Transforming Trauma: From Homelessness to Hope - A Story of Friendship and Intersex Advocacy with Dr. Kirsten Harrison
- Savannah Rose Johnson, BA, CLC, RTT.P
- Sep 9
- 35 min read
In this episode of the Eclipse Evolution podcast, Savannah Rose interviews Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison, a trauma psychologist who shares her profound journey of connection and advocacy with Sean/a, an intersex woman who experienced homelessness for eight years. Dr. Harrison discusses the transformative power of their relationship, the importance of community support, and the role of spirituality and resilience in overcoming adversity. Through their adventures and advocacy, they highlight the significance of self-acceptance, hope, and the ripple effect of kindness in the world.
For more information about Dr. Harrison, Sean/a, their book, and their website, please visit the links below.
Website: https://soulwisesolutions.com/
Socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulwiseteam
Stay Connected with Savannah Rose
Website: www.eclipseevolution.com
Podcast Instagram: @eclipseevolutionllc
Savannah's Instagram: @the_savannahrose
YouTube: @the_savannahrose
TikTok: @the_savannahrose
Below is the companion video, timestamps, full transcript, and also available streaming platforms.
Thanks for listening!
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to the Journey
01:07 Meeting Sean/a: A Heartfelt Connection
05:19 Advocacy and Mental Health Awareness
07:43 Traveling for Advocacy: A New Adventure
10:37 The Power of Radical Self-Acceptance
13:46 Mutual Support and Friendship
16:36 Finding Gratitude in Adversity
19:56 Resilience and Coping Mechanisms
23:08 Understanding Homelessness: A Broader Perspective
25:09 Adapting to New Realities
27:46 The Power of Gratitude and Openness
29:14 Manifestation and Curiosity
32:00 Synchronicities and Connection
34:24 The Spectrum of Mental Health
38:34 Collective Healing and Community Support
42:16 The Journey of Understanding and Growth
43:40 Connecting Through Storytelling
Podcast Streaming Platforms:
Companion Video:
Transcript:
Savannah Rose (00:01.685)
Hello, hello and welcome to the Eclipse Evolution podcast. I'm your hostess Savannah Rose. Thank you so much for joining us today. Wherever in the world you're tuning in from, whether you're listening or viewing, we're grateful to have you here. And I'm so grateful here to just introduce such a powerful, potent guest. Her story, when her team reached out to me, I knew I had to have her on because it was a story that touched my heart and we were just chatting a few moments ago in the green room about
how good it is to see people doing good things and showing up with their heart in this world. So Dr. Kirsten, excuse me, Dr. Kirsten Harrison, I'm so happy to have you here today. I will let you take the mic in just a minute to introduce yourself and share your beautiful journey with us, but I just wanna give a heartfelt thank you for being here and spending your time with us today.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (00:52.099)
thank you, Savannah. Very likewise. So I'm very excited to be here.
Savannah Rose (00:55.413)
Thank you so much. Well, if you wouldn't mind just diving in a little bit and sharing your journey and kind of how you got to being here with us today and what's led you here with us today.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (01:09.87)
So I've been a trauma psychologist for 35 plus years. In between, I took a little chunk off to raise my kids, which to me was super important, of course. And during that time, there was, we had moved from Phoenix to La Jolla, California, quaint seaside community. This was 12 years ago. So shortly after we had moved, I started noticing that there was someone that was always hanging out at the tennis courts, his name was Sean.
and you know, person featured in the background and my ex-husband was a professional world-class professional tennis player and so he was like, maybe one day I'll catch a hit with Sean because he seems to always be at the court. All of a sudden one day, a couple months later, and mind you, we're new to this place so we're just trying to feel our way around. We saw Sean now as Shawna at the grocery store hanging out outside with like this long, beautiful blonde wig and
beautiful outfit, little bikini top and pink and a skirt. And so I was like, okay, that's interesting. Didn't, you know, didn't know what to make of it. But I was like, she seems so friendly all the time. So optimistic. So long story short, I started kind of going to the grocery store and noticing she was there a lot. And so I was wondering, you know, what is her situation? I couldn't quite make it out. I could tell that there was a little bit of maybe mental struggle there. I could tell that maybe there was a little financial struggle, but I wasn't sure.
So I went to the Starbucks inside the Vons and I said, I would like to buy a drink for that person. And she said, oh my gosh, she's the most incredible human being. And I was like, oh, now I really need to get to know her story. So I went up to her, I handed her a drink, I pretended to drop a $5 bill and I was like, oh, did you drop this? And we just, a conversation ensued. And I did find out.
that she had known people in for 30 years. She had been in La Jolla. I still didn't know she was unhoused. So what I came to find out later was that she had slept on cardboard on the street for eight years. And I had no idea. And I don't know how many people in La Jolla actually knew that aside from the people who saw her at night. So we just struck up a great conversation and we continue to do so. I started bringing her clothing. I started
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (03:30.54)
figuring out that she frequented the local Goodwill. And so the things that I would find in my closet that I would normally give to Goodwill, I started to just give them right to Sean/a. And then of course found out later she was rotating through Goodwill so that she could get her cute little tops and outfits. So one night it was raining ferociously. Don't ask me why I was at the grocery store at 11 o'clock at night, but I was. And I saw her in the rain.
and she was shivering and she was in freezing beachwear. And so I said, do you need shelter? And she said, yes, ma'am. And she just sort of gestured to the heavens in a way where I was like, wow, this person is just so fully grateful and so fully connected to something bigger.
