Trauma-Informed Communication

• Understand the difference between grief and trauma in communication
• Know how to communicate with care, clarity, and restraint
• Recognize when an issue becomes a conference-level communication matter
• Feel confident they are not alone—and supported by NCC

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this Clear Voice webinar and podcast. I'm so glad you are joining us today. Before we begin, I want to thank you for the ministry that you do every day. Whether you serve as a pastor or a principal, the way you communicate matters. Your words have the power to encourage, comfort, build trust, and point people to Jesus. This program is made possible through the generous support of the Journalism for Adventist Solutions Initiative at the Versicare Foundation, and we are extremely grateful for their partnership. My name is Lori Trujillo, and I serve as the assistant to the president and director of communication and development for the Northern California Conference. You know, over the past several broadcasts, we've explored ethical and legal issues around communication and storytelling, and also fulfill our purpose, which is connecting people to a more abundant life with Jesus Christ and preparing them for the second coming. So communication matters. Today we have a very special topic that does impact most of us in one way or another, and it's called trauma-informed communication. I've learned how important it is the words we use, the visuals that we choose to use to impact healing. And we can either hurt people by what we say, what we do, what we show, or we can become part of the healing process. And our goal is, and my goal is to become part of that healing process. Even if we're facing a tragic accident in our community or a natural disaster or some allegation that impacts our community, or even a mental health emergency, it's what we say and what we don't say. So we're going to kind of get through this today. I am so pleased to be with us today, Kevin Lampy. He is the co-founder of Lampy, Kurth Lampy Worldwide. He is someone that I've had the privilege of working with through several of our very significant crises here in Northern. Over the years, I've come to appreciate Kevin's experience in public relations and crisis management. So before we jump into today's conversation, first let's welcome Kevin to the stage. Hello, Kevin. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Hello, hello. And it's wonderful to be with you, Lori. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Before we jump into our topic, which is trauma-informed communication, tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and what drew you into this field of communication and starting your company and what you do to serve us as Northern and others as your clients.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, thank you. It has been uh truly an honor to work with um um you know so many members of the of the Seventh day Avenus community. To start, I've always been a storyteller. That has always been one of my strengths, one of my God-given talents, was to be able to take an idea and put it into a story and be able to communicate something. Um, you know, growing up, you know, I I always look to the to the Bible and the um the parables that Jesus that Jesus told in the in the Bible, and how he was able to take very complicated and very important ideas, but be able to explain them through a parable, um, and to help people understand um more about the themselves and about the kingdom and and all that that matters in life. And so I have um taken these talents and been able to use them to help people, particularly in complicated situations. It is important that that people's ideas become communicated, and storytelling is the best way to do that. And so um that has evolved over the years, where I've I began as a uh uh working in political campaigns and helping to shape messages, uh, involved into a practice where where we spend a lot of our time helping people in difficult situations who are having challenges either presented internally or externally, or are overcoming some great difficulties, but need their story to be told so that both the internal and external audiences that they deal with have a better understanding, and so that people then can know what's going on, but also be informed, um, as well as really kind of take to heart what the messages that need to be delivered and what steps need to be taken to either address a complicated situation or to be able to explain it more fully so that everyone can be able to really live their life at their best.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

