The Gifts of Trauma

Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes.  Produced by J'aime Rothbard.
John Cummins built his entire career on learning to see what's beneath the surface, first tissue samples under a microscope, then investment portfolios, then the executives running them. Describing the onset of burnout as 'the body sending an invoice,' he shares that the invoice he received included a divorce and arrived in the middle of an outwardly thriving career. It also demanded that he reexamine every inherited belief he'd ever carried about who a successful husband, father, and professional was supposed to be.
In this episode, John also explains:
- Why a newly promoted executive's boss sent them straight into coaching
- How his own external success co-existed with a complete internal self-disconnection
- Why he walked away from a top role in European finance
- What can happen when a lifelong fixer, people-pleaser, or entertainer, finally removes their mask
Now based in Switzerland, trained in Compassionate Inquiry, Internal Family Systems, and polyvagal-informed somatic work, John spends his days helping high-powered executives find their way back to themselves, often using their familiar language of negotiation and deal-making.
About John Cummins 
Somatic Therapist and Executive Coach
John works with people who look fine from the outside: Leaders, founders and high performers who have insight, language, self-awareness, and bodies that keep telling a different story.
He came to this work by an unusual route, beginning his career in clinical histopathology, reading illness in cells under a microscope. He moved on to spend more than two decades in investment banking and financial market infrastructure, including nine years as a chief executive within a major European stock exchange group. Both worlds taught him the same lesson from opposite ends: The body holds what the mind cannot say.
Today, John is a somatic therapist and executive coach based in Switzerland, working with clients worldwide. He trained in Compassionate Inquiry with Dr Gabor Maté, then integrated Internal Family Systems (IFS), Polyvagal Theory, EMDR, the Safe and Sound Protocol and breathwork. An International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach, John holds a Master's in Business Psychology.
His practice sits where somatic therapy and corporate leadership meet. The conversation about burnout and executive wellbeing is growing louder, but remains largely surface-level. Leaders are told to meditate, to manage their time better, or build resilience. What's rarely said is that a nervous system can hold a survival state for decades, and that time management will not address what lives in the body.
John's conviction is simple: Nearly everyone carries trauma—and—nobody is broken. The habits that limit a leader today were once intelligent survival responses: over-preparing, over- delivering, holding control. They soften when they are met with compassion. In John's experience, the pattern that built their success is usually the same as the pattern that drains the person. Recognising that is where the shift begins.
Promotional Messages
Compassionate Inquiry® Conference—Vancouver 2026
If you've completed, or are currently enrolled in Compassionate Inquiry training, you're invited to attend the third international CI Conference in Vancouver, Canada from October 30 to November 1. Dr Gabor Maté is returning as our keynote speaker and master class presenter. Enjoy engaging workshops and inspiring demonstrations with Sat Dharam Kaur, Compassionate Inquiry Facilitators and Practitioners. Whether you join us in person for three days of shared inquiry with CI cohort partners, and colleagues from around the world, or attend virtually to focus on the teachings, tap this link to learn more and secure your place. And yes—there will be dancing. 
Spotlight Episodes
Your journey with Compassionate Inquiry® matters. Your work in the world matters. If you have a story to share about bringing Compassionate Inquiry into the world, we'd like to amplify your voice. Spotlight episodes are full length Gifts of Trauma podcast interviews offered exclusively to CI community members. You'll not only share your story with 55,000 healing professionals across all platforms, you'll receive a pre-interview strategy session plus three promotional video clips. We're offering only 10 Spotlight episodes per year and production realities require a financial contribution. Follow these links to access full details and express your interest.  Spotlight Episodes  |  Sponsorships
Resources:
Websites: 
John's Professional Site
John's Substack
John's Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner Profile
Related Links:
Compassionate Inquiry Training 
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Polyvagal Theory
Dr Gabor Maté 
No bad parts. No bad leaders (Article)
Social Media:
John's Instagram
John's LinkedIn

Hosted by Kevin Young.  Produced by J'aime Rothbard
Dagmara grew up in communist Poland, where feelings weren't discussed, and disappointment was carried quietly. She moved to the US at twenty, where she worked at odd jobs, drank, partied hard and led a very colourful life. She continued moving from country to country, searching for the one place where her life would start working. It took her mother's illness, and a conversation at a spiritual retreat, to uncover that she'd actually been running from what she'd been searching for. 
In this conversation Dagmara shares her transformational journey and explains:
- What toxic shame can actually feel like, in the body
- How a single conversation at a spiritual retreat became the doorway into her own childhood
- Why when the phrase, "my life doesn't work" comes up, it is worth taking seriously
- What happens when someone starts questioning whether they were ever the problem
This episode ends with Dagmara passing on something beautiful and brilliant that she wished someone had told her when she was travelling the world, looking for answers. "if you feel lost, or have problems with yourself, or in relationships, with dissatisfaction, or perfectionism, or workaholism or addictions, you may need some healing." 