That's where the story began. After I got her shelter, I started rotating through different hotels all the time. I started selling everything in my closet for money to afford that because my ex-husband, the loving soul that he is, was not exactly on board with having that much expense going towards somebody else. Long story short, I called the local newspaper. I asked if we could run a GoFundMe to get
the community that had always shown up for Sean/a and Sean/a shown up for the community needed to realize that she was kind of in dire straits and needed some help. And they ran a wonderful series of stories on her. Everybody in the community came out and helped. We got her off the street. That first year was fully funded. Then we got an angel investor for the second year, which incredible human beings. And then after that, the last eight years, I've been supporting her.
and she decided she wanted to also move to Palm Springs. So she's been in a very LGBTQIA plus community for the last seven years, I think it is seven to eight years. And it's just been an incredible journey. So there you have it. That's the wrap up of that.
Savannah Rose (05:28.373)
Wow. my goodness. That's so amazing. just from what I understand about your journey and how you've, it sounds like y'all's relationship has opened up this whole avenue for social justice, mental health, advocacy, and more. I'm curious, like how have those branches come to be birthed?
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (05:45.774)
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (05:53.134)
Okay, so part of Sean/a's story, she does struggle with mental illness. She is, I am a psychologist, I've never been her psychologist, but from what I'm gathering, I'm kind of thinking that she's struggling with what's known as dissociative schizophrenia. And so she manages that by doing a 13 mile mood walk daily. So she walks a half marathon a day, which is incredible. She's so fit.
And she does have a four year PE degree. So kind of feeds into that. And that's how she also is sort of the eyes and ears of the community because she's walking all over, meeting a million people. She lets the police force always know what she sees behind the scenes. So she's an incredible kind of community builder and joiner. But she is also intersex. So that is what they used to call her hermafridite.
And so she's got what she terms ambiguous genitalia and sort of by anatomy. So it's something that she always sort of felt and knew that something was often different and confusing, but she never really had a label for it. And she grew up in a very, very beautiful Christian home. Her stepfather was a pastor. And so people didn't really talk as openly about those things back then. so she,
has really struggled to understand herself. And then coupled with a lot of PTSD from living on the streets and turning it all into post-traumatic growth and striving, which is what she's done lately since she's been housed and she's had calm in her life, is kind of now what she wants to pass on to others. And she wants to be an advocate for how you can get through really hard times and how you can be resilient in the face of like incredible obstacles. So.
That's part of it, part of the journey so far.
Savannah Rose (07:45.907)
That's incredible. So how have y'all's combined initiatives taken effect in the community and beyond? It sounds like definitely raising awareness. That's 100 % the first step. And I'm curious kind of what has been the ripple effect since y'all begun this amazing relationship.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (08:04.344)
So she had never left the country. So I proposed to her, was like, Sean/a, what do you think about not only going to World Pride in Washington, DC, but maybe leaving the country and going to Euro Pride, which this year was in Lisbon, and then hitting Paris Pride and London Pride? was like, what do you think about bringing your form of advocacy of just being yourself, fully yourself to the world? So she didn't even think about it. She was like, yeah, let's go. I've always wanted to leave the country.
We hadn't spent more than, I mean, I've known her for 10 years now and we text daily and there've been so many beautiful, wonderful moments and we did our book launching together, but I never really spent that much time with her kind of traveling and under stress and whatever. And I have to say, it was the most incredible adventure. mean, her outfits every day were just beautifully put together and...
She's a super huge athlete and tennis fan. She used to play basketball in college. So of course we went by Wimbledon, we did all these different things and she was just fully showing up as Shauna, fully showing up as herself how she wanted to be. It was challenging integrating people's of weird glances or whatever it was. mean, part of answering the question is that she's sort of advocating just by being herself, just by showing up.
But then the second piece is we turned it into kind of some TikToks and social media, which I wasn't that familiar with. And all of a sudden she's getting like a million views. It was just so inspiring. And then the conversation back and forth was so much about educating about intersex. You know, you'd have some people that were kind of like, I'd turn them maybe like the haters that weren't all that supportive. And then other people would check them and say, but hey, wait a second, this person was just born this way. Like, why are you throwing shade here?
And so it's just been this beautiful experience of her being fully herself, trying to understand how she can help people with nuggets of wisdom to get them to try to move further along their own self-acceptance journey. And I can't tell you how heartening it is when we read people saying, you know what, you inspire me to just get out there and live. I've just been surviving for way too long. Or other people saying, you you being fully yourself makes me realize that I can too.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (10:28.278)
So it's just, it's been a beautiful journey. So that's, that's kind of how we're doing things through travel, through advocacy. She's gone on many kind of local vacations to San Francisco, New York. She hadn't been on a plane for 17 years when I sent her on her first little sort of mission to go to San Francisco and just sort of explore the city and see how you feel traveling again and sort of joining life in that way again. And since then she's just blossomed.
