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Curious Instead of Furious | With Alicia Freeman
Episode 2627th May 2026 • Neighbourly • CareImpact
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Curious Instead of Furious: Creating Safety in Overwhelming Moments

What does it look like to care for someone well when their emotions feel bigger than the moment?

In this episode of Neighbourly, Shannon sits down with Alicia Freeman, a CareImpact trainer whose journey through foster care, adoption, and trauma-informed learning has shaped the way she understands safety, presence, and compassion.

Alicia shares why trauma care is not only for foster and adoptive families, but for everyone, everywhere, especially those who want to care well in their homes, churches, and communities.

Together, Shannon and Alicia talk about what it means to stay curious instead of furious, how to respond when someone is overwhelmed, and why sometimes the most loving thing we can offer is not a solution, but our steady presence.

In this conversation, Alicia reflects on a recent training at a pregnancy resource centre, where a moment of disagreement became a deeper opportunity for listening, humility, and shared learning. She also offers practical ways to help children, youth, and adults feel safer when they are dysregulated or overwhelmed.

This episode is a gentle reminder that care does not have to be perfect to be powerful. It just has to be present.

In This Episode

  • Why trauma-informed care matters beyond foster and adoptive families
  • How curiosity helps us move from defensiveness to empathy
  • What it means to create emotional safety in a room
  • Why the urge to fix can get in the way of true care
  • Practical ways to support someone who is overwhelmed
  • How churches can care well without rushing people toward easy answers
  • Why presence, patience, and dignity matter in the messy middle

A Small Step This Week

Think of one person in your life who may be carrying more than you can see.

Before offering advice, try starting with curiosity. Ask a gentle question. Listen a little longer. Resist the urge to fix it too quickly.

Sometimes the most neighbourly thing we can offer is simply to stay present.

Time Stamps

04:17 Starting foster care and adoption journey

07:41 Training at the Pregnancy Resource Center

10:57 Navigating overwhelming emotions workshop

14:25 Staying confident and calm during discussions

17:27 Helping people find their personal why

23:13 Importance of Curiosity and Empathy

27:16 The power of just being present

29:43 Role of Church in Trauma Care

Guest Links

careimpact.ca/alicia

Other Links

Join The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/

Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.ca

Email: podcast@careimpact.ca

About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal

DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate

Transcripts

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Offering just my presence and my quiet,

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even my presence in their emotions. You know, when somebody else is sad and

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I'm willing to just sit in that sad with them and not

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try to tie it up with a pretty ribbon and find an

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answer or spiritually lead them to a place that

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they're just not ready to go to be willing to just sit in that

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and trust that, you know, God's going to lead them to the hope,

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to the clarity that they might need. But I don't have to do.

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What does it look like to care for someone? Well, when their emotions feel bigger

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than the moment? Because most of us want to help. We want

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to be steady for the people around us, our family, our friends, our neighbors

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and our churches. But when someone is overwhelmed,

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hurting, or reacting in ways we don't fully understand,

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it's so easy to rush in with answers, advice, or a quick fix.

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Hey, everyone, I'm Johan. Welcome to Neighbourly, a podcast about ordinary

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people showing extraordinary care. Today, Shannon sits down with

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someone who is no stranger to neighborly, Alicia, a Care Impact

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trainer whose own journey through foster care, adoption and trauma

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informed learning has shaped the way she helps others understand

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safety, presence, and compassion. But this isn't

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just a conversation about training. It's about a bigger question.

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How do we become the kind of people who can stay curious, offer

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safety, and sit with someone in the messy middle without needing to

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fix everything? Let's listen in and join Shannon and Alicia at

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the table. Alicia, I'm so glad that you

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are on the podcast today. You are not new to this

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podcast, you've been on a couple times. And Alicia, we

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love her at Care Impact. She's such a core part of this team. And

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I can't wait for our listeners to hear more of what

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you do and your heart for it. But before we get into that,

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we always start with the same question. Growing up, who was

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a neighbor that you will never forget? Yeah,

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this question was actually a little tough for me. And then I listened to the

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episode from last week and I was like, oh, my answer is the same as

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hers. So I grew up in

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a very rural community, so I felt like my

