Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast, the space where education
meets resilience. I'm Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories
of educators, students, leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities
of modern education. Whether you're just starting your teaching journey, or are a seasoned
professional looking for inspiration, we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout,
and build trauma-informed communities in our schools. Now, let's take a seat at the front
of the classroom and get started. All right, hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode
of the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast, where today we are joined by Caren
Cooper, a trauma-informed mindset coach dedicated to empowering women to break free from self-doubt
and imposter syndrome. So Caren's mission is to help women embrace their authentic selves, tap into
their innate power, and build unshakable confidence to live boldly and unapologetically. With the
unique approach that combines neuroscience, somatic work, and trauma-informed protocols, Caren is
working to guide women through transformative journeys in order to help them reclaim their voices
and step fully into their power. So join us today as we explore her expertise in overcoming our
limited beliefs, understanding the imposter syndrome, and working to also inspire educators
and students to unlock their fullest potentials to create lasting and positive change. Welcome to the
show, Caren. Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here. Such a pleasure. So Caren, tell us a
little bit about, first of all, what your work is in both neuroscience and somatic approaches. What
do those mean, and what is it that you practice exactly? It means that I help women on an identity
evolution process, and with that we do rewiring and reprogramming at the subconscious level.
And with the somatic work, it's really how to connect to your bodies. The somatic work involves
breath work, meditation, movement of body, I should say, and connection to the body in so
much shape or form, and feeling the feelings until they need to be felt. So the conversation that was
had with trauma therapist Pamela Rosenblum back about a couple weeks ago, back in October 2024,
she talks quite a bit about how trauma is rooted in our brains, and by using movements like, let's
say, running or jogging or doing jumping jacks can help us release that trauma. How have you noticed
that either yourself or the people that you work with can use those types of physical movements
to get their trauma? What does that look like for them? It really is an on an individual basis,
quite frankly. So it can be one of the things that I teach people is hourly breathing alarms.
An alarm goes off every hour, and a breathing alarm, it helps you, and then you do alternate
nostril breathing, so it helps you connect to your body a little bit more, right? So that's the main
thing that I do, but also dancing, if you follow me on social media, you know I do a Friday dance
party, the movement takes you out of, it almost like removes you from the situation. I don't know
how else to describe it, so like, and I'm moving like, oh, it's like imagine yourself like stepping
out of the situation. That's what movement allows you to do. It allows you to focus on something
else other than what's actually going on, and then it allows you to take a step back in a way,
because when you are in a heightened state, you can't see past that heightened state.
So doing movement, breath work, something like that allows you to get out of that heightened state
and see it from a different perspective. Absolutely. So tell us a little bit more about what got you
interested with this work. My short version of the story, I was in corporate America, the pandemic
ended that, and I was doing my network marketing business full-time, and I had no idea what I was
doing. Like I felt very much like the imposter, like I was like, I know what you're doing, why are
people going to listen to me and all these types of things, and I knew I was in my own way, and I
needed deeper inner work rather than the surface personal development that I had been doing.
And my mentor Tracy Litt serendipitously showed up, and I took her work. I'm a student of the
work that I teach, so I took her work, and I decided that, wait a minute, it transformed me so much,
and it deeply made me understand who I was and what was going on, and why I was the person that
I was that I decided to get certified in the framework. So I'm certified neuro identity
evolution practitioner so that I can now teach others to transform in their own ways. Absolutely.
Thank you for that. And one thing that you mentioned already is about the imposter syndrome,
and I know that it's something that a lot of us in education do tend to struggle with quite a bit.
I struggle with it, and I'll talk a little bit more about that. But to start with, I wanted you
to go ahead and just, if you would, define what exactly the imposter syndrome is for listeners.
Imposter syndrome is literally not believing that you're capable of doing something. It's saying to
yourself, I don't know why people would listen to me. It's really not believing in yourself,
quite frankly. It's a lack of self-trust. It's just a lot of self-doubt, not believing yourself,
not believing that you can do something. Why would people listen to me? You know what I mean? What do
I have to offer? Those are the types of things that someone dealing with imposter syndrome would say.