So it's been really fun to watch.
Savannah Rose (11:01.493)
That's so special. That's so sweet. I mean, I think it takes such a special heart within yourself to not just identify someone in need, but really seeing them as
Like not just the potential but knowing that they deserve to just show up as themselves and that's enough and I think that that's such a beautiful gift that you advocate for with with y'all's relationship and then therefore that she's able to Represent and show up as in the world too that you are enough just as you are It doesn't have to be I mean, of course y'all are going on adventures, but it doesn't have to be a huge razzle dazzle all the time, but that just showing up and letting that
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (11:20.589)
Yes.
Savannah Rose (11:43.689)
that vibration radiate has such a compound effect that we might not always give ourselves credit for.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (11:52.022)
is so true. Because even when we do local things, or we did do the Pride parade here in San Diego. Even when we do local things, it's like everything turns into an adventure because we're just in this like positivity bubble because everything for her is like, Hi doc, how you doing? You know, and it's conversations, some bold people kind of come up and they're like, tell us about your outfits, you know, and it's like, it's just everything is kind of like done with gratitude and with
joy and to realize how far she has come and how much she tried to be joyous even when things were so difficult is just actually mind boggling to me. And she has a very, very deep spiritual center. She attends four online church services a week. Even when she was homeless, she was always trying to attend something having to do with like a church because that's how she finds her connection and faith.
I just, it's so hard not to just sort of buy in and just want to say, okay, like where can we help each other? And I will also bring up a personal thing that six years ago, is, it's an erroneous diagnosis. I am still definitely got something, but six years ago, the doctors looked at scans and concluded that I had one year to live and I was having to process this and it was right as the year before COVID.
And I was trying to process this, trying to deal with that with my family and my kids. And Shauna showed up for me every single day. Every day she was checking in, hey doc, have you heard about this? Hey, there's a new discovery. Have you heard about this? And she was just as much a friend as any in my most close inner circle. And I was like, you know, that is the kind of side benefit that you don't really consider when you decide to take a chance on people, that there's mutuality that comes back.
That's just so beautiful. you know, we're six years in and everything's fine. So it was just one of those things in life that, know, is you're having to process something really deep and it kind of does show you who is there for you. And in this case, that was just an unexpected deepening of our friendship where I was very, very touched with how someone who had gone through so much was able to show such capacity for care. So.
Savannah Rose (14:17.045)
That's so absolutely I think that that's it really tells so deeply how like you said the Pete I forget how you phrased it but the PTSD thriving like changing that to yes push your microbe that's right
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (14:17.774)
speaks to her spirit.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (14:31.318)
Yeah, the post-traumatic growth and the thriving. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Savannah Rose (14:36.433)
I love that and I think you have such a great point with that because I think as challenging and as maybe painful as some of our harder like ebbs in life can be, I feel like they create within us like such a deep capacity to not only hold ourselves at that space but to hold someone else in those shadows as well. I know I'm sure with your experiences as a trauma psychologist, you sometimes aren't able to or maybe I think where some people shy away from
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (14:47.36)
Yes. Yes.
Savannah Rose (15:06.377)
hard moments in life like health scares or painful moments or loss is because they themselves maybe haven't been able to go to those depths within themselves. So it sounds like Shawna was really able to, given her own history, show up for you and not be scared but rather be that torch that you needed.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (15:08.408)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (15:13.056)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (15:23.969)
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (15:27.304)
And that exactly, you just completely nailed it because she had gone through so much. She did transmute that pain into purpose and healing. And even in the broader community, sometimes when she's really feeling her distress, she does a little bit of flailing about and it can scare people sometimes. And I always say, just say, hey Sean/a, and just sort of positively greet her and then you'll be surprised and amazed at how she will 100 % brighten your day with some wisdom.
some optimistic relating, it's just incredible. And I've done a lot of research with near death experiencers, people who've kind of gone to the edge and maybe had a cardiac arrest or something and then were resuscitated and came back. And their messages of profound life change and what they saw and how it infused them with joy and hope and no fear is very much what I see in Shauna. So I don't...
I don't know, sometimes I think she's a walking spirit. I do feel like she's connected to something much bigger in a much more palpable way than a lot of us walk around and acknowledge in ourselves. But that definitely rubs off on people. also, I will add, when she was homeless, she would walk four miles to the closest beach shower. People would collect like little soaps and shampoos and toothpaste for her and she would keep herself up.
She said, I always knew that something was gonna change. I woke up with a day with curiosity, knowing that there will be a better tomorrow, I don't know when. And I just thought, okay, that spirit met with my spirit and then created something bigger for all of us.
Savannah Rose (17:12.149)
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that you're so right and it's so moving to hear just like that connection to something other than us. Like it's something that we can all, I think we all have the ability to tap into, but I think it is something that, I don't know if humbling is the right word, but it's no surprise to me how gratitude seems to go hand in hand with that connection as well, where when we are able to appreciate and,
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (17:20.994)
Yes.
