In this episode of Be Well with Dr. Michelle Greenwell, I welcome award-winning author and self-help expert Faust Ruggiero, M.S. for a compassionate and practical conversation about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly known as PTSD. Drawing from more than forty years of professional experience, Faust helps listeners understand how trauma can affect the body, mind, and emotions at the same time—and why healing requires more than simply trying to forget what happened.

Understanding PTSD as a Whole-Person Experience

PTSD is often described through memories, flashbacks, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm. However, the experience of trauma can also be held through patterns of protection in the nervous system, changes in trust, difficulty feeling safe, emotional disconnection, exhaustion, and a sense of being unable to move forward.

During our conversation, Faust explains that PTSD exists on a spectrum. He introduces five distinct expressions: the normal stress response, acute stress disorder, uncomplicated PTSD, complex PTSD, and comorbid PTSD. This distinction can help people recognize that there is no single way trauma appears and no single path that every person must follow.

Understanding the type and pattern of stress a person is experiencing can create language for what may previously have felt confusing or isolating. It can also open the door to appropriate professional care, supportive relationships, practical tools, and renewed hope.

Faust Ruggiero and The Fix Your PTSD Handbook

Faust is the author of The Fix Yourself Empowerment Series and one of the most frequently interviewed self-help authors in the world. His new book, The Fix Your PTSD Handbook, offers a structured and empowering approach to understanding trauma and reclaiming a greater sense of control.

Rather than presenting healing as a quick or linear process, Faust emphasizes practical steps, compassionate self-understanding, and the importance of connection. For someone who feels isolated, even a small act of reaching toward another person may become the beginning of change.

You can learn more about Faust Ruggiero and his books at www.faustruggiero.com.

A Five Element Perspective on Trauma

In the podcast, I also introduce the Five Element Wheel as one way to notice how trauma may influence the whole person.

• Water relates to fear, survival, safety, and our reserves of energy.
• Wood relates to direction, movement, frustration, anger, and the ability to move forward.
• Fire relates to joy, connection, communication, and the heart.
• Earth relates to nourishment, grounding, worry, and the experience of being supported.
• Metal relates to grief, breath, release, and letting go.

This perspective does not replace diagnosis, counselling, or medical support. Instead, it can offer another language for self-awareness. When a person notices fear, grief, anger, disconnection, or worry, these experiences can be approached with curiosity rather than judgment.

Returning to the Heart Through Tea and Intention

For this episode, our featured tea is SoulTEA Harbour from the Cape Breton Tea Company. The blend highlights licorice root and stinging nettle, inviting a pause for nourishment, grounding, and presence.

“Balance and Flow is possible when we open to be present for our true heart’s desires. Come home to your heart.”

A tea ritual does not erase trauma. What it can do is create a small, intentional moment in which we slow down, breathe, notice what is present, and offer the body a different experience. These moments of awareness can become part of a wider collection of supportive choices.

Continue with the Emotions & Healing Series

This conversation with Faust is an important part of a broader exploration of emotional wellbeing. The Emotions & Healing Series offers additional conversations and tools for understanding the emotional wisdom of the body, the Five Elements, and the ways awareness can support meaningful change.

For those navigating trauma, anxiety, grief, emotional overwhelm, or patterns of protection, the series can provide a supportive next step. Each episode offers another perspective, allowing listeners to build a personal toolbox rather than searching for one technique that must do everything.

Support Through Greenwell Center Programs

The programs offered through the Greenwell Center for Holistic Health bring together movement, mindfulness, breath, intention, creative expression, and BioEnergetic Wellness. These approaches are designed to help people increase awareness, explore possibility, and discover practical tools that can be woven into daily life.

Support may begin with something simple: noticing the breath, gently moving the body, setting an intention, sharing in community, or recognizing a small change in how the body responds. The goal is not to force an outcome, but to create conditions in which the person can discover what supports greater balance, connection, and forward movement.

Explore current offerings and resources through the Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

Artfilled Wellness: Healing in Community

For those who feel drawn to a more immersive experience, the Artfilled Wellness: Cape Breton Island Energy & Arts Immersion Retreat offers an opportunity to explore wellbeing through movement, music, intuitive art, nature, poetry, sound, tea rituals, and community.

The retreat is not about escaping life for a few days. It is about living within experiences that encourage curiosity, belonging, creativity, awareness, and the possibility of seeing yourself differently. For someone who has spent a long time in protection or survival, supportive community and creative engagement may open a gentle doorway toward reconnection.

