In this episode, I talk with Chantel Chapman, founder of the Trauma of Money Institute, about how trauma—both personal and systemic—profoundly shapes our relationship with money. Chantel shares her journey from financial literacy educator to developing the Trauma of Money after recognizing that traditional approaches couldn't address her own destructive money patterns rooted in childhood experiences. We explore capitalism as a traumatizing system, the concept of financial fawning, the importance of discernment over shame, and why healing our relationship with money requires addressing both our individual experiences and the broader economic context we live in. This conversation offers a compassionate, trauma-informed framework for understanding money behaviors that goes far deeper than budgeting advice.

• What trauma-sensitive approaches to money really mean
• How capitalism creates trauma through profit-over-everything values
• Chantel's journey from mortgage broker to creating the Trauma of Money
• Why Chantel trains professionals rather than working one-on-one
• Experimenting with reimagining capitalism through profit-sharing
• The acronym PAUSE: Perhaps An Unseen Solution Exists
• How any trauma can impact your relationship with money
• The difference between hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to wellbeing
• Why we need dopamine reset periods to get off the hedonic treadmill

Chantel Chapman is an International Bestselling Author—named to the USA Today Bestseller List and #1 on The Globe and Mail's Canadian Non-Fiction list—for her book The Trauma of Money (Wiley, September 2025). She is a trauma survivor, financial trauma educator, and the creator of the Trauma of Money (TOM) Method. Her journey through complex PTSD—and her realization that traditional financial literacy couldn't shift her own destructive money patterns—led her to uncover the profound link between trauma and financial behavior. In response, she spent years researching trauma, addiction, behavioral science, and economic systems to develop an innovative method for financial healing and empowerment.

Chantel is the founder and CEO of the Trauma of Money Institute, an internationally recognized certification program that has trained thousands of professionals across more than 22 countries. The TOM Method is reshaping how we understand money—not just as numbers, but as something deeply shaped by emotion, lived experience, and systemic forces. With over 20 years of experience in financial education and fintech consulting, Chantel has taught and written curricula or programming for institutions such as Humber College, Wilfrid Laurier University, Adler University, and Simon Fraser University, and has worked with organizations including United Way, YMCA, NDN Collective, the American Psychological Association, JP Morgan Chase, and YPO. She also serves on the National Task Force for Economic Justice, supporting CCFWE's mission to end financial abuse. A sought-after speaker and advisor on economic justice and trauma-sensitive practices, her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, NPR, and The Globe and Mail. Chantel is a settler of European descent who works and resides on the stolen traditional lands of the Kwantlen (kwaant·luhn), Musqueam ("mus-kwee-um"), and Tswassen (saa·wa·sn) peoples.

Trauma of Money Institute Instagram "The Trauma of Money" by Chantel Chapman "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl

#TraumaOfMoney #FinancialTrauma #TraumaSensitive #BeyondCapitalism #FinancialHealing #FinancialFawning #HedonicVsEudaimonic #MoneyAndTrauma

Click here to watch our interview on Youtube

Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

In this episode, I sit down with Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, author of "Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul," to talk about how highly sensitive people can engage in meaningful social justice work without burning out completely. Dorcas shares her own experiences with severe burnout in the nonprofit sector and how she learned to create sustainable rhythms of activism and rest, for herself and her family.

We explore the importance of changing our external settings rather than trying to change our sensitivity, the value of contemplative practices alongside active work, and how financial giving can be a meaningful form of social justice participation. This conversation offers both validation and practical wisdom for those of us who feel deeply about creating change while also needing to care for our wellbeing and saying not to martyrdom.

• Introduction to what it means to be a highly sensitive person in social justice work
• The invitation to change the settings around us rather than changing ourselves
• How giving 10% became a lifelong habit starting with $0.10 from a $1 allowance
• The importance of meaning in work for highly sensitive people
• Why sustainable activism requires balancing our best selves with our needs
• The culture of overwork in the nonprofit sector and its consequences
• The importance of collaborating with people who aren't highly sensitive
• Final reflections on the gift of sensitivity in social justice work

Dorcas Cheng-Tozun is an award-winning writer, editor, speaker, and social impact professional. She is the author of Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay in Love with Your Entrepreneur in a Crazy Start-up World, Let There d.light: How One Social Enterprise Brought Solar Products to 100 Million People, and Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways. She also has two published Bible studies on the topics of Migration and Mental Health. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Christianity Today, Image Journal, and dozens of other publications in the US, Asia, and Africa. She recently served as a high school instructor of social innovation at Valley Christian Schools.

Dorcas has over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors, working in the areas of community development, leadership development, affordable housing, and off-grid energy access. She served as the first director of communications for d.light, one of the world's leading social enterprises, and has provided communications consulting for social-benefit companies around the world. A Silicon Valley native, she has lived in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Nairobi, Kenya. She and her entrepreneur husband have been married for twenty years and have two sons.

Dorcas has a BA in communication and an MA in sociology from Stanford University, as well as a professional editing certificate from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dorcas Cheng-Tozun website

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"The Highly Sensitive Person" by Dr. Elaine Aron

"Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways" by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun

#HighlySensitiveMoney #SocialJusticefortheSensitiveSoul #HSPBurnout #Activism #ContemplativePractices #NonprofitSector #SustainableChange #RestAndAction #SensitiveSoul

Click here to watch our interview on Youtube

Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

Kaeri Schaefer brings us “collaborative understory medicine”—a root-cause, relational approach that treats symptoms as body communication. Today we cover Kaeri’s path from family medicine residency to functional medicine, bodywork, and somatic practice, and how this reshaped the way she supports “chatty” bodies (often highly sensitive nervous systems).

Throughout the episode we discuss how money and medicine intertwine—including the role of financial privilege, the tension with insurance, and what it took for Kaeri to launch a nonprofit clinic and later step away to practice more freely. We discuss practical somatic cues around money stress (chest, jaw, pelvic floor), how space and environment affect care (natural light and color matter), and why relationship—not hierarchy—creates safety and better outcomes. I’m grateful for Kaeri’s grounded wisdom and the gentle pace she models for truly listening to our bodies.

Kaeri Schaefer, MD is a healing provider integrating functional medicine, bodywork, and somatic practice. Trained at the University of Wisconsin and board-certified in Family Medicine, she blends clinical rigor with deep listening, describing her approach as “collaborative understory medicine.” Her additional training includes functional medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine, craniosacral and osteopathic studies with Carol Gray and Christopher Frothingham, DO, and decolonial medicine coursework with Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza.

Kaeri’s work centers relational, consent-forward care and longer visits that allow the body’s communications—not just “symptoms”—to be heard. A mother of two, magical queer cis-womyn, and intuitive healer, she honors inner knowing and self-honoring action as pathways for personal and collective healing. She has led accessible care initiatives, including a nonprofit model committed to not turning anyone away, and now practices in a way that supports her clients—and herself—to feel grounded and radiant.

• Introducing “collaborative understory medicine”
• From “loud bodies” to “chatty” nervous systems
• Naming financial privilege and its impact on career choices
• Why 20 minutes isn’t enough: pace, safety, and trust
• Ditching “non-compliant” medical approaches to center consent and collaboration
• Moving beyond labels in medical care
• Somatics of finance: locating money stress in the body
• Reframing shame as systemic grief and longing for equity

#Somatics #FunctionalMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #BodyCommunication #TraumaHealing #NervousSystem #MedicalBurnout #AccessibleCare #MindBodyConnection #FinancialWellness

Website

Embodied Anatomy course

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté

Click here to watch our interview on Youtube

Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.