When there's a crisis, it's important to have the experts in place. And so we're always very grateful when you join us as an expert to help move through very complicated situations. Since I've been in this field, one of the things and working as the director, I've been studying trauma and grief, and that there is a distinct difference from what I've discovered and what I've felt between trauma and grief. Um, it seems that with the grief process, you know, people remember what happened, they there's a process, you know, that anger and and there's a certain process that they can expect to follow, people can mourn. Um, but trauma seems like it's a little bit different because trauma impacts the nervous system. It's like a chemical reaction in the brain. And so memories can become fragmented, that fear intensifies, and people can be more easily triggered. Um, there's an example of where I was facing a fire, the glass fire, and I and the fire was moving up. My daughter and I had to get out. And I remember driving to St. Helena and just sitting there going, Oh my goodness, what do I do? How come these people are going to brunch when I'm like suffering? And it was a very traumatic experience. Well, it now, you know, six, five years later, the smell of smoke, the sound of sirens, that wind, I call it the fire wind, all of those will will reactivate a natural response in me, like, oh my goodness, I'm gonna have to evacuate. And so trauma seems to be a little bit different. Um, have you seen that in your communication? Have you seen a difference between when you're dealing with the grief and when you're dealing with trauma?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yeah, it is every one of these situations is emotionally charged. When we are working with people, we are dealing with them at probably their most difficult time in their life. Um it it it's interesting. My my um my wife, who's my business partner, uh Kitty Kurth, and my mom were talking once, and they were talking about my father and the similarities of my father and me. Both my father and I had this have this, I don't know if it's a quality or an aspect to our personality, that when situations are difficult, we become the most calm. Um, you know, my father didn't raise his voice, and so which was which was as a child, um, you know, guilt is more powerful than any type of uh punishment. Um, and so but the fact that um there is this there's this need for those of us, we're we're counselors, and when people are going through a situation, it's important for us to listen, it's important for us to understand, and it's important to take into account what they are feeling in this situation. Almost every crisis we're dealing with, whether it's it's working the professionals that are responding to something that's going on, or somebody that's at the center of the controversy themselves, it is a emotionally charged, white hot situation. And so listening becomes incredibly important, empathy becomes incredibly important. These things we have to remember, each of these things when we're helping somebody get through these situations, and also the fact that we internalize some of this as well. We're feeling what's going on and we feel it, and we have to also we have to, you know, we have to recognize that fact that that um we are helping them deal with it, but we're also then we're we're feeling the struggle. But I also think that's incredibly important because if you're not feeling the struggle, you're not at the best, you're not able to help them as much as you can until you become emotional, emotionally involved. We we've learned working over the years together that we we we both are emotionally involved in whatever situation we're dealing with, and that helps and that informs the steps, steps we take that helps that it's not mechanical, that it's not just a formula, that it's and that's one of the keys.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Right. So that really you you really lead us into our first question, which is what does trauma-informed communication actually look like? What is a leader, a church, a pastor, a principal, what do they do and what do they not do?

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Always the best way to handle a crisis is to prepare for the crisis. All the preparation work that you do beforehand. You have the phone numbers, you have the background, um, you know who's in charge of what, who is it, who has the access to this, who has the passwords to all the social media accounts, um, who controls all of that, you know, and so all those things have to be done before anything happens. One of the things that I've learned in all the work I've done with faith-based organizations it is even more intense because everybody who is participating in this is there because of the deep faith they have in their religion. Part of that faith is at their core. That also provides that that that gives us an extra layer to the whole conversation. We have to remember that that sometimes, you know, as much as we're dealing with this in kind of a business aspect of um handling a crisis, we're also dealing with this a ministry aspect. And that it is it is it is part of who we are, it's a part of our faith, it's a part of our beliefs, it's a part of our values. So everything that we're handling really comes down to the core of that, but it's also one of the biggest advantages in a complicated situation because then we are answering to a higher power and we are being more part um of what's going on. And so we have that ability to be able to share that. Um, you know, we share that in our faith.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Right, which which ties into our purpose here at Northern, which is to connect people to a more abundant life with Jesus Christ. And we do that, and that's possible. And a crisis is an opportunity as well for us to show our compassion to the community, those we serve, our members. So what we say and do seems to really matter, and how we take it personally and internally.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Many times when there is a crisis situation happening and it's being covered in the local media or being handled on social media, that may be some people's first time that they've ever read anything or seen anything about the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And so it is just as much as we are communicating about the complicated situation, we're also communicating about your faith.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

And so that becomes so important that we remember that that that we we have kind of a you know, we have to handle the situation that's in front of us, but then we also have to realize that that this is you know, this is our public face, and this is what the the rest of the world is seeing, and it's it's I'm gonna be bold enough to say we're setting an example.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

We're showing, we're showing our our our hearts to the world, and so let's do it in the best way possible.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

And that brings, I mean, you and I worked together in very closely on our shooting at our Feather River school. And um, extremely tragic, two kids were hurt, um, a community was impacted, uh, and and not just here in in northern, but actually throughout the entire world. We had a lot of meat and a lot of intensity. Um, but I believe that after everything flowed out and we were back into a normal state, we did a study on what were the messages that were most commonly heard. Because we, you and I and the Pacific Union and the North American Division, we all coordinated at together on a messaging, and that messaging went out worldwide with hundreds of media hits. One of the things I remember was it was clear that we're a community of prayer.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

