Join Brandi as she interviews James on this edition of Shop Talk. His recent PhD dissertation explores how individual trauma experiences over time begin to impact—and sometimes infect—how an organization develops and functions. Viewing trauma as contagious within a system can help organizations prevent harm and find healing in the aftermath of trauma. His dissertation suggests Emotional Intelligence Training as a way organizations can develop shared language and practices for being safe and grounded with one another, even while living in unsafe environments.

The idea is that how we work matters just as much as what we do. Too often, organizations dissolve, churches split, and further trauma is spread when the mission becomes more important than the people.

You can find his presentation from Mental Health in Missions on this page, along with a link to his dissertation.