On June 11, 2020 I recorded Episode 25: Healing Trauma Through Surf Therapy and Waves of Love With Natalie Small LMFT and Leanne Tibiatowski.

Groundswell Community Project a sisterhood of inter-sectional womxn holding safe & brave space for individuals and communities to find their healing, power, and belonging in Mother Ocean’s Waves.

Since our last podcast GSCP realized that the world was in need of a specific resource for processing grief.

Waves of Grief:
Their Waves of Grief community drop-in groups were birthed out of response to the various types of personal and communal grief that resulted from COVID’s impact on our lives. They welcome women and their families who are grieving loss of loved ones, jobs, homes, and normalcy. The in person or virtual group sessions integrate grief practices that include movement, art, and the ocean to honor and grieve what has been lost. After time in circle and setting of intentions, everyone is invited to interact with Mother ocean’s waves and notice what she teaches you!

I am joined to discuss this program with:

Captain Natalie Small LMFT, the founder of Groundswell Community Project and an active facilitator live from Costa Rica

Tracey Chester LMFT, Certified Grief Counselor, Certified Surf Therapy Facilitator &
Waves of Grief Facilitator / San Diego County
Founder and Clinical Director of San Diego Pain Trauma Institute

And

Kelsey Ellis
Kelsey is stoked to represent and grow the roots of Groundswell in Northern California! Kelsey is a Grief Facilitator in Half Moon Bay, California who lost her twin sister to COVID-19 and is turning her grief to impact by healing women through surf therapy. After the sudden loss of her twin sister in 2020, Kelsey formed Waves of Grief surf therapy groups in her community to honor and address collective grief, isolation and stress experienced during the pandemic through the Groundswell Community Project.

National Geographic’s IMPACT is a short-form documentary series that follows the powerful stories of six women who are making an extraordinary impact on their communities around the world. Kelsey’s profound story is featured in this series. This documentary is extremely powerful – please please watch it to see and feel the comprehensive magnitude of the healing effects of Kelsey’s processing her grief and healing others at the same time.

Audrey Marie Ellis Foundation: The Audrey Marie Ellis foundation was recently founded in honor of Kelsey’s twin sister Audrey, a nurse who died of COVID-19. The foundation provides direct support for women and healthcare workers while creating safe supportive spaces to gather and honor collective grief and love. The Audrey Marie Ellis Foundation is the starting point for inspiring Audrey’s biggest passions: health, wellbeing and community.

https://www.audreymarieellis.com/

https://www.groundswellcommunity.org/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tv/shows/impact-with-gal-gadot

https://youtu.be/F3LS8CQJW4A

Music by Josiah Samadhi

John Abate is a returning guest from Episode 13. In Episode 13 John discussed how he integrated his mindfulness based stress reduction practice as a large part of his recovery from a horrible hit and run incident on his bicycle. He not only recovered but got back up stronger than ever and went on to win and crush cycling events.  He also became committed to providing hope and support to other accident survivors.

This year John took his mindfulness practice next level and became a MBSR certified instructor. In this conversation we discuss his journey to be more connected to the earth and to teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

We both agreed that this is a crucial time to spread awareness of the benefits of mindfulness.

Being able to use our mindfulness tools as we emerge and sift through the dust and debris of 2020 will be more important than ever on so many levels!

Thank you @johnjabate for shining your bright light, sharing your warm grounding energy, the amazing conversation and the generosity of your time.

Follow -> @mindfulfoundations101 to learn more and visit mindful foundations.org for more details about MBSR and an 8 week course with John.

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Music credits:
Chris Zabriskie – Everybody’s Got Problems That Aren’t Mine
CC BY 4.0
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chris_Zabriskie/Thoughtless/Chris_Zabriskie_- _Thoughtless_-_01_-_Everybodys_Got_Problems_That_Arent_Mine

For years I have been a huge fan of the organization SongwritingWith:Soldiers / SW:S and the depth, power and beauty of what they produce. SongwritingWith:Soldiers holds weekend retreats across the U.S. for veterans from all conflicts. Since 2012, we have connected with hundreds of veterans and military families, creating a safe and inspiring environment to share their experiences and write songs with professional songwriters. These songs have been recorded and streamed across the internet, reaching and connecting more veterans and raising civilian awareness of the challenges the military community faces. So… you can only imagine how BEYOND thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to have a conversation with the program director and co-founder Mary Judd. She is a brilliant and down to earth woman, visionary, and trailblazer.

Mary is a master at creating collaborative programs that inspire connections and highlight individual and community strengths. When witnessing Darden Smith write a song with a veteran, she was compelled to put her skills to work in creating the SongwritingWith:Soldiers program.

With vast experience in Positive Psychology, educational programming and organizational communications, Mary helps SW:S create the most effective and meaningful experiences for everyone involved. Her creative reach is reflected in her client list which includes New York State Department of Economic Development (I LOVE NY); MentorCoach training programs; VIA Institute on Character; Indian Ladder Farms: The Mayerson Academy, The HAPPY Movie; Discovery Retreats, and more. She has studied Positive Psychology with leading researchers from around the world, is an international workshop presenter on the subject and was a discussion facilitator at a United Nations meeting on Happiness and Well-Being. She serves on the editorial board for the India Journal of Positive Psychology and PsyInsight magazine. Mary co-founded The Barn School, an award-winning sustainable agriculture camp that raises funds for family farms and Heifer International. She earned coaching certifications from Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, MentorCoach and others. She has a B.S. in Organizational Communications from the University of Texas at Austin and teaching certifications in Speech, English and Spanish.

MARY JUDD
Co-Founder/Program Director

Mary joined me from her home in New York and, as you can imagine, is incredibly busy. I am super grateful for her generosity of time to discuss this treasure of a program that she has poured her heart and soul into. I want to whole world to know about the power and beauty of this program and that post traumatic healing does exist

Make sure you listen to the song at the end of this episode to get a full understanding of the results of this program. It is one of Mary’s favorite’s. The song Strumming hand was written by Maia Sharp and Veteran John Cameron at a performed by Maia Sharp.

If you are inspired by this story, want to learn more about or support SW/S please visit

http://www.songwritingwithsoldiers.org

http://www.songwritingwithsoldiers.org/learn/press/

http://www.songwritingwithsoldiers.org/listen/pbs-concert/

http://www.songwritingwithsoldiers.org/listen/song-search/