Savannah Rose (17:42.197)
be satisfied, I think, the present moment and find so much positivity within us instead of going into those lower vibrational states of maybe greed or dissatisfaction or sadness. Not that those things are necessarily all the time bad to feel. It doesn't make us bad for feeling them. But I think when we stay stuck in that kind of negativity cycle, it's so easy to also lose our connection to the beyond as well.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (17:59.15)
and
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (18:11.064)
Yes.
Savannah Rose (18:12.351)
and something bigger than us. So I think it just makes so much sense how choosing to stay in that state of gratitude and like you said curiosity it's something that we give ourselves on that journey and I think it also is like it's a beacon for other people as well.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (18:14.187)
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (18:21.45)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (18:30.584)
And I love that word because it's very true. mean, there's something about what she, that exuberant like, that like life force that something that she had sort of tapped into my energetic vibration and state. And then it just kind of just amplified. it was like that. mean, it's the cutest thing when she interacts with like people she's known for 30 years, some really, you know.
older folks in our community and they're well off, they're retired, they're kind of shucking convention. They're like, been there, done that, not trying to please anyone. it's like, their interactions with Sean/a are so precious because they're so real, they're so genuine and it's like one person's giving off this great energy and another one's bouncing off of it. And honestly, that's not to downplay how difficult her life was when she was living on the street, having voices, interrupting
everything, every thought. We had a moment in Paris where we were sitting in this beautiful Gallerie Lafayette, which is this gorgeous like department store, this beautiful glass dome over us with stained glass. And the setting couldn't have been more gorgeous and pristine. And then she was sitting there very, very agitated. So we sat down and I said, Shauna, how do you cope with this going on all the time? Because it's actually exhausting me because she was just
looking across from me kind of like just reacting all the time to voices and different things. And she looked at me deep kind of I feel like in my soul. And she said, Doc, thank you so much for saying that it's it's a challenge. But I try. And the way she sort of just humbly went, you know what, I just sort of resigned myself to the fact that this is a hardship I have to endure. And I'm to make the best of it. And I thought, what does that teach all of us, you know, just
make the best of it sometimes just stay open, open-hearted and allow in like other energies and healing energies and you might just change your perspective. It might just fully completely change your life, you know.
Savannah Rose (20:36.437)
So well said, absolutely. That's so inspiring and just so moving. Like, I feel that in my heart. I could just cry. I love it. It's so, no, it's so true. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. It's, I mean, and it's so true. Cause I think we all.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (20:42.135)
Yeah.
love the empathy.
Savannah Rose (20:53.813)
And this is something I admire so much, even though I haven't met face to face, Sean, yet. I'll just throw that in there. Just in hearing that perspective, it's one that I think is so beautiful in practice, seeing that radical self-acceptance, which I feel like is so huge and necessary with whatever cards you're dealt, right? It could be depression, it could be PTSD, it could be something other than that, but...
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (21:10.99)
Yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (21:16.002)
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (21:19.63)
Mm.
Savannah Rose (21:21.125)
It's, think what I'm hearing in Shana's story is how that radical self-acceptance of like, hey, this is something that is in my card deck, but I got all these other cards too. Like I don't have to misdefine me or control. I think it's something that, like you said, needs to be coped with. Like it's still something that's real and takes energy to maintain. But that there's so much...
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (21:31.872)
Yeah. Yes! Yes! Yeah.
Savannah Rose (21:46.489)
more available to her, to ourselves, like to everyone when we're able to hold space for that and still maintain space for other things as well.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (21:57.294)
And that's so important because it is, I mean, it is a struggle. don't know what it's like. I will say that I have really learned through Sean/a though that there are some very adaptive aspects to what we call mental illness. I think the fact that she was sort of in her own reality sometimes made it so her actual reality wasn't quite as like daunting and depressing as it could have been. There was like this somehow,
You know, of course in in psych language you'd say like delusions of grandeur or all these different things that go along with it But there was something about her saying well, I am special and I know I'm gonna get out of the situation Well in another setting you might go. Okay, we're starting to teeter into mental illness But in her case, it was a highly adaptive survival mechanism so I give gratitude for the struggle that she had in that sense because it prevented her from really grasping the
true reality of what she was facing every day. And that could have been so daunting. And so it's just kudos to her. But also, the way she just uplifted people and just accepted, okay, this is my fate. I didn't choose homelessness. She used to work at the Boys and Girls Club, like so many hours that they were actually worried about her. And then things started unravels. She was starting to lose track of her bills. She couldn't make the rent. She slowly started drifting into her car when she got evicted.
Eventually her car got towed and she ended up on the streets. And I remember she said to me when I was writing that chapter in the book, she said, doc, it was really scary because all of a sudden I realized I'm homeless. have nowhere to go. And it was a very scary time. But then somehow she just snapped into, okay, if this is my lot in life right now, I'm going to make the best of it. And that's like an incredible ability to just sort of like show resilience, you know?
