How does music heal when words can’t?  Why does sharing our story have the power to transform our experience?  How can we use creative expression to share our truth in a way that breeds compassion?  And what’s so funny about PTSD? HUMOR creates a safe container that protects you against anything! Sharing her near death experience with humor and heart, Amy shows the transformative power of words on a musical journey of hope and determination.  Check out the PowerPoint with TONS of resources I didn't have time to mention....HERE!

2. Transforming Trauma to Creative Growth
Cultivating Resilience through Mindfulness
Finding Beauty in the Detours
(because who hasn’t had a detour in life?)
Amy Oestreicher
www.amyoes.com
PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for The Huffington Post, health
advocate, Speaker for RAINN and TEDx, actress, playwright.

3. Are you creative?
Can anyone be creative? How?
Why is creativity important?
How much of your day do you devote to
creativity?
How does creativity relate to healing from trauma?

4. Gutless, Grateful
and what’s so funny about a stomach exploding?
Amy Oestreicher
www.amyoes.com
PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for The Huffington Post, health
advocate, Speaker for RAINN and TEDx, actress, playwright.

5. My Beautiful Detour (My Story)

6. What is mindfulness?
Define in one word.
What image comes to mind?
How do you incorporate mindfulness into your day?
Where do you experience mindfulness in your body?
Can mindfulness be taught?

7. Name four factors that make a resilient
individual.
What does resilience mean to you?
Can resilience be cultivated?
Who is a resilient figure in your life?
What image comes to mind with resilience?

8. Telling Our Story
• How do we make meaning of events in our lives?
• Reframing our narrative
• Storytelling brings secrets to light
• Helps us alleviate shame by realizing things for ourselves
• Creates compassion through shared “detours…”
• But sometimes, we don’t have the words…

9. AAAH! I’m anxious!
• i.e. WHAT THE HECK IS THIS ENERGY?
• Why wouldn’t words come?
• ANXIETY – “bad” energy!
• That energy I felt was scary, overwhelming until I figured out how to
use it.
• When we figure out how to use that energy, it's the fuel that propels
us on a detour

10. LIFE HAS DETOURS…
What do you feel at first when life
takes a detour?
Detours are frustrating, scary, and
unexpected.
You SHOULD feel those things!
"Just smile" …BUIT where do those
feelings go?
They have to go somewhere!

11. Sexual Assault: My Story
Check all that apply:
 I feel dirty, like there’s something wrong with me
 Sometimes I think I’m crazy
 I feel ashamed
 I’m different from other people
 I feel powerless
 If people really knew me, they’d leave
 I have a hard time taking care of myself
 I don’t deserve to be happy
 I feel numb
 I don’t trust my intuition or my feelings
 I’m often confused
 I’m a failure
 I use work to make up for empty feelings inside
 I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore
 I can’t cry anymore
 I can’t express emotions anymore
 I’m rarely angry because anger scares me
 I have nightmares and panic attacks
 I feel as if my body is separate from the rest of me

12. Symptoms of PTSD
• Intrusive Memories: Flashbacks, nightmares, scary thoughts
• Avoidance: Staying away from certain places or objects, Voluntary or
involuntary difficulty remembering the traumatic situation
• Dissociation: Out-of-body experiences, Feeling that the world is "not
real" (derealization).
• Hypervigilance: Being startled very easily, feeling tense, trouble
sleeping, outbursts of anger

13. Waking the Tiger: The Freeze Response
• "All mammals automatically regulate survival responses from the
primitive, non-verbal brain, mediated by the autonomic nervous
system. Under threat, massive amounts of energy are mobilized in
readiness for self-defense via the fight, flight, and freeze responses.
Once safe, animals spontaneously 'discharge' this excess energy
through involuntary movements including shaking, trembling, and
deep spontaneous breaths. This discharge process resets the
autonomic nervous system, restoring equilibrium."

14. EVERYTHING YOU ARE FEELING IS ENERGY…
REMEMBER THE LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY???
YOU CAN’T GET RID OF IT!
SO WHAT DO YOU DO WITH IT?

