Today, we’d like to introduce you to Katie Kurtz.
Katie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Empathy is a learned skill and I credit my mom who is a fierce mental health advocate who taught me empathy and compassion for other people’s lived experiences. Those empathy skills from a young age led me to volunteer a lot in high school and in college, I also became a mental health advocate which inevitably led me to graduate school for social work. For me it was never about having a bleeding heart or wanting to save the world, it has always been about creating spaces for us to honor our humanity and lived experiences. I have had a diverse and successful career in social work over the last 15 years which includes working in hospitals, city government, and health and human services. I became a certified coach in 2016 and have run my own business since. I went full-time a few years ago and specialize in an approach called trauma-informed care. I am the author of the Contain Card Deck (published in 2022) and have received several recognitions and awards for my work in both social work and coaching. I am a subject matter expert and lead training and consultation on trauma-informed care across multiple industries and professions both locally and abroad.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life isn’t a smooth road, it’s a rocky terrain that comes with many peaks and valleys. How human of us to struggle along the way. When I started my social work career, I also started my role as the primary caregiver for my parents. This role has grown over the years, especially six years ago when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. It has been a rocky road to traverse as I was becoming an adult while caring for adults. As a young caregiver, it has been hard to find support from people who get it who are my age. I have had to really prioritize my own self-care and honor my capacity and humanity throughout the process. There is a lot of complicated grief that comes with caregiving, and it’s not something we often talk about. I committed myself to speaking the truth and sharing my experience as a caregiver to help shed light on a reality that so many of us do or will face. I take a human-first approach to everything I do, and I help other leaders honor their humanity through an approach I specialize in called trauma-informed care.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a subject matter expert, trainer, and consultant on an approach called trauma-informed care.
Population studies show that virtually everyone experiences one or more traumatic events in their lifetime, and almost half experience trauma in childhood.
As we continue to live through the historical collective trauma of a pandemic, we have a shared lived experience that connects every person on the planet. So why wouldn’t we equip ourselves with the knowledge, skills, and tools to ensure we are leading in a way that resists harm and promotes safety and connection?
Trauma-informed care is a strengths-based approach that utilizes the understanding of trauma and stress as a part of our human experience to skillfully inform how we relate with others. To put it simply: it’s how we expand our empathy into action to ensure we are treating people and ourselves more humanely.
This approach has a rich history and has been traditionally held in the health and human services industry, but it is not meant to exclusively live there. Now, we are seeing trauma-informed care enter various industries, integrated alongside other organizational culture initiatives like diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. We still have a long way to go with making this approach the standard of care.
As a subject matter expert on trauma-informed care, I train industry leaders of all kinds on how to adopt this approach and integrate to ensure they are not only resisting harm but promoting trust, belonging, accessibility and inclusion in the spaces, services and support they offer.
I specialize in stewarding this approach by honoring its origins while ushering it into a future that makes it inclusive for ALL professions and, most importantly, actively applied so we can feel its impact.
I have developed an integrative model to lead this approach out loud that is inclusive for ALL professions. I am grateful to be in the community with many other folks leading this work as the regional co-chair of the State of Ohio’s Trauma-Informed Collaborative as well as the Integrate Network.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I would be remiss if I did not mention my own podcast, A Trauma-Informed Future Podcast, where I get to be in conversation around the nuances of these deeply human topics with amazing guests.
Some of my favorite leaders in the trauma world are Resmaa Menakem, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Dr. Bruce Perry, Dr. Gabor Mate, The Breathe Network, and so many of my dear colleagues in this work. I also always like to be sure to acknowledge the unnamed advocates and activists who are responsible for bringing us trauma-informed care. I wouldn’t be here able to steward trauma-informed care without them.
My friend Zabie Yamasaki has a suite of beautiful healing books and tools that I always love to amplify as well as folks like Steph Jagger and Gina Moffa who have brilliant books about navigating caregiving and grief.
I am very grateful to be a part of the Integrate Network, which has connected me to a diverse group of trauma specialists doing amazing things from writing books, hosting podcasts, and leading various training and programs.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.katie-kurtz.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_katiekurtz
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/katie-kurtz-msw-lisw-s-76658b187
- Other: https://pod.link/1692846403
Image Credits
Laurie Hamame Photography