In these situations, people are looking for what they can do, and they they they you know, you know, both the the internal and external audiences to get academic about it. They want to gain information, um, but they also they want to figure out, you know, uh, what is my participation? Um, what can you know, how can I affect what's going on? So often in a situation, uh, you know, a crisis situation, particularly like a school shooting, it's like, you know, I I don't know what to do. Um, I I'm I'm lost. Um, this is, you know, I never thought it would happen to us. Dealing with it in a faith-based context. Um, dare I say we have a um an advantage? Um that prayer and faith is so important at the core of our beings that we're able to turn to those things uh and be able to turn to those actions because people want to, you know, the people need, you know, prayer is intentional, you know, right? Prayer is grounds people, um, prayer brings focus. Um, and I'll even take a quick tangent here. One of the things that I enjoy so much um about um meetings with um uh uh seven-day adventists is that um we pray at the beginning and end of every meeting. Um and um you know, from a faith, faith, you know, position that's wonderful and it fills everybody with the spirit and with with what's going on. But I'm gonna talk about a practical thing it does. It sets the agenda. Um it brings us together, it focuses us what's going on. And um, you know, some people when when they when they turn to open the open offer the prayer at the beginning, they then they walk through the things that we're going to do, and they ask guidance um in what we're doing, and they help to bring some focus into what we're doing. And then at the end, um there comes a summary. And then we comes next steps, and you know, we're being asked to do this, we're being asked to gather together again in a week. We're being we're being asked as we we go and and and uh um to to to write our communications and all these different things. Well, it's an advantage, it is an advantage.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

I'd never I'd never yeah, I'd never actually seen it as more as a practical way, plus you're tapping into a higher power to set the occasion. So it's not our own personal, but it's a higher power. So um let's get a little more practical on on communication. And um, yeah, prayer is that advantage, it just taps into that higher power. Um, so we have as a faith community, we have pastors who are going to be leading out, hopefully never have to lead out in a crisis, but they do at times, or principals, uh sometimes teachers. Um and this podcast is designed to talk to our volunteers on the ground who have volunteered to be a communicator, to be the person who relays information to the Northern California Conference. So we have various people on the ground, right, trying to help and support uh during a crisis. From what you've seen, um, and you've worked with many of our conferences, right? You've worked it and so you you know our our culture and our network. What are some of the challenges you have seen? And and yes, we're gonna be honest here. What are some of the challenges you see when a principal or a pastor um they're not clear on their role during a crisis? So maybe is what is their role in a crisis? Are there some key things that you've seen? And again, what does a local leader should not do or should tap into to help them?

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Okay, so there has to be a central point person. Okay, and once again, going back to what I said earlier, the best way to handle a crisis to is as to have planned for the crisis.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

So you should have a crisis handbook ready to go with the protocols, which is everything is set. Then you have to follow that. And then you gotta have a point person. There needs to be somebody that all information is flowing to. And conversation needs to go like a spigot to one place. And don't spill any of the water outside of that spigot or in that information because it's gotta come in. And we have to say everything and not hold.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Now, now when you say everything, what do you mean by everything?

