Healing from Within: A Regen's Foray into Trauma-Informed Leadership
Healing from Within: A Regen's Foray into Trauma-Informed Leadership
How The Wisdom of Trauma Can Lead to Inner Resilience and a More Beautiful World
I opened this new Substack to begin sharing insights from my first sabbatical after 17 years in impact entrepreneurship. Along the way I’ve begun exploring a new model of leadership under the framing of humanity as a keystone species and started exploring freediving as a rite of passage to remember our rightful place as a part of nature.
This week I want to navigate through the waters of personal crisis, trauma and burnout. I’ll start off with a bit of my own story then make a case for trauma-informed leadership as a key pillar of the regenerative movement. I will highlight a few insights I’ve gleaned reading trauma literature recently along with some the interventions I have made in my own life.
I offer this piece as a letter to my younger self and a contribution to all the amazing leaders out there who are working towards a better world while also trying to take care of themselves and their families.
Regeneration Begins Within
These nine months away from startup life helped me realize that I spent most of my career trying to solve complex external problems (social justice, climate change, etc.) that were entangled to traumatic experiences from early childhood and adolescence. It also showed me how my identity was like a monoculture field: I was my startup. That was my life. This was unbalanced and unhealthy.
I couldn’t see it at the time, but so much of my entrepreneurial drive came from trying to dig a hole through all my unprocessed wounds—even though I thought it was about helping other people. Looking back at my early career in 2015, on the one hand, I cared deeply about supporting refugees in Europe, but in truth, what I actually needed was a safe space to process the grief of losing my best friend to cancer and supporting my wife through a brutal miscarriage.
Knowing what I know now, I would have done the work to process my inner pain alongside my exploration of contributing to a more beautiful world around me. At the time I told myself I didn’t have the time, that things were so urgent I had to take action now. My personal issues could wait…
I think this is one of the most difficult paradoxes we face as regenerative leaders. The world around us is falling apart with increasing severity and urgency, and yet if we do not do the work of tending to the world within, we cannot meaningfully contribute to the challenges we face from a place of wholeness and will inevitably create more pain until we process the wounds that have been calling out for our attention.
The emerging field of somatic therapy and bodywork in general provides powerful tools to assist our transition to a more regenerative way of being.
The Case for Trauma-Informed Leadership
We all face personal crises that shake the very foundation of our identity and self worth. As leaders, the way we navigate these challenges has significant ramifications for the organizations we build and the change we aspire to make in the world. Understanding trauma and equipping ourselves with the right tools and practices to heal is crucial for leading in alignment with our vision, and values and ultimately for making contributions that the world actually needs.
Working through our own personal issues sets a model of leadership that invites strength through vulnerability, honoring the true nature of our human experience: That we are emotional beings with physical bodies. We are not machines. When we take the time to listen to the sensations of our body and the emotions of our heart we come closer into alignment with the natural world of beauty and our innate ability to heal.
Trauma & The World We Live In
Psychologists and psychiatrists define trauma as resulting from an exceptionally stressful event that is beyond the scope of ordinary human experiences and would cause significant distress to nearly anyone. This includes events such as a serious threat to one's life or physical safety, severe danger or harm to loved ones, sudden destruction of one's home or community, or witnessing someone else being seriously injured or killed due to an accident or violence.
While this definition has its challenges and limitations, it highlights the increasing occurrence of traumatic events in the age of the metacrisis. Our institutions are failing, the climate is changing, and armed conflicts are increasing.
The external conditions are set for a world of trauma, so surely our only path is to accept that most of society will be traumatized and move on—right? Well, maybe not. The more-than-human world seems to have figured out a very different relationship to these life-threatening events.
Insight #1: Animals In The Wild
In his seminal book on trauma, Waking The Tiger, psychotherapist Dr. Peter Levine asks, "Why are animals in the wild, though routinely threatened, rarely traumatized?"
This question stopped me in my tracks. I read it over and over again and dug through the pages looking for the underlying insight into this claim.
Levine explains that animals like impalas exhibit a "fight or flight" response when threatened with imminent danger. If caught, they often enter an "immobility" or "freeze" response—a state akin to playing dead that disconnects them from pain. This involuntary survival mechanism allows them to shake off the immobility response and resume normal activities alongside the herd without lasting trauma.
Levine argues that humans have a similar physiological response, but often fail to resolve the energy trapped in our nervous system during traumatic events, leading to persistent trauma symptoms. Our minds get in the way of our body’s natural ability to heal, creating a whirlpool of recurring thoughts and unprocessed emotions.
