Front-line workers—healthcare providers, emergency responders, therapists and counselors, social workers, teachers, and service workers—face unique challenges that leadership models often weren't designed to address. When you're constantly exposed to others' trauma and distress as a job requirement, your nervous system pays a price.

In this episode, we explore what trauma-informed leadership actually looks like for front-line workers. Not therapy, not lowering standards—but understanding how nervous systems respond to chronic crisis exposure and building support into the work itself.

We also acknowledge the impossible balance leaders face: organizational demands for metrics and documentation alongside the human need for emotional support and compassion. Many organizations delivering trauma-informed care don't lead with trauma-informed approaches—and that's what we're here to change.

Timestamps: [00:00] Introduction: Why front-line workers need trauma-informed leadership [02:30] Understanding the front-line experience and nervous system impact [08:00] Five principles of trauma-informed leadership [16:00] Practical approaches for leaders and workers [20:00] Moving forward with nervous system-aware leadership

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.

She'd been through every leadership program. She could articulate leadership principles beautifully. Her evaluations were excellent. So why did her team still seem anxious? Why did people hesitate before speaking in meetings?

Because traditional leadership training misses something crucial: leadership happens at the level of the nervous system, not just words and policies.

In this episode, I break down what traditional leadership training gets wrong and what actually works when you understand nervous system dynamics:

• The three critical misunderstandings of traditional leadership training
• Nervous system fundamentals every leader needs to understand
• What leadership looks like at the nervous system level
• Practical applications that change everything
• Why you're not failing - you're just working at the wrong level

If you're a leader whose best efforts aren't producing the results you expect, this episode will change how you think about leadership.

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Hook: When Everything Right Still Feels Wrong 0:30 - The Problem: Teaching Leadership to Brains That Aren't Listening 4:00 - What Traditional Training Gets Wrong 4:00 - Misunderstanding #1: Words Create Reality 5:30 - Misunderstanding #2: Psychological Safety Is a Policy 7:00 - Misunderstanding #3: Logic and Reason Drive Performance 9:00 - Nervous System Fundamentals Leaders Need to Understand 9:00 - The Window of Tolerance 10:30 - Co-Regulation: Your Nervous System Impacts Theirs 12:00 - Neuroception: The Unconscious Threat Detection System 14:00 - What Leadership Looks Like at the Nervous System Level 18:00 - The Practical Application: What Changes 21:00 - Moving Forward: Working With Biology, Not Against It 22:00 - Join the Waitlist for Leading at the Nervous System Level

Ready to lead at the nervous system level? Join the waitlist: https://resilientcareeracademy.myflodesk.com/tilwaitlist

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.

"Just create psychological safety by telling your team it's okay to make mistakes!" Everyone nodded. I felt my stomach tighten. Because I remembered being that employee - the one whose manager said all the right things, then subtly punished every misstep.
When you've been on both sides of the desk - both the employee hoping for safety and the leader trying to create it - you have a perspective most leadership development programs don't address.
In this episode, I explore what it's like to lead as a trauma survivor, including:

The gap between what leaders think they're communicating and what trauma survivors actually hear
Why popular leadership advice often falls flat (or causes harm)
The dual perspective advantage: what survivor leaders see that others miss
What we have to navigate that traditional leaders don't
Leading from integration, not despite your trauma history

If you're a leader carrying your own trauma history, this episode is for you.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Hook: When Leadership Training Misses the Mark
0:30 - The Problem: When Leaders Don't Know What They Don't Know
4:00 - What Sounds Good But Falls Flat
4:00 - "We Have an Open Door Policy"
5:15 - "Mistakes Are Learning Opportunities"
6:30 - "Take Care of Yourself"
7:45 - "I'm Here to Support You"
11:00 - The Dual Perspective Advantage
15:30 - What We Have to Navigate That Traditional Leaders Don't
18:30 - Leading From Integration, Not Despite Trauma
21:00 - Moving Forward: Your Dual Perspective Is Your Superpower
22:00 - Join the Waitlist for Leading at the Nervous System Level
Ready to lead from integration? Join the waitlist: https://resilientcareeracademy.myflodesk.com/tilwaitlist

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.

Three months after the toxic executive left, Maya had hired an excellent replacement and implemented new policies. So why were her strongest performers resigning? Why was the team angrier than ever?

Because she didn't understand the real timeline for healing from toxic leadership.