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concept of neighbors was not like a lot of other people. People like my neighbors

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were not right next door. It was a little ways away. So I don't feel

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like we necessarily did a lot with, like, our neighbors, the people that

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were, you know, next door to us, because really it was like a next field

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away. Right. It was a very agricultural community. But what

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did come to mind is that I went to A rural

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community, public school. So really, everybody at my school

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were like the people in my neighborhood, which was

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large, but in a rural community like that. It was really neat to have

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all of those families come together in that one place where

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basically all the kids in the community went to that same

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school. And so I remember, you know, like, at Christmas

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time, there'd always be, like, the Christmas concert, and then all the families would be

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there. And because it was like a rural farming community, it was

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like moms and dads and siblings. Like, everybody was there. Even

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when we had, like, middle of the day events, like, we would have, like, a

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school picnic at the end of the year, and the

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families would be there. And so, like, looking back now, I realize how unique

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that was. It really did give me that sense of neighborhood when I was

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at my school every day. Like, all the kids were living similar lives to

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me. So, like, we were all coming from these farms

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in the community and we kind of lived that same lifestyle.

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Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful to think about growing up with

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other families and living life with other people

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in that similar season of life, I'm sure is just. Yeah. So special

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to think back on. Well, I'm really excited to get

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more into this episode and really hear your heart,

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because we're talking a lot about some of the trainings that we do,

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trauma care training, relational care training, and you

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are a big part of that. And so I'd love to hear what led you

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to even want to facilitate trainings like this and

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why is it important to you? Well, my husband and I chose

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to begin building our family through adoption as well

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as providing foster care for vulnerable children in our community. And

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so when we first began our journey of foster care and adoption, we

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were very young, like in our early 20s. And some of the first

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children that God brought into our home were significantly

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challenging children. They had significant needs due to, you know,

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things like prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs or

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major attachment disruptions, exposure to domestic violence

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and abuse, things like that. So as we attempted to care for these children, we

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quickly started to realize that many of the traditional parenting techniques that

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we were seeing other parents using or that we had been raised with

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were really not as effective as we hoped or possibly even made

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things worse sometimes. So we knew that we needed help.

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And so we started to seek out that education and community among

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other Christians who were fostering and adopting at the time.

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And through that, we were invited to join a few of the people in taking

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a training called Trauma Competent Care Through a

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Trauma Free World. And then at the same time, we also started

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attending the Replanted conference in Chicago each

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year. And through those experiences, we began to learn more about what it was

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that our children really needed from us and how to help them

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feel safe and experience healing and

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why their behaviors were sometimes really baffling to us.

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So this gave us so much hope and clarity in our

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parenting journey, and I'm just so grateful that we were given those

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opportunities to learn. And so the more that I learned, the

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more that I wanted to be able to share this information with other families

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and not just for foster and adoptive families. What we really started to realize

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was that this information is really for everyone everywhere. And that's

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what I tell people about trauma care training. I really believe that

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it's for everyone everywhere, especially people in the church,

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because trauma is so common in today's culture and for the church,

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as we want to come in and impact and interact with

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people who are hurting, what we want is to be equipped to do

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that in ways that are truly helpful and healing.

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Yeah. Thank you so much for bringing it back to your

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story and where that. That really started for you.

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I think there's a couple other episodes where you share a little bit more about

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what that journey has been like specifically, but I love where you brought it, because

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as you were talking, I was thinking about those who may not be,

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you know, adoptive parents or foster parents listening and thinking, well, how

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does. How does this kind of content, you know, how would these kinds of trainings

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apply to me? But I think you. You said it right there. It is

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for everyone, for everywhere. And especially as believers

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in the church who were wanting to welcome in hurting

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people broken, lost, and needing to

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create an environment that is

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emotionally and mentally safe for people

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who've experienced a lot. Is training like this is so important?

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So recently, you facilitated a training at a

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pregnancy resource center, and I'd love to hear a little bit

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about just what was that like walking in?

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What did the day feel like when you arrived and when you got there?

