Episode 213: Got Trauma? Interview Trevor Lay

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. As we live our life stories, and strive to create our best life story, we have the opportunity to deal with challenges. One of these challenges can be trauma. There are many things that cause trauma for us - violence, abuse, we’ll get into this more in the interview, and what causes trauma for some will not cause trauma in another, but learning to navigate and learn from it, and doing the work to make sure it doesn’t sabotage us and our relationships, seems like a pretty important skill set. Mark Goulston, MD, said, “Unlike simple stress, trauma changes your view of your life and yourself. It shatters your most basic assumptions about yourself and your world — “Life is good,” “I’m safe,” “People are kind,” “I can trust others,” “The future is likely to be good” — and replaces them with feelings like “The world is dangerous,” “I can’t win,” “I can’t trust other people,” or “There’s no hope.” Join me today as I talk with Trevor Lay, from Little Rock Arkansas, who has over 18 years of experience in behavioral healthcare and social services. He specializes in trauma and does trauma trainings for his local DHS offices and foster care support groups in Little Rock. Stay tuned for conversation about what trauma is, misconceptions about trauma, how it works in the body, how to effectively treat it, and the effect it can have on our relationships. Trevor Lay is the Executive Director of Full Potential Child Development Center and received his Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Arkansas. Trevor came to my attention after using his skills to help Bethany Wallace, a past guest of the Love Your Story podcast, and she highly recommended him - said his skill set was a God-send that helped to salvage her marriage. So Trevor and I have done some talking, and I think we’re all going to learn some helpful things today. Join Trevor and I on the audio program to hear answers to some of these questions: 1. Let’s start with a little of your story. Why do you do the work you do? 2. One of your favorite quotes is By Bessel Van Der Kolk M.D, from The Body Keeps the Score. “Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives.” — What does this quote mean to you? 3. What is trauma? What types are the most prevalent? Misconceptions? 4. What are the symptoms of trauma? 5. How does trauma get lodged in the body? 6. How does it manifest itself in our behavior with other? Relationships? 7. You do marital counseling privately - do you find trauma and marriage overlap? 8. What should people who have experienced trauma do to start down the path to recovery? To find Trevor Lay: trevor.lay.5@gmail.com I’ll close with a quote from Michelle Rosenthal. “Trauma creates change you don’t choose. Healing is about creating change you do choose.” Thanks for being here today. Please share this episode link with someone who has suffered from trauma. Keep living your best life story, on purpose. And I’d sure appreciate hearing from listeners, with on the website loveyourstorypodcast.com - or through reviews on your podcast app. See you in two weeks.