Making Meaning and Writing Toward Posttraumatic Growth with Lennie Echterling

Send us Fan MailLennie 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 HurtsThriving in a Time of CrisisThe Book of Forgiving: The Four-Fold Path Four Healing Ourselves and Our World by Desmond Tutu and Mpho TutuWriting to Heal with Laura DavisGood Night Jung by Lennie Echterling Episode Highlights4:41 Lessons from Landmine Survivors  10:00 Triggers for Resilience12:00 Defining Posttraumatic Growth15:00 The Problem of Toxic Positivity22:00 The Power of Being with Another Person’s Story27:00 The Struggle to Trust30:00 Embracing and Exploring the Chaos Story35:00 The Role of Neuroplasticity in Storytelling38:00 Lessons Learned from Final Conversations42:00 Making Every Day Valentine’s Day47:00 The Power of Expressing Gratitude  54:40 Lennie’s Best Writing Advice56:20 Lennie’s Resilience PracticeConnect with Lennie: Email: [email protected] with your host, Lisa:Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret LessWebsiteInstagramYouTubeFacebookLinkedInSign up for Psychology of Character Development for Memoirists.Produced by Espresso Podcast ProductionBuilding Better Memoir Scenes: https://janefriedman.com/building-better-memoir-scenes-with-lisa-cooper-ellison/Connect with your host, Lisa:Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedInProduced by Espresso Podcast Production