15. What are felt sensations?
Numbed Out Sensations:
Wooden
Congested
Dull
Dense
Frozen
Icy
Disconnected
Thick
Blocked
Contracted
Pleasant Sensations
Calm
Energized
Smooth
Streaming
Warm
Cool
Relaxed
Open
Light
Nervous Sensations:
Prickly
Electric
Tingling
Nervy
Twitchy
Burning
Radiating
Referring
Buzzy
Itchy
Fidgety Sensations:
Shaky
Trembly
Throbbing
Pounding
Fluttery
Shivery
Queasy
Wobbly
Bubbly
Dizzy
Spacey
Breathless
Not very fun
sensations:
Tense
Tight
Constricted
Clenched
Knotted
Hot
Full
Sweaty

16. HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT ENERGY WITHOUT
IT SCARING YOU AND RUNNIG YOUR LIFE?
Energy that we can't categorize or contain scares us because it feels larger
than us
FIND A CONTAINER
Create a container for that energy so you can transform it!
Humor is Creativity
Creativity is a container!

17. MY DETOUR WAS OVER
UNTIL….
SINGING TREE
WITH A DETOUR
CAME DISCOVERY…

18. Discovering art

19. My heART

21. WHEN TRAUMA HITS…

22. Sea Dreams My World Has Split
ICU

23. 1. BECOME A BETTER PROBLEM SOLVER
2. CONNECT WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
3.EXPRESS OURSELVES WITHOUT WORDS
4. EXPANDED SENSE OF TIME/flow
5. SELF AWARENESS & EXPRESSION
6. FREEDOM
There is no right or wrong way to be an artist.
7. STRESS RELIEF – TRANSFORMING ENERGY
BENEFITS OF CREATIVITY

24. Sea Dreams My World Has Split
ICU

25. My Detour is DONE! I CAN EAT!
(RIGHT?)

26. “You have to speak the words”
• How do we create a community that supports every individual in their own process of self-
development?
• What is the benefit of sharing our words with others? What is the benefit of hearing the words of
others?
• How do we heal when we start speaking up?
• How do detours affect everyone differently, yet bring us all together?
• How is resiliency is connected to personal power, empowerment and positive change?
• How do we build strength through shared knowledge, life experience, inner and outer resources
to not only survive, but to thrive?
• Through the transformative power of words, we feel heard, gain clarity and can problem-solve. As
others choose to create and interact with these words, they engage in a vital conversation on how
society views obstacles, tackling issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion both within and outside
of of our field, preserving our own personal experiences while creating a vibrant community.

27. THIS WAS MY CONTAINER…

28. TYPES OF HUMOR…
• FINDING HUMOR AT THE TIME OF IMPACT
• FINDING HUMOR IN RETROSPECT
• FINDING HUMOR WITH ME!
• DON’T FEEL BAD!
• DON’T LAUGH AT ME!
• DON’T BE AFRAID TO FEEL/ASK ANYTHING!
• HUMOR FIGHTS STIGMA ‘CUZ WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT

29. TYPES OF HUMOR IN MY SHOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DztxEDZjNPI&feature=
youtu.be
THE PHYSICIAN
 PERMISSION TO LAUGH
 HUMOR IS ABSURDITY (graduation, jail-break)
• Humor gets us thru the anger, sadness - Corner song

30. Humor empowers us!
If your detours become a story, it's up to you to
add the humor!!!
WHAT’S YOUR CONTAINER?

31. Navigating Hospital Detours:
- Denial: Act Normal
- Support: Family
- Creativity, Resourcefulness
- Humor
- HOPE
- Stories (Central Park Jogger)
Navigating Home Detours
- HOPE: Fake Countdowns
- CREATIVITY: Chocolate Business
- Resourcefulness, Humor, Creativity:
Neck Bag
- TWO WORLDS:
- What do you do when you are
forbidden to feel?
- How do you get through a detour?
- (no timeline, no….nothing!)
- YOU DISCOVER
STORIES….