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Yeah. So this particular training, the

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Pregnancy Resource center, is really close to my heart, because

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this center is located in our small town, and I know

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so many of the people who are investing their time and their energy and their

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resources in this ministry. And I know that this center is also

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serving a vulnerable population that is really close to my

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heart as well, especially as a foster parent. So I'm just so grateful

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for the way that they have come alongside these young women and men and

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families to try to build in upstream supports.

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So this center has been so eager to host me over the past couple

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of years and inviting me into their space to train their staff and

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volunteers and just to provide a space where they can talk and learn

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and really work to understand their clientele better.

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So when I came into the room, I really was walking into a space where

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there were several people that are very familiar and dear

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faces who might feel comfortable with, which was really nice. My friend

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worked to help me set up, and we ended up using a couple of

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diaper boxes to set up my computer so that it would be, like,

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at the right height for my presentation because we didn't have quite the right

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size of table or stand. And so that was kind of funny because I thought,

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you know, how fitting is this that as we talk about this together, I've got

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my computer propped up on diaper boxes that have been donated

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by these generous community members at the Pregnancy Resource Center.

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So I'd say everyone came in feeling pretty light and friendly. They were chatting

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and pulling out snacks and exchanging hugs and conversation. That

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kind of environment, it was. It was really comfortable. Yeah.

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When you're getting ready for these kinds of trainings and

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you're thinking about prior experiences of it, what have

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you learned? Helps you to really facilitate a learning experience that kind

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of goes deeper and goes beyond some of that

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surface level. I think one of the key aspects

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is just, you know, making sure that as we all

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come into that space and particularly as I, you

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know, begin my presentation, that they can really see me

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as another human being. That sounds funny, but,

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you know, that I'm not just standing there as the trainer, that I'm here with

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them. And so often what I try to present near the beginning is, you

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know, a little bit about my story and what's brought me here. And really trying

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to help people understand that when I'm in the training room with them, I'm here

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to learn alongside and that I really want to hear from them as

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well, because there's a lot of people that I end up, you know,

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training who hold a lot of pieces of knowledge and. And some that

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I don't have. So it's really beautiful when we're able to

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step into that conversation and end up learning from each other. But I feel

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like it's really important for participants to feel that comfort that

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I want you to share. I want you to even disagree or

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have different opinions. And let's talk it through. Let's figure out what

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are your questions, what are your thoughts, or what are your learning experiences

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that would contribute to this conversation. Yeah, I'd love to hear some

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of those more specific moments that stood out to you, but

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to maybe give our listeners a little bit of context, in a nutshell, what

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was some of the content that you were training or sharing with this

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group? Just kind of generally speaking. Yeah.

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So my content at this training was called navigating

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overwhelming emotions. And so we were really talking

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about, first of all, what do we do with our own overwhelming

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emotions? So when we are having overwhelming emotions, what's

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going on in our brains and our bodies, our nervous

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systems? What might we be experiencing on a holistic level?

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And then how does that impact our ability to

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interact with other people around us? So, really,

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even though I was definitely coming to serve

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as far as helping to equip them in navigating

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overwhelming emotions with other people, but what we ended up talking

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about a lot is our own overwhelming emotions. And I think

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the more that we understand what to do with our own emotions, the more

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compassion and empathy that we have for other people's big

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emotions. And it just helps us to have better clarity as to,

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like, what approach is needed here. If I know what works for me when I'm

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feeling overwhelmed and I'm comfortable with my own

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emotions, then it really does help me to be able to

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enter into somebody else's experience and not feel easily

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threatened or triggered by that. Yeah, that's so good. I think

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about how helpful that would be for me.

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And I'm not even a parent. I'm just thinking about daily life, and

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that's so good. So I'd love to hear then, what were some of those

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moments from. From that training that really stayed with you

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of what people were learning and what was just coming to mind for

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them? So one of the moments that really stayed with me from this

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training was when one participant was really digging into the

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content and asking some really good and hard questions about our

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emotions and how God sees our emotions and what it

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looks like to understand our emotions in light of the gospel and

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the Holy Spirit's work in our lives and sanctifying us, all of

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that. And really, she was gently but persistently

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disagreeing with the approach that I was taking to the content.

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And it was just that sort of moment where you feel this tension build.

