Powerhouse Author Elizabeth Power Opens Up about her New Book “Healer: Reducing Crises”

Elizabeth Power is a brilliant author. Her work has helped countless people deal with trauma, and ultimately heal from it. Her new book ‘Healer: Reducing Crises’ builds upon this history of success, providing readers with a easy to use method for transforming trauma by integrating Emotional Intelligence skills with a trauma-informed perspective.

‘Healer: Reducing Crises’ has been extremely popular with readers, and it is not surprising given Power’s sublime skill for delivering her message in a way that everyone can understand and put into action. People looking to deal with change, increase self-care, become more resilient and transform trauma, should pick up this groundbreaking book.

We were thrilled when Power took some time out of her wildly busy schedule to talk to us about her work, and how it can help people have the lives they want. 

2020 was a very traumatic time for most of us, how can “Healer: Reducing Crises” help readers deal with emotional issues related to Covid 19? 

It certainly was! There are several ways ‘Healer: Reducing Crises’ helps readers with emotional issues. It helps them understand that emotional issues are pretty usual these days: most of us are more anxious, more irritable, and perhaps sadder than we have been. We’re certainly tired and worn out.  Some of us have become defiant. Others are struggling to find a few more “ounces” of capacity to cope.

‘Healer: Reducing Crises’ lets people know it’s OK to feel these things; after all, it’s been a mass trauma. It offers reader’s easy, simple, practical skills to “grow a few more ‘ounces’ of capacity” while adjusting to what’s next.  It helps readers make sense out of how they have responded to this pandemic. It also helps them recognize the ordinary things in life we can use to buoy ourselves up while we go through change. It also helps with the basics of reframing. For example, while all of the Zooming has been (and is) tiresome and less rewarding than in-person contact, their grandchildren may live off-planet! Finally, it helps them recognize strengths they may not know they have.

“Healer: Reducing Crises” includes a wide range of tools to help readers increase their Emotional Intelligence. Can you talk a bit about what Emotional Intelligence is and how it can help people deal with trauma and thrive?

Sure! It’s a collection of skills that drive effective relationships with oneself and others. It focuses on perceiving, using, understanding, and managing emotions with oneself and others. People with higher levels of emotional intelligence made an average of $29,000 more annually than their peers, according to recent research (https://www.talentsmarteq.com/articles/Increasing-Your-Salary-with-Emotional-Intelligence-983916766-p-1.html). They had better relationships at home and with their families. So who wouldn’t want that, right? And it turns out these are the same skills people need in two other situations: in childhood as “Social Emotional Learning” and across life to help heal the impact of traumatic events.

When it comes to dealing with trauma in their day-to-day lives, is there one thing they can do today to get the ball rolling?

Look around you wherever you are. Let your eyes rest on something that has a positive story to it. Tell yourself the story of how it came to be in your life, when, and how it makes you feel. Only do this for the positive (you already know all the negative!). Do it three times a day. Just keep doing it.

For example, I look around my office. I see a maple hand-turned bowl sitting in lei (Hawaiian) of different sorts. It contains a small hand-carved canoe paddle. My friend Steven cut a maple tree in my yard and returned the bowl as a gift. It warms my heart. Every lei was a gift from someone in Hawaii as a speaker, gesture of thanks, or kindness. I feel humbled by their kindness and care, and it feels warm and expansive. I know each lei by its’ giver.  The paddle was a gift from an agency that used traditional Hawaiian culture to help people addicted to opiates. They gave it to me for being their “North Star,” as they integrated traditional culture with trauma-informed care. I feel a deep sense of pride.

What part of “Healer: Reducing Crises” was the most difficult to write, and conversely, what was the easiest – and why?

Hmmm. The whole idea of writing it was terrifying. Would people like it? Who might it offend? Was I representing the evidence about trauma (including pandemics) effectively? Was I writing at an appropriate grade level? How did I know it might work? And most terrifying, what would happen if people judged me harshly for writing it? It felt like some kind of existential quadruple-bind! And equally hopeful and anxiety-provoking, would it help people make a difference in how they experience the world and their inner lives? Would readers use it to increase ease and growth? I didn’t realize until then how fear ran my life, and so I turned that on its ear to respond, and it was a challenge. As a degreed educator with over 30 years in instructional design, writing on learning was easy.

You are a truly phenomenal writer and speaker. Do you have something new coming you can tell us about?

Thank you so much! They are gifts, and I work to be a good steward of them. I’ve got three new things in the works. I’m working on the second book in the Healer Series, which focuses on Changing Lenses. We’re also responding to the business need to adopt trauma-responsive customer service with a new program. Finally, we’re scaling The Trauma-Informed Academy in response to enrolling over four hundred students for an 18-month term. It’s all exciting!

To find out more about Elizabeth Power and her work head over to her website.