SPEAKER_01 18:11

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Um, it is um more information. You can never have too much information, and you can never be too honest. And I think you also always have to take advantage of the resources that are uh available to you to take advantage of that, take advantage of the people that are at the conference, the professionals that are there, and reach out to them. Um, they'll connect you with with um legal counsel. Um, and because that it becomes important to listen to them. Even some little things is is getting legal counsel involved and then making sure there is C seed on every email that's going back and forth, uh, because that protects attorney client privilege, um, but also has legal counsel um that they're involved in the situation. And so that's key to what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Right. And so one of the things that we do at the Northern California conference is I, as the official spokesperson for media, guide the leader through the process, or at times we support the leader and that spigot flowing through. We've kind of found here, at least here in Northern, when you have that spigot falling through the official media person, then I'm able to tap into all the resources. And so understand that in a crisis, they are not alone and they just need to kind of pause and call the Northern California Conference uh communication department because we're the ones that help and support them. And we work together as a team. And I've discovered that the leaders on the ground, because things are coming at them, that they kind of need to care for the community and gather the information. Because, you know, uh with Feather River shooting, I was in San Diego when it happened and I had to get up to Feather River and we needed information. And so we needed an accurate person to talk to that we could gather information. So having that person identified, which of course volunteers falls on you, um, hopefully, to be that person to gather the information and get it out so that we can start crafting and supporting them on the communication.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah, and it's important that as much as people want to help. I've encountered this many times where, well, my cousin's brother's uncle works at the local TV station. And if I talk to them, we'll get a better story. And I can unequivocally say that's not gonna happen. You know, the you know, the the media will cover the story honestly with the information that they are given. It's be you know, because there's a relationship, um, that doesn't mean that they're going to cover it well or they're gonna cover it in the way they want it wants to be covered. And so too often what happens is somebody who thinks that they're helping, they're not. Um, and it's one it's one of the biggest challenges, you know. Um, you know, all of a sudden, you know, we're we're handling a crisis situation, and it's happened many times. You know, we've got the team in place, we are we are handling communication, and then you know, local TV anchor calls and says, uh, you know, I have a copy of the um of this document that was given to me by somebody within your organization who thought that I should have this in this situation. And it's not helpful. Um, and the person did it with the best of intentions, but it it doesn't, you know, we that that's why it has to be so narrow. There has to be one person that things are going through. And because when there's, you know, you know, you know, the reason why we have the phrase too many cooks for you know, too many cooks in the kitchen, um, it's because when there's too many cooks, the meal gets messed up. And we need to be able to, we have to have that focus. Um because the the central person, the leader in the situation, they're getting information from many different sources, and they're getting advice from different sources, and they're able to put that together into a cohesive, comprehensive, consistent message.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

And somebody that thinks there's helping, they don't have the access to all the information.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Um, you know, or you know, I've there there's been times when like drafts of documents have been have been given out. You know, well, there were a draft because they weren't ready, or they weren't even factful. You know, they weren't even actually, you know, it wasn't so we have to we have to be careful too, because we also we have to protect the reputation, we have to protect the dignity, we have to protect the integrity of the people and the institution.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

And um go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

No, and so when we talk about trauma-informed communication, so when we're talking about that one person creating a communication package, which then all of us say together, uh, that all of us, you know, communicate out, whether that be media, whether that be local, whether that be to members, um one of the things that we do here in Northern, because of this need to protect people's dignity, not harm, be part of the healing process. Um with the trauma-informed communication, we're able to do that when there is that um one person in charge. But that doesn't take away here in Northern, we don't take away the the guide of the leader on the local level. We're there to support them. In a lot of ways, I call it build a China wall around them so that they can serve their community while we handle all the rest of the things for them. And you're a member of our team, as is as is the union. And sometimes we have to coordinate worldwide messages, which the local leader shouldn't have to worry about because that's not their responsibility during a crisis. Their responsibility is to care for their community, right? And so I think we've been, Kevin. I think you I can we've been it's Northern has gone through a lot of crises, and and more people are connected to to Christ through the crisis, and Christ has turned those around. And part of that, I believe, is because the Holy Spirit blesses our communication efforts.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Well, even look to the fact that you know Jesus had 12 guys that helped him. Um so I mean, you know, he you know, even even he gave us the example of you know, you needed a community, right? You needed a group of people, and he had the disciples, the 12 disciples were there to support him and to be a part of his team as he's delivering a complicated message. Right. Um, you know, it's so interesting how this stuff all falls back to that some of those basic things that are that were given to us in the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Right. So we're gonna need to wrap up here very quickly, but I do want to go through just two real life scenarios, real life statements that we've made. I have changed some details, of course. Um, but there are some real life statements um that we have used and that you uh Kevin have helped crafted. And so I would, you know, this this statement will appear on the screen. Um, and as you discuss, explain why we said certain things and then also more importantly, why we didn't say certain things, just so people can get an idea. And again, we're not asking you as volunteers or you as leaders or pastors to understand how this works, but we're showing you in a real life example of why crafting a consistent message helps us to fulfill our purpose and helps us to stay connected. So earlier today, we became aware of a situation that required us to involve law enforcement. Authorities responded quickly, and at this time, there is no ongoing threat. The safety of our students, members, and staff is our highest priority. We are working closely with the officials and following all recommended protocols. We ask that you avoid sharing unverified information and keep our community in your prayers.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

So we informed them, we acknowledged the situation. That's key to begin with. Then we explained as much as we knew, but also let them know what we don't know and how it is developing. We then we talked about our next steps, we reflected on what we're going to do, but we also gave them an assignment uh that was very important, that there wasn't sharing of additional information. Um, because sometimes it's someone that's trying to help you that's going to make the situation that much more difficult. And it's it's concise. In fact, I think my explanation of the um of the statement is longer than the actual statement.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

One of the things we made sure is we didn't we didn't want people to speculate because what does speculation do? What have you seen? If people start speculating as to why this happened, why that what can happen?