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Right. But one of the things that I love most about the time that I've

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spent learning about trauma and its impact on people is that

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it's really helped me to learn how to exercise curiosity.

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A phrase that we often repeat is curious instead of furious.

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And this little line really is so helpful in practicing

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Active listening and offering those felt safety

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strategies. And honestly, just this posture of humility.

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So it was really encouraging because I felt like I was able to really just

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lean into this participant's questions and perspectives and, and

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open up conversation and allow the rest of the group to provide their

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feedback as well. That's a great example of. We

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talked about this on our last episode a lot about remaining

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curious and related to making assumptions about others,

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but just that same concept of maybe easy. You're probably

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navigating your own emotions in that moment and thinking,

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okay, pause, let me hear where this person's coming from. Let me really ask

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good questions to help you know them learn, but also

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yourself learn. And yeah, that's such a great a learning

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opportunity, I think, for everybody. So, Alicia, as you were

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going through that moment, what are some of the things you noticed either

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in the room or in yourself as you were

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walking through that with that participant? Yeah,

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in myself, I really sense this, like, urgency to

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try to fix it, you know, talk more, explain more, which is so

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often what we feel when we sense some kind of threat to our own

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perspective or our own experience. But I also sense this

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calmness and confidence that was really neat to feel. I still really

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think of myself as an amateur on all these topics

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and on training, so I feel like I can easily be derailed by someone

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going off topic or. Or asking a hard question that I wasn't

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anticipating. But this time, I really just sensed this deep, grounded

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assurance that I needed to lean into this and that the content would speak for

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itself. And one of my fellow Care Impact trainers, Amy Jo,

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always reminds me, you can trust the content, and I really

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find that to be true. When we know that what we're presenting is

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valuable and trusted and wisely sourced, we can present confidently

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and really rest in that knowledge. So, yeah, as

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I resisted that urge to jump in and fix it all, I was

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able to ask questions and really listen to this participant and

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understand her perspective and allow others to be part of that

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learning moment and just let the conversation play out a little bit. And I

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felt like everyone else really leaned in then as well, which was so

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beautiful to watch. And I think we were all pretty invested at that

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point in figuring out, like, how do these pieces fit together?

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Wow. Yeah, that's so good, because it makes me think about

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when we lean into the messy

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moments or maybe even think of it of, like, wrestling with God a little bit

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of, like, trying to work out our faith and these concepts and

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God, how does this fit and how does this make sense that is

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actually like where so much growth happens. And that's really what it sounds like was

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kind of happening in that moment. Why do you think that

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moment itself really mattered? Yeah, it

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just, it turned into such a beautiful piece of the training that really

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helped us all to engage on a much deeper level.

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And I really felt like we were able to learn together and see how the

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content actually brought us full circle versus just

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me standing up there and talking the whole time or claiming to have all the

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answers. And. And what I noticed was that everyone really started exploring,

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experiencing what we were talking about, overwhelming

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emotions. So as they process the content in more personal

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ways, I think we really experienced something special that, that

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day that, that just held a lot more weight than it would have if we

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hadn't been willing to kind of dig into those harder

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questions. Thanks for sharing more about that.

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In that specific training or even if you think back on some of the

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others that you have done, what have you learned that it can look

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like to really help somebody feel safe when they're coming into

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this learning experience? Maybe not knowing totally what to expect

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if, you know, their pastor signed them up or their boss

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signed them up for this thing. What are some of the things that you've

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learned to help people as they come into the room?

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Yeah, one of the things that I always like to do at the beginning

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is really help people find their own personal why

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for being there. People feel safer when they feel like

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they're not expected to all be coming for the same reason or with the

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same story. And so to try to, you know, to share my why for

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being here, but then really opening it up and giving them a

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chance to actually, you know, often I'll have them maybe

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draw something or sketch something or write something down or actually

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like physically taking some time and space to think about, like,

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why am I here and what are my expectations for this.

