Beneath the Surface: Understanding Secondary Trauma and How to Reclaim Your Inner Peace

HeartMath's Add Heart

Guest: Dr. Jorina Elbers

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the constant barrage of distressing news? You’re not alone. In this eye-opening episode, Dr. Jorina Elbers, Director of the Trauma Recovery Project at the HeartMath Institute, sheds light on the hidden impact of secondary trauma — a crucial issue affecting many of us.

Secondary trauma occurs when we overload from exposure to traumatic events through graphic news, social media, and other people’s personal stories. Many of us are deeply impacted by trauma inputs every time we open our smartphones. The stress can take a toll, creating brain fog, emotional numbness, sleeplessness, and more — and we may not know we are struggling with secondary trauma.

Like a circuit breaker pushed beyond its limits, Dr. Elbers explains how your mind and body can become overloaded from traumatic news. Join host Deborah Rozman and Dr. Elbers as they unpack how today’s constant influx of stress news is pushing people’s nervous system to the brink, leading to a range of physical and emotional symptoms.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to recognize signs of secondary trauma and gain invaluable insights on how to rebalance your nervous system and release cumulative stress. Discover how to read your body’s stress signals and ready yourself with techniques that go beyond surface-level symptom management.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world, as well as those supporting loved ones through difficult times. Dr. Elbers helps you see how you have more control over your well-being than you may have thought possible.

Tune in for an episode that offers hope and direction to help you move from nervous system dysregulation to regulation, empowerment, and healing.

As a special bonus, the episode concludes with a guided heart meditation, led by Deborah, that you can use anytime you start to feel overwhelmed and to help you regulate your nervous system.

About our guest:

Dr. Jorina Elbers is a pediatric neurologist with clinical expertise in treating chronic stress and trauma. She is currently the Director of the Trauma Recovery Project at the HeartMath Institute and is the creator of HeartMath’s newest program, “HeartMath for Parents.” She was previously an assistant professor at Stanford University and has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers, with her most recent publications discussing nervous system dysregulation and how the body adapts to chronic stress or trauma.