The Trauma Educator Podcast

Effie Kli

The Trauma Educator Podcast is where nervous system, somatic education, and conversations on trauma meet culture and society.    Through thought-proving interviews monologues and community Q&As, we explore how the nervous system is shaped by trauma and how family dynamics, cultural norms and collective patterns influence our health and relationships. Each episode invites you to connect your individual healing to the bigger picture of community and collective well-being. You’ll find valuable insights, accessible education, and meaningful conversations that challenge old conditioning and open space for reimagining life.   In essence, The Trauma Educator Podcast is about health and well-being, but it also extends far beyond into the cultural, relational, and systemic forces that shape them every day. Join us as we expand the conversation on trauma and healing, and discover how nervous system work can support both personal growth and cultural transformation.  

Episodes

  1. 4D AGO

    Episode 6 | Fear of Abandonment, Emotional Neglect & Seeking Attention from Romantic Interests as a Soothing Strategy

    In this solo episode of The Trauma Educator Podcast, I explore why fear of abandonment can feel so intense and challenging in relationships and how emotional neglect and misattunement shape a nervous system that learns to survive through attention, validation and performance. We look at how unmet early needs create an internal sense of emptiness and starvation, why receiving romantic attention can feel soothing but never truly regulating, and how performance, controlling behaviours and reassurance-seeking become survival strategies rather than relational choices.  This episode also explores why rejection & abandonment don’t just hurt but often lead to collapse in the nervous system, why certainty becomes an obsession in attachment trauma, and what it means to shift from survival-based attachment to adult, choice-based relating.  Finally, we explore what healing actually looks like: developing felt safety in the body, increasing capacity to tolerate uncertainty, and learning that safety isn’t earned through being chosen. If you want to understand where you currently are in your nervous system healing after complex trauma and what your next steps can be, take my Nervous System Healing Quiz→ https://www.effiekli.com/quiz For science-backed tools to help you process emotions on a deep body level, watch my free workshop The Alchemy of Emotional Processing After Trauma → https://www.effiekli.com/optin And if this episode resonates, don’t forget to follow, subscribe, rate, and share to help expand these trauma-educated conversations and bring nervous system awareness to more people around the world.

    20 min
  2. 12/30/2025

    Episode 5 | Power, Attachment, Healthy Aggression & Repair

    In this solo episode of The Trauma Educator Podcast, we dive into one of the most misunderstood, yet foundational, aspects of trauma healing: power. We explore how power, attachment, and healthy aggression intertwine in both our nervous systems and our relationships, and why reclaiming power is essential for repair, dignity, and long-term relational integrity. I break down why power must be proportionally shared in every relationship, and how chronic power imbalances create slow accumulations of harm. We explore why humans as mammals need access to power for internal safety, boundaries, voice, and authentic self-expression, and what happens when this access is cut off. We look at how, after relational injury, power must temporarily shift back toward the hurt person for true repair to occur, and why forgiveness without reclamation is often premature and bypassing. This episode also examines the somatic mechanics of the fight response: anger, rage, and healthy aggression. We discuss how these vital protective energies are suppressed (especially in women), how suppressed rage often manifests as depression, and why somatic rewiring requires uncoupling fear from fight so clean, grounded anger can emerge. If you want to understand where you currently are in your nervous system healing after complex trauma and what your next steps can be, take my Nervous System Healing Quiz → https://www.effiekli.com/quiz For science-backed tools to help you process emotions on a deep body level, watch my free workshop The Alchemy of Emotional Processing After Trauma → https://www.effiekli.com/optin And if this episode resonates, don’t forget to follow, subscribe, rate, and share to help us bring trauma-educated conversations to more people around the world.

    29 min
  3. 12/02/2025

    Episode 3 | Rage, Grief, Decolonizing Therapy, and Historical Trauma with Dr. Jenn Mullan

    In this new episode of The Trauma Educator Podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Jennifer Mullan, a major disruptor in the mental health industrial complex and the founder of Decolonizing Therapy®, a psychological evolution that weaves together political, ancestral, therapeutic, and global well-being. She’s the recipient of Essence magazine’s 2020 Essential Hero Award in the category of mental health and the author of the national best seller Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma & Politicizing Your Practice. She's also the creator of the popular Instagram platform @decolonizingtherapy. Together, we explore how colonization, oppression, and historical trauma have shaped modern psychology and how we can reclaim mental health through ancestral wisdom, community and embodied healing. Dr. Jenn breaks down how diagnoses can be weaponized, why she calls symptoms “expressions,” the role of rage as sacred medicine for both individual and collective liberation, and the importance of grief work. If this conversation resonates, don't forget to follow, subscribe, rate, and share to help us expand these trauma-informed conversations and bring nervous system awareness to more people around the world. If you want to understand where you currently are in your nervous system healing after complex trauma and what your next steps can be, take my Nervous System Healing Quiz → effiekli.com/quiz For science-backed tools to help you process emotions on a deep body level, watch my free workshop The Alchemy of Emotional Processing After Trauma → effiekli.com/optin

    1h 13m
  4. 11/18/2025

    Episode 2 | Fawning, Nervous System, Self-Trust and Toxic Positivity With Dr. Ingrid Clayton

    In this interview, I’m joined by Dr. Ingrid Clayton, a licensed clinical psychologist, trauma therapist, and author whose work has helped countless people understand the hidden dynamics of complex trauma. Ingrid holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and an M.A. in transpersonal psychology. She’s the author of the best-selling memoir Believing Me: Healing from Narcissistic Abuse and Complex Trauma and of the new book FAWNING: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves and How to Find Our Way Back. In this conversation, we explore the fawn response — the often-misunderstood trauma pattern that makes us over-adapt, appease, and lose touch with our authentic selves. We discuss the difference between fawning, codependency, and people-pleasing; the nervous-system mechanics behind this survival strategy; and why body-based, somatic work is essential for true recovery. We also dive into the role of power in reinforcing fawning, how toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing can block healing, and the vital process of reclaiming the fight response and self-trust after years of self-gaslighting. If this episode resonates, please follow, subscribe, rate, and share to help us expand this trauma-educated conversation and bring nervous system awareness to more people around the world. If you want to understand where you currently are in your nervous system healing after complex trauma and what your next steps can be, take my Nervous System Healing Quiz here https://www.effiekli.com/quiz For science-backed tools to help you process emotions on a deep body-level, watch my free workshop The Alchemy of Emotional Processing After Trauma here https://www.effiekli.com/optin

    53 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

The Trauma Educator Podcast is where nervous system, somatic education, and conversations on trauma meet culture and society.    Through thought-proving interviews monologues and community Q&As, we explore how the nervous system is shaped by trauma and how family dynamics, cultural norms and collective patterns influence our health and relationships. Each episode invites you to connect your individual healing to the bigger picture of community and collective well-being. You’ll find valuable insights, accessible education, and meaningful conversations that challenge old conditioning and open space for reimagining life.   In essence, The Trauma Educator Podcast is about health and well-being, but it also extends far beyond into the cultural, relational, and systemic forces that shape them every day. Join us as we expand the conversation on trauma and healing, and discover how nervous system work can support both personal growth and cultural transformation.