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I think just really allows people, right. Right from the get go to be honest

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about their experience and how they're feeling about being here. And then

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like we talked about before, just curiosity, you know, asking

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questions, making sure that people have opportunity to

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speak. I tend to, you know, I prepare the

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trainings and I've been so invested in. I've been studying all the material and

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prepping the slide notes, all of the things. Right. And then I have so much

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that I want to say and usually like such little time and

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it's so tempting for me to just talk the whole time. I'm like, I've got

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content to move through and it's also great I just really want to move through

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it. But again, something I've learned from my Care Impact

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team is just the value of asking really good questions

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and making sure that I'm giving time and space for people to

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process at their own speed. And that might look different

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than what I prepared. It might look different than what I hoped for

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and thought was what they needed. But people really do

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learn best when they're given the freedom to process things at their

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own pace and have some time to be able to learn together.

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That's the other thing. We usually try to do some group work in our

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trainings to make sure that people have time to stop and have conversations with the

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people who are next to them or a pre assigned group, whatever it might be,

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so that they're not only learning from the presenter

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and the slide deck, but they're also having conversation with each other as

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participants and they're asking each other questions. They have

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more time to speak. Yeah. And to give

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our listeners a bit of a picture because I'm thinking about how they could see

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themselves in this, you know, as they're hearing you talk

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about people, you know, coming into the room. Aside from a Pregnancy

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Resource center, what are some of the other types of groups that

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you have done this training or similar trainings with?

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Mm, I don't feel like I've ever had a training that is

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just kind of one group of people. Even with this training,

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even though the reason we were all there was because they were all connected to

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the Pregnancy Resource center, what I found is that they were applying the

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material across the board in their lives. So they weren't just

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thinking about this material in, in regards to their

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relationship with the clients or their work at the Pregnancy Resource Center.

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They were, they were thinking about it, you know, with their family and their friends

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and the people they go to church with and their neighbors. So

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in other trainings as well, I definitely, often there are,

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you know, foster families, adoptive families.

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I've done some training with different camps in working with that type

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of ministry. You know, girls clubs, boys clubs, people

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who are working with children or youth who are, who have

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experienced significant trauma. But I feel like the

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repeated question that I've had every time I do a training

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because I'm a parent and I'm parenting children who've experienced trauma.

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I tend to use a lot of examples of my children or my

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experiences with children, but inevitably people are always asking,

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like, what about other adults in my life? What does it look like for

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my brother or my nephew or my neighbor

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who I'm Close with who I know has experienced traumatic things.

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What does it look like for me to translate this to them? So one of

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the things that care impact that we become really passionate about is really making

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this material really easy for people to translate

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into the experiences that they're having with all those different people

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in their lives and just broadening that language a little bit. Because

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the same types of strategies that we would use with kids are the

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strategies that we are going to use with adults as well. But sometimes we need

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help kind of connecting those dots, right? And figuring out what would it look like

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to provide safety to an adult who doesn't

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feel safe? Or what does it look like for me to really listen

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and like active practice active listening with another adult

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versus a child? Or what does it look like when

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an adult's brain and body is overstimulated or

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dysregulated? What does that look like and what should I do in that

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moment? Because a dysregulated adult looks a lot scarier

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than a dysregulated five year old. Right. And so even though we're using the

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same types of strategies, sometimes it's worth really having those conversations

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and digging into that. That's really helpful. And

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I think that's really important for those who are

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listening because I think that is really relatable for a lot of people that

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whether they're working in spaces with children and youth or

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foster adoptive families are not. That's something that we can, I think,

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all relate to that there are adults in our life, whether they're close or not,

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who have experienced some really hard things in life

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and we want to show up well for them. So

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not to try and give you a, you know, do a whole training in two

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minutes right now, but what are some of the things that you

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say when people ask that question of, you know, if you're in a moment with

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someone who is overwhelmed or hurting, especially an adult, what

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can it look like to show up well and care well for them

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in that moment? That's such a great question.