About Dagmara K. Ziniewicz Psychosomatic Practitioner | Founder of Metamorfosis Therapy 
The founder of Metamorfosis Therapy, a space dedicated to profound inner transformation and changing the paradigm through which we relate to ourselves, others and reality, Dagmara is also a Certified Compassionate Inquiry® Practitioner, Educator and Mentor, with two years of training and internship in Dr. Gabor Maté's approach. She holds a MA in Pedagogy, is trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS Level 1 & Groups), Non-Dual Therapy, Somatic Meditation, Psychodrama, Therapeutic Theatre, Conscious Sexuality and Relating, and is a certified facilitator of Contact Beyond Contact, a therapeutic dance and movement practice exploring embodiment, connection, boundaries and relational patterns.
Dagmara integrates different modalities to meet the complexity of each person's experience. Her work explores not only what we think and feel, but also how our experiences are held in the body, shaped by the nervous system and expressed through our relationships.
At the core of her work is the exploration of toxic shame—the deeply rooted sense that something is fundamentally wrong with us. Through awareness and embodiment she supports people in loosening shame's grip and developing a more conscious, compassionate and authentic way of relating.
Since 2020, Dagmara has created and facilitated experiential workshops and transformational programmes in Poland, Bali and internationally, while cultivating an online community. The education and mentoring she provides for therapists and practitioners, share an experiential approach to trauma-informed, somatic and relational work.
At the heart of her work is a simple belief: You don't need to fix yourself. You need to understand and integrate what led you to believe that something is wrong with you. 
Promotional Messages
Compassionate Inquiry® Conference—Vancouver 2026
If you've completed, or are currently enrolled in Compassionate Inquiry training, you're invited to attend the third international CI Conference in Vancouver, Canada from October 30 to November 1. Dr Gabor Maté is returning as our keynote speaker and master class presenter. Enjoy engaging workshops and inspiring demonstrations with Sat Dharam Kaur, CI Facilitators and Practitioners. Whether you join us in person for three days of shared inquiry with CI cohort partners, and colleagues from around the world, or attend virtually to focus on the teachings, tap this link to learn more and secure your place. And yes—there will be dancing. 
Compassionate Inquiry® Experience
If you've been listening to our podcast and are curious about the transformative power of Compassionate Inquiry®, join us on Sep 26 for a 6-hour online experiential introduction to the Compassionate Inquiry approach and community. This link takes you to a web page where you can get information and, if you choose, register for the CI Experience. 
Resources
Websites:
Dagmara's Metamorfosis Site
Dagmara's Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner Profile
Dagmara's Compassionate Inquiry Private Mento Profile
Related Links:
Happiness is a Choice (Book)
From Self Judgement To Self Love (Video)
Understanding Trauma - Interview (Video)
How to Overcome Toxic Shame, Peter A. Levine, PhD (Video)
The Five Levels of Compassion, Dr Gabor Maté (Video)
Compassionate Inquiry® Professional Training 
Social Media:
Dagmara's Facebook
Dagmara's Instagram
Dagmara's YouTube Channel

Hosted by Kevin Young. Produced by J'aime Rothbard.
Five years ago, during the COVID lockdown, Urszula received an email that informed her that she had cancer. No doctor called first to walk her through it, so she assumed it was a mistake, but her doctor's call the next morning confirmed the diagnosis. Up until that point, Urszula had been the person who managed everything and everyone, a role she first took on as a child. 
She carried that same instinct into music school, journalism, and her own business (a communications agency built entirely on her own terms where she answered to no one). It took a cancer diagnosis and one blunt sentence from a Chinese medicine practitioner, to show her what all of that managing had actually cost her.
In this conversation Urszula also shares:
- The unexpected gift buried inside a diagnosis nobody would have asked for
- Why it took her so long to understand a Chinese medicine practitioner's assessment
- What redefining 'being good' actually means became the hardest part of her recovery
- What she built in Warsaw to share what she learned, and why she refuses to push it on anyone
This isn't a conversation about cancer, it's about a woman who spent decades making sure everyone around her was fine, and learning—the hard way—how to notice when she wasn't fine herself. Today that same instinct to manage everything has shifted into an invitation: "Come find your body at 7am or 8pm, in Polish or English, and no one will try to convince you to stay."
