Season 7 ends with a look back at what we built together: a collection of conversations designed to support embodied, collective trauma healing. I’m taking a summer pause, but before we step away, I want to name the themes that kept returning across the season and why they matter if you live with complex trauma, support survivors, or work in mental health.

You’ll hear a quick tour of the guests and topics that shaped this run of the How We Can Heal podcast, from preventing organized and extreme abuse to disability pride, intergenerational resilience, and the ways music can become a bridge back to self. We also touch the clinical questions: how borderline personality disorder can be mistaken for complex trauma, how trauma-informed research is helping us Find Solid Ground, and what to keep in mind when offering transgender-affirming support in trauma therapy. We close with a nod to predictive processing and the Flash Technique, pointing to practical ways the brain can update and soften stuck threat responses.

Then the lens widens. A reflection inspired by Artemis space travel lands on a truth that’s hard to unsee: from far enough away, Earth looks like one lifeboat. That perspective invites gratitude and a deeper sense of connection, the kind that makes healing feel less lonely and more like a shared crew effort.

If this season supported you, scroll back and catch what you missed, share a favorite conversation with a friend, and stay connected for updates. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell me which guest or idea you want to hear more about next!

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Today I’m joined by trauma therapist and EMDR trainer Thomas Zimmerman to talk about Flash technique, a fast-evolving approach that aims to process traumatic memories with dramatically less distress, especially for people with complex PTSD and dissociation who may struggle with the “admission cost” of standard EMDR.

We unpack what Flash is, why it can work even when someone cannot tolerate long activation, and how it differs from simply “distracting” yourself. Thomas explains his predictive processing version of Flash through a clear image: instead of dumping the whole memory into awareness, we bring in one tiny “bean” of it, then shift into a strong pleasant scene to create the kind of sensory mismatch that helps the nervous system update. We also explore why dissociation can be a brilliant adaptation, how culture shapes what we think healing should look like, and why resourcing can be practical, tolerable, and even fun.

We get concrete about clinical application too: the core resources Thomas teaches, why sensory grounding matters, how parts-informed consent changes the pace, and when to slow down for DID or severe amnesia. We close with where the research is headed, what Thomas is building next through trainings and a nonprofit, and why accessible trauma therapy could matter at a societal scale.

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Learn more:
https://thomaszimmerman.us/
https://emdrcleveland.com/

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Pronouns can feel like a tiny detail until you realize they are a real-time test of safety. When someone’s identity has been questioned, policed, or punished, the smallest moments in a therapy office can signal either danger or relief. I sit down with Dr. Lou Himes, a licensed psychologist and certified specialist in transgender mental health, to get concrete about what gender-affirming care looks like when trauma, dissociation, and systemic betrayal are part of the story.

We talk about how Dr. Himes found their way into working with transgender clients, why many well-intentioned clinicians still hesitate, and how a trauma-informed lens can help us understand anger and guardedness as protection rather than “resistance.” We dig into identity-affirming therapy as dignity-affirming care and self-determination, including why it can be more healing to honor a client’s self-definition early on than to rush toward certainty or a perfect clinical formulation. Dr. Himes also shares how psychodynamic psychotherapy makes room for contradiction, parts of self, and shifting truths without treating clients as deceptive.

We also zoom out to the sociopolitical climate and what helps when anxiety spikes: boundaries around the news, a return from hypervigilance to inner focus, and simple co-regulation that prioritizes breath and presence. Finally, we touch the tender terrain of spirituality and religious trauma, and the idea that deep therapy is “soul work” that helps people grow back the parts of themselves they had to hide.

If this conversation supports you, subscribe, share it with someone who cares about LGBTQIA+ mental health, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s one idea you’re taking with you?

Learn more about Dr. Himes here: https://drhimes.com/

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