmares all the time based on what 102 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:42,880 my students were sharing with me. And this building that was actually shot up, I was one of the first 103 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:48,960 classes of students to actually go through it for all four years and for a while. And even to the 104 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:54,560 present, after the building has now been taken down in 2024, I still dream that I'm going to 105 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:59,440 my first period freshman geography class in ninth grade, but there's blood all over the floor and 106 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:03,360 there's blood stains on the seats. And I just sit there and learn in this bloodstained classroom 107 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:12,640 that no longer exists in real life. How would you guide teachers in secondary PTSD or secondary 108 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,760 post-traumatic stress from hearing the stories of those around them? 109 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:22,800 It's very difficult. I mean, I was going to ask you what are schools doing for teachers? I mean, 110 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:30,400 because I think there has to be real hands-on care for them, whether it is a weekly therapy group 111 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:37,760 for the teachers or actually taking money out of the budget and hiring trauma therapists to be, 112 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:46,800 to be not to wait till a teacher has a crisis, but to be there right now for them all the time, 113 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:52,960 available. The way you might have a school social worker down the hall that a child can go to and 114 00:11:52,960 --> 00:12:00,000 talk to. Those teachers need that and they need to, they need somewhere to vent. They need somewhere 115 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:06,000 to, somewhere or somehow to learn some stress reduction techniques, but all the stress reduction 116 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:14,400 techniques in the world, that'll help them maybe get to sleep at night, but they need tremendous 117 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:20,400 support. Absolutely. These are powerful points because even beyond the mass violence, let's face 118 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:26,000 it, teachers are witnesses to the traumas and demons of their students every day and acting as 119 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:31,200 a caregiver for students who are in constant emotional and physical struggles absolutely can 120 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:37,280 take a toll on the educator's brain and body. Basil van der Kolk, who wrote- 121 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:39,680 Yes, the Brain and Body Keep the Score. Tell us about that. 122 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:46,000 All right. Yes. So he did an amazing study years ago. He actually had some Buddhist monks come 123 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:51,760 to him. I heard him speak at a conference years ago and the Buddhist, the Dalai Lama is really 124 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:59,520 interested in understanding what's going on in the brain when people meditate. These monks said to 125 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:06,160 him, do you want to study our brains? So he did functional brain scans on them and the part of the 126 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:13,680 brain that's lit up in these long-term meditators is a part of the brain, and sadly I'm not real up 127 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:20,480 on my parts of the brain, that is involved in being able to respond to things with equanimity, 128 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:26,960 being able to not be reactive. So then he scanned the brains of people with trauma and that part 129 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:33,360 of the brain doesn't light up at all. They're in a state of, they're triggered. So there's no 130 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:39,600 equanimity, there's just reaction, right? Just reaction. 131 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,640 Yeah. For our viewers, what does equanimity mean for them? 132 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:53,280 You hear the expression respond, don't react. We react instinctively. When we can respond, 133 00:13:53,280 --> 00:14:02,000 it means we've taken our time to assess the situation and then respond, then decide what 134 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:09,120 to respond. It's a very different kind of being in the world, right? Than reacting, 135 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:15,360 constantly reacting. But when people are in a traumatized state, they're going to react. 136 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,680 What I love with our conversations, I were talking about Bessel van der Kolk, who was one of the 137 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:24,800 first trauma scholars that I became familiar with in my research as well. And The Body Keeps the 138 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:31,040 Score is one of the first, I would even go as far as say groundbreaking text in trauma memory, 139 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:36,480 where van der Kolk as a therapist is talking to survivors of, I believe the Vietnam War, 140 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:43,280 and he sits in front of them. And as they speak with him, he says, this veteran is not suffering 141 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:50,160 from pain, rather he's suffering from memories. And his text was one of the first times where we 142 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:55,920 actually took trauma out of the battlefield and put it in so many other aspects of our lives that 143 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:01,600 people deal with all the time. And as this conversation represents, that works to really 144 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,920 help validate and let us reason with ourselves versus trying to point at someone and saying, 145 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:11,680 your trauma is not valid because it wasn't rooted in X, Y, or Z. Van der Kolk overturned that to 146 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,120 make sure that people knew what they were experiencing and draw that out further for 147 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:22,640 them to find solutions. Exactly. I'll just give a very, very personal example, if I may. I took 148 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:28,000 care of my husband. He had Lewy body dementia for six years. And with that form of dementia, 149 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:34,560 you never know what symptoms the person's going to have almost from one hour to the next. I mean, 150 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:41,840 he could know me one hour and an hour later have no idea who I was or think there were two Pamela's, 151 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:50,160 where'd the other Pamela go? You're not my wife. And it was a constant shock to me. And I would 152 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:57,520 always have to quickly respond to it and take care of him. And so I never got to actually 153 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:02,800 process what I was feeling in the moment. I just had to jump in and take care of him. So after he 154 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:08,960 passed away two years ago, I thought, well, you know, I'm not a caregiver anymore. I can relax. 