Course Cafe Replay: Incorporating Trauma-Informed Principles into Your Programs

Course Cafe Replay: Incorporating Trauma-Informed Principles into Your Programs

We’ve all heard (and probably said) some variation of the phrase ‘this is a safe space’, but here’s why that isn’t the right approach: It’s not up to us as the leader and facilitator of a learning experience to determine whether or not someone else feels safe.

Safety, in all aspects of life, is in the eye of the beholder, or in our case, the learner. We can’t be the ones to determine if someone feels comfortable opening up and sharing on a live call, if their nervous system feels calm and regulated in our container, or if a topic or an interaction is going to activate them.


For this reason, we can’t guarantee that we offer a safe space – but what we can offer is to do our best to facilitate a ‘safe enough’ space. Because when people don’t feel safe, they literally and physiologically cannot fully engage with the learning experience that we’re offering.

In this video, I’m joined by my sibling Mattie, a licensed therapist and trauma researcher, where together we take you behind the scenes using my programs as a case study of how you can incorporate trauma-informed principles into all of your offers.


A trauma-informed approach is about creating spaces where people know what they need to do, what their roles are, and have the information they need to make informed choices about their engagement.

It’s where we respect how people are showing up in a space and offer options and clarity to support everyone in having safe and useful boundaries around their responsibilities.

The conversations I’ve been having with Mattie have been a game changer for how I run my programs, not only for the experience I facilitate for my clients but also for how I feel about myself as a leader.

And if you’re ready to dive deeper into bringing trauma-informed approaches into your programs, then our new course, Your Stuff My Stuff, is the best tool to help you soothe the fear, anxiety, and ‘what ifs’ that arise for you and your people when navigating the unknown. And facilitate deeper, more powerful containers so that you can lead your people to get life-changing transformations.

Find more info at: https://emilymwalker.com/traumainformed/

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