Savannah Rose (23:52.278)
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think it's so moving as well. And I think it's so important to hear just the honesty behind the steps that kind of happen, a lot of them, which I think towards homelessness specifically, that can happen to anyone. I know in my work with homelessness, yeah, it's so humbling where it's, hate this.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (23:53.218)
so
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (24:08.385)
Yes. Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (24:14.338)
Seriously.
Savannah Rose (24:18.965)
a misconception behind it and where people I think are so quick to assume how people got to that state and are so quick to assume it has to do with laziness or drugs or something along those sorts where it's like sure that that can show up but that shows up anywhere. That's not just
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (24:22.093)
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (24:39.65)
Yeah. Yes.
Savannah Rose (24:41.807)
isolated to homelessness, right? Like those kind of issues can show up in any walk of life. And I think in my work with folks in the homeless community, how it's people who are survivors of abusive relationships, who are veterans that didn't get the help that they needed from the government. It can be like so many different things that I think it's so humbling to know that like this is something that is no one's choice most times.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (24:44.343)
Yes.
Yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (24:55.566)
course, yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (25:06.115)
Yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (25:10.028)
Yeah.
Savannah Rose (25:10.949)
It's something that just can kind of happen. And it's, think, really beautiful to hear how she wasn't allowing that to define her sense of self-worth either. this is like, okay, I did what I could, this is where I'm at, but this is not where I'm going to stay. Like, this is not who I am. And think that's really powerful.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (25:29.454)
Exactly. And she also she had this like natural gift for availing herself of opportunity yet still being very humble. Like she became the homeless outreach teams sort of like I forgot what the term was, but it was kind of like their homeless rep for the year. And so she went along with them. They first tried to help her go get IDs, get medical checkups. I mean, they were actually incredible. It makes me really sad that programs like that are getting cut.
but she made really good friends on the police department because she learned really quickly that they can tell her what her rights were versus what were the limits to her rights. So it was like she very quickly went, okay, this is my new normal now. I have to adapt and I'm going to stay open to trying to learn how best to adapt instead of kind of going into like a self-destructive spiral or a depressive spiral. Again, adaptive elements to her, her not 100 % maybe comprehending the severity of her situation.
But she did bounce into this constant just sort of gratitude. No matter what, I'm still alive. I still have two legs. I can walk. I can do what I enjoy doing, which is fitness. She played a lot of basketball at the rec center. She started teaching people. So no matter where she was, she was availing herself of the opportunities, yet still saying very, very humble. She wasn't out there yelling at people or saying, you know, how come I'm in this situation and you're not? She just kind of
just said, okay, let me learn to cope. So it was, I will say also after, I don't remember how many years, I think 17 years, maybe 15 years, we found her family and she had grown disconnected because she was too proud to tell them what had happened. She was too proud to tell them she had ended up on the streets. And you know, everybody in the family was also just trying to get by raising kids, doing all their things and nobody's having
you know, a lot of resources to help. But to this day, I have a beautiful connection with her sister. And I act sort of as a go-between because Sean/a still isn't quite ready to completely face everybody in a certain way. But it's a beautiful way to kind of keep everybody in the loop, everybody in touch, bridge the generations. Her nieces and nephews comment on the social media posts. And their kids are now learning about their great uncle.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (27:51.948)
slash Aunt Shawna has just been incredible. So using her example, I feel like if there's anything that I can advocate for is like not giving up hope and not shutting down if you can possibly help it because yes, your story might feel so traumatic and overwhelming and for sure as a trauma psychologist, give that 100 % play in a safe therapeutic environment so that you can really process that.
However, also staying open to the fact that this life can be very, very beautiful, very wonderful people along the way and knowing that anything can change in a moment's notice and the same way trauma can happen in a moment's notice, so can positive change, so can post-traumatic growth and thriving. So stay open to that.
Savannah Rose (28:39.733)
Thank you. Thank you for those insights. so, well, it's very concise, first of all, but also it's so true. I think, you know, you maybe think of something a moment ago when it comes down to this kind of like a, I guess almost like relationship with duality when it comes down to reality where it's, yes, maybe she's in like her own personal reality.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (28:45.934)
and
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (28:58.637)
Yes.
Savannah Rose (29:04.147)
but that is also something that is to her benefit in many ways. And I feel like this is something that's almost becoming a mainstream thought in some ways when it comes down specifically to the advice I'm seeing on manifestation where there's so many people who will like in a joking way, but not so much joking be like, delusion has to be part of your manifestation. Like you have to have something so big and seem even out of reach of reality to
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (29:21.006)
Bye!
