#172 - Diving into Trauma and What You Can Do to Make a Difference with Jerrod Brown, PhD

On today’s episode, our guest, Jerrod Brown, talks to us about all things trauma: why it’s imperative for everyone to understand its role, the wide range of forms it takes in children and caregivers, and how the same traumatic experiences can impact people completely differently. 

We discuss how experiencing trauma without the necessary support robs people of joy, energy, and creativity. You’ll also hear how trauma affects executive function, and why it’s dangerous not to take trauma into account as a healthcare professional. 

Jerrod explores the role of Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic stress exposure in development before we move on to discuss all the things we can do to address trauma in the kiddos we work with. Jerrod shares some pearls of wisdom from his own practice, touches on how trauma presents on a cellular level, doles out some practical advice for parents navigating trauma, and points professionals in the direction of some useful resources to grow their knowledge. 

We hope you join us to learn from Jerrod’s extensive expertise today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why it’s imperative to understand trauma and what we can do about it.
• The most common forms of trauma: from developmental, complex, and cumulative, and repetitive to historical, generational, and single incident.
• How the same trauma can impact people completely differently. 
• The collective trauma we are all going through as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Trauma’s impact on sensory processing capabilities through disrupted attachment patterns.
• What trauma can do to affect self-regulation and inhibition systems?
• Executive function, trust issues, and problems with sleep that occur as a result of trauma.
• Misdiagnosis, overdiagnosis, and underdiagnosis that occur if you don’t consider trauma.
• Symptoms of trauma in children.
• How Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress exposure affect development.
• How Jerrod emphasizes teaching resilience through being kind, calm, patient, and curious.
• How trauma presents on a cellular level: mitochondrial dysfunction.
• What the allostatic load is and how it affects toxic stress exposure.
• Advice for parents, starting with seeking professional help and creating stability and safety.
• Resources for therapists: trauma-based training, ACE training, TEDtalks, and the CDC.

Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at  Harkla.Co/Podcast.

Brought to you by Harkla

This podcast is brought to you by Harkla.  Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, child development courses, & The Harkla Sensory Club.

Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Google Drive Folder with Freebies from Jerrod
Jerrod Brown on LinkedIn
American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Studies
The American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Studies on Facebook 
The Listening Program ® - Advanced Brain Technologies