155 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:14,560 And I couldn't relax. I was living in this constant vigilance only now I was projecting 156 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:22,640 it into my future life. And so I've been doing trauma therapy for myself on reliving those 157 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:30,720 reliving those moments when I would walk in a room and my husband was not my husband anymore. You 158 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:36,560 know, he thought there were two of me and finally allowing myself to process and have the emotions 159 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:44,400 and have the feelings, but it's a body centered kind of awareness. I think that's a very key word 160 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:50,480 to use when we talk about a body centered awareness. So when it comes to students and 161 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:54,800 teachers in classrooms, you may have also experienced these types of events. What were 162 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:59,840 some skills or strategies that you can offer to allow them to have this body centered awareness, 163 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:05,200 especially when they're in the classroom, that could be more inviting of either narrative writing 164 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:14,000 or talk therapies. I would think just having a regular time in the classroom to pause. I mean, 165 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:19,360 there's so many demands on children now too. I mean, that we're all, we're all in our heads 166 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:23,520 all the time. We're all on our screens and in our heads all the time. We're not in our bodies. 167 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:29,920 And we're not another idea you may want to pursue is this idea of the open focused brain. We were 168 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:37,120 not, we did not evolve to be in this narrow focus all the time. And when we're focusing on our 169 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:43,600 screens, focusing on our schoolwork, focusing on things, we're in narrow focus. And in the 170 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:48,400 hunter gatherer brain, we were really only meant to be a narrow focus when we were hunting or 171 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:57,440 gathering. Otherwise we could be in what's called open focus. So a really calming thing to do for 172 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:04,400 the body is get students grounded, feel their feet on the floor, have them just look ahead of them. 173 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,520 And I can tell you how hard this is for some people to do until they understand it 174 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:15,840 and tune in. Like as I'm looking at you, Joey, now on the screen, that's my narrow focus. 175 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:25,120 But I can create open focus by simply tuning into my peripheral vision. I can see my left hand here 176 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:32,160 and my right hand here. And if you do this slowly, and you could do it with an entire classroom of 177 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:39,440 students, just asking them, you could take five minutes and ask them to just look ahead and 178 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:47,200 they'll think it's silly at first, but tune in to their peripheral vision. They will start to feel 179 00:18:47,200 --> 00:19:00,160 their bodies relax. It's calming. You can try it when we get off this. It's subtle, but it's profound. 180 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:06,320 When it comes to finding ways to prevent burnout as a result of traumatic experiences, what advice 181 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:11,360 would you give for all different parties involved in education to avoid either student burnout or 182 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:18,320 teacher burnout and ways to try and use our pain to motivate us rather than hinder us? 183 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:23,280 Well, I think the first step is to do what we just talked about, even for the teachers, for the staff. 184 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:28,400 I mean, again, we keep talking about the teachers in the classroom, but there's the janitor, 185 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:35,040 there's the secretary in the principal's office. I could go on and on, right? 186 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:42,480 Just first learning how to tune in to their bodies so that they can begin to trust what they need. 187 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:51,200 For some people, they may need to do yoga. For some people, they may need sometimes to have a good cry, 188 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:59,360 to be open to taking time, to paying attention to what you need. And if people say, 189 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:05,280 you need a break, take a break. So before I wrap up, I wanted to know if you could tell us a little 190 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:11,920 bit more about the Lewy Body Dementia Resource Center and how our listeners might be able to use 191 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,920 some of the tools that you've offered throughout our session here when it comes to maybe being a 192 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:21,600 caregiver in an educational context or just different ways that we've looked at for each other 193 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:28,400 within trauma settings and educational institutions. Sure. Well, first of all, the Lewy Body Resource 194 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:34,960 Center of New York City was started, I think, eight years ago by Norma Loeb, whose mother 195 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:40,000 suffered from Lewy Body Dementia. And the whole time she was caring for her mother for 18 years, 196 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:47,440 she basically had no support. She was on her own. And so she started this center by simply, 197 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:52,880 I think, first having caregiver support group once a month. We've grown into an organization 198 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:59,360 where we have multiple caregiver support groups now on Zoom. We actually have a support group 199 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:04,560 for people with Lewy Body Dementia who are still early enough in the disease to be able