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Misinformation travels faster than facts. Uh when did Mark Twain say a lie can travel around the world before truth can put its boots on? And misinformation is your biggest challenge in a fast-moving crisis situation. And that's why every because because once a once a misinformation gets out there, you're spending more time explaining it than you are in dealing with the actual situation. Um, in politics, we have a phrase, if you're explaining, you're losing. Um and we need to, in order to help our community, we have to get them the facts and they have to understand exactly what's going on because any type of misinformation is going to either strike fear, to add more trauma to already a difficult situation. And we've got to make sure that the information is helping people understand the situation and not to worsen um and to increase the intensity of the problem that's happening.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

And since we're focused on trauma-informed communication and protecting the dignity, helping people heal, misinformation goes against that. Well, let's do one more. So, this is about allegations and misconduct. Um, so here's the statement. And again, what did we say? What did we not say, and why did we say it? We are aware of concerns that have been raised and have taken all allegations seriously. In accordance with our policies, the matter has been reported to the appropriate authorities. We are committed to a fair and thorough process.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

These are the most difficult statements to compose. I often say that um, you know, I can I can write an entire page about something, um, but limit me to 15, 20 words, and they can take, you know, longer than the entire page would take to write. And what we do here in basically three quick sentences, we acknowledge what's going on, and we then let people know the next steps we're going to take, and then we let them know that we are going to carry through on what we promised to do. We can't get into any speculation because there's legal concerns, there's many different parties that are involved, and anything else beyond what's in the statement is just going to further complicate the situation instead of helping the situation.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Right. And we also say that there's a due process, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

We follow there's a due process. And and just an acknowledgement for those of those of you out there that have been through some form of allegation that that letting law enforcement work and follow their process can take time. And during that time, we cannot be investigating because we can impede investigations. And then after that process finishes and we're released to go, then internally we have another process. And the reason we have two separate processes is law enforcement looks at the legal side, right? And internally, we look at more of the values where our values and at the end of that, and then it can take in investigations, it can take interviews, it can take time, and it's frustrating. It is frustrating to those that want to know what happened. But part of our process is to protect the community, the safety of our community, the safety of our children, the safety of our people, the safety of our members during this process. And so it's very hard not to speculate when the process goes really long. But again, there is a process that is followed. And it's very important that you as a volunteer understand that process so you can, so you know you can feel confident that something is happening. And again, you can always reach out to me uh to have I can explain, and most of the time I will. Most of the time I'll be reaching out to you, explaining to you the process, what's happening, what's not happening. We're just gonna have to wait.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Um, well, I'm gonna build off what your last statement is. Um, patience is one of the most difficult um things to hold on to during any crisis situation. Um, you may not have all the information, and the process may be still working going, still be happening, still be ongoing. And so being patient. But once again, I want to go back to you gotta have a plan. Um once you have that plan, then you need to then you need to follow it. Um and you need to ask difficult questions and you need to give complicated answers. Um, once we have the information, then we can then we can move forward and we can inform everybody. But also understand that that you know people involved in the situation, once you're helping somebody in the situation, you're also handling your own trauma in these situations.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

So it's important to rely on your faith, rely on your values to help you get through.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

As we close up, uh, let's just all remember this phrase: pause, care first, fewer words, call early. That is something. So pause and call. We're here to support you at the Northern California Conference. Our role again is to communicate truth, communicate truth in ways that protect dignity, reduce harm, and build trust. Kevin, thank you so much for joining us today. Um, and join us next time. Follow us. You can download our podcasts on Spotify or Apple. That here's my contact information that you can uh absolutely email me. We're in this together. We're here to support you in moments of trauma. Calm and compassionate communication becomes part of the healing process. Let's be part of the healing process. Thank you so much for your time. Have a fabulous afternoon and day.