Colby: Welcome to Stocking the Pantry, a CalFresh Healthy Living podcast from
Leah's Pantry. On this show, we discuss any and all things community nutrition, food
equity, and nutrition security. We hope to foster collaboration and community, as well
as leverage strengths among listeners, guests, and hosts as we share ideas and
dreams of building a more equitable future where everyone has access to healthful
and nourishing food.
Tee: Thank you for joining us on Stocking the Pantry. I am Tee Atwell and I am your
host today. And today we're gonna actually be talking with Christi Garner, a
co-founder of Holistic Emotional First Aid, or what we also know as HEFA. Christi
has been in the trauma and recovery space for more than 20 years as a therapist, an
international educator and trainer, and a somatic practitioner.
She has worked with first responders, military service personnel, and healthcare
professionals alike, merging what we like to call neuroscience, trauma-informed
principles, and mindfulness. And we're gonna be talking about HEFA today, which is
Holistic Emotional First Aid. So thank you for joining us today, just go ahead and tell
us about yourself too.
Christi: Ah, thank you so much, Tee, It's amazing to be here. First and foremost,
HEFA, or Holistic Emotional First Aid is a trauma informed model designed to offer
immediate body-based tools for emotional regulation and recovery, and it integrates
various aspects of mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing by addressing both
bottom up, our nervous system regulation, and top down, our cognitive and
emotional processing approaches. So HEFA’s really there to empower individuals
and communities to manage stress, trauma, and adversity through practical,
accessible tools that can be used in everyday situations.
And I think as we begin, we can talk about it being a toolkit for navigating stress and
trauma and adversity through our nervous system, using nervous system fluency,
emotional intelligence, and kind of a place where we build trust with each other.
Tee: I really love that you talked about fluency, and we can definitely dive into that.
But, what's your story? Like, how did you even stumble upon HEFA, all of that.
Christi: Totally. HEFA was sort of come to fruition in the middle of COVID, when
Shannon Thompson and I had been running these online groups across the world.
So we were in groups with women from Africa, Australia, Ireland, and we kind of
coined this term First Aid, Shannon and I, to communicate two things. Accessibility
number one, right? This is for everybody. Ah, it doesn't need a clinical person to use
it. It's just like you would use first aid, but we're gonna use psychological or
emotional or as we call it, Holistic Emotional First Aid. And really, it's preventative
and responsive. So like physical first aid, HEFA does have tools for managing
overwhelm and preventing burnout.
And it's really grounded in social emotional learning because we know humans are
not just brains on sticks, right? We want to feel, we want to connect, we want to
rebuild. And social emotional learning builds that inner scaffolding that we need to
thrive under pressure. Right. And so many of us are working under immense
amounts of pressure right now. We had been working with a global nonprofit, Shakti
Rising, for I think about 30 years, had been working globally with women in different
communities. And when COVID hit, we noticed there's these amazing, strong women
in these communities all across the world. And there were questions that started to
happen.
Tee: Hmm.
Christi: How are they to continue thriving in this kind of immense pressure?
Tee: Maybe we'll take a look at that in another episode, but thriving and just living
are two different things.
So to be able to thrive, you actually really have to tap into every resource you
possibly can, so you can navigate what is presented to us.
Christi: Holistic Emotional First Aid really emerged from those first few months of
carrying kind of those seeds forward about relational somatic, community centered
work that Shakti Rising was known for.
Um, you know, HEFA's really honoring Shannon's belief in this thing about trauma
recovery, which is, it's not clinical, it's spiritual, it's ecological and it's social.
Tee: We don't need a degree,
Christi: That's right.
Tee: To arrive with social emotional presence.
Christi: Absolutely. So it, we really wanted to invite people to remember that innate
wholeness while learning to reregulate, right. It was very dysregulating, the
pandemic with so many unknowns, people trapped in different places, just so much
going on. So that reregulation, that reconnection and that re-weaving of resilience is
where our HEFA circles really began.
Tee: Wow, that is beautiful. And I use HEFA. I, I'm gonna tell y'all right now, HEFA
has been my saving grace when my life was turned upside down and it was because
of what I learned that I was actually able to wake up and take a step forward.
I really appreciate what you and Shannon, put together. I don't, do you wanna talk a
little bit about Shannon, just a smidge?
Christi: I think we started working with Leah's Pantry, Shannon and I, right in after
the pandemic kind of 2020, 2021. And, I've been working with Shannon and Shakti
Rising for about 15 years. Shannon started Shakti Rising in her early twenties. and it
was to understand healing as both a personal and a collective process and really her
life's work. And Shakti was rooted in reclaiming wholeness through embodied
leadership, community resilience, and that systemic transformation, right, from the
inside out.