Savannah Rose (29:34.113)
manifest. Now I almost feel like Sean/a in many ways is living proof of that where so many people may have been quick to be like why would you think that or how could you expect that or whatever but I think that is just the power of
curiosity at play and remain open and grateful because you really do attract things that can be beyond your wildest dreams when you remain in that high vibrational state. And I think that's, it's just so cool to hear that and to know that you really have the power to change things for yourself if you stay committed to that.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (30:11.498)
Yes, and I love that you so get it. Like you so get it because honestly, wrote a long time ago in my dissertation, I did write that perhaps people who are sort of walking the edges of sanity are actually our best spiritual teachers because in mathematics, there's like a fractal basin boundary and it's sort of like that beyond chaos is this like edge where there's ultimate like, implicate look order right after that. And I feel like that's kind of what some people who have
gone to the edge before us are teaching us that there is something so it just all makes sense at a certain point. And I feel like it kind of gives me chills talking about it with somebody who really gets it because I really, really feel like that's kind of what we're witnessing here. And a really interesting way was Shauna and how she approaches life and gets through. And she had her earlier darker period when it was like she was younger and she wasn't quite there, but something
cracked open and who knows what that was. But it certainly allows her to get through life in a very different way than most of us do. I will say that she doesn't have nearly the amount of distress sometimes. I mean, I get frustrated sometimes we're traveling. I'm like, oh, can't find the train tickets or whatever. And she's like, oh, Doc, you know, it's all going to be fine. And I'm like, OK, I should be saying that to her. So yeah, there's.
There's something that is, like you said, so human, so vulnerable, so strong and so connected. this whole, you know, I think she manifests all the time. I wrote a chapter on synchronicities because I can't tell you the amount of synchronicities I've had with her. Like the craziest experience once was we were, and this happens like all the time. And it happens to so many people in the community. So I actually interviewed some of them in the book.
I was at a soccer tournament or something in Santa Monica with my daughter in LA. And we just happened to be sitting in a park. And I was like, look at those cute little squirrels over there. They're just, they're being so cute. And I said, it reminds me of Minnesota where I grew up. And all of a sudden out of the blue, we've never talked squirrels before, Sean/a sends me a picture of a squirrel. And I'm like, what? Like, you know how you think sometimes your phone's like reading your mind? I'm like, wait, how did that happen?
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (32:35.36)
It's it's like constant, you know, people would say, how did Sean/a happen to appear exactly where I was in the bank at the exact moment that I was thinking of her strongly and hadn't seen her in three years or something. I'd say that was the example. And so would ask Sean/a, like, this happens so frequently. What do you attribute that to? And she said, well, doc, I think that maybe I'm connected to something bigger and that something bigger.
tells me that somebody might need a reminder that we're all connected in this much bigger space together. And that's what directs my feet in the direction I need to go in front of the person I ended up. And I'm like, isn't that what we're talking about? It's like the ultimate manifestation. It's sort of like, you know, she's going, okay, I'm receptive to something. And it's telling me go over here to the bank, don't know why, but I'm going to follow its lead. And then all of a sudden it's like, hi, Joe, or whatever. So yeah.
Savannah Rose (33:26.549)
you
Yeah. and I just.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (33:31.263)
I definitely know you're onto something there with people realizing that there is so much more in the duality.
Savannah Rose (33:38.357)
Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. you know, it reminds me, because I'm RICU certified and I remember my RICU teacher
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (33:47.278)
Yeah.
Savannah Rose (33:48.021)
She also had a background in social work and so she tied in mental health with the training. So specifically talking about the different chakras and their connections to mental health. for me, I've been in the mental health industry for almost 10 years now and I think I'm very grateful for this kind of perspective I've always carried where it's...
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (33:55.431)
love it.
Savannah Rose (34:11.189)
like never seen people like for their diagnoses. I think that's something I am with in the field with colleagues is if someone has a certain diagnosis, it almost becomes their defining factor and people treat them a certain way based off of that. And it just, it really grinds my gears because I feel like it's very dehumanizing. But on the other side of that,
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (34:14.882)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (34:24.046)
We are.
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (34:34.434)
Mm-hmm.
Savannah Rose (34:36.307)
when you see certain things like that are again, in people's card deck. I think my Reiki training really opened me up to understanding just a different way of looking at it where some people might throw a diagnosis out like schizophrenia or even like sometimes psychosis, which of course, like I'm not trying to downplay the conditions that that can bring people, but in my mind I'm like, well they just have an overactive third eye or like their crown chakra is just like really, really over.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (34:51.426)
Ha ha.
Yes. Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (35:04.27)
Love that, yes.
Savannah Rose (35:06.331)
saturated right now, but I think there's so much truth in that and it sounds like that's something you bring to Shauna is like that grounding like connecting with the root chakra like bringing it back here so it's not getting Oversaturated so to speak. That's just something that you you sparked in my brain of like this kind of reminds me of my training in some ways
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (35:11.246)
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (35:19.234)
Yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (35:29.516)
love that because when I was being trained, mean, was all about starting to, so I came in at much more psychodynamic, like psychoanalytic, where you're kind of just noticing the different unconscious and conscious processes and whatever. And I felt like that was such a respectful way to kind of look at a situation because it was dynamic, it was in flow. And then when you get into clinical psych and the PhD programs and whatever, it's very much about the DSM and labeling.
and putting people in these categories. And that was hard because I would always ask the professors, wait a second, she doesn't totally fit, you know, who would have ever client, which she doesn't totally fit this. So why are we saying she's borderline or why? And then of course you say something and then people go, no, you don't want to work with those. And it just becomes like this, like you said, a very dehumanizing kind of thing. So I'm very heartened by the fact that, you know, kind of.
the way that energetic therapies are going and they're taking it and it kind of aligns almost with more of the existential therapies. It's like, let's just be a phenomenologist. Let's just look and watch what's presenting and then see how we can like flow with that and work with that. And it's so positive. Like that's such a great way to approach what we call mental health, right? it's just like such a great way to approach it. So I love that. And I would love to learn more about it actually.
