Transforming Public Health Using an Embodied Trauma-Informed Model | Lumos Transforms INDUSTRY: Public Health & Community Services PARTNERS: Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) REACH: 656 DPH leadership, staff, and community partners across Los Angeles County THE CHALLENGE When Traditional Trauma-Informed Care Isn't Enough: Bridging Trauma Awareness and Systems Change in Public Health Public health workers are on the frontlines of addressing the

The world is boiling and we’re out here offering deep breaths & meeting norms like that’s enough.
We worked with LA County DPH to train hundreds in actual trauma-informed embodiment. Not just policies. Practice.
More of this, please.

Workplaces are under pressure—budget cuts, burnout, anti-DEI backlash, you name it. If your team is already struggling, hoping things will “settle down” isn’t the move. LA County DPH didn’t wait. 656 staff and leaders got trauma-informed for real, building internal safety, collective capacity, and p

We keep hearing: “We’re doing trauma-informed work.” But if your staff are dissociating in meetings and your leaders can’t regulate in a crisis... are you though? LA County DPH got real about the gap—and closed it. lumostransforms.com/ladph

Transforming Public Health Using an Embodied Trauma-Informed Model | Lumos Transforms INDUSTRY: Public Health & Community Services PARTNERS: Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) REACH: 656 DPH leadership, staff, and community partners across Los Angeles County THE CHALLENGE When Traditional Trauma-Informed Care Isn't Enough: Bridging Trauma Awareness and Systems Change in Public Health Public health workers are on the frontlines of addressing the

Public health workers are collapsing under systems that demand endless care without offering any. LA County DPH tried something different. They let staff and leadership name the shared trauma. Then they gave them tools to survive it together.
Read how it worked →

Transforming Public Health Using an Embodied Trauma-Informed Model | Lumos Transforms INDUSTRY: Public Health & Community Services PARTNERS: Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) REACH: 656 DPH leadership, staff, and community partners across Los Angeles County THE CHALLENGE When Traditional Trauma-Informed Care Isn't Enough: Bridging Trauma Awareness and Systems Change in Public Health Public health workers are on the frontlines of addressing the

2025 has been ROUGH for organizers, public health folks, nonprofit teams. But here’s a quiet success story from LA: over 600 public health workers built actual trauma-informed capacity. Not vibes. Not jargon. Real skills.
It’s possible. Even now.

Announcing the Selected Orgs: A Bold, Diverse Cohort Stepping Into the Work | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we received 22 applications for our Rights Organization Capacity-Building Initiative, representing nearly every corner of the U.K. rights landscape. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce the cohort of organizations selected to participate in this groundbreaking program. These six organizations were chosen not just for what they do, but for who they are. They

The systems we’re up against are coordinated. Our resistance has to be, too. These 15 orgs are weaving care, clarity, and courage into their strategies. We’re learning a lot. And we’re just getting started. 🌀

This isn’t just support. It’s strategy. Each org gets: 🔹 A deep dive in the Resilience Toolkit 🔹 Practice groups to embed the work 🔹 Certification & long-term mentorship. This is what real capacity looks like. 🔗lumostransforms.com/announcing-t...

Too many capacity-building programs focus on performance. This one centers relationship. Whole teams. Real tools. Room to feel. And a pathway to integrate it all. Here’s what’s happening inside: lumostransforms.com/announcing-t...

Announcing the Selected Orgs: A Bold, Diverse Cohort Stepping Into the Work | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we received 22 applications for our Rights Organization Capacity-Building Initiative, representing nearly every corner of the U.K. rights landscape. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce the cohort of organizations selected to participate in this groundbreaking program. These six organizations were chosen not just for what they do, but for who they are. They

These orgs are led by trans people, disabled people, Black and brown folks, immigrants, survivors. They’re pushing back against burnout, scarcity, and systemic harm. We’re resourcing them for the long haul. 📍

Announcing the Selected Orgs: A Bold, Diverse Cohort Stepping Into the Work | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we received 22 applications for our Rights Organization Capacity-Building Initiative, representing nearly every corner of the U.K. rights landscape. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce the cohort of organizations selected to participate in this groundbreaking program. These six organizations were chosen not just for what they do, but for who they are. They

We said: let’s design a program for rights orgs that centers healing, sustainability, and collective care. They said: finally. Meet the orgs who said yes—and what they’re doing with that yes. 🧵

When I’ve highlighted the madness of MAHA, I’ve always tried to also emphasize its evils. The indifference to human suffering, the disdain and even hatred for the neurodivergent.

Announcing the Selected Orgs: A Bold, Diverse Cohort Stepping Into the Work | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we received 22 applications for our Rights Organization Capacity-Building Initiative, representing nearly every corner of the U.K. rights landscape. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce the cohort of organizations selected to participate in this groundbreaking program. These six organizations were chosen not just for what they do, but for who they are. They

🎉 Meet the cohort. 15 justice-driven orgs across the U.K.—from mutual aid networks to legal clinics to survivor-led collectives—are diving deep into embodied resilience. They’re not waiting for change. They’re building it. 🔗

If you’re a therapist, coach, healer, etc… this is where your clients need to start. It gives them tools to regulate so they don’t get retraumatized by the deeper work. Also the first step if you want to get certified in The Resilience Toolkit. lumostransforms.com/survival

Most people dive into trauma healing, skipping the part where they actually learn how to stabilize.