Healing Is Not a Straight Line

Trauma may create patterns that once helped us survive. Healing invites us to notice when those patterns are no longer serving the future we want to create.

There may be moments of progress, uncertainty, rest, frustration, courage, and renewed connection. The process is personal, and no one should feel pressured to heal according to someone else’s timeline.

PTSD is not your identity. It is an experience your system has carried. With appropriate professional care, compassionate support, practical tools, and opportunities for awareness, new possibilities can emerge.

Listen to the full conversation with Faust Ruggiero on Be Well with Dr. Michelle Greenwell, and continue exploring the resources that help you feel informed, supported, and less alone.

This article and podcast are intended for education and general wellness support. They are not a substitute for medical diagnosis, psychotherapy, counselling, or emergency care. Anyone experiencing severe distress or symptoms of PTSD is encouraged to seek support from a qualified healthcare or mental health professional.

The post Healing the Imprint of Trauma: Understanding PTSD and Returning to the Heart first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

In this powerful episode of Be Well with Dr. Michelle Greenwell, we welcome Diane Wolf—Registered Psychotherapist, trauma specialist, and business strategist—to explore the profound connection between resilience, stress, and the stories we tell ourselves.

Together, we unpack:

The neuroscience of chronic stress and its effect on brain function
Why mindset is crucial for recovery and growth
The emotional patterns that lead to disconnection and isolation
Strategies for reconnecting with yourself and your community
Insights into PTSD and healing through connection

Diane blends over 40 years of experience in mental health, business, and leadership to support individuals and teams in transforming pressure into purpose. A Certified Clinical Trauma Professional with extensive experience supporting First Responders, she brings compassion and clarity to even the toughest conversations.

In our cups today? Releasing the Warrior tea from the Cape Breton Tea Company—a grounding blend inspired by Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Wood Element, featuring Licorice, Burdock, and Dandelion. This soul-nourishing tea mirrors our topic: letting go of what no longer serves and standing tall in your truth.

Featured Intention:
“This blend supports opening up to express what is most important to nourish, rejuvenate, and reorganize for true potential.”

Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed or ready to reclaim your inner warrior, this episode is a gentle yet empowering guide back to yourself.

Connect with Diane Wolf:
Website: www.dianewolf.com

Discover “Releasing the Warrior” tea:
www.capebretontea.ca

Subscribe, like, and share this episode with someone who could use a boost of strength and grounding today.

#Resilience #MentalHealth #TeaAndHealing #TraumaSupport #Neuroscience #Podcast #BeWellWithDrMichelle #CapeBretonTea #InnerWarrior

Are you looking for a way to move forward and aren’t sure how to begin? Check out the Movement and Music for WellBeing Workshop in the Events section of the Shop. This is a recorded series that provides you with a powerful way to get started and to feel nurtured along the way. You can review the recordings at your own pace, and you can return to them again and again to enjoy the music and movement options available to you. You will feel nurtured and supported on your wellness journey.

The post Building Resilience Through Stress with Diane Wolf first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

Silent Sufferers No More: The Healing Power of Marathon Jam

Mental health challenges and PTSD affect countless individuals, especially veterans and first responders, creating a silent pandemic in our communities. But together, we can make a difference!

Marathon Jam is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting veterans and first responders, helping them rediscover joy through the power of music and community.

What Makes Marathon Jam Special?
12-Hour Musical Marathon: Talented musicians play non-stop to raise funds for vital programs.
Blankets of Love: Handmade blankets are gifted to veterans as symbols of care.
Honoring Heroes: A special touring guitar commemorates POW/MIA soldiers.

Exciting News for April
The Award Winning Unwinding Trauma for Building Resiliency program, led by Dr. Michelle Greenwell, Colin MacLeod, and Tanya Levy, will collaborate with Marathon Jam for a transformative event. Stay tuned for more details!

Resources for Self-Care
Discover the FREE e-book on self-care tips for veterans and families at CanBeWell.org . Dr. Michelle also highlights the calming benefits of HoneyBEE tea, a wellness companion in every sip.

Be part of the healing: Whether as a donor, visitor, or social media ambassador, your involvement can create ripples of change. Marathon Jam

#MarathonJam #MentalHealthAwareness #PTSDHealing #SupportVeterans #FirstResponders #MusicTherapy #BuildingResilience #BeWellWithDrMichelle #CommunityHealing

The post Marathon Jam and Unwinding Trauma Unite first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.