177: How Lived Experience Turns Into Real Support, with Cynthia Conigliaro

178: Real Recovery Is Slow And That Is Normal

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2070261/fan_mail/new] One screw in a piece of drywall doesn't usually feel profound. This time it did. Standing in a gutted house in Altadena, California, more than a year after the Eaton Fire, I felt the absurd weight of wildfire recovery and the despair that comes from doing something tiny to address an enormous problem. Then my mind shifted: rebuilding is not made of big, triumphant moments. It is made of the next screw, the next sheet of drywall, the next task you can actually do. We talk about what disaster recovery really looks like: homes still stripped to the studs, insurance disputes dragging on, and many families still displaced. From there, we zoom out to mental health after disaster, including the second disaster that can hit months later when the urgency is gone, the news cycle has moved on, and survivors are left with paperwork, grief, and a long road. We name the human realities: insomnia, nightmares, avoidance, and the way housing instability can intensify stress long after debris is cleared. Finally, we get honest about the systems around recovery. Deadlines, application windows, nonprofit metrics, and donor expectations can pressure people to perform healing on a schedule, then blame them when they are still struggling at 18 months, 3 years, or 5. I share what a healthier long-term recovery infrastructure could look like, and why resilience is not a personality trait or a finish line. It’s a practice, and it’s usually invisible. If you’re navigating trauma recovery or supporting someone in the long tail of a disaster, listen through and share this with a friend who needs it. Subscribe to Notes on Resilience and leave a review so more people can find the steadier, truer story of how healing happens. Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2051964] Start for FREE Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=C4JKFGYRKGMGG] __________ Producer / Editor: Neel Panji [https://www.podleafproductions.com/about] Invite Manya [https://manyachylinski.com/] to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity. Learn more: www.manyachylinski.com/services [https://www.manyachylinski.com/services] Subscribe to the newsletter: manyachylinski.com/notes [https://www.manyachylinski.com/notes] Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us. #trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

177: How Lived Experience Turns Into Real Support, with Cynthia Conigliaro

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2070261/fan_mail/new] You can feel it everywhere right now: more stress, less sleep, shorter tempers, and a quiet sense that a lot of people are barely holding it together.  We sit down with Cynthia Conigliaro to talk about what resilience actually looks like when life hits hard and does not let up. Cynthia shares the real work behind being positive, and why that label often hides a long history of effort, grief, and growth.  We get personal about lived experience, from years of infertility and pregnancy loss to a terrifying medical emergency when Cynthia collapsed on a run with her heart rate at 16 beats per minute, later receiving a pacemaker. We talk about what it means to rebuild trust in your own body, why anniversaries can be a meaningful part of healing, and how simply being understood can lower shame and isolation faster than advice ever will.  From there, we zoom out to collective trauma, indirect psychological injury, and the mental health aftershocks we still underestimate even when physical wounds get immediate attention. We unpack why healing is not linear, why culture shapes grief, and how stay strong can sometimes become emotional avoidance. We end with practical workplace insights: heart-centered leadership, burnout signs, and why AI and automation make caring for people and building psychological safety even more essential.  Cynthia Conigliaro has been in the field of health and wellness for over 20 years. She is a coach, speaker, and the founder of her corporate presentation business Work Well Webinars [http://www.workwellwebinars.com] where she delivers wellness presentations virtually and in person to companies all over the country.  * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-conigliaro-mba-msw-hwc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-conigliaro-mba-msw-hwc/] Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2051964] Start for FREE Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=C4JKFGYRKGMGG] __________ Producer / Editor: Neel Panji [https://www.podleafproductions.com/about] Invite Manya [https://manyachylinski.com/] to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity. Learn more: www.manyachylinski.com/services [https://www.manyachylinski.com/services] Subscribe to the newsletter: manyachylinski.com/notes [https://www.manyachylinski.com/notes] Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us. #trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

