Ep. #243. Dr. Elizabeth (Ellie) Stevens

About Dr. Stevens: Board-Certified Psychiatrist, Author and CEO of Eden Psychiatry Founder and Executive Director of Advancing Warriors International Everything changed forever the moment I sustained a traumatic brain injury August 1, 2015. This event led down a journey of the destruction of my world as I knew it. I was an officer in the Air Force, a Psychiatrist, and finishing the 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado, who became the shell of a person within a moment. The brain injury was only the beginning of a year that included rape and four more concussions. Although I had been a master at pushing down my failures, emotions, mistakes, and flaws, I had faced more than I could handle. As everything was laid bare, I came to face to face with the darkness within me. The masks I had worn proving my worth were burned off from the traumas, but instead of being left in ashes, I felt an all-consuming love envelop me. A love I knew I did not earn or deserve. This love empowered me to stop shutting my eyes so tightly in despair, shame, and guilt, and I began to unclench my fists to receive God’s love, forgiveness, and grace. I experienced moral wounds, trauma, and loss, but received freedom, a greater purpose and my restored sense of wonder that had been lost long before these traumas. About her upcoming book, Unshackled: Trauma can either be used as a catalyst for growth, sparking empathy and a closer relationship with God, or as fuel for shame, avoidance, and isolation. Many veterans and first responders know firsthand the toll that trauma can take but lack the knowledge of how to grow from it and move forward. In UNSHACKLED, Elizabeth Stevens uses her unique perspective as both a trauma survivor and a professional psychiatrist to help veterans and first responders, as well as other trauma victims, learn how to grow and heal from their traumatic experiences so that they can experience the abundant life God has for them. Specifically, you will come to understand and learn the effects of trauma from Elizabeth’s story of brain injury, multiple sexual assaults, an eating disorder, post-traumatic stress, suicidal thoughts, depression, and loss of independence;how to get past barriers to healing;which paths will move you forward;the importance of holistic healing—physical, psychological, and spiritual; and that Jesus Christ delivers the ultimate healing. https://www.drelizabethstevens.com/