Resourcing Rights Organizations for a Liberatory Future: First Reflections | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we launched a bold new initiative to support rights organizations in the United Kingdom through a fully funded, trauma-informed, resilience-oriented capacity-building program. Now, as we’ve moved into the next phase—interviews with finalists—we want to share a first look at who applied, what we’re seeing, and why this work feels more urgent than

Imagine if your entire org knew how to:
💠 Sustain itself through conflict
💠 Work across difference
💠 Stay grounded in crisis
💠 Keep dreaming of freedom
That’s what we’re building. Here’s how it’s going so far:

Resourcing Rights Organizations for a Liberatory Future: First Reflections | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we launched a bold new initiative to support rights organizations in the United Kingdom through a fully funded, trauma-informed, resilience-oriented capacity-building program. Now, as we’ve moved into the next phase—interviews with finalists—we want to share a first look at who applied, what we’re seeing, and why this work feels more urgent than

Some funders say they understand the need for healing and resilience in movement spaces.
But when it’s time to invest? Crickets. 🦗
Meanwhile, UK funders are saying:
“We see the writing on the wall. We need to do this now.”
Full reflections:

You ever see someone crash out, then launch back into chaos like nothing happened? Most people aren’t lazy or dramatic—they’re dysregulated.

Resourcing Rights Organizations for a Liberatory Future: First Reflections | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we launched a bold new initiative to support rights organizations in the United Kingdom through a fully funded, trauma-informed, resilience-oriented capacity-building program. Now, as we’ve moved into the next phase—interviews with finalists—we want to share a first look at who applied, what we’re seeing, and why this work feels more urgent than

The work of justice isn’t just strategic—it’s embodied.
No movement can survive if its people are exhausted, disconnected, or afraid to dream.
This is why we’re resourcing rights orgs in the U.K. for resilience.
Here’s what we’re learning:

From Survival to Stability | Lumos Transforms From Survival to Stability

Some people can’t relax even when things are “fine.” Their body’s still braced, waiting for the next blow-up. It’s not a mindset problem. It’s a nervous system issue. There’s a class for that.1

Resourcing Rights Organizations for a Liberatory Future: First Reflections | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we launched a bold new initiative to support rights organizations in the United Kingdom through a fully funded, trauma-informed, resilience-oriented capacity-building program. Now, as we’ve moved into the next phase—interviews with finalists—we want to share a first look at who applied, what we’re seeing, and why this work feels more urgent than

Rights orgs aren’t just burned out—they’re under attack.
Austerity has become authoritarianism.
We launched a program to help orgs withstand and reimagine.
What we’ve seen so far is urgent, sobering, and deeply hopeful.
📍First reflections:

Resourcing Rights Organizations for a Liberatory Future: First Reflections | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we launched a bold new initiative to support rights organizations in the United Kingdom through a fully funded, trauma-informed, resilience-oriented capacity-building program. Now, as we’ve moved into the next phase—interviews with finalists—we want to share a first look at who applied, what we’re seeing, and why this work feels more urgent than

📣 Abolition. Reproductive Justice. Disability Rights. Indigenous Sovereignty. Climate Justice.
22 orgs across the U.K. applied to a new resilience-centered program for rights work.
What we learned from them—and what it means for all of us—is in our first report.
🔗

From Survival to Stability. 3 Thursdays: May 15, 22, 29. 12–2pm PT / 3–5pm ET / 7–9pm UTC. Sliding scale down to $0. No story-sharing required. Just simple tools for getting out of chaos. lumostransforms.com/survival

Resourcing Rights Organizations for a Liberatory Future: First Reflections | Lumos Transforms Earlier this year, we launched a bold new initiative to support rights organizations in the United Kingdom through a fully funded, trauma-informed, resilience-oriented capacity-building program. Now, as we’ve moved into the next phase—interviews with finalists—we want to share a first look at who applied, what we’re seeing, and why this work feels more urgent than

“We don’t have the luxury of waiting. Waiting is creating its own reality.” Why a trauma-informed capacity-building program for UK rights orgs couldn’t wait—and what the U.S. funding world could learn from it.
🧵First reflections from Lumos:

Nkem Ndefo: Trauma Healing Starts with You Nkem Ndefo, founder and director of Lumos Transforms, opens up about her powerful journey from healthcare provider to trauma healing pioneer. After witnessing how unaddressed trauma eroded her patients’ physical and emotional wellbeing, Nkem redirected her life’s mission toward helping people understand and recover from trauma—starting with herself. She shares how early childhood trauma and generational pain shaped her path, and how traditional talk therapy didn’t work for her, often making things worse. In response, Nkem developed the Resilience Toolkit, a set of body-based practices designed to meet people where they are—especially when traditional methods fall short. With gentle techniques like the arm sweep, she empowers individuals to tune into their bodies, regulate stress, and build self-trust. Her approach centers curiosity, choice, and permission, helping clients reclaim their sense of agency, especially those who feel powerless or overwhelmed by their past. Through her work, Nkem has witnessed the beauty of...

"Dissociation saved my life. But do I need to be dissociated as much as I needed to when I was going through trauma? The answer is no.” Check out Nkem's interview with PiZetta media for more!

If survival mode has become your baseline, that’s not a failure. It’s your body doing what it had to. And there are ways to shift it. lumostransforms.com/survival-to-...

Healing trauma isn’t just personal. It’s political, cultural, spiritual. It’s how we stop carrying what was never ours to hold alone. That's why we do it in community!

TFW your nervous system finally realizes it’s safe enough to feel. 🥹

Roadmap to Trauma Healing | Lumos Transforms Roadmap to Trauma Healing - Register for free today and take the first step on the path toward wholeness and freedom.

If you want a clear map of how trauma healing actually works, we’d love to share one. Roadmap to Trauma Healing is a free live session. Next one is Tuesday 4/29!

Our culture teaches us to avoid discomfort at all costs. But healing asks us to do the opposite: to stay with what’s hard, without turning away. A lot of people need help re-learning this innate skill.

Numbness isn’t always apathy. Sometimes it’s the body doing its best to keep us from drowning in what we’ve never been safe enough to feel.