This webinar discusses trauma-informed communication strategies. It covers how stress affects our ability to empathize and communicate effectively. The webinar teaches techniques for being warm, informative, clear and succinct in communications. It also stresses the importance of transparency and making self-preservation easy for all parties in an interaction. The goal of trauma-informed communication is to promote stability, prevent toxicity, and empower all individuals involved in a discussion or exchange.

1. Per Your Last Email:
Trauma-Informed Communication
...in trying times, and all the time
Bryce Kozla
Twitter: @PLSanders
February 18, 2021
This webinar is being recorded
Slides will be available afterward

2. Housekeeping
● 50 minutes
● Fidgeting/doodling/knitting welcome!
● Ask questions in the chat
This webinar is being recorded
Slides will be available afterward

3. What this Webinar will be/What it will not be
We WILL cover:
● Where we’re at brain-wise
● Tips for effective communication
We WILL NOT cover:
● De-escalating another person in the moment
This webinar is being recorded
Slides will be available afterward

4. Trauma-Informed Care: Like a Car Signal
This webinar is being recorded
Slides will be available afterward

5. “Not another self-care talk!”
● Trained by Trauma-Informed Oregon
● Lived experience; not a medical
professional
● Knows what wonderful, malleable jerks our
brains can be
This webinar is being recorded
Slides will be available afterward Yes this is my new favorite shirt

6. Empathy
● ability to regard someone else as a human being, just like you are
● being able to bear witness to someone else’s struggle and
understanding how they’re feeling through their frame of reference,
not our own
● some of the greatest gifts we can give each other are TIME and
VALIDATION
● When we are stressed, our ability to empathize is affected

8. Stress: Recognizing Where We’re At
Stage 1: In ourselves
Stage 2: In our intimate relationships
Stage 3: In work relationships
Stage 4: In working with patrons and the public

10. Self preservation

11. Artist: K.C. Green

12. Hyperarousal and Safety
● Hoping a space is safe and creating a safe space are not the same
● Hyperarousal:
○ Scanning for patterns and threats
○ Labeling situations as safe, dangerous, or actively threatening
● There is a slim chance a space will be safe for everyone, but it’s still
important to try

13. What can you do instead?
● give as much context as you can beforehand (even if it’s not good
news)
● Point out the exits if someone needs to leave the interaction
● goal of being trauma-informed is affirmation and empowerment

14. Trauma-Informed Communication can:
● Promote stability in the workplace
● Help keep a stable workplace from becoming toxic
● Be fiscally responsible

15. What does trauma-informed communication look like?
● being warm, informative, clear, and succinct
● transparency
● making self-preservation easy
We have to start somewhere.

16. Being warm, informative, clear, and succinct
Word comprehension and recall can be difficult to access when stressed.
Communication breakdowns can happen when we can’t understand each
other.
Further breakdowns in communication can turn an interaction toxic.

17. Being warm, informative, clear, and succinct
Warm: take a deep breath; give yourself a moment.
Informative: am I conveying the information I need to convey?
Clear: keeping sentences short, using graphics to help, avoiding idioms.
Succinct: action items and due dates front and center

21. Transparency
Transparency is about what people want to know, not what you think
they need to know.
Transparency should be for everyone.

22. Make self-preservation easy
● Interpret mistakes/slights in the most charitable way possible
● Treat it as a one-time thing (avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy)
● Offer a clear path forward

23. Make self-preservation easy
● Keep our own stress responses in check
● Personal snub vs. Honest mistake
● Resentment you can’t act on is draining; no one wins.

24. Energy audit
● Take an honest look at your interactions throughout the day or week.
● Which of those interactions feel rejuvenating or empowering?
● Are there any draining interactions that you can limit?
● Back to basics: don’t read the comments

25. If your lid is flipped/you’re having trouble
● this energy that needs to be mitigated
● Walking, fidgeting can help (search “mental health kit”)
● write out what happened and save it somewhere safe

26. Fun fact:
You might not remember this presentation
due to stress!
I probably won’t!
Good thing it’s being recorded!

27. Hang in there
I believe in you
Be well
Thank you

28. Questions?
Bryce Kozla
brycekozla@gmail.com
https://brycekozlablog.blogspot.com/
Artist: KC Green