HEFA was one of the many tools that Shannon developed over the years of Shakti.
And she used it to support really a lot of healing justice work and women's recovery.
Tee: Shannon was way beyond her years, right?
I met Shannon; very authentic, honest, and I was able to look up to a woman for the
first time, to really say, wow. now that's what graceful power looks like. That's what
being able to accept a collective and uplift them all at once, and understanding
where I stand and what I have to offer.
I hope y'all get to either be a part of the training, learn about HEFA, because I have
grown so much and I really appreciate that you're talking about the personal and the
collective process because they are one, it's not like a silo, like it all works in tandem.
Right. So you talked a little bit about understanding stress, strengthening your
resilience. Why is that so important?
Christi: Mm, Both Shakti and HEFA came from this core principle of healing is not a
luxury. It's a necessity.
Tee: Wait, wait, wait. I just wanna stop there. Can we repeat that? Mic drop? Let's
repeat.
Christi: Healing is not a luxury. It's a necessity.
Tee: Necessity.
Christi: That's right.
Tee: Required for us as humans.
Christi: As humans, as people inside of our families, as parents, as you know,
co-partners, as colleagues, we need this so that we can keep doing the work that we
were born to do, or that we're here to do, or that we're drawn to do.
Every day we're faced with these different moments, right? And we get to choose
how we want to engage. And I think HEFA gives us the different opportunities to
make different choices depending on where we're at, who we're with, and what we're
attuning and attending to.
That is one of the things you learned with us and we learned all together just noticing
what's going on with folks that are dropping into our monthly trainings. Every training
was different, because we had to attune and attend to what was going on in that
room, in that moment, politically, culturally, systemically. Even when it was just
people maybe coming in a little burned out, or maybe the training was on Friday and
they had a long week. There's always something happening for us.
Tee: And I really love that you brought up the point of, as a facilitator, you're also
going through these things, whoever we are in community with, we're serving, they're
all experiencing this, but we're also, as facilitators, experiencing this. And then we
also have to adapt, be flexible, to be able to deliver and show up as our most
positive and best self amongst all of that, while we're trying to help others. So how do
we do that to make sure that we're not having that burnout?
Even when we experience burnout, I’ve felt guilt because I wasn't able to show up
the way that I know I can show up. But it's because I was just way beyond my
capacity. Why should I be feeling any guilt for being I need a break?
Christi: Sure.
Tee: That's not the conversation I wanna be having with myself. I wanna say, oh, it's
time for a break. Let's go ahead and do that and accept it openly. How does applying
a nervous system regulation practice really help to revitalize oneself? And how does
that translate to others?
Christi: .Absolutely. You got it. One of our main kind of points was that people don't
need more resources. Actually, they need to be resourced, right. Giving people
access to services is important, but it's not enough. People also need to build that
internal capacity to receive support, to regulate stress, to connect meaningfully with
others and to become resourced in themselves.
You know, We're really getting down to that bottom up approach, which is looking at
neurobiology and trauma recovery. So studies show that trauma is stored in the
body, and interventions that focus on regulating the nervous system, such as deep
breathing, grounding, physical movement really helped to reduce our hyper-arousal
and disassociation, which are common trauma responses, right?
So when we're looking at how to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to
promote relaxation and emotional regulation, we really have to do that through the
body, not top down through our minds.
Tee: Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Gotta come from the core. Our mind, our body, I feel is
like the physical presence that we have to protect us from the elements outside of us
and our own little world. But within that we have a core foundation that we also need
to nourish and, and feed into.
Christi: That's right. And I think, you know, helping our nervous system shift from
that survival response into our connection, curiosity, and creativity really helps us to
lower our cortisol and inflammation.
It improves our heart rate variability, and our ability to think through problems. And
then it creates new neural pathways, which is exactly what you were just talking
about. I need new ways to experience myself, new ways to experience the world.
Right. And this rewires us towards recovery instead of reactivity.
Tee: So if we are already past the point of prevention. Now we're either in response
or reactivity mode. Depending on where I am at, I feel I can either react to a
situation, I'm usually in my mid- or primal brain.
Christi: Mm-hmm.
Tee: Or I can respond. What I've learned with HEFA, is that I can actually take that
pause.
Christi: Mm-hmm.
Tee: Without judgment, without shame, and it's actually warranted because the next
choice, the next move I make, is gonna be bigger than just me. Like we're literally
serving a community that is coming with so many layers, how do we serve a mass
that has a lot of different experiences and colors to their life. What are the benefits of
identifying trauma related experiences to food security, to nutrition, and how does
this even impact us as nutrition professionals?
