On Trauma and Power with Jenn Turner, LMHC

Self Leadership, IFS & Healing School Culture from the Inside Out | Featuring Joanna Curry-Sartori

S2 E5 · Joanna Curry-Sartori Joanna Curry-Sartori, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the founder of the Self Leadership Collaborative, and the creator of the PAWS model — a framework rooted in Internal Family Systems that brings self-awareness, compassion, and relational capacity into schools, organizations, and communities. She is the author of The Self-Led Educator and has spent decades working at the intersection of trauma, systems, and the human beings inside them. In this conversation, Joanna and Jenn begin with a body-based practice before moving into one of the most practically grounded conversations this podcast has had. They explore what it actually looks like to bring IFS outside the therapy room — into classrooms, staff meetings, leadership teams, and communities under stress. Joanna shares the origin of the PAWS model, what happened after Sandy Hook that forced a question she spent years sitting with, and what she witnessed in a Zoom call with 80 teachers in the first months of the pandemic that changed how she understood belonging in professional spaces. Topics covered in this episode: — What unblending actually means, and why it is different from getting rid of a difficult part — Why the body is the portal into finding our parts — not just our thoughts or feelings — The student acting out in the classroom as a protective part with a positive intent nobody is asking about — Parts goggles: how curiosity changes what a teacher sees in a struggling student — The PAWS model — Pause, Aware of myself, Understand, Search for solutions, Experiment — and how it works in organizations — Why mindfulness taught as a tool is not the same as a practitioner who embodies it — 80 teachers on Zoom, the layers underneath "I'm holding it together," and what happened when safety built — What happened at Sandy Hook and the question it forced Joanna to sit with for years — Why the hardest part of working in schools is almost never the children — What becomes possible for a generation of children whose nervous systems wire up around the new C's: collaboration, community, connection, and contribution About Joanna Curry-Sartori, LMFT Founder & President, Self Leadership Collaborative Creator, PAWS Model for Self Leadership Author, The Self-Led Educator selfleadershipcollaborative.com About On Trauma & Power Hosted by Jenn Turner, LMHC, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment. New episodes every other Tuesday. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Learn more about CFTE at healwithcfte.org

What the Body Inherits: War, Displacement & the Politics of Healing | Featuring: Linda Thai LMSW, EPRTY 200

Linda Thai, LMSW, ERYT 200 is a somatic therapist, integrative trauma therapist, and international speaker who understands the wounds of war, refugitude, and military occupation from the inside — as a former child refugee, an adult immigrant, and a non-citizen living in the United States today. Her work focuses on breaking cycles of historical and intergenerational trauma at both the individual and community level. In this conversation, Jenn and Linda begin with the body — specifically, with a practice Linda has been using to move through the last several months. She calls it the turtleneck: a way of intentionally completing the shock trauma response that accumulates at the back of the neck when a nervous system can neither fight nor flee. From there, the conversation moves through what it means to carry ancestral reverberations of military occupation in your body, how authoritarianism registers physiologically, the paradox at the heart of decolonizing our clinical practices, the compartmentalization that makes so many of us good clinicians and the point at which it stops working, why children of color are permitted only a certain degree of upset before that upset becomes a pathology or a pipeline, and why Linda believes affordable, stable, consistent housing may be the single most underestimated factor in trauma healing. This is one of the most honest conversations this podcast has had. Come prepared to feel something. Topics covered in this episode: * Refugitude and the physiology of displacement * Intergenerational and historical trauma in the body * The turtleneck — a somatic practice for completing shock trauma response * Authoritarianism and the nervous system * Decolonizing clinical practice, starting with ourselves * The school-to-prison pipeline and racialized expressions of emotion * Compartmentalization, coherence, and doing our own work as clinicians * Housing as a foundation for trauma healing * Grief, rage, and the body's way home Learn more about Linda Thai: * Website: linda-thai.com * Current offerings: 12-Week Certificate in Somatic Embodiment & Regulation, The Alchemy of Anger, The Missing Pieces of Attachment Theory: A Decolonized Approach On Trauma & Power is hosted by Jenn Turner, LMHC, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Trauma and Embodiment. New episodes drop every other Tuesday. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Healing Trauma in Neurodivergent Bodies featuring Kory Andreas LCSW-C