to come 200 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:10,560 together and talk to each other and face their fears about having this dementia. And that's on 201 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:18,480 Zoom. And we have a wonderful documentary that hopefully will get distributed widely when we 202 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:26,720 can get to it called Facing the Wind, which focuses on caregivers. And I would like to mention, as far 203 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:33,440 as somewhat answering your second question, if people are interested, we have a YouTube channel, 204 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:39,680 Lewy Body Dementia Resource Center. And we have a lot of very short clips of caregivers being 205 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:47,040 interviewed about the disease itself. But there's also a 45-minute workshop that I ran, 206 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:55,680 called Self-Care for Caregivers. And it's about dealing with stress and creating your own 207 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:04,640 self-care stress reduction practice, whatever that means. It could be just time away to go 208 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:12,000 do some drawing or playing the piano or the guitar and breathing techniques. And in that workshop on 209 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:19,600 YouTube, I teach quite a few breathing techniques, de-stressing techniques that people can learn. 210 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,920 Is that something that I can put in the link to our show notes, a link to that training? 211 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:30,240 Yes, you could. So I would recommend you, our website is LewyBodyResourceCenter.org. 212 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:38,480 And if you go to YouTube, it is just the Lewy Body Resource Center YouTube channel. And the 213 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:46,560 workshop is Self-Care for Caregivers. Perfect. And I'm on there with a lot of caregivers, but 214 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:52,640 the techniques are applicable to anyone as far as stress reduction goes. Absolutely. And especially 215 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,720 with our teachers in the classrooms, most of them are in that caregiver role or that 216 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:02,240 no differentist role. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's what I think my heart 217 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:08,400 really goes out to them, because I think this is not what they trained for. And I think that's 218 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:14,480 right. They were willing, I mean, I would imagine a teacher went into this, yes, of course they're in 219 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:24,240 a local parentess role. Students are with them all day. But the level of possible trauma and even 220 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:35,600 trauma that's happening because out of the fear is just not right. Right. Yeah. Perfect. So what 221 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:41,280 could be for last question, for question, what could be one general takeaway that you would like 222 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:50,000 our listeners to remember for in today's conversation? Wow. I guess what pops in my 223 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:58,720 mind is to just, whether you're a teacher, a parent, a student, anyone, to realize that 224 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:07,520 each person is going to experience situations in life in their own unique way. Each person's nervous 225 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:16,800 system is very unique. So to not give, you know, you want to pay attention to those students who 226 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:22,880 are sort of saying my trauma is worse than your trauma, you know, they need to be heard. There's 227 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:27,760 a reason they're saying that. And they don't need to be shut down. They need to be heard. 228 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:35,040 They need to be heard and understood. But for the people around them to realize that 229 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:43,280 each person's trauma is their trauma. You know, is my trauma after caring for my husband for all 230 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:51,840 these years and I'm going through trauma therapy now, is that less than a war veteran? There's no, 231 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:58,400 you can't compare them. You know, so each, I think that's really important to realize. And so 232 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:05,280 each person's way of resolving it, they have, people have to be heard. They have to feel seen. 233 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:10,080 And even beyond the classroom that has suffered from mass violence, this is also any class that 234 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:16,160 has students of differentiating home lives where they just need someone to validate whatever 235 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:21,520 circumstance they deal with outside of that environment. Exactly. Exactly. Well, it has 236 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:26,320 been a pleasure speaking with Pamela today, who has provided strategies such as focusing on breath 237 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:32,080 work, grounding exercises, and understanding how trauma manifests not only in the brain, 238 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:37,520 but also within the body. Whether you're an educator, caregiver, or someone who is navigating 239 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:42,560 your own trauma, these tools can help you build a more supportive and empathetic environment. 240 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:47,840 Before we wrap up, we're reminded to check out the Lewy Body Dementia Resource Center 241 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:52,080 and their YouTube channel for valuable resources on self care for caregivers, 242 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:57,600 which we'll link in the show notes as well. And remember, trauma doesn't have to define you. 243 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:02,880 It's something we can work through with the right awareness and support. Thank you for joining us on 244 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:08,240 the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast. If today's episode inspired you or made 245 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:13,280 you think differently, I'd love to hear from you. Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to 246 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:18,720 podcasts and stay connected with us on the at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and 247 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:26,000 Facebook. Remember, together we can transform our scars into stars in education, one conversation 248 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:43,520 at a time.