Christi: I think this is such a great question, Tee, and I think, you know, food
insecurity can be inherently traumatic.
It can activate our survival responses that disrupt our digestion, our memory, our
emotional regulation. A lot of folks out there working in this sector are dealing with
definitely stress, number one, and then maybe some aspects of this traumatic
experience.
And when nutrition professionals understand this, they can shift from this model of
trying to figure out what's wrong, to looking at it from a trauma-informed principle to
really try to deepen trust and foster connection, which is gonna help us to increase
our program engagement, right?
We want to sustain behavioral change, we want to help in big ways to change their
lives. But also we want to attune and attend to what's happening right now in the
moment, so when we feel there's nothing we can do, sometimes right now in the face
of policy changes or culture, these co-regulation practices or attuning and attending
really helps us stay connected to where we can support, where we can step in and
where we can take a stand with our folks and with the resources that we have for
them.
Tee: I really appreciate that you took the perspective of, it's not what our deficit is. It's
not what's wrong, it's what we have in abundance. It's what we have to offer to this
situation that actually can help us to have so many different levels of purpose, of
meaning within what we do next and why we're choosing the way we choose. Okay,
we were talking about nutrition education. How do I even find the meaning to
integrate food and nutrition interventions that actually support my emotional first aid
when one, that was not what I was brought up with, and two, it's new.
It kind of seems like flu-flu, you know, it's got a lot of fluff around it. Can you just
provide an example of how one can integrate this?
Christi: Sure. We've been talking a lot about this principle of attune and attend,
which is one of our core principles, right?
So this could look like... Being able to enact a silly breathing exercise to shake off
challenges from a hard day. Or you might be like, oh my gosh, this person is really in
a place where they need this additional resource, then you can figure out how to talk
with them about a warm handoff to additional care. So I think the skills of attunement
can equip anyone working with food insecurity, food pantry, to meet the clients where
they're at during even a short interaction.
Tee: Yes, exactly. When we talk about attunement, I mean we do attunement here at
Leah's Pantry. And a lot of times we're attuning to ourselves. We're attuning to what's
going on in this present moment, so I'm able to respond in a way that almost is
natural. It's just a natural occurrence for me to be like, oh, I recognize what that is.
Let me go ahead and this is what's gonna happen. I'm also attuning to myself. I'm
also regulating myself and I'm also offering tools if they're willing to accept the same
thing that they need in this moment in time, instead of me judging them or, or
thinking or assuming.
Okay. So how would you say is the easiest way for those that are listening right now
to incorporate these methods when they're sitting in these high stress situations
where, I don't know if I'm gonna really have the time to just break. Maybe it's not
worth it because I have so many other things that I'm attending to at this point.
Christi: When we look at using HEFA tools, we're really looking to promote a culture
of care. So when we invite in to choose to take a collective breath before a meeting.
before we start our day in the car, in the parking lot, we're doing a little tool or I'm
excusing myself to take a drink of water or go to the bathroom, or I'm silently sitting
in the room and doing my regulation tools while other people are talking, right? This
is going to help us to show up, to be connected to what is true, and to be able to
stand up for what we need to in our communities.
Tee: So how have you been able to really measure the impact that you have made?
Is it success stories? Is it something I collect on a survey? How are we able to
measure that as success? Because I feel like our listeners are doing so much work
in the field, but we need effective ways to measure what kind of impact we're having.
Because that also gives me purpose, right, as a nutrition educator. So how have you
been able to do that?
Christi: We use, obviously, a lot of qualitative data stories, reflection tools, you know,
we've got tons of people with these just life changing moments. And then we do have
a lot of quantitative, pre- and post-surveys that we use with our HEFA participants.
So, what stands out to me, a couple of things, is, we've trained about 800
professionals in this one HEFA practice.
And about 86% of those folks say they would recommend a workshop to one of their
friends, 86%. And 83% of those people share that there's something from that
workshop that they will use in their lives. We train people in so many different
sectors. We train first responders, patrolers. We train folks that work at grocery
stores. We train food nutrition experts. We train janitorial services. So we just like to
hear that there's something in this toolkit that you will use, right?
Tee: For sure. I really appreciate that you talk about, it doesn't happen overnight. It
happens in waves. It is really about accumulating those resources, those tools, in a
manner that is kind of, like, the experience: okay, now I am doing the breathing.
We're not looking to be perfect. We're not looking to have all the answers overnight.