This week, Jenn is joined by AuDHD therapist, educator, and Founder of Unplugged and Unmasked Retreats, Kory Andreas, LCSW-C for a rich conversation on neurodivergence, embodiment, trauma and the nervous system. Together, they explore why traditional mindfulness and body-based practices can feel inaccessible or even overwhelming for neurodivergent individuals, and how shifting toward regulation-focused, choice-based approaches can create more supportive and affirming experiences.  Kory shares insights from her work with high-masking autistic adults, emphasizing neurodivergence as a deeply embodied, nervous system experience rather than simply a diagnostic label. The conversation highlights how many neurodivergent individuals navigate chronic overwhelm, misattunement, and systemic misunderstanding—often leading to misdiagnosis, shame, and disconnection from their internal experience. Jenn and Kory discuss the parallels between trauma and neurodivergence, particularly the impact of environments that require individuals to override their instincts and adapt to systems not designed for them. Throughout the episode, they underscore the importance of curiosity, lived experience, and relational authenticity in therapeutic spaces. Together, they explore how reconnecting with the body, rebuilding self-trust, and cultivating self-compassion can open pathways toward healing, authenticity, and hope. To learn more about Kory and her work, including her Unplugged and Unmasked Retreats, resources for neurodivergent folks, and her podcast 'That's Me! Autistic Lives. Unfiltered' head to koryandreas.com 🧠    Go to healwithcfte.org/podcast for more information about the show, todays guest, The Center For Trauma and Embodiment and your host Jenn Turner, LMHC. Follow us on instagram instagram.com/ontraumaandpower @ontraumaandpower and instagram.com/healwithcfte @healwithcfte and stay updated on future episodes! 💜  ________________________________________________________   On Trauma and Power is edited and produced by E Ragonese at the Center For Trauma and Embodiment. To learn more about CFTE, head to healwithcfte.org.  Copyright Credit: Center For Trauma and Embodiment 2026

Healing Trauma- Integrating Lived Experience & Research Dr. Karestan Koenen

EPISODE CONTENT WARNINGS: Rape, Sexual Assault, and Institutional Medical Trauma are topics and themes that arise throughout the episode, 7:07 - Mentions a personal experience of rape and institutional trauma This week, Jenn is joined by a special guest, Dr. Karestan Koenen, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Director of Broad Trauma Initiative. Dr. Koenen is not just a Harvard scientist and trauma researcher, but is also a survivor herself, dedicated to transforming how we understand healing and resilience. In this episode Dr. Koenen shares how her work is shaped by both rigorous science and her own lived experience of sexual assault and institutional trauma during her time in the Peace Corps. She shares how her own healing journey led her into studying how trauma becomes biologically embedded, influencing long-term physical and mental health, while emphasizing that these outcomes are not fixed and can be mitigated through intervention and support. This episode weaves together the emphasis of hard research on trauma’s impact—from chronic illness to epigenetics—with a strong regard for honoring individual experience, intuition, and ancient embodied practices alongside data. Together, Jenn and Dr. Koenen explore the importance of integrating science with lived knowledge, challenging stigma, and expanding access to healing beyond traditional clinical settings, ultimately highlighting how the ways trauma is responded to by individuals, systems, and communities, plays a crucial role in shaping recovery. To learn more about Dr. Koenen and her research and work at Harvard, head to hsph.harvard.edu/research/population-mental-health-lab/ 🧠 You can check out Dr. Koenen's book 'Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse and Interpersonal Trauma: STAIR Narrative Therapy' amazon.com/Treating-Survivors-Childhood-Interpersonal-Trauma/dp/1462543286 Go to healwithcfte.org/podcast for more information about the show, todays guest, The Center For Trauma and Embodiment and your host Jenn Turner, LMHC. Follow us on instagram instagram.com/ontraumaandpower @ontraumaandpower and instagram.com/healwithcfte @healwithcfte and stay updated on future episodes! 💜 ________________________________________________________ On Trauma and Power is edited and produced by E Ragonese at the Center For Trauma and Embodiment. To learn more about CFTE, head to healwithcfte.org. Copyright Credit: Center For Trauma and Embodiment 2026

Transforming Wellness Through Music with MYNDSTREAM ft. Founder and CEO, Freddie Moross

For the first episode of our second season, Jenn is joined by a very special guest, Freddie Moross; founder and CEO of Myndstream and a leader at the intersection of music, wellness, and technology. CFTE is partnering with Myndstream for our 7th Annual Online International Conference on Trauma and Embodiment April 10–12, 2026, to provide soundscapes for the movement breaks throughout the conference to help attendees energize, focus, and unwind. To learn more about our conference, head to healwithcfte.org/conference or purchase tickets directly at givebutter.com/CFTE2026conference ✨ In this episode, Freddie shares how music can move beyond entertainment to become a functional tool for healing, regulation, and connection. Drawing from his personal relationship with music and his roots in his family’s business in the music industry, he reflects on how Myndstream was created to bridge artistry, science, and care. Together, Jenn and Freddie explore how intentionally designed soundscapes can support emotional and physiological shifts, from breathwork to clinical applications like pain management, while emphasizing the importance of personalized, choice-based listening that centers the needs and internal state of the individual. Listen and learn more about how music shapes our environments and experiences—from healthcare settings to everyday spaces—and how it can be used more intentionally to support well-being. To learn more about Myndstream and all that Freddie and his team have created and currently have to offer, including todays listening session, head to myndstream.com. Check out healwithcfte.org/podcast for more information about the show, todays guest, and your host Jenn Turner, LMHC. Follow us on instagram instagram.com/ontraumaandpower @ontraumaandpower and @healwithcfte stay updated on future episodes! 💙 ________________________________________________________ On Trauma and Power is edited and produced by E Ragonese at the Center For Trauma and Embodiment. To learn more about CFTE, head to healwithcfte.org Copyright Credit: Center For Trauma and Embodiment 2026