About Urszula Radzińska: Founder, MyMeditation.Space | Meditation Teacher 
& Mindfulness Coach
After discovering meditation as a university student, Urszula's life path led her to build and run a successful communications agency. For 20 years, she was effective, responsible, always 'on.' Then in 2016, while still running her agency, she began sharing meditation with others. In the 2020 pandemic lockdown, she built MyMeditation.Space, a project that has since become her life's work. The real tipping point came in 2021, when a cancer diagnosis forced her to stop controlling everything and start listening to her body, not as a tool to optimize, but as a source of wisdom in its own right.
That shift changed her life. In the years that followed, Urszula became an internationally certified OSHO Active Meditations facilitator, she completed EMCC-accredited* training in mindfulness-based coaching and recently finished the year-long training in Compassionate Inquiry—the approach at the heart of this podcast—which she is now integrating into her coaching and teaching. Ula also lives with ADHD, which shapes how she supports clients in finding steadiness without forcing themselves into constant action.
Since 2022, she has focused on growing MyMeditation.Space, teaching active meditation classes, training future OSHO facilitators, and offering individual sessions and workshops in Warsaw and online. In these few years, she also founded The Mindful Living Foundation, a non-profit she now chairs, and launched and hosts OBECNA, a Polish language podcast that explores mindfulness, meditation, and coming back to oneself.
Contact with oneself, Urszula believes, isn't a luxury, it's the foundation everything else is built on. Curious listeners can start with a free 20-minute consultation via her website.
*EMCC: The European Mentoring and Coaching Council
Promotional Messages:
Compassionate Inquiry® Circles
If you're not a therapist or healer, but you've heard our guests describe the personal transformations they experienced during their Compassionate Inquiry® journeys, and wonder what that would be like for you... Circles is a 10-week small group experience offered to anyone who wants to experience the power of Gabor Maté's approach to trauma healing. Use this link to find out if this program is for you.
The Portal
If you've been listening to our podcast, you may have heard guests connect their birth experiences with enduring subconscious behavioural and emotional patterns. To help break this cycle, Compassionate Inquiry® offers The Portal, a 28-week trauma-informed training for perinatal health professionals; such as midwives, obstetricians, nurses and doulas, who want to empower their patients to trust their innate ability to birth, bond and nurture their child. Use this link to learn more
Resources
Websites:
Ureszula's Professional Website 
MyMeditation.Space Website
Mindful Living Foundation Website
Related Links:
OBECNA podcast 
Compassionate Inquiry® Professional Training 
OSHO Trainings
Social Media:
Instagram: @urszula.radzinska
Facebook: @urszula.radzinska
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/urszularadzinska
YouTube: @urszula.radzinska
Spotify: @urszula.radzinska

Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J'aime Rothbard.
FDNY Lieutenant Joseph Leavey's voice on the radio tapes from that morning was calm, steady and in command as he led his men into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.  His daughter, Caitlin was just ten, and it took her some time to understand why he never came home, and what had happened to the outgoing larger-than-life father she adored. Twenty-five years later, on the anniversary of 9/11, Cait joins us to talk about her clinical work as a therapist to first responders, military veterans and their families.
She also shares:
- The gift that emerged from the ashes of that disaster
- How it felt when the initial wave of community support faded, and her lifelong mission to keep it alive
- What Camp America did for kids who lost family on 9/11
- Where the Spirit of 9/12 shares its messages of hope
This isn't a conversation about what was lost on September 11th, but about what one person refused to let fade. Every year, Cait returns to her father's firehouse on 9/11 to be embraced by her father's memory and the second family she's known all her life. Then, every 9/12, she runs a local event that inspires the next generation to keep the compassionate spirit of that dark time alive.
About Caitlin Leavey, LMHC
A licensed mental health counselor, trauma-informed therapist, and advocate whose personal and professional work is rooted in grief, healing, and service, Caitlin is the daughter of FDNY Lieutenant Joseph Leavey, whom she lost on September 11, 2001. In the years since, she has carried her dad's legacy forward by helping individuals and communities transform grief into meaningful connection and action.
Cait specializes in supporting people affected by trauma, loss, anxiety, and depression, with a particular commitment to first responders, military, Gold Star families, and others whose experiences of grief and service are often carried quietly.
She is the co-founder of The Holding Frames, a nonprofit that uses art, storytelling, and compassionate connection to help people feel seen and supported during times of hardship. Cait also co-founded the 9/11 Memorial & Museum Visionary Network and founded The Spirit of 9/12, an annual youth-led day of service that honors the September 11 National Day of Service (9/11 Day). She is also a 9/11 Day Ambassador.
Through her work as a clinician, storyteller, and community leader, Cait invites others to recognize that healing does not mean leaving loss behind—it means finding ways to carry love, purpose, and connection forward.