I think that one thing that our listeners should understand about the imposter syndrome here
is that when focused on the context of education, it's this feeling that as a teacher or as a
principal or even as a student, that somewhere within the system, we don't belong where we are.
And it's as a result of all the different pressures that we face to have this perfect performance and
meet some kind of external expectation, especially for teachers who are getting evaluated. And they
wanted to pause and interject here with a quick story. So in my first full-time teaching appointment
in 2019, I was given a very, very challenging class. And it was that particular section
where I was told by my principal that I would have my annual teacher evaluation for the first year.
And at the end of that evaluation, he pulls me into his office and he looks at that form that
he filled out and he slides it across the desk and he brings it back to himself. And he looks at me
in the eye and he says, I think you're a good teacher, but I really want you to be a great teacher.
And when you hear something like that, when you're trying to live out your dream job,
it sticks with you. And even five years later, it still sticks with you. And so fast forward
throughout the half decade, I've been working in the university setting. I'm a trauma scholar.
My students know I'm a trauma scholar. I'm weeks away from defending a dissertation and getting my
doctoral degree conferred in trauma studies. I'm so excited. But even still, in allowing students to
excavate their deepest feelings on paper as I invite them, not require, but invite them to do,
and literature courses, which if you heard our prior segments, you can go visit Patrick's Zwosta
segment and Enma Leyva segment to hear about how the classroom is structured to do that.
I look at what these students share with me and the events in their lives. And I always think to
myself, why me? Why am I the person who they're coming to to do this? Maybe they find the tools
I give them to be extraordinary, but I myself am no extraordinary person. Why aren't they choosing
me to come forward with these feelings? And that why me? How can I be the one to help?
Always is in the back of that little voice in my mind, because once upon a time on my first
ever go around, I was told, you're good, you're not great. So I was wondering, Caren, for those
of us that are here, and have had those same experiences, where that little voice continues
to echo things of the past that we tried to grow on. Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People, came forward years after writing that text with what he called the
Eighth Habit. And the Eighth Habit, he says, is to find your voice and use your voice to inspire others.
So my major question for today's conversation is, what can you share with adults in all fields and
walks of their lives, but also mostly in education, who struggle to find their sense of self?
You are enough and whole as you are. You are enough and whole. You are inherently enough and
inherently whole, just as you are. And to your point when you said, I am not extraordinary,
you're damn right you are. Because you are the person that these kids are coming to.
You are the person that these kids can talk to. So you are extraordinary, just in the fact that
that's why, that's the point. Okay, my whole life I've been everybody's therapist, literally.
I always get, I can't believe I told you that. Always. Yes. We are those people.
We are just, we just are. Because we are the chosen ones, let's just say it that way, right?
The chosen ones, let's just say it that way, right? Because we can infuse our knowledge and our empathy
and our humor and we can infuse our authentic selves into other people, our empathy, all those
types of things. So that's why you and I are the chosen ones. And there's other people who are the
chosen ones. And I say that, you know, probably Jess thing as well, you know what I mean? We're
all enough and whole as we are. So when you, when that voice says to you, because it's going to
happen because inherently we're wired for survival, right? So the self-doubt and the imposter syndrome
doesn't go away. I say that with love, but it's the truth. It doesn't ever go away because you're
doing a dissertation in five weeks. Let's chat in three when it's close and you're like, oh my God,
I can't believe it. You know what I'm saying? Because as much as we all do the work, what happens
is as you up love, as you grow, as you change fear and resistance are prevalent anyway, no matter why.
So imposter syndrome shows up because you're moving the needle in a direction that it hadn't
been moved before. That sense of fear for the place. Exactly. What holds it back? Yeah. Exactly.