What sets humans apart is our myth-making and sense-making ability, to tell stories that inspire collective action. It is also what can lead us to becoming trapped in destructive narratives about who we are, what the world needs and what we are here to do…
Reframe: Recognize the body is an untapped source of intelligence that can set you free from the prison of the mind. Commit to learn how to work with the body as a lifelong process that will bear immeasurable fruit.
Action: Begin exploring the vast wisdom of the body through a specific weekly practice that resonates with you. Check out holotropic breathwork, somatic therapy, biodynamic massage, etc..
Insight #2: When The Walls Cave In
Later in the book, Levine shares a story of a group of 26 school children who were kidnapped and held captive in an underground bunker for almost 30 hours. At one point, the bunker began to collapse and dirt came caving in on all sides.
Fortunately, all of the children escaped and were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Eight months later, a psychiatrist began a follow-up study and discovered that all but one of the children had lasting detrimental psychological effects.
While most of the children froze in the face of death (just like the impala we mentioned earlier), fourteen-year-old Bob Barklay recognized that when the support beam collapsed they had a short window of opportunity to dig out and escape before they would all suffocate and die. This boy began digging and enlisted the help of another boy to dig a small tunnel through the ceiling and into the light of the quarry above.
Bob overcame the ‘freeze’ response by activating his sympathetic nervous system through a specific action. He mobilized himself and invited others to join him. In doing so not only saved the life of every single child in the bunker but also protected himself from the lasting effects of trauma that comes with immobilization.
Reframe: The next time you feel overwhelmed by a crisis or conflict, see this as an opportunity to learn how to transform fear into action.
Action: Read Deborah Dana’s book Anchored to understand your nervous system through the lens of Polyvagal Theory, or watch the interview with Deb Dana and Deepak Chopra.
Insight #3: Untangling Trauma & Burnout
While Bob’s story teaches the importance of taking action in immediate danger, this "act to save" approach can become a trap for leaders. For leaders tackling long-term challenges like climate change, understanding the nuances of these issues is crucial for showing up as our best selves and choosing the appropriate response to the situation at hand.
Burnout, characterized by physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion from prolonged stress, is a significant issue in the regenerative movement. The 2023 “Climate Burnout Report” found that 96% of climate professionals experienced high levels of burnout, highlighting the need for a different approach to our home and work environments.
While urgent responses are sometimes necessary, relying solely on this survival mechanism can deplete our energy reserves and lead to exhaustion. Balancing short-term efforts with deep rest, nature immersion, and meaningful relationships is essential for long-term sustainability. Encouraging sabbaths, sabbaticals, and genuine time off allows our nervous systems to recover and provides insights for clearer understanding and self-awareness.
I have personally experienced burnout on two different occasions and in both cases found myself overworking in order to escape deeper internal issues. By gradually winding down work for a season I gave myself the space I needed to heal and the perspective I needed to grow.
Reframe: If you’re sprinting toward some external objective, ask yourself “What am I running away from inside?” See if you can shift from sprinting into ‘ultra-marathon’ mode while resolving to address the inner challenges as well as the outer goals.
Action: Block out one full day per week to disconnect from technology and immerse yourself in nature alongside the presence of people you love.
My own trauma-informed lifestyle changes
As a result of all that I’ve learned over the last few years working through my own inner systems while building external impact ventures, I’ve made a handful of lifestyle interventions:
Meditate 25-mins a day, twice a day, every day—first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
If Triggered, Then This (ITTT)… — whenever I feel triggered I commit to take a few minutes for myself in nature to regulate my nervous system through movement and breathwork.
Work with a somatic practitioner — I have a bi-weekly session with a professional somatic therapist to help me tap into the wisdom of my body and work through the challenges of life.
Take a septennial sabbatical — After taking this first sabbatical, I’ve resolved to take another nine month break every seven years from now in 2031, 2038, 2045 and 2052 at which point I’ll hopefully retire!
Find atONEment with nature — I’ve cultivated the practices of surfing and freediving to experience flow states with nature to release pent-up energy in my body and remember who I am.
Conclusion
Learning how to work with trauma is not just a personal journey but a foundational skill for leadership in the regenerative age. As we venture further into the Anthropocene we are going to be forced to lead through increasingly difficult situations in our personal and professional lives.
The story of Bob Barklay and the lessons from "Waking The Tiger" remind us of the importance of taking action in times of crisis while also creating structured periods of rest in every single day, every week, every month and every year. By integrating trauma-informed practices into our own lives as well as the organizations we lead, we enhance our capacity to contribute to a more connected and more regenerative future.
P.S. — I’m working to gather a handful of regenerative leaders for a transformative experience on a beautiful regeneration hub in October as a part my exploration of Keystone Leadership. Feel free to hit me up if this resonates with you…