Living the Resilience Tree Model in the Workplace I once had a team member publicly challenge a decision I made in a meeting. Immediately, my body went into fight mode. My heart raced, my voice tightened, and I felt an urge to defend myself, prove my point, and push back…
Posts from August 2025
Survival Check: Freeze Trauma Response at Work and How the Resilience Tree Model Can Help
Part of the Living the Resilience Tree Model series I once had a supervisor send me a message: “We need to talk.” Immediately, my body froze. I couldn’t focus on the tasks in front of me. I reread the message over and over, my chest tight and my thoughts blank.…
Survival Check: Flight Trauma Response in the Workplace and How to Overcome It
When most people think of the flight trauma response, they picture running away from danger. In the workplace, however, flight doesn’t look like sprinting out of the office—it shows up in more subtle, but equally disruptive, ways. How Flight Shows Up at Work For women leaders of color, this response…
Thriving in Harsh Workplace Environments
In my career, I learned quickly that certain workplaces rewarded compliance over authenticity. Questions could be read as challenges, new ideas were often dismissed, and as one of the few Black women on my team, I felt the unspoken weight of tokenism. I became the “easy to lead” employee—over-functioning, quick…
Survival Check: The Fawn Trauma Response in the Workplace and How to Overcome It
I was sitting in a meeting, heart racing, rehearsing what I wanted to say. But instead of speaking up, I smiled, nodded, and stayed silent. Later, frustration welled up inside me. I knew my insight mattered. So why didn’t I speak? It wasn’t fear of public speaking or lack of…