That's the whole thing. So it's like it uses resistance and then fear. So it's really fear
and resistance combined, but the fear is what we feel the most prevalent part of, right?
And then that's the part where it's like a lot of people pull back and don't show up and will
shrink because it's like, well, I'm scared to what happens and what if, and all these kinds of things.
So what do you do? Will you look at it from a different perspective? You welcome it in.
Oh my God, thanks for showing up because it means you're doing something inherently different.
So to answer your question, you're enough and as you want, but also thanks dear for showing up.
I appreciate you so much because it means I'm doing the thing. But a friend of mine, Laura Krauss,
who I'm going to give complete credit to, she said, imagine if, so the reframe that she posed
was imagine if, imagine if as teachers, you're getting evaluated and all those things happen,
but imagine if you just went with your instinct and went with your gut and imagine if even though
you were told that you were good, but not great, you move past it in a way of like, you know what,
I understand that that's what he thinks. That's not what I believe. And kept going. Imagine if
you did that and you are, you're in a dissertation, in your case, Joe, you're in a dissertation
and all these people come to you. Imagine if it all works out and you operate from that lens.
You just shift the perspective and operate from that lens. The answer to how we operate comes from
finding potential over anxiety with that outcome. Exactly. And I think to your point, if I may
interject here, because we were talking about the trauma like that causes, because what happens is,
you know, something like that is said to you and we make meaning out of it, right? We all do that
and therefore, and then it stays with us. But how the work that I do will also help you say, you know
what, I get where that's coming from and not have it affect you in the way that like, you know,
just like, you know, that's coming from admin. That's fine. I get it. I get that I have to play,
I'll call, I play, I call playing the game. Yes. Because even in corporate, you have to play the
game and things like that. But it's also, you know what, I'm going to take a breath. I'm going to
regulate. I'm just going to connect to my body and do some whatever movement or something like that.
To be like, you know what, whatever, I'm not going to allow that to affect me and what I do.
Absolutely. And it leads me to wonder that with these other teachers that you know throughout
your own life that are friends and that you work with, right? How did those different teachers
also struggle with the imposter syndrome and how have they worked to overcome it? Because we
mentioned earlier that there is a lot of people within the system that are very burnt out,
very exhausted. And what are some of the causes of that based upon what you know? And how are
they working through that? Some aren't being fully transparent. Some really just aren't.
But what I have seen lately is a lot more self care. And what I mean by that is the weekends for
their families, spending time with their families, the weekends doing something for themselves,
stopping at a certain point, not doing lessons plans after a certain point, right?
But you know what I mean? Because obviously they have to get done. Obviously that's part of the job.
But it's like, okay, not working till 11 PM to do so. Breaking it up in a way that is
feasible for them to have a life that they can live and not just have it be school work and admin
work and all the things that they have to do all the time. So that's really what it is. And self
care, it could be anything. Self care is just putting your needs first.
Exactly. It's that idea that we cannot pour from an empty cup, so therefore we should not try.
I remember also in that same first year of teaching, I was another reason why it was just
looked upon as almost shameful. And I completely get it now. In the moment, I couldn't understand
why, but now in 2020, it was just not the most appropriate thing I could have done. I would be
sitting there at my kitchen table at 3.30 in the morning, sending emails to parents, like we find
with the emails from earlier in the day. And those parents would get right back to me by 3.34. It's
like, well, what are you doing? And my colleagues would say, if you keep sending emails in the
middle of the night, you're going to make the rest of us look bad because we're going to be
doing that too. And we're time to sleep. We're minding our own. And I'm not expecting,
you know, even from the parent perspective, you know, no offense. And I said, I mean, back then I
was a judge too, but I'd be like, why are you sending an email 3.30 in the morning? Go to bed.
Exactly. And I did. I was always just so awake and exhausted, just full of anxiety about how can I
succeed in this job? But at the same point, it's to your point, how would how just be you? Yeah.