In this episode, I break down the actual phases teams go through when recovering from toxic leadership - and why things often get worse before they get better. This is essential information for any leader navigating team recovery.

We explore:

* Month 1-2: Shock and suspicious relief (and why early improvement is misleading)
* Month 3-4: Delayed response and regression (when things seem to fall apart)
* Month 5-6: Rebuilding trust through pattern recognition
* Month 7-9: Integration and sustainable culture building

What makes the difference between teams that heal and teams that stay fractured

If you're supporting a team through recovery from toxic leadership, this episode will help you understand what you're seeing and how to respond.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Hook: When Things Get Worse After Toxic Leadership Leaves
0:30 - The Problem: Expecting Linear Recovery
4:00 - Month 1-2: Shock and Suspicious Relief Phase
6:30 - Month 3-4: Delayed Response and Regression Phase
11:00 - Month 5-6: Rebuilding Trust Through Pattern Recognition
14:00 - Month 7-9: Integration and Sustainable Culture Building
16:30 - What Makes the Difference: Core Elements
20:00 - Moving Forward: Timeline to Transformation
22:00 - Join the Waitlist for Leading at the Nervous System Level

Ready to support your team's recovery with trauma-informed leadership? Join the waitlist: https://resilientcareeracademy.myflodesk.com/tilwaitlist

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.

Sarah arrives at 7 AM every morning, stays past 7 PM most nights, and delivers ahead of schedule. Marcus stays calm during every crisis. Both are high performers. Both are also quietly struggling with trauma responses that masquerade as professional excellence.

In this episode, I break down how fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses disguise themselves as your most valued workplace behaviors - and what leaders need to understand about the difference between authentic excellence and survival-based performance.

We explore:

* When intensity reads as leadership (but is actually hypervigilance)
* When productivity masks avoidance through constant motion
* When calm conceals emotional disconnection and dissociation
* When people-pleasing powers performance (at tremendous cost)
* What creates space for optimal functioning vs. effective survival

If you're a leader who wants to support sustainable excellence in your team, this episode is for you.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Hook: High Performance That's Actually Survival
0:30 - When Survival Looks Like Success
4:30 - The Four Trauma Responses at Work
4:30 - Fight Response: When Intensity Reads as Leadership
6:00 - Flight Response: When Productivity Masks Avoidance
7:30 - Freeze Response: When Calm Conceals Disconnection
9:00 - Fawn Response: When People-Pleasing Powers Performance
13:00 - Creating Space for Optimal Functioning
13:30 - Building Psychological Safety That Actually Works
14:45 - Redefining Performance Metrics
16:00 - Supporting Regulation Without Requiring Disclosure
17:00 - Developing Trauma-Informed Leadership Capacity
18:30 - Moving Forward: From Recognition to Response
20:30 - Join the Waitlist for Leading at the Nervous System Level

Ready to lead at the nervous system level? Join the waitlist for my Trauma-Informed Leadership Coaching Intensive: https://resilientcareeracademy.myflodesk.com/tilwaitlist

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.

Ever wondered what makes peer support different from therapy—and why it matters for your career? In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Jade Miller, a peer support worker specializing in dissociative experiences, to explore how peer relationships create unique healing spaces that traditional approaches often miss.

Jade shares why the power dynamics in peer support matter so deeply for trauma survivors, how to start building authentic professional connections when you're barely making it through your workday, and the real truth about "bringing your whole self to work" (spoiler: they don't actually mean that).

We dig into practical wisdom about:

* Understanding the difference between peer support and therapy
* Navigating authenticity versus professional polish in the workplace
* Building trust gradually when your nervous system is dysregulated
* Creating safe community connections without adding more demands to your energy
* The power of accompaniment in healing and professional growth

About Jade Miller:
Jade is a peer support worker who coaches people with dissociative experiences. After spending seven years helping clients find resources that didn't exist, she's now building Safe Harbor—a peer respite center specifically for people with trauma and dissociative experiences. You can find her at Peer Support for Multiples on Instagram and at peersupportformultiples.com.