32. EVERYTHING YOU ARE FEELING IS ENERGY…
REMEMBER THE LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY???
YOU CAN’T GET RID
OF IT!
SO WHAT DO YOU DO
WITH IT?

33. Creative Solutions: There is no “one” path to healing
But it starts with our story, however we get there.

34. Active listening
• You don’t need to fix it
• fully concentrating on
what is being said rather
than just passively
‘hearing’ the message of
the speaker.
• Body Language
• JUST LISTEN.
• “I exist.”

35. How I became an advocate
“We all heal through our stories”

36. ONCE YOU LEARN
YOUR LESSONS FROM
TRAUMA…YOU HELP
YOURSELF…
AND YOU CAN HELP
OTHERS!

37. Four Secrets to Resilience
• Gratitude
• Creativity
• Hope
• Stories
• No quick fixes, but long-term mindsets

38. The Power of Gratitude
• Improved physical, emotional, and social well-being
• Greater optimism and happiness,
• Improved feelings of connection in times of loss or crises
• Increased self-esteem
• Heightened energy levels
• Strengthened heart, immune system, and decreased blood pressure
• Improved emotional and academic intelligence
• Expanded capacity for forgiveness
• Decreased stress, anxiety, depression, and headaches
• Improved self-care and greater likelihood to exercise
• Heightened spirituality -- ability to see something bigger than ourselves

39. The Secret to Finding Your Way on a Detour …
• Sharing your story.
• Are you a Detourist?
The more we share our detours, the more
we realize we’re not alone.

40. Check here if:
___ I’ve had something unexpected happen in my life
___I’ve had to go a different route because life had other plans for my
plans
___I’m not sure where my path is going
If life didn’t go as you expected, that’s a detour.
WHAT GOOD
STORY DOESN’T
HAVE A DETOUR?!

42. WE
ALL
HAVE
DETOURS

44. Are
You
A
Detourist?

45. Starting the Conversation

46. Gutless & Grateful: Mental Health Advocacy
• Part 1) A 70-minute one-woman autobiographical musical – Gutless & Grateful –
a comedic yet poignant story on how I survived 27 stomach surgeries, organ
failure and sexual abuse. Through interwoven song and dialogue, I share a primal
piece of live-storytelling – a powerful message that it’s possible for students to
overcome physical and mental health obstacles.
• Part 2) An educational session/speech where I discuss an empowered approach
to mental health, how to develop a resiliency toolbox, how to cultivate hope, and
how to thrive in college with a physical or mental health condition.
• Part 3) A Q&A session to introduce students to a panel of counselors/faculty and
wellness resources on campus. The program can also be followed by smaller
breakout sessions among students to continue building confidence and
compassion through creative expression.

47. HOW DO STORIES HELP US?
TURN YOUR OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES.
WHY ME? HOW ‘BOUT WHY NOT?
FIND A WAY TO STAY GROUNDED…
EVEN IF IT MEANS TURNING YOUR WORLD “UPSIDE
DOWN!”
REMEMBER THE FOUR SKILLS TO RESILIENCE
REMEMBER…THEY’RE IN ALL OF US!
AND LOVE YOUR DETOURS.
OR AT LEAST, TRUST THEM.

48. PTSD has not broken
me.
It’s taken me apart,
and I’m reassembling
myself day by day.
In the meantime, I’m
learning to love what I
can build.
Post Traumatic Resilience

49. It’s never too late to make a new start.
Just breathe!

50. TEDx Talks on Resilience, Arts (and Humor!)
• TEDx VCU PATTERNS
Saturday February 25, 2017
•
TEDx Syracuse GLITCH
Saturday April 16, 2016
•
TEDx FSCJ Barriers
Saturday April 7, 2018
•

51. TEDx Talks on Resilience, Arts (and Humor!)
• TEDx VCU PATTERNS
Saturday February 25, 2017
•
TEDx Syracuse GLITCH
Saturday April 16, 2016
•
TEDx FSCJ Barriers
Saturday April 7, 2018
•