So going back to, you know, when I talk about like, show me having people shop it, because we
forget who we are. So we allow all the trauma and the stories to fester. And we become these stories
and these limiting beliefs. And the whole thing is, and now I work with people is, you know,
eradicating those stories, rewiring and reprogramming at the school level to become
a version of yourself. It's not even new with the version of yourself before all the stories
that we told ourselves and limiting beliefs that we had. So how do you show up as teachers and
admins and all those things as you? Because you show up as your authentic self that makes the impact.
Absolutely. And so what happens when standardization comes in the way of authenticity?
When teachers are teaching to the scripted lesson plan because they have to succeed in May on that
exam, how do you still keep authentic while breaking through the imposter system? It's
going back to what I said earlier, it's really connection to your body. Looking at it from the
perspective of, okay, I had to do these things. These are things that are part of my job.
There's nothing I can do about it. So rather than being pissed off and anxious and angry about it,
which is really you're doing is stressing yourself out. Number one is connecting to the body,
right? So it's breath work, it's somatic work, it's going back to the somatic work,
but it's also, is it truth? Is it truth? What's going to go back to the imagine if,
go back to all that, like I was saying earlier, and just, and welcome it in a way. You know what,
look at it from a fresh perspective. This is the way it is. These are the things that I have to do.
The testing has to be done. I have to teach to this testing. Okay, how best can I incorporate
who I am into this? How can I take me and put it in there? So rather than be like, oh, pissed off
that I can't, you can't be me yourself. You still can't be yourself. Why can't it be both, both end
instead of one or the other? All right, we have to do the standardized testing. Okay, fine.
Make it fun. Make it whatever. So coming from that perspective, then everybody's kind of working
together and towards one goal. I wanted to go ahead and start to close our conversation with Caren
by asking us again, what are some major takeaways that you would love for our audiences to know?
You are enough and worthy as you are. I think that's important. I don't think that
the majority of the people that I speak with, it's not, I'm not enough and I'm not worthy.
That's the overarching theme of everybody. And it's really understand that you are inherently
whole, inherently worthy, inherently fabulous, just as you are. Thank you so much for that.
And from tuning into our podcast today, who are some other businesses, including your own
and followers that our viewers can take note of? Well, my own business, I, my program is called
unscrew yourself. So like Joe said, I'm a trauma informed mindset coach. So I always offer free
audits, consultations, let's chat, let's talk. I love doing that. I would absolutely be, if you're
in the education field, follow my friend Jen Rafferty and her program is called the empowered
educator. And she really does a lot of the work. Like Joe and I'm talking prior to recording about,
you know, she works with teachers and admins in the schools. She does the same work that I do.
She focuses on the teachers and admins at school. So she would be a phenomenal, phenomenal resource.
And my mentor, Tracy Litt, she was amazing and she does the inner work as well. So those are
three people that I would, and Mel Robbins too, Jesse Itzler and Sarah Blakely are two others. So
Mel Robbins, Sarah Blakely and Jesse Itzler are ones that we can follow on Instagram and like
LinkedIn and stuff like that. And they're like coaches that I admire and that I follow
and really have, they're a great resource in terms of not just business, but life and how to really
make changes and make waves and that kind of thing. By joining our conversation today,
Caren and I are hoping that you are able to take away the understanding of what the imposter
syndrome is while also using your own practical tool kits to help overcome self-doubt and embracing
authentic leadership within the classroom and within the office as well. And I think as Caren
has emphasized, which I echo alongside her, our educators need to know that they are enough. Our
teachers and our principals and even our students all needs to know that we are on a journey that
self-doubt cannot dim. And in being able to understand what those values mean to who we are
as people, we can continue amplifying stories and conversations to help make education better.
Thank you again for joining us today, Caren. Thanks Joe. Thank you for joining us on the
Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast. If today's episode inspired you or made you think
differently, I'd love to hear from you. Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts
and stay connected with us on the at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and Facebook.
Remember, together we can transform our scars into stars in education, one conversation at a time.