Savannah Rose (36:49.685)
For sure. absolutely. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have on that front. And yeah, you're so right. I feel like as soon as we start to try to fit people into boxes, we are taking away something and we're not allowing that spectrum to exist. Because I think everyone is a spectrum. And it sounds like Sean/a is such a beautiful example of allowing every single color of that spectrum to coexist.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (36:51.66)
Yeah.
I'd
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (37:05.164)
Yes!
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (37:11.425)
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (37:17.504)
Yes, how beautiful.
Savannah Rose (37:20.127)
Thank you, yeah, because I can tell even within myself, you were saying a second ago, or actually it was when we were in the green room where you were applauding just my courage in showing up. That's something that's so meaningful to me and something that I think a lot of people...
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (37:32.738)
Yes!
Savannah Rose (37:38.865)
Again, going back to that capacity piece, people can, I think, sometimes only allow others to show up as their full spectrum, as to the degree in which they allow themselves to show up. Because I know anytime I face like what you're saying, like haters, it was really people who just didn't understand and people who...
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (37:53.486)
Yeah. Yeah.
Savannah Rose (37:56.541)
maybe in not understanding there was judgment coming out or there was fear coming out and then that leads to criticisms or harsh words or whatever and then I can always kind of tell I mean because people are mirrors right like this person is is not okay with this side of me showing up because they themselves haven't gotten comfortable with that part of themselves and it can just be so eye-opening.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (38:12.012)
Yes, yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (38:20.366)
Absolutely. They're still in their own like shame, you know, spiral with certain things or whatever it is. I mean, to me, that whole I think I've talked about this on another podcast about like projective identification is one of the tools that you learn back then as a psychodynamic therapist, that if a client is very stone faced in therapy, but you feel this intense sadness and you're like, where's that coming from? I've had a pretty good day. I don't know where that's coming from. You're like,
that's a disowned emotion that they're sort of transmuting and I'm picking up on it. So how can I use that in therapy to be more attuned in a line to what they might be experiencing right now? Maybe it's some grieving. And I think that happens a lot across the board, especially I see that on like TikTok responses to some of Sean/a's things. And it's like, by the end, the whole collective is sort of shifted and gone, wait a second here. Like let's move past people's blinders and let's see a much bigger thing.
And then to me that swell of like positivity that it just, it's like so heartening to see. And that is, you know, kind of what we wish that people do in individual work with people. And yet as a community and as a greater community online, it's like, how do we not point fingers and go, Hey, that's your shadow. And you're seriously not owning it to wait a second. But could you see it from this perspective and like, maybe just stay open to that for a second and then see where that leads. And I think that.
you know, luckily with your, but you know, your work and that younger generation from me, I'm pushing 60 here next year. I'm so hurting to see those shifts and that people are having different languaging around it all, you know.
Savannah Rose (40:01.781)
absolutely, for sure. Yeah, I cannot agree more. I can definitely feel like we are in the paradigm shift, which can be uncomfortable, of course, you know, having one foot in one foot in the other, limbic state.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (40:10.018)
Yes. Yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (40:14.509)
Yeah.
Savannah Rose (40:15.925)
But I think I just feel so grateful and have always kind of felt like my own connection to the divine of like, I don't know why I'm pioneering this kind of stuff. Like no one understands me sometimes, but they don't have to. I'm doing it because it makes me happy and that's enough, right? So yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (40:25.698)
Yes.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (40:29.176)
Trust me, I get it.
Yes, yes. And you're teaching and you're just inspiring and you're joyous, which alone is kind of like, okay, that might be kind of a signal that obviously something is making sense and bigger than all of us that's bringing that, that allows you then to do the work that you're doing because it's not easy. And it's not easy to face a lot of trauma experiences and others too. There's a lot of compassion fatigue and a lot of.
people get burned out and I feel like that the antidote for that is inviting in that much bigger like energetic realm of healing because we can't all do it ourselves and we can't all show up for each other and do it ourselves so But again listening to the voices of those who've been so traumatized I've learned so much about life through how people have gotten through their struggles that are just so beyond anything we can comprehend I mean
working with severe trauma survivors for so many years and people who had what is known as DID, like Dissociative Identity Disorder, used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder. These things happen when a child's psyche is completely overwhelmed by the reality of what they're facing every day and these terrorizing experiences. And so to me, it's so heartening to know that the brain does sort of tap into a restorative energetic field.