Promotional Messages:
Compassionate Inquiry 3rd CI Conference—Vancouver 2026
If you've completed, or are currently enrolled in Compassionate Inquiry training, you're invited to attend the third international CI Conference in Vancouver, Canada from October 30 to November 1. Dr Gabor Maté is returning as our keynote speaker and master class presenter. Enjoy engaging workshops and inspiring demonstrations with Sat Dharam Kaur, CI Facilitators and Practitioners. Whether you join us in person for three days of shared inquiry with CI cohort partners, and colleagues from around the world, or attend virtually to focus on the teachings, tap this link to learn more and secure your place. And yes—there will be dancing. 
Compassionate Inquiry Suicide Attention
The Compassionate Inquiry Suicide Attention Training is for therapists, health professionals and others working in therapeutic, healing, educational, medical, or coaching roles. If you're seeking sensitive training to help you recognize and support people in your communities who may be experiencing suicidal distress, tap this link to access a web page where you can learn more about this training, and decide if it's a good fit for you. 
Websites:
Cait's Psychology Today Profile
The Holding Frames 
The Spirit of 9/12
Points of Light
Related Links:
9/11 Memorial & Museum Article
The Spirit of 9/12 Event Info
America's Camp 
Tunnel to Towers
Gold Star Families
Smart Home Recipients
A Paradise Built in Hell (Book)
Feathers of the Phoenix (Art Project)
Social Media
Cait's Instagram
The Holding Frames Instagram 
Cait's Facebook
The Holding Frames Facebook
Cait's LinkedIn

Hosted by Kevin Young and J'aime Rothbard. Produced by J'aime Rothbard 
Most people experience one or two truly traumatic events in their lifetimes. Most first responders live through a hundred. In this final episode of our First Responders Series, Brandon returns to integrate everything this series has explored and uncovered. In this reflective conversation he challenges and embraces the word we use most often to describe people like him, and almost never ask them about.
Brandon also shares:
- Why calling first responders "heroes" might be doing them more harm than good
- How the "hero" label reflects both first responders' 'superpowers' and desire to be 'regular people'
- What a sports psychologist taught a team of competitive firefighters about winning
- Why the first call Brandon made after his own crisis was to a therapist, and why for most first responders, that's usually the last call they make
This isn't just a wrap-up episode. It's the conversation this whole series has been building toward; what it actually means to be human first, and a hero second, if at all.
About Brandon Evans Executive Director,
Fire to Light Foundation, Founder & CEO,
Fire to Light 
Brandon Evans is a retired firefighter and the Founder of Fire to Light, an organisation dedicated to advancing preventative Mental Fitness training inside the fire service. Drawing on lived experience and independent global research involving over 104 fire chiefs and leaders across 13 countries and 5 continents, Brandon developed the Fire to Light Mental Fitness Training System, a practical operationalised approach to training Mental Fitness the same way fire departments train every other critical skill.
Through the Fire to Light Foundation, a registered Canadian charity of which Brandon serves as Executive Director, the goal is to make Mental Fitness training accessible to every fire department, removing barriers so that Mental Fitness is systemised and embedded into fire service operations worldwide. not treated as a clinical afterthought, but trained, reinforced, and owned at every level of the organisation.
Brandon's mission is to help reduce rates of suicide and psychological injury in the fire service through an upstream approach of Mental Fitness Training, Fitness before Therapy.
Promotional Messages:
The Compassionate Inquiry® Experience
If you've been listening to our podcast and are curious about the transformative power of Compassionate Inquiry®, join us on Feb 22 for a 6-hour online experiential introduction to the Compassionate Inquiry approach and community. This link takes you to a web page where you can get information and, if you choose, register for the CI Experience event.
Compassionate Inquiry® Circles
If you're not a therapist or healer, but you've heard our guests describe the personal transformations they experienced during their Compassionate Inquiry® journeys, and wonder what that would be like for you... Circles is a 10-week small group experience offered to anyone who wants to experience the power of Gabor Maté's approach to trauma healing. Use this link to find out if this program is for you.
Resources:
Websites:
Fire to Light Foundation 
Fire to Light Website
Support Fire to Light — Zeffy
Fire to Light Research Study
Related Links:
Crackyl Magazine
International Association of Fire Chiefs
FireFit Championships
Book:
Divine Beauty
Articles:
Firefighters and Mental Health: The Fear of Raising Your Hand
But There Is Nothing Wrong With Me
Trauma: Who, What, Where, When and Why
Podcasts: 
Upgrade Your Self Love (2025)
Heroes are Also Human (2025)
Transforming Challenges into Opportunities (2025)
Videos:
The Case Against Cosby (2023)
Firefighting and Mental Fitness (2025)
Real Leadership Comes from Courage (2024)
Social Media:
Facebook: Fire to Light
Instagram: @firetolight_firefighters
LinkedIn: Fire to Light Foundation