What if leadership wasn't about holding it all alone?

Leaders in high-stress roles aren't afraid of responsibility. They're worried about breaking under the weight of it. At the Center for Trauma and Leadership, we work with leaders who are quietly carrying it all with a calm face and steady hands.

But underneath? They're unraveling. We partner with leaders across sectors, including first-responders, government agencies, health and social services, journalists, and nonprofits. What we teach isn't therapy — it's trauma-capable leadership through practical, evidence-based tools that help leaders have hard conversations, rebuild team trust, and stay in the work they love without burning out or breaking down. This is the conversation every high-integrity leader needs — and one that most leadership podcasts aren't having yet.

Dr. Gretchen Schmelzer

As seen on

a few of my favorite appearances

Podcast Interviews

Interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Handle Trauma With Help, Not Overwork

Journey Through Trauma: A Trail Guide to the 5-Phase Cycle of Healing Repeated Trauma

The Healing Place Podcast

Brave Healers

The Process Of Trauma Therapy

The Value Your Audience Will Feel—Immediately

What Strong Leaders Wish Someone Would Say Out Loud

Your audience is full of high-capacity leaders who are holding it together on the outside — and holding too much inside. They’ve heard the usual advice. What Gretchen brings is the conversation they didn’t know they needed. With 25+ years as a trauma-capable leader, she delivers real tools for the pressure leaders are under — giving them new clarity and confidence to move forward.

Leading While Carrying: What No One Tells You About Holding It Together at the Top
Your audience may be holding the emotional weight of others while quietly unraveling themselves. This episode gives them permission to be human — without losing their leadership presence.
The Trauma You Didn’t Call Trauma: How Cumulative Stress Redefines Resilience
Perfect for professionals who’ve done all the trainings but still feel heavy. This topic helps them connect the dots between silent burnout and their day-to-day leadership patterns.
Burnout Isn’t a Time Management Problem: It’s a Nervous System Problem
Disrupts the popular burnout narrative and gives leaders a new framework rooted in neurobiology and self-leadership — not calendars or apps.
The Language of Safety: What to Say When Your Team Is Spiraling and You Don’t Know How to Help
Delivers practical scripts and trauma-capable communication tools for those tough moments your listeners face daily but feel unprepared for.
Healing While Leading: How to Rebuild Capacity Without Stepping Away from Your Mission
For the listener who wants to stay — but feels like they’re nearing the edge. This gives them a pathway to recover without exiting the work they're driven to do.

AUTHOR

Journey Through Trauma:

A Trail Guide to the 5-Phase Cycle of Healing Repeated Trauma

For those who’ve held the weight of repeated trauma — quietly, fiercely, and often alone — Journey Through Trauma offers what most healing resources don’t: a clear map to move forward. Whether the pain comes from childhood abuse, domestic violence, or frontline service, Gretchen Schmelzer, PhD — a psychologist, leadership coach, and trauma survivor —guides readers through the 5-phase cycle of healing with clarity, compassion, and lived authority.

This book is not about inspiration. It’s about navigation. It speaks to the brave ones who didn’t quit — but almost did. It's for those of us who’ve tried healing before and found it too disorienting or too lonely. Inside, you’ll find what every survivor deserves to know:

Healing is possible. Healing is brave. It takes courage. And it can't be done alone.

Journey Through Trauma is the trail guide for survivors and those who walk beside them, helping them understand the path, prepare for setbacks, and stay the course toward real recovery.

areas of expertise

You Don't Have to Be a Therapist to Discuss Trauma

Most trauma conversations stay in the therapy room. Carolyn and Gretchen teach leaders how to bring these conversations to the conference room, the briefing room, and the C-suite.With over 40 years of combined experience in trauma integration and executive leadership, they equip leaders in high-stress roles with tools to navigate grief, burnout, and breakdown — and breakdown — without learning therapeutic skills that aren't part of their fields. This way of working with trauma flips the narrative: trauma isn't something to tiptoe around — it's something leaders can normalize, name, and lead through.

When the Strong Ones Break: What Most Leadership Training Leaves Out

Your audience is made up of high-capacity humans — leaders who are steady on the outside, but often unraveling underneath. Traditional leadership development teaches strategy and communication. Carolyn and Gretchen teach what’s missing: how to lead when trauma is in the room, when the team is spiraling, and when the leader is quietly
breaking under the weight of it.. Their trauma-capable leadership model blends emotional intelligence with real-world crisis navigation — giving your audience tools they can use in high-stakes moments, not just ideal ones.

Real Tools for Real Leaders—No Therapy Degree Required

Most resilience training sounds good in theory. Carolyn and Gretchen build what actually works under pressure. Their trauma-capable leadership frameworks are designed for the 2pm crisis, teams trying to reset after tragedy, or the moment someone breaks down in the hallway. These are tools built for leaders who can’t step away, who don’t have time for fluff, and who care too much to keep pretending they’re fine. If your podcast is for people who lead others through hard things, this episode becomes the one they replay—and forward to their teams.

questions to ask

Tap Into Our Expertise

How did the realization that trauma should be routinely addressed in high-stress jobs shape the creation of the Center for Trauma and Leadership?

Can you elaborate on the specific strategies and practices you teach leaders to prevent burnout and PTSD in their teams?

How do you effectively integrate leadership development with trauma support to create actionable and impactful programs?

What inspired your personal passion for trauma-capable leadership, and how does your background influence your approach?

How can leaders foster a culture that supports resilience and emotional well-being among their team members?

Your book includes real-life exercises. Can you talk about how readers can apply these exercises in their daily lives?

You talk about courage being when the fear of the unknown is overshadowed by the dread of staying the same. Can you elaborate on this?

What advice do you have for people dealing with setbacks and disappointments during their healing process?

about us

The Women Leaders Turn to When Everyone Else Turns to Them

Gretchen Schmelzer

Gretchen is a licensed psychologist, executive coach, and consultant with 25 years of experience addressing trauma, integration, and behavior change at every level — from individuals and groups to large systems and nations. She is the author of

Journey Through Trauma, published by Penguin Random House in 2018. Her expertise in long-term trauma played a key role in designing and delivering a four-year intervention for the UN in Cambodia, supporting survivors of the Khmer Rouge through a leadership initiative to strengthen the country’s HIV/AIDS response. She currently serves as faculty in the Medical Education Master’s Program at UPENN GSE and in the Executive Education Program at the Brookings Institute. Gretchen has also been featured on CNN with Anderson Cooper and Working from Home with Richard Quest.

Carolyn Murphy

Carolyn specializes in guiding individuals toward authentic leadership and fostering collaboration within even the most complex teams. With decades of experience coaching, facilitating, leading teams, teaching, and practicing as a psychotherapist, she embraces the “paradoxical theory of change”—the idea that true transformation happens when individuals fully embrace who they are rather than striving to be someone they’re not. With 25 years in corporate leadership, including serving as Director of Operations at Cisco Systems, Carolyn has coached and consulted leaders at all levels across more than 30 organizations in tech, finance, pharma, biotech, government, and nonprofits. She is known for designing engaging, professional, and highly practical learning programs. Carolyn holds a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and is certified by the International Coaching Federation.

Trauma Is a Leadership Issue