10 | Living in the Gray, Brain Development, and Camp ft. Maria Austin, LMFT, Psy.D.

Give to camp here: https://bit.ly/3Nry6Md

"Honestly, as a therapist...you can't help people do work you haven't done."

Maria moved from the nature-filled Pacific Northwest to urban Los Angeles to pursue her dream of starting a camp for at-risk youth. Along the way, she realized that the world is much more "gray" than black and white. She learned how to live in the tension between accepting the complexities of the world while being upset at injustice. Maria talks about how we can all heal from traumas because our minds and bodies were built to heal. Eventually Maria was able to fulfill her dream of starting camp and creating life changing experiences for children in the foster system

 

References:

• Dawn of Hope: non-profit organization that Maria started to host camp (https://dawnofhopela.org)
• Royal Family Kids / For the Children: faith-based organization created to create life changing moments for children who have experiences relational trauma (https://www.forthechildren.org/about-us/camps)
• Fuller Theological Seminary: interdenominational, Christian seminary in Pasadena, California (https://www.fuller.edu/about/)
• 80 Year Long Harvard Study on Happiness: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/harvard-happiness-study-relationships/672753/

I now provide the transcript to episodes! Click here for Ep. 10 with Maria: https://share.descript.com/view/mkNUyt4eDM5