What if trauma-informed education isn’t about managing students but transforming the systems they learn in?

In this episode, host of A Trauma-Informed Future podcast, Katie Kurtz sits down with educator, author, and trauma-informed education expert Alex Shevrin Venet to explore what it really means to make education trauma-informed. They unpack why equity and justice must be central, how schools can unintentionally create harm, the limits of “resilience” as a feel-good solution, and why trauma-informed practice requires us to rethink, not simply add onto-existing systems. Alex shares some seriously important takes on PBIS, educator burnout, boundaries, and why sometimes the most trauma-informed choice is to leave.

About Alex:

Alex Shevrin Venet is an educator, author, and professional development facilitator based in Vermont. She teaches graduate teacher education at Vermont State University. Previously, she was a teacher and leader at an alternative therapeutic school, community college instructor, and after school teacher in the upper elementary grades. Alex works with educators around the country to strengthen their trauma-informed education practices, with a focus on empowering teachers to create systemic change. She is the author of the bestselling book Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education, which has been integrated into teacher education programs in several states and has been cited in education research more than 350 times. Her follow-up book, Becoming an Everyday Changemaker: Justice and Healing at School, provides teachers the tools to implement trauma-informed practices starting where they are.

Connect with Alex:
Website: unconditionallearning.org

Instagram: @unconditionallearning

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In this solo episode of A Trauma-Informed Future, Katie opens by naming what so many of us are carrying right now : the cumulative stress and collective trauma of a world that feels like it's moving too fast, too hard, and with too much at stake. She gets honest about her own nervous system responses over the past 24 hours, and uses those personal moments to ground listeners in real nervous system education. Trauma-informed is not an adjective, it's a verb. Katie walks through five trauma-informed strategies straight from the TRUST™ Model and breaks down why these aren't just soft skills, but literally what our nervous systems need to reconnect to safety during times of collective dysregulation. Short, grounding, and packed with both honesty and practical tools, this one meets you exactly where you are.

Referenced in this episode: Resmaa Menakem

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Birth and death are the two most universal human experiences and somehow, two of the least trauma-informed spaces we've created.

In this episode of A Trauma-Informed Future Podcast, host Katie Kurtz is in conversation with Amy Chavez-Burkett about why that matters and what we can do about it. Amy digs into what it actually looks like to move trauma-informed care from principles into practice in the moments that count: when someone is at their most vulnerable, their most open, and their most in need of feeling safe.

At the center of this conversation is the nervous system. Because safety isn't just a value or a policy, it's a felt experience. And whether someone is bringing life into the world or leaving it, the conditions we create around them shape not just the moment, but what they carry forward from it.

Learn more about Amy:

Amy Rebekah is a visionary leader, facilitator and healer with over 20 years in practice as a licensed massage therapist, craniosacral therapist, doula, childbirth educator and doula trainer, a community herbalist, circle keeper, a story steward and story-teller, a speaker and author, a researcher and trainer of Trauma-Informed and Healing-Centered leadership.

Amy is currently enjoying the experience of weaving her practical lived experiences with the theories and scholarship inside of a doctoral program in leadership and change through Antioch University. This academic journey increased Amy's capacity from supporting individuals and couples going through intense change or healing, to supporting groups and organizations working for change by supporting them in their capacity to practice a more authentic, responsible, embodied, and collaborative leadership culture through engaging a trauma-informed approach.

In 2020 Amy founded ReStoryative Somatics, LLC to share her services and train other professionals in trauma-informed and healing-centered leadership. She is passionate about supporting leaders and those who support others in learning the practice of self-regulation of their nervous systems in service to co-regulation as a leadership practice. She especially enjoys working with organizational systems to implement trauma -informed care as organizational culture change.
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In 2023, Amy and her daughters also joined forces to create a collaborative company called CommuniTEA Love, a company dedicated to facilitating connection within the community through access to delicious herbal tea blends and they are having a wonderful time building this legacy of love together.

Connect with Amy:

• Website: www.lovesomatics.org
• Website: Www.communitealove.org
• Email: amy@lovesomatics.org

Say ‘hello’ on Instagram or LinkedIn

Catch up on podcast episodes

FREE Guide: Talking Through Turbulent Times

Book a 90 minute Strategy Session with Katie

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Interested in a keynote or consulting? Connect with Katie!