Trauma, non-violent communication and social spaces by Gemma Jiang, PhD.

Anyone may suffer trauma without meeting the diagnostic criteria of post traumatic stress disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD. If trauma is a normal part of the human experience, how can trauma research effectively contribute to healing? Trauma happens as an integral part of living everyday, often in our closest interpersonal relationships. How can non-violent communication and empathetic social spaces contribute to healing?

In this DD session, Dr. Gemma Jiang will share her learning with a leading thinker in trauma research, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and a leading practitioner in nonviolent communication, Shantigarbha. She will engage the community with scientific insights, philosophical musings and personal reflections.

We will explore:

• How is trauma related to the inference process, interpersonal process, emotions, and effective actions?
• How is non-violent communication different from our usual reactions of fight, flight or freeze? How can we learn to speak this new language of life?
• How can we intentionally construct empathetic social spaces that heal trauma?

Dr Gemma Jiang's biography

Dr. Gemma Jiang specializes in providing comprehensive leadership support for large complex science teams funded by the National Science Foundation in the United States. Her primary roles with these teams include: 1) Identifying and amplifying assets within the team; 2) serving as buffer and connective tissue for disparate parts of the team; 3) leading cultural change towards collaboration and co-creation; 4) holding shared vision for scientific research that includes societal impact; 5) generating new knowledge by integrating theory with practice.

Through her position as the senior team scientist with Colorado State University, she serves as the chief team scientist of two National Science Foundation funded, multi-year, multi-institute, $15M budgeted projects. She also nurtures a thriving private consulting practice to help smaller science teams with their team leadership needs.

Connect with Gemma