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I feel like, you know, I'm so grateful in my own life for the Holy

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Spirit, because I think first of all, we need the

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Holy Spirit to be able to guide us in those interactions and help

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us to know what's really going to speak to this person. But

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I feel like I keep bringing up the same things. But that, that curiosity

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again, like, I feel like I can't think of a situation

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where the first approach isn't going to be curiosity,

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you know, like to just whether that's outwardly or just

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internally to just really take that pause and ask

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that question like why, why is this person

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feeling this way? Or why is this person behaving in the way that they

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are? And what I love about curiosity is that it

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really just unleashes empathy in us. I think as soon as we

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are willing to be curious, we kind of step out of that

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protective mode, we step out of that defensive mode,

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and we're able to really start thinking, oh, wait a

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minute, this person has their own perspective and their own experience. And

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I wonder what that is. And oftentimes when we

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do that, the other person can sense that. And you know, if

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we're able to ask questions like, I'd love to understand

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more about that, can you tell me more about that? Or you know,

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just really, really validating their, their experience, you

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know, if they're able to share with us to say, well, yeah, that makes a

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lot of sense. Of course you feel that way. I think I would feel that

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way too, to doing that, that relating to them and

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trying to help them feel like they're, they're not alone and they're not crazy

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for, for feeling the way that they do is really

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helpful. So yeah, curiosity helping them to,

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to feel like they're not alone. And then really if it's the

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kind of relationship where you're able to really try to offer those

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regulation type strategies. So, you know, we all know that

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sometimes just taking a deep breath can be really helpful. If

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it's a child that you're working with, you know, you might be able to say

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it that's simply like, hey, can you take a deep breath with me?

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Or there's lots of different fun regulation tools that we have,

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especially for younger kids. Things like a bowl of hot

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soup or a mug of hot chocolate where you're gently blowing

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to cool it off and then gently inhaling to

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smell it and those kinds of strategies. Figure

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8. Breathing, things like that. Obviously with a youth or

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with an older youth or an adult, it might not

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feel as comfortable to prompt them to take a deep breath.

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They might feel kind of judged if you do that to them. Right? But there's

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still ways that we can notice that dysregulation that's happening

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in their bodies and figure out how to work that out. So

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maybe it's even just like, hey, do you want to take a walk? And just

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walking as you talk is going to allow their bodies to move around

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a little bit instead of feeling so stuck. Drives, I find, are

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also great. You know, if you're in the car talking to somebody and you don't

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have that direct eye contact. Sometimes offering

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like, do you need a minute? There's a space over here where it's

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quiet. Do you want to just take a break for a minute? Things

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like that can be really helpful in just helping somebody to be able

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to step away from that moment for a little bit and not feel the

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pressure. Yeah, that's so good. So many practical

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tips there you've just shared. And one thing I think about, you kind of

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mentioned this earlier too, is I can sometimes default

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into wanting to fix a situation or fix something.

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And I'm really trying to work on not

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defaulting to that. And so in that same vein, maybe what

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is something people don't need to have figured out

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before they step into, you know, a kind of situation

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like that where they don't need to have that pressure

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of going in, trying to fix something. Any

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thoughts around that? I

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love that because even for me, I've spent so

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much time now in this material and I feel like I should

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have a great toolbox. But sometimes in the moment,

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all of that is gone. I can't remember. I don't

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know what's going to be helpful. But this is where I

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just. I love the practical ways that we can love

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people is often just listening and being willing

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to really sit in that space with them and not try to

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fix it and not try to sort it out. I think one of

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the things that I've really learned over the last few years in my own life

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and walking with others who have been through some really

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difficult things is that offering

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just my presence and just

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my quiet, steady presence, even my presence

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in their emotions when somebody else is sad and I'm willing to

Speaker:

just sit in that sad with them and not try to tie

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it up with a pretty ribbon and find an answer

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or spiritually lead them to a place that they're just

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not ready to go to be willing to just sit in that and

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trust that, you know, God's going to lead them to that, to the hope,

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to the clarity that they might need. But I don't have to

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do that. And I can relate to you, Shannon.

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I like to fix things. That's been a real challenge for me to learn that

Speaker:

skill. And that's something that I'm working really hard

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to learn. And God's been really faithful to bring me into a lot of

Speaker:

experiences where I get to practice that

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over the last few years. So, yeah, I think that I'm

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slowly getting better at that. But to be able to just say, oh, that sounds

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really hard. Like, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry that

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you're walking through that. Or that makes sense. That makes so

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much sense that you would feel that way, even just

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offering, you know, that the little line like. Like, of course you do,

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you know, like, of course you feel that way. And we all need to feel

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like we're not alone and we're not crazy when we're having overwhelming

Speaker:

emotions. And I think that offers a lot of safety

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and connection. Yeah. So good. Well,

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we're getting to the end here of our time together. Is there

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anything, Alicia, that I haven't asked or anything just on your heart

Speaker:

to share that you want to say before we close today?