Resources mentioned:

Peer Support for Multiples: www.peersupportformultiples.com
Instagram: @peersupportformultiples
Substack: "Apart" by Jade Miller

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction and welcome
01:00 - What is peer support and how it differs from therapy
03:00 - The power of accompaniment in healing
04:00 - What makes peer relationships unique
06:00 - Teaching from lived experience
07:00 - Red flags in "expert" approaches
09:00 - Why healing happens in community
10:00 - Building Safe Harbor: A peer respite center
12:00 - Why professional spaces trigger trauma survivors
14:00 - The myth of "bringing your whole self to work"
16:00 - Handling triggers in the workplace
18:00 - Between-session support models
19:00 - The power of "How can I help?"
21:00 - Starting small with community connection
23:00 - Community as rest, not another demand
25:00 - Practical decompression strategies
26:00 - Authentic networking versus transactional relationships
28:00 - Setting clear expectations in professional connections
30:00 - One small step to break isolation today
31:00 - Connect with Jade Miller

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.

What happens when you stop protecting your progress and start sharing it? This episode explores the powerful shift from building community to co-creating through collaboration—and why this matters deeply for trauma survivors navigating career development.

If you've spent years learning to trust yourself, the idea of sharing control can feel revolutionary or terrifying. But collaboration isn't about losing your authentic identity—it's about bringing your full self to the table and allowing what you create together to become more than you could protect alone.

I share my personal progression from "unhindered" (2023) to "connection" (2024) to "community" (2025) and now to "collaboration" (2026), revealing how each year built the foundation for the next. You'll discover why collaboration requires something different from cooperation or coordination, and how it asks trauma survivors to practice profound courage.

In this episode, you'll explore:

* The crucial difference between cooperation, coordination, and true collaboration
* Why sharing control doesn't mean losing your authentic identity
* How collaboration builds on the foundation of safety, connection, and community
* The vulnerable courage required when trauma survivors choose co-creation
* Practical ways collaboration might show up in your career journey

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction: The word that keeps appearing
02:15 - Defining collaboration vs. cooperation and coordination
05:30 - The vulnerability of shared ownership
08:45 - My progression: From unhindered to collaboration
12:20 - 2024: Connection to self and others
14:40 - 2025: Building community and finding your people
17:30 - 2026: When community becomes co-creation
20:15 - What collaboration might look like in practice
22:45 - Your invitation to build together

Ready to explore how collaboration could transform your career development? Book a discovery call at https://calendly.com/cyndibennettconsulting/30min to discuss working together.

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.

If you're heading into work while everyone else is opening presents or sitting down to holiday meals, this episode is for you. We're talking about the invisible weight shift workers carry during the holidays—and why it's completely valid whether you're missing celebrations you wish you could attend OR feeling relieved to have a legitimate reason to skip triggering family dynamics.

I'm breaking down what makes holiday shift work particularly challenging for trauma survivors, how to create meaningful moments on your own terms, and the professional strengths you're building (even if it doesn't feel like it right now). This isn't toxic positivity—it's real talk about navigating work when the rest of the world is celebrating.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Hook: You're not alone in working while others rest
00:07 - Introduction: What we're covering today
02:00 - The invisible weight shift workers carry
05:30 - The double-edged reality (grief AND relief)
09:00 - What you're building (whether you realize it or not)
12:30 - Creating your own meaningful moments
16:00 - Building sustainable patterns for your well-being
18:30 - Closing & call to action

What You'll Explore:

* Why shift work during holidays hits differently for trauma survivors
* The double-edged reality of missing celebrations (grief AND relief)
* Developing personalized regulation strategies for holiday shifts
* Creating alternative rituals that honor your reality
* Translating shift work resilience into career advancement

Whether you're in healthcare, hospitality, emergency services, retail, or any role that keeps you working when others rest—you're not alone, and your experience matters.

Resources mentioned:

Discovery call booking: https://calendly.com/cyndibennettconsulting/30min

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your career journey:

1. Free trauma-informed career development resources from my website! Visit https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com for always up-to-date tips.
2. Ready to build a fulfilling career with trauma-informed support? Join The Resilient Career Academy Learning Community, where trauma survivors support each other, share resources, and develop career resilience in a safe, understanding environment
3. Ready for personalized trauma-informed career coaching? Explore my range of virtual coaching packages designed for different stages of your career journey. Visit my website to find the right support for where you are now. [Visit my website: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com/1-on-1-coaching]

DISCLOSURE: Some links I share might contain resources that you might find helpful. Whenever possible I use referral links, which means if you click any of the links in this video or description and make a purchase we may receive a small commission or other compensation at no cost to you.