Dr. Joanna Scott holds a PhD in Clinical-Developmental Psychology and joins host Julie Scipioni for an open discussion on trauma, her own experiences of trauma, and about her upcoming book, "Human Porcupine: A psychologists's tale of armor and underbelly."

In this episode, Joanna talks about the definitions and interpretations of trauma, the various ways in which trauma shows up in life, and her own personal experience with trauma. She also gives us a peek into her upcoming book and offers resources and suggested practices for those who want to become more mindful and intentional with regard to their own trauma experience.

Joanna's book recommendations:

• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
• Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman

Article of interest: The brain's memory hub may explain why some people get PTSD and others don't

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com

With intention, you can begin to take control over your emotional triggers so your past doesn't rule your present.

I can understand my triggers and recognize their root and the way they drive me to behavior that isn’t helpful or useful to me, but until I can put that information into practice in my life, I won’t see healing. 

Ignorance is the only excuse for allowing past trauma to drive present behavior. Once I become aware, ignorance is lost and I must begin the work of changing my behavior or become forever a victim of the ghosts and shadows of my past.

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com

Trauma is trauma is trauma. In this episode Julie shares what her crooked spine is teaching her injured heart. As her mother used to tell her, "It's time to straighten up and fly right!"

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com

"You are weird but you can't help it." This is what one of Julie's eighth-grade classmates wrote in her yearbook. Little did she know that it was a kind of a prophecy, simply stating that Julie was different from the rest of the children, but also with some compassion perhaps that this weirdness was not something over which Julie herself had much control. Decades later, she learned that this weirdness had a name: trauma. In this episode, Julie shares her experience with recognizing and working to heal from her trauma. Maybe you’ll see yourself in her story. Maybe you’ll find comfort knowing that you are not alone and that there is hope. 

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com

Are your self-labels running the show? 

Anytime you compromise your integrity, anytime you deny truth, anytime you unwillingly give up something of yourself purely to meet the expectation or the labels given to you by yourself or by others – no matter how critical or seemingly inconsequential it may be – you are trading a piece of yourself away.

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com 

What happens when you suddenly realize you just passed through a polar vortex? Someone gives you a rock that changes the way you see everything. 

In this unscripted episode Julie discusses the polar vortex that recently passed through her city and what it taught her about her life. Whether you’re in a deep freeze in your life, or if you’re sitting on a beach in Aruba, you’ll take something from this story – and maybe even leave a nugget of it behind for someone else who will come along behind you. 

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com

If someone asked you if you like to have problems you would probably say “no.” But admit it, sometimes you do. Sometimes you like to pit yourself against another person and sometimes you like to have a story to tell that creates the “us vs. them” mentality that we all buy into, if we are place in the right – or rather, the wrong – circumstances. 

In this episode, Julie talks about how quickly our love of suffering – and our refusal to suffer – can transform the challenges we face in life. 

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com

Letting go can be the most powerful -and the scariest - thing we can learn to do. But when we can discern the difference between helpful support and debilitating "helpfulness" we not only begin to free up our own emotional resources, but we empower the ones we love as well. 

Julie Scipioni, co-author of the bestselling novel series, "Iris & Lily" is your host. Through How the Light Gets In, Julie explores cracks in all their mysterious and troubling forms and uses them to help us find our way to a more meaningful, compassionate - and even humorous - life experience.

Visit juliescipioni.com