Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing

Making Meaning and Writing Toward Posttraumatic Growth with Lennie Echterling

April 18, 2024 Lisa Cooper Ellison
Making Meaning and Writing Toward Posttraumatic Growth with Lennie Echterling
Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing
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Writing Your Resilience: Building Resilience, Embracing Trauma and Healing Through Writing
Making Meaning and Writing Toward Posttraumatic Growth with Lennie Echterling
Apr 18, 2024
Lisa Cooper Ellison

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Lennie Echterling joins the Writing Your Resilience podcast to talk about the lessons he learned from landmine survivors, the difference between empathy and toxic positivity, the importance of fostering your posttraumatic growth, and how to use writing to build your resilience. 


Lennie’s Bio: Lennie Echterling, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus at James Madison University with more than 40 years of experience in promoting resilience, particularly during crises and disasters. He has served as crisis counselor, consultant, and trainer following many traumatic stress events, including tornadoes and floods throughout the United States, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the tsunami in India, the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon, the shootings at Virginia Tech, and landmine explosions in the Middle East. His awards include JMU’s Distinguished Faculty Award, Virginia Counselors Association’s Humanitarian Award, Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award, Virginia Counselors Career Service Award among many others. 


Resources mentioned during this episode: 

The Paradox of Empathy: When Empathy Hurts

Thriving in a Time of Crisis

The Book of Forgiving: The Four-Fold Path Four Healing Ourselves and Our World by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu

Writing to Heal with Laura Davis

Good Night Jung by Lennie Echterling 


Episode Highlights

4:41 Lessons from Landmine Survivors  

10:00 Triggers for Resilience

12:00 Defining Posttraumatic Growth

15:00 The Problem of Toxic Positivity

22:00 The Power of Being with Another Person’s Story

27:00 The Struggle to Trust

30:00 Embracing and Exploring the Chaos Story

35:00 The Role of Neuroplasticity in Storytelling

38:00 Lessons Learned from Final Conversations

42:00 Making Every Day Valentine’s Day

47:00 The Power of Expressing Gratitude  

54:40 Lennie’s Best Writing Advice

56:20 Lennie’s Resilience Practice





Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less
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Sign up for Camp Structure: 14 Weeks to Find and Refine Your Memoir’s Narrative Arc: https://lisacooperellison.com/camp-structure-find-your-memoirs-narrative-arc/

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production

Show Notes

Send us a Text Message.

Lennie Echterling joins the Writing Your Resilience podcast to talk about the lessons he learned from landmine survivors, the difference between empathy and toxic positivity, the importance of fostering your posttraumatic growth, and how to use writing to build your resilience. 


Lennie’s Bio: Lennie Echterling, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus at James Madison University with more than 40 years of experience in promoting resilience, particularly during crises and disasters. He has served as crisis counselor, consultant, and trainer following many traumatic stress events, including tornadoes and floods throughout the United States, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the tsunami in India, the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon, the shootings at Virginia Tech, and landmine explosions in the Middle East. His awards include JMU’s Distinguished Faculty Award, Virginia Counselors Association’s Humanitarian Award, Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award, Virginia Counselors Career Service Award among many others. 


Resources mentioned during this episode: 

The Paradox of Empathy: When Empathy Hurts

Thriving in a Time of Crisis

The Book of Forgiving: The Four-Fold Path Four Healing Ourselves and Our World by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu

Writing to Heal with Laura Davis

Good Night Jung by Lennie Echterling 


Episode Highlights

4:41 Lessons from Landmine Survivors  

10:00 Triggers for Resilience

12:00 Defining Posttraumatic Growth

15:00 The Problem of Toxic Positivity

22:00 The Power of Being with Another Person’s Story

27:00 The Struggle to Trust

30:00 Embracing and Exploring the Chaos Story

35:00 The Role of Neuroplasticity in Storytelling

38:00 Lessons Learned from Final Conversations

42:00 Making Every Day Valentine’s Day

47:00 The Power of Expressing Gratitude  

54:40 Lennie’s Best Writing Advice

56:20 Lennie’s Resilience Practice





Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less
Website
Instagram
YouTube
Facebook
LinkedIn
Sign up for Camp Structure: 14 Weeks to Find and Refine Your Memoir’s Narrative Arc: https://lisacooperellison.com/camp-structure-find-your-memoirs-narrative-arc/

Produced by Espresso Podcast Production