We're not looking to solve our problems overnight. We're looking to face what is
presented to us in a way that actually helps our physiological, spiritual, mental, and
emotional wellbeing, to where we can all come and sync and still arrive the next day.
Because as we know, we're serving others and we have to be fluid with it.
And so, you didn't say the word autonomy, but you talked about autonomy. For me to
be able to walk into a situation and actually own what's going on and have autonomy
to make a choice, that is huge. You're not telling me what I need to do. I actually
understand what I need to do and I'm gonna own that. I'm gonna own that agency.
Let's talk a little bit about how Shakti Rising and HEFA have come into the lives of
Leah's Pantry and the programs and projects that we have actually carried out.
We've been together, what...
Christi: I think, 2022. So three years? Yeah.
Tee: I actually got to be a part of this contract, literally as an IT person. And let me
tell you, I was like, you cannot take me off of this project. I'm gonna be here for the
whole project, because every time I walk away with something and I just feel more
fulfilled, I feel more within myself and more authentic to who I am without apology.
So let's talk a little bit about your project with Leah's Pantry, what we had going on,
what we was doing.
Christi: Sure. Our historical relationship, Tee, we were doing the quarterly trainings
across Leah's Pantry. And we have had quite a few folks participate with us in those
trainings. And we're just learning a lot about trauma, how it affects the body.
We're learning a little bit about burnout, moral injury. We definitely talked a little bit
about that. And then we practice our emotional first aid practices. And then y'all gave
us some amazing feedback about how you're putting those into practice and I think
over the three years that we worked, we heard from so many different folks on
embedding practices into meetings, like you're saying, empowering folks to take care
of themselves, and really taking care of each other in this more embodied way.
And I think that, as we have learned, we are also busy. And, Looking forward, we've
talked about our new online video project, so that everybody can have access to
these tools whenever they need them and whenever it feels good for them. Our up
and coming, self-paced online course, combining HEFA with trauma-informed
teachings, will really serve the frontline professionals across the board and rural
communities, or busy communities. And we've got the embodied practices in both
English and Spanish. This is our first step to make sure that everyone has access to
this information and understanding of how this works together.
Tee: Can you share a success story that has really impacted your time with HEFA?
Christi: Um, so up in Montana we partner with an amazing organization called Be
Well and they're peer navigators in their community, or volunteers, and they've been
trained in HEFA tools and they're teachers in training, a lot of them, teaching HEFA
workshops to people in their communities. And they do this amazing event called
Storytelling. Folks got up and they really were able to talk about the different kinds of
ways that they've practiced HEFA and how they've come out of a lot of different
places in their life.
And there was someone speaking about their sobriety and recovery. And there was
a, like, 20-year-old kid there with his mom. And during the storytelling, the HEFA
teacher was talking all about his use of HEFA tools and how much this means for his
recovery. And, that young man just walked out, and his mom kind of followed him out
to the parking lot, checked in with him, said like, “Hey, if you wanna talk about it, I'm
here for you.”
And about three days later that young man said, “Hey, you know what, mom? I really
do think I need to check myself in to a recovery place.” And he was able to go to a
sobriety and recovery. And I think now it's been a year and a half that he's been out
and sober. I think that that's such a testament to speaking and talking about what
regulation does for us, right? That man was just speaking about his sobriety, how
much the regulation tools in the community mean to him, and how much they've
helped him. And that really inspired this young man to, you know, try them out for
himself.
Tee: That's definitely a success story, 'cause he had an experience amongst
community that allowed him to have a recognition of what's going on. But his mom,
someone else also accompanying him, to take breaths. Just let's pause, let's think
about it. And he literally was able to move from the primal survival brain all the way
up to the logical brain to think, okay, I actually want this, this is what I want for my life
and this is what I need to do to attain that. We're not calling this a trendy thing. No.
These are things that most of us, like Christi said, are already doing. We already just
stop and take a deep breath. Who does this? [takes rapid breaths]
Christi: That's right. That's right.
Tee: Right. Like the huff and puff. Right. We call it the huff and puff, blow your house
down. But that's really something that helps us to regulate our vagal nervous system.
So when we are doing these things we're already doing naturally. And if we're able to
come into these situations, we're able to make choices that actually mean something
for the long term.
Christi: Even in these large moments of transition, when you're just emotionally
overwhelmed or there's so much going on to be able to turn to the person next to you
or to be able to turn to your community and practice together, right? Just like
catching up with ourselves, getting back into our bodies.
Another success story I was thinking of is, one of the teachers in training was at this
big funeral, or celebration of life, and the mother of the person that had passed, was
like, hey, can you just lead us in some HEFA tools together? You know, being with
what is.