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I'm thinking about. We talk quite a bit about this training, and we alluded

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earlier to that idea that trauma care is really for

Speaker:

everyone everywhere. And we talked a bit about how important

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it is for the church in our role, in the ways that we're

Speaker:

trying to step into community. But I think that's really been

Speaker:

on my heart lately, and something that I've really come to notice and

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see. And, you know, as I've walked through hard experiences in my own life

Speaker:

and as I've watched other people walk through difficult experiences

Speaker:

and really seeing the church, I think I've

Speaker:

seen it both ways. I've seen experiences

Speaker:

where the church really stepped in and was able to care in really,

Speaker:

really wonderful, thoughtful ways and really come alongside and

Speaker:

support people in navigating those difficult

Speaker:

circumstances. And then I think most of us have also

Speaker:

seen the alternative where we see the church step

Speaker:

in and instead of finding safety, you know, that that

Speaker:

person feels a lot of judgment or feels a lot of that fix

Speaker:

it culture where, you know, we want to kind of slap on

Speaker:

our. Our programs and our. Our agendas

Speaker:

onto. Onto other people in their situations. And,

Speaker:

yeah, I guess I just. I'm really hopeful for the church in Canada.

Speaker:

I think that a lot of people are asking a lot of really good

Speaker:

questions, and I think that there is a willingness and an eagerness

Speaker:

to learn new things. And I'm so excited every

Speaker:

time I get a peek at that. I'm thinking of one training

Speaker:

in particular, where it was a connection through a camp, and really there was

Speaker:

a family who was really struggling, and their church reached out

Speaker:

and said, would you bring this training to us? Because we just really want to

Speaker:

wrap around this family and this child. And that

Speaker:

was so encouraging to me because I thought,

Speaker:

wow, that's. That's just. That's what church is supposed to look like,

Speaker:

you know, like they, they knew that they didn't have the answers, but

Speaker:

they really wanted to be helpful and they were really mindful of

Speaker:

helping in the right ways. And so they reached out,

Speaker:

they took the initiative to say, like, I wonder if this is something that would

Speaker:

be helpful to us. Would you help us to understand better?

Speaker:

And so I'm really excited for, for the different opportunities

Speaker:

that have been coming our way at Care Impact. And we love the church in

Speaker:

Canada and we want to help. We want to help come alongside everything

Speaker:

that the people are already doing. There's so many wonderful

Speaker:

ministries and work that is happening and we really want

Speaker:

to come alongside and support that and help everybody feel like they're equipped to do

Speaker:

that as well as they can. That's right. Thank you so much,

Speaker:

Alicia, for coming on today. You said it exactly. Our

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heart is for the church in Canada and to

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help equip her and empower her to care well for community.

Speaker:

And that's what this is all about. So thank you. Thanks for sharing your

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story and your wisdom, and I hope to have

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you back on again really soon. Thank you for having

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me. It's always so fun to talk to you. The

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stories we share here remind us that CARE does not have to be perfect to

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be powerful. It just has to be present. Neighbourly is an

Speaker:

initiative of Care Impact, a Canadian charity equipping churches,

Speaker:

agencies and communities with technology and training to care better

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together. This episode was produced by CARE Creatives co,

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a social enterprise of Care Impact. If you're building a podcast and want help

Speaker:

with strategy, editing or full production, visit

Speaker:

CareCreativesCo CA to connect with us.

Speaker:

I'm Johan. Thanks for listening and keep being the kind of

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neighbor someone will never forget. In a good way.

Speaker:

Breaking all chains When I see you

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in a stranger I'm no longer a slave

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Turning over table Tearing down

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wall Building up the bridges

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between the stones of this

Speaker:

Turning over table Breaking.

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