Most leaders know trauma-informed practice matters. What’s harder is knowing what it actually looks like on a Tuesday morning, in a real workplace, with real people.

Angela Crockwell has been blazing that trail for years. As Executive Director of Thrive in St. John’s, an organization supporting people navigating exploitation, addiction, homelessness, and complex trauma, she’s built one of the most thoughtful workplaces around. And what makes her approach so compelling is how practical it is.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with Angela to unpack what trauma-informed leadership actually looks like in practice, and why these skills matter far beyond social services.

In this episode: • The difference between being trauma-aware and truly trauma-informed • Why “leave your personal life at home” doesn’t work • How to balance accountability with psychological safety • Why boundaries at work protect everyone, including leaders • The 15-minute rule for difficult conversations • How curiosity changes the way we respond to people under stress

If you lead people, this conversation will change the way you think about communication, conflict, and support at work.

Wired to Work with Jess Chapman. Watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts! https://www.wiredtowork.castos.com/

Join our Patreon Community! https://patreon.com/WiredtoWork?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=copyLink

Most organisations pour money into wellbeing programmes and still end up with teams that are flat, disengaged, and just getting through the week. The problem isn't the programme. It's the target.

Behavioural neuroscientist Dr. Paul Zak has spent 30 years studying what actually makes people - and teams - thrive. His research shows the brain has a measurable mechanism for the value it gets from experiences, trackable second by second. And when you know what that data looks like across your organisation, the engagement survey starts to look like a very blunt instrument.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess sits down with Dr. Zak to dig into the neuroscience of thriving teams, and what leaders can actually do about it.

What's covered:

Why wellness is too low a bar, and what the thriving brain actually looks like The neuroscience of psychological safety, measured, not surveyed
What the data says about remote work, in-person, and where your team actually thrives
Why autonomy and communicating the "why" separate high-immersion workplaces from everyone else
"Train extensively, delegate generously" — and why most leaders only do one

If you're responsible for building a team that doesn't just perform, but actually thrives, this one is for you.

Wired to Work with Jess Chapman. Watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts! https://www.wiredtowork.castos.com/

Join our Patreon Community! https://patreon.com/WiredtoWork?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=copyLink

• (00:00:00) - How to Build a Well-Being Brain
• (00:00:40) - Wired to Work: Trust in the Workplace
• (00:01:41) - Immersion and the Way it Matters for Work
• (00:08:07) - Back to Work: The Case for Personal Time
• (00:09:46) - The Key Moments of Life
• (00:12:31) - Employee Wellbeing and Work
• (00:16:18) - The importance of meeting people in person
• (00:21:50) - The Future of Working From Home
• (00:23:20) - Key Moments on the Six app
• (00:27:51) - The Key Moments of the Workforce
• (00:28:54) - Have You Asked Your Boss About High Stress?
• (00:30:37) - High-Immersion Businesses: The Need for autonomy
• (00:36:39) - How to talk to an employee about their job
• (00:39:52) - What Do Organizations Need to Know About Employee Well-Being
• (00:45:06) - E3CA: Working In The World of Work

You’ve had the conversation.
You were clear. Direct. Professional.

…so why didn’t anything change?

Because feedback isn’t about what you say.
It’s about how the other person experiences it.

And most people get that wrong.

In Part 2 of this series, Jess Chapman breaks down the structure behind feedback that actually works, introducing the NISA framework.

A simple, practical way to:

• start conversations without triggering defensiveness
• show you understand the other person (so they actually listen)
• explain impact in a way that matters to them
• and move from conversation → behaviour change

This isn’t about being nicer.
It’s about being effective with real humans.

If your feedback isn’t landing, it’s not random.
There’s a reason. And a fix.

Wired to Work with Jess Chapman. Watch or listen: https://www.wiredtowork.castos.com/
Join our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/wiredtowork

• (00:00:00) - How to Get a Bad Person to Change Their Behavior
• (00:00:50) - How to Make Feedback More Annoying
• (00:06:29) - "I hear your intention" in the following conversation
• (00:07:27) - How to Manage Time in a Meeting
• (00:10:28) - Lesson 6 on Validating Intent and Talking to People
• (00:16:07) - E3CA: Working In The World of Work