And a lot of my clients would say things like, well, I saw my body down there, but I was up on the playground playing with angels. And I'm like, okay, something's going on here that is so ultimately protective to our survival. And we wouldn't know that if we weren't listening to stories of people who had sadly had to go to those edges. But it's like, again, with Sean/a, it's not those kinds of stories, but it's a whole different kind of struggle. And she just starts to remain.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (42:23.22)
open and exuberant and willing to, you know, kind of be the pied piper. I used to call her the Kim Kardashian of the homeless because she was so kind of like just out there and constantly having fun with her outfits. It was like she was just sort of playing with it all, but yet people were kind of noticing and watching and going, what's the next move? What's the next step? And it was like she was showing us this huge amount of healing.
that we can all then draw from. So it does tie a lot into the work that I know that you do as well. People have had very severe, severely impactful traumatic experiences that a lot of people do pass labels or judgment and whatever. And it's like, basically this is a human being that we peel back the layers. My gosh, we are humbled by their strength and their resilience and their honesty and humility. It's like,
To me, that's what we get if we just stay open and learn from people. We're all trying to figure this out, so why don't we learn from each other? So, yeah.
Savannah Rose (43:30.697)
I know, I know. I think one of the best life hacks to understand is that no one has it all figured out. Like, and anyone who thinks they do... What? Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (43:37.406)
Exactly!
I know exactly and you know, it's like pretty much guaranteed you don't, you know, but it's, it's very, very, I think the takeaway for me on all of this and knowing some of the work that you do, it's like, if more people could just say, Hey, we're all in this together. Let's be friendly. Let's be neighborly. Let's be curious. Let's, if we have more strength one day, can we lend it to somebody else for a little bit? And it's like, let's just
bring each other along on this journey and my gosh, like how amazing that could be. know, so I'm, I'm just, I get so inspired meeting people on these podcasts, talking to other people in the communities because everybody is trying in their own little way to make sense of things, to try to understand how to get through things, to try not to be as despairing, to feel like you're all alone in something and also how to
Savannah Rose (44:14.389)
You
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (44:36.916)
move forward this positivity and this whole ripple effect of like healing that comes from really unlikely sources sometimes.
Savannah Rose (44:49.589)
Absolutely. So well said. And so speaking of connecting, how can folks connect with y'all? How can they connect with Sean/a? And I know y'all have a very fabulous book that's out as well. I would love for you to share how people can track y'all down.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (45:01.023)
Thank you.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (45:05.24)
So we're very proud of the fact that for one day we were bestseller on Amazon. You know how that whole thing goes. It was fun. It was actually really fun. just saw Sean/a just kind of going, wait, me like my story. So can buy the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Most of the things that I direct people to are my website, is soulwisolutions.com. S-O-U-L-W-I-S-E solutions.com. And that has.
Savannah Rose (45:09.587)
Yay!
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (45:34.312)
very much of Sean/a"s story. has community members that have given like testimonials of how much she's impacted their lives. It has some blog posts on what it was like writing the book and getting to know Sean/a. So that to me is my favorite when people can kind of go to the actual words. And then of course, my favorite would be if people can read it because the whole point of the story is to pass on the light and the goodness and taking a chance on people and seeing what you can create mutually.
Savannah Rose (46:04.425)
well said.
And that's one of the beautiful things I love about reading a book, especially someone's story, is that it's medicine for them to release and to express. And then whatever we take away from it is completely our own. it sometimes is medicine for ourselves because it might not be maybe the exact point or maybe even something was being conveyed that they didn't realize was being conveyed. I think that's one of the really magical pieces of the art of writing is how it
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (46:19.351)
Yes.
Savannah Rose (46:35.697)
something that is an indirect communication but there is so much direct inspiration that can be pulled from it. It's so powerful.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (46:45.518)
Absolutely, I think that that's something that they talk about too with certain like teen drama series on TV and things like that that there's so much para-social healing because it's like a one-sided Kind of relationship with it because you're sitting there. Maybe like you're holding this book and you're reading but you're also able to feel free to Put your projections on to the story whatever it is And like you said, you never know everybody's gonna take away something different, but I guarantee with this book
that knowing Sean/a's story and knowing the depth she had to go to and then how far she rose and then what we created together and then also how it's impacted so many people in the communities and paying it forward. I feel like somebody is bound to go, you know what, there's hope there, there's faith there and I can feel better about my day too.
Savannah Rose (47:34.077)
Mmm. well.
Thank you so much for sharing y'all's story today. I know that there's so much more that is possessed and that we weren't able to get to today because it's so rich from both ends. So, but thank you for sharing what you could today. It truly was deeply moving in my heart to hear. And I'm just very grateful that you're willing and open to let your message and Shawna's story be told. And I know it resonated with the listeners today. So thank you so much, Dr. Harrison. I appreciate you being here today.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (48:04.888)
And thank you so much for your open heart and your great work and this just this light about you. Thank you for that.
Savannah Rose (48:11.037)
my pleasure. And to those of y'all who tuned in today, thank you for your time. Thank you for being open as well and hearing. And please share with us how this episode impacted you and share with anyone that you think would also benefit from this message. But I will leave you all with many blessings, lots of love. Thank you again, Dr. Harrison. And bye for now, everyone.
Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison (48:32.142)
Thank you, Savannah. Thank you.
Comments