Right. Not trying to change it, but just catching up. And then being able to move on
from there. And I think that those little moments are also quite pivotal, right? That
keep us engaged and connected. And something as simple as let's all breathe
together during the middle of this celebration of life can be such an impactful
experience.
Tee: And I'm not trying to fix anything, because you will walk away with the same
emotions that we probably came today with the celebration of life. You are all
navigating this transition of this individual in a different way.
But guess what? As a collective, we're able to come together, share a moment, be
one with each other, to fuel each other up silently, and then really walk away to be
able to feel like I'm a little bit stronger to experience what I'm just experiencing right
now. Because we all know that comes in different layers when we are walking a
transition of life.
What, what inspires you, Christi? Like, what inspires you to continue to do this work,
like what motivates you?
Christi: You know, I think, over my 20 years of working as a trauma therapist, in
many different communities all over the world, this universal wish to belong, number
one, and to be understood and accepted. And I think through HEFA we keep seeing
how these emotional first aid tools create the spaces where people can reconnect
with themselves in ways that truly heals. As I see folks just learning and leaning in
and thriving, that's what I think keeps me going.
And you know, one of the things I was thinking about when we were preparing for
today, Tee, was, you know, we've done this with Leah's Pantry and all of these
amazing workers all over the west coast and we've done this with folks working with
refugee populations. We've done this with folks answering domestic violence calls,
and we've done it with sheriffs’ officers and police officers. And I just keep thinking, if
we can all reconnect, right, and keep building this place where we can come from a
more emotionally attuned place of self-compassion, I think it's gonna be a great
movement for our entire country, and for everybody inside of it, because it's world
changing, right? It's not just changing myself, but it's watching other folks change in
their communities with their families, no matter what little area they're in.
Tee: Well, that's what we’re gonna do and that's exactly what I hope everybody's
able to attain. And I know that it'll probably be its own podcast itself, but you actually
touched upon vicarious trauma as a professional. I am taking on a lot of what I call
baggage, and how do I unload that baggage to where it doesn't affect me, but also
being a human, of course, I have some kind of attachment to what I am hearing,
what I am receiving, and I also have to work through that. But because of our line of
work, we are going through that and have to also navigate that.
So. I'm gonna just go ahead and bring it to the big question: what do you stock in
your pantry? Either figuratively, literally, or both?
Christi: I think number one: I stock my pantry with remembering that tiny changes
make the biggest difference.
Tee: Hmm.
Christi: Okay, so we're not talking about an overhaul of our pantry. We're talking
about tiny replacements over time, is like where we change.
And so in my pantry, I definitely got some different kind of smells, oils, sage from the
yard I’m looking at any kind of herbal teas right now. I'm loving my Earl Gray, then
I've got my journaling supplies, and of course I've got my self-regulation tools...
Like Triple Burner Smoothie: we're gonna put our fingers into the middle of our
forehead and pull straight across, down to our temples. We're gonna go over the
backs of our ears and down our shoulders. And we're gonna end right with our hands
on our heart. Hmm. And you can repeat your Triple Burner Smoothie as many times
as you'd like to today.
Uh, that's one of my favorite self-regulation tools.
And if you would like to visit us, you can find me at www.holisticemotionalfirstaid.org,
or on Instagram @HEFACollective, and we just published our HEFA book with a
forward by Shannon Thompson herself, so we'll link that for you all too.
Tee: Well, I'll definitely picking that up. Uh, go ahead and shoot me that link so I can
grab that ASAP. I'm very excited, and Christi, I just want to really thank you for
spending the time today to talk about what I feel like we both care about very
passionately, but really just sharing the knowledge, the wisdom. You already talked
about how our listeners could connect with you, and I don't know if there's one last
bit of advice you'd like to share before we close on out.
Christi: We will close with a wonderful quote, uh, from Shannon, which is...
Vision without action is merely a dream, an action without vision just passes the
time, but vision with action can change the world.
Tee: Thank you so much for hanging with us. Find us online at leahspantry.org, on
Instagram @leahspantryorg, or email us at [email protected].
Colby: This podcast is a product of Leah’s Pantry made possible by funding from the
United States Department of Agriculture and their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program, an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Tee: Visit calfreshhealthyliving.org to learn tips on how to make the healthy choice,
the easy choice. Stocking the Pantry is hosted by me, Tanesha Atwell,
Colby: Me, Colby Do’Onofrio,
Carlos: And me, Carlos Alessandrini. The show is produced by Emma Lehman.
Stocking the Pantry invites guests with a wide variety of opinions and perspectives.
Guest opinions are their own and do not represent the views of Leah’s Pantry.