176: Beyond Resilience, with Keith Erwood

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2070261/fan_mail/new] Most organizations don’t fail because they don't have a plan. They fail because they can’t imagine they would ever need a plan. We sit down with Keith Erwood to talk about what real risk looks like and why business continuity and crisis management have to be more than checklists and compliance. Keith shares how his experience in EMS during 9/11 shaped the way he thinks about leadership, reflection, and recovery, including the quieter aftermath that hits months later.  We also talk about the ripple effects on small and mid-sized businesses, and why community resilience collapses when the local places people depend on can’t reopen. From there, we dig into what helps individuals recover from trauma, why mental health support is still hard to access, and how workplaces often respond only after something big happens. Then we challenge a common assumption about organizational resilience: bouncing back isn’t the only goal. Keith introduces the idea of endurance, using Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition to explore perseverance, survival psychology, and the will to live. We connect those lessons to preparedness planning, overlapping disasters, and the biases that make teams dismiss realistic scenarios. Finally, Keith offers a practical tool leaders can use right now: financial impact analysis that focuses on what it costs when a critical process goes down, no matter the cause, from cyber events to key-person risk. If you care about disaster preparedness, IT disaster recovery, or building a people-first resilience strategy, you’ll take away concrete ways to think clearer and plan smarter. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest preparedness blind spot. Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2051964] Start for FREE Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=C4JKFGYRKGMGG] __________ Producer / Editor: Neel Panji [https://www.podleafproductions.com/about] Invite Manya [https://manyachylinski.com/] to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity. Learn more: www.manyachylinski.com/services [https://www.manyachylinski.com/services] Subscribe to the newsletter: manyachylinski.com/notes [https://www.manyachylinski.com/notes] Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us. #trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

175: The Gap After The Crisis

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2070261/fan_mail/new] The strange part of a crisis is not the first week. It’s the months after, when the debris is cleared, the headlines move on, and your body finally stops running on adrenaline. That’s when many people begin to notice the insomnia, anxiety, irritability, brain fog, and avoidance they couldn’t afford to feel earlier. And too often, that’s exactly when the surge of support has already disappeared.  We dig into the gap between when help is offered and when people are actually ready to accept it, using the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California as a vivid example.  We talk through why survivors often say “we’re fine” in the immediate aftermath, how triage and stigma shape help-seeking, and why leaders can’t rely on early utilization numbers to judge long-term community wellbeing. Along the way, we connect the dots to what disaster research shows about delayed stress responses and post-traumatic stress symptoms after events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.  We also name the deeper mismatch: psychological timing, institutional timing, and social timing rarely align.  Emergency funding ends, staff burn out, and reporting systems reward what’s measurable early, while many people only feel safe enough to ask for support later, when it’s socially less acceptable to still be struggling.  We close with practical, realistic ways to keep mental health support accessible after disaster recovery begins, including 3, 6, and 12-month follow-ups and partnerships with schools, faith communities, and primary care.  If this resonates, subscribe for more conversations on resilience, share this with someone who leads in a crisis, and leave a review telling us what kind of support you wish existed six months after the emergency. Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2051964] Start for FREE Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=C4JKFGYRKGMGG] __________ Producer / Editor: Neel Panji [https://www.podleafproductions.com/about] Invite Manya [https://manyachylinski.com/] to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity. Learn more: www.manyachylinski.com/services [https://www.manyachylinski.com/services] Subscribe to the newsletter: manyachylinski.com/notes [https://www.manyachylinski.com/notes] Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us. #trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

174: Resilient Leadership Starts With You, with Chris Harris

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2070261/fan_mail/new] Would you follow someone up the hill if they’ve never taken one themselves?  That question sits at the center of our conversation with executive coach and keynote speaker Chris Harris, whose warrior mindset approach strips leadership down to what people actually feel: credibility, trust, and the calm confidence that comes from real resilience. We get personal fast. Chris shares a defining moment from childhood homelessness, sitting on a curb and eating donuts found in a dumpster, and the decision that changed his trajectory: choosing self-worth. From there, we connect the dots between lived adversity and the kind of compassion that isn’t just empathy, but empathy in action. If you’re thinking about leadership development, mindset coaching, or building a resilient organization, this story is more than inspiration. It explains why care, standards, and accountability can coexist without becoming performative culture talk. From elite special operations lessons to corporate reality, we unpack what makes teams strong under pressure: psychological safety that’s real, shared purpose that’s clear, and leaders whose character, values, and integrity align without friction. Chris also teaches a practical metacognition tool, “Sit, Stand, Open, Close,” to help you break autopilot, notice what you’re thinking, and adjust in real time, especially when stakes are high and stress is loud. And we end with a reminder worth borrowing: you’re under no obligation to be the same version of yourself you were ten minutes ago. If this helped you think differently about resilient leadership, mindset, and trust at work, subscribe and share it with a colleague. What’s one leadership behavior that instantly builds trust for you? Chris Harris is a coach, author, and keynote speaker. He is an accomplished black belt and U.S. Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee, and has trained thousands — from the U.S. military to its global allies — in close-quarters combat and mental toughness. Website: https://chrisharrisllc.com/ [https://chrisharrisllc.com/] Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=2051964] Start for FREE Support the show [https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=C4JKFGYRKGMGG] __________ Producer / Editor: Neel Panji [https://www.podleafproductions.com/about] Invite Manya [https://manyachylinski.com/] to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity. Learn more: www.manyachylinski.com/services [https://www.manyachylinski.com/services] Subscribe to the newsletter: manyachylinski.com/notes [https://www.manyachylinski.com/notes] Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us. #trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor