Brittany Piper
Brittany Piper overcame one of the most horrific events any of us could imagine: sexual assault. Now as a leading national expert on sexual violence and prevention, and a trauma trained practioner—Brittany uses her story of adversity, resilience and triumph to empower and inspire audiences to take brave action in their own lives and communities.
TOPICS
- Addiction
- Body Image
- Bystander Intervention
- First Year Experience
- Health & Wellness
- Personal Growth
- Resilience
- Sexual Violence Prevention
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Stress Management
- Title IX
- Women’s Empowerment
KEYNOTES
Getting to know
Brittany Piper
Brittany Piper is an speaker, trauma trained practitioner — cultivating 400+ programs spanning 10 years and 3 continents. Her work has been recognized by The United States Army, the Laura Bush Institute of Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Elite Daily + more. She is a rape survivor and leading national expert and advocate on sexual violence prevention and recovery—speaking to tens of thousands of audience members each year. She is also a forensic neurobiology expert— conducting dozens of trauma-informed trainings and programs with the United States Army and Sex Crimes Detectives annually. Lastly, she is trauma trained practitioner—empowering survivors to heal their past, so they can thrive in the present.
“If we can harness our hardships with the intent to grow through what we go through…we can do amazing things.”
– Brittany Piper
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
To help you promote your event with Brittany, CAMPUSPEAK has created promotional templates you can use. In this folder, you will find resources for social media, a promotional poster for printing, and press photos you can use for your event.
Link to Promotional Materials
LOGISTICAL MATERIALS
Below you will find logistical resources for the day of your event with Brittany.
In-Person Event AV needs (PDF)
Speaking introduction (PDF)
Discussion questions (PDF)
Our nervous systems are incredibly resilient, but when we experience trauma, they can get stuck in a pattern of survival mode, leading to fight, flight, shut down, freeze, or fawn responses.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) can help you break free from this pattern. SE is a gentle approach that helps you interrupt your survival reflex and learn new, more helpful ways of responding to stress.
In SE, we:
▫️Learn to identify our trauma responses
▫️Understand how our bodies store trauma
▫️Develop safe and effective ways to release stored trauma
▫️Learn to regulate our nervous systems
If you’re ready to break free from stuck patterns and trauma responses, somatic experiencing can help. If you would like to learn more about SE, a modality we use to help clients heal their nervous systems in our Body-First Healing Program, check out my ⭐️ NEW BLOG POST ⭐️ on the Healing Hub website. And if you’re ready, I invite you to apply today. Hope to see you in our community soon!
#somatichealing #traumarecovery #traumahealing #somaticexperiencing
A reminder I’ve had to give myself in the past: “You are not a 24/7 self-improvement project.”
In fact, hyper-fixating on self-improvement can be counter-intuitive to healing and overall well-being. Why? The more we try to fix fix fix what’s “wrong” with us, the more our nervous system remains stuck in survival mode.
Now this doesn’t mean that seasons of healing and improvement aren’t important. But when we resist celebrating and accepting ourselves outside of our output, as if it’s never good enough—then our improvement is usually being guided by subconscious beliefs of shame or not being good enough.
Is this you?
A question to ask yourself—do I pour into myself from a place of nurturing and self-acceptance, or from a place of discipline, fear and insecurity?
If the answer is the latter, that’s ok! This was likely a survival response instilled in you to fit a mold of who someone else wanted you to be. And especially when we’re young, acceptance (no matter the cost to our own authenticity) will override all else.
The good news is, you can change. From a nervous system level, you can repattern the cycles that are keeping you stuck in shame and survival. DM me the work UNSTUCK to learn how 🤎
It’s valid to feel angry about the things that have happened to you. Anger isn’t something to hide or push down. When you suppress healthy anger, you open yourself up to vulnerable situations such as forfeiting your self-interests, courting chronic illness, and disconnecting from your authentic needs. Rather than suppressing healthy anger, embrace these emotions, set resilient boundaries, and break free.
Want to learn more about releasing healthy anger? I have more information on this in the Guides section of my profile!
#somatichealing #traumahealing #traumarecovery #healthyanger #nervoussystemregulation
@drpeteralevine famously said: “Trauma is an internal straitjacket created when a devastating moment is frozen in time. It stifles the unfolding of being, and strangles our attempts to move forward with our lives. It disconnects us from our selves, others, nature and spirit. When overwhelmed by threat, we are frozen in fear, as though our instinctive survival energies were ‘all dressed up with no place to go.”
Healing, is restoring safety into the body and nervous system, here in the present. Now, this doesn’t mean that the stories from your past don’t matter and shouldn’t be explored. There’s incredible healing in being heard, seen, and compassionately held. However, it’s bot a necessity when it comes to restoration within the body and nervous system.
For many, who are tired of rehashing the painful details of their past in order to “move on,” the good news is—there’s another way.
Somatic healing is gentle, and should never be overwhelming. Somatic Experiencing, one of the foundational modalities we explore in our Body-First Healing Program, is a body-based trauma resolution therapy. It offers a road map to identify where a person is caught in the flight, fight, freeze, or collapse responses and offers somatic tools to resolve these physiological states. Through increased body awareness, sensation tolerance, and guided imagery, clients are carefully guided to safely release the stuck energy of traumatizing experiences. We take incredible pride in the safe and transformational container we’ve created at the @healinghubclub. Join our community soon 🫶🏻
“How do I feel a feeling,” is a common question I get from my clients who are new to the world of somatic healing.
As basic of a question as it may seem, it’s one that many of us don’t know the answer to. In a world that glorifies mindset, positive affirmation, and “change your thoughts change your life!”…it’s only natural that we’ve become increasingly good and staying out of our bodies, by staying trapped in our heads.
So, how do you feel a feeling? Here are a couple suggestions…
1. Get curious about the experience. Ask the question, as I’m experiencing this emotion, what am I noticing in or from my body? How is my body SHOWING me I’m (sad, angry, anxious, uncomfortable, etc)? This could be through: sensation, temperature, impulse or movement. We call this “tracking.”
2. Then, is it ok to notice and be WITH that? (Note: it takes just 90 seconds to process an emotion!)
3. Now, as you’re with that, what naturally happens next? For instance, as you notice the lump in your throat, it begins to move upward, and then tears begin to tingle behind your eyes, followed by a tearful release, a dissipation of the lump in your throat, then a deep inhale and sigh, followed by a lightness in your body and a relaxation that comes across the chest and shoulders.
As we give s-p-a-c-e to feel our feelings, our body will naturally metabolize and integrate that emotion, allowing us to come back to restoration and regulation.
This is the foundation of the work we support our clients in in the Body-First Healing Program, through bi-monthly Somatic Experiencing Demo sessions. Our first demo is tomorrow, it’s not tool late to come join us!
I know it’s hard to embrace the journey of healing, but find comfort in releasing the pressure to have it all figured out right in this exact moment. Give yourself the time to become who you’re meant to be. Just breathe and trust that each moment is shaping who you are becoming; a more present, resilient version of yourself.
#somatichealing #traumahealing #traumarecovery #healingjourney
While we commonly talk about Transgenerational Trauma, it’s equally essential to acknowledge and explore the concept of Transgenerational Wisdom. From a somatic lens, this practice allows you to tap into the embodied wisdom of your lineage. Your body carries not only the imprints of trauma but also the resilience, strength, and knowledge passed down through generations. 🌳
Here’s a somatic practice to access the wisdom of your ancestors:
Can you imagine your ancestors in the room?
What do you notice in yourself (ie emotions, sensations, beliefs) as you feel their resilience?
Is there something they’d want to say to you? Something you’d want to say to them?
Feel free to share how this practice resonates with you, or how you feel after trying it, in the comments! ✨
#TransgenerationalWisdom #SomaticExperiencing #AncestralConnection #SomaticHealing #TraumaHealing
This is the work we’re passionate about at the Healing Hub —helping our clients to cultivate better tools, resources, and capacity to be with the pain of the past…while ALSO prioritizing the joy of the present.
Learn more & apply for the Body-First Healing Program through the link in my bio.
#somatichealing #traumahealing #traumajourney #nervousystemregulation
When you experience a traumatic event (abuse, assault, car accident, pre/perinatal distress, among many others), our nervous system freezes, which tells us that we are not quite ready to feel those emotions completely.
During the body’s process of avoiding these emotions, our nervous system triggers the release of endorphins and endogenous pain killing hormones to numb the shock of this traumatic event. This numbing may come with feelings of depression, anxiety, brain fog, fatigue, and many other similar symptoms.
In the somatic approach to healing we employ in the Body-First Healing Program, our clients are often confused or discouraged when these feeling arise. We kindly assure them that this is how your nervous system begins to experience safety in healing. This state allows our nervous system to believe we have safety, support, and the capacity to finally face and process what we have been avoiding.
Our brilliant body and nervous system pushes the pain away from our periphery to protect us until we are ready to feel it and heal it.
If you’re ready to feel it and heal it, we’d love to welcome you into the program. DM the word “unstuck” for our free mini course which will teach you more about what to expect when you begin healing with a body first approach.
#somatichealing #traumajourney #traumarecovery #nervoussystemregulation
The body truly does keep the score. Here are 3 reasons why healing should start FIRST in the body.
To start your body-first approach to healing, check out the Body-First Healing Program! This program, developed over the last 5 years and inspired by my own healing journey and training as a trauma & somatic experiencing practitioner, is designed to help individuals break free from the grips of survival mode and embark on a transformative healing journey by healing your nervous system. Join the hundreds of clients who’ve gone from surviving to thriving at the link in my bio!🤎
#somatichealing #traumajourney #traumahealing #nervoussystemregulation
Do you struggle with people pleasing? This is a common symptom of being in a FAWN trauma response. Here are some steps for coming out of FAWN:
1. Imagine yourself as a powerful animal.
2. As you slow down to imagine this, what do you notice from or in your body? Ie: emotion, sensation, impulse or behavior?
3. Now, imagining yourself as a powerful animal…allow your body or posture ”puff up” in this situation where you need to draw a boundary, advocate, etc. This could be a rising chest, growling, a narrow warning gaze (intense eyes), a leaning forward, a wider stance, clenching your fists.
4. And as you allow the body to gently touch into this fight impulse, do you notice a shift? Perhaps in thought, emotion, behavior? Ie: empowered, confident, “I deserve to set a boundary,” “I can do this,” “my wants matter.”
5. Is it ok to just take a moment to notice and BE WITH this shift?
6. Now as you metabolize this healthy anger, is there an easing or settling that follows? Ie a sigh, yawn, stretch, release? This is your system naturally coming back into regulation 🤎
#somatichealing #traumahealing #traumarecovery #nervoussystemhealing
It’s important to understand how our personality affects our nervous system. Growing up, we unknowingly put on different “masks” during various experiences and situations that develop our nervous systems. While this allows us to become more adaptable to future experiences, it can create some negative ones, as well. In our journey through trauma healing, it is important for us to unmask these personalities. Doing so will lead to self-discovery and allow us to heal from our traumatic past and lead to your true, authentic self.
If you want to unlock your authentic self, the Body-First Healing Program is your blueprint to trauma recovery. Apply or enroll at the link in bio, or DM me the word “unstuck” for more information!
SEE WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY About Brittany Piper!
KEYNOTES
Rape Culture: A Survivor’s Perspective
Brittany Piper was 20 years old when she was brutally raped by a man pretending to be a good samaritan. Now, nearly ten years later, she refuses to keep silent as she gently unravels this sensitive topic with audiences, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of this prevalent issue. As a survivor and women’s studies scholar (focusing on Gender-Based Violence, Prevention and Rape Culture), with extensive work in local and international organizations (including Rape Crisis Centers in conflict countries): Brittany is able to use her perspective as a survivor, as well as a trauma and prevention expert, to educate communities and organizations on the many perspectives of sexual violence prevention AND recovery.
Her personal and moving story, blended with a non-judgmental and healthy dialogue about rape, compelling research, and interactive activities, offers a meaningful picture of the realities of the toxic culture in which we live. Brittany reveals how we all participate in rape culture, even from a young age, and helps individuals to understand the role they play in either perpetuating or ending the cycle. Participants leave feeling empowered to not only combat sexual violence in their communities, but to be a pillar of strength for the survivors around them.
Learning Outcomes
As a result of attending this program, students will learn:
- What consent looks like, especially when alcohol and other substances are involved.
- How to address the community’s involvement in rape culture through such concepts as: victim-blaming, rape myths, and more.
- Ability to identify potentially dangerous situations.
- Safe and effective ways to directly or indirectly intervene as an active bystander.
- The physical, mental and emotional impact that sexual violence can have on an individual.
- How to support peers who have experienced sexual assault.
The Heart of Resilience & Recovery
Brittany Piper intimately understands the road to recovery from the perspective of a trauma survivor, as well as a Somatic Healing Practitioner who’s worked in rape crisis and trauma centers around the world. In both her personal life and in the communities she serves, she bares witness every day to the devastation that trauma can leave in its wake: shame, depression, addiction, anxiety, PTSD, suicidality, eating disorders, Secondary Trauma, and more. But even greater, she’s also walked the profound path to resilience and recovery and guided thousands on the same journey.
Today, with over 70% of us experiencing trauma at some point in our lives, most of us could be up against these battles. This makes the mission of trauma informed education and healing crucial for everyone, survivors and allies alike.
In this interactive program, Brittany will inform, inspire, and walk students through the scientifically proven methods and practices designed to heal the effects that trauma leaves on the brain and body. From military bases to conflict countries, to workplaces and college campuses—Brittany’s educational and hands-on program has transformed and empowered the lives of countless audiences. And now, she’s ready to share her heart and knowledge with yours.
Learning Outcomes
As a result of attending this program, students will learn:
- How to develop a personalized routine that will be beneficial in the recovery process following trauma,
- Somatic practices that get the body and nervous system UNSTUCK from states of survival (fight, flight, freeze) and into regulation (rest & digest),
- The science of trauma: how it impacts the brain, emotions, nervous system and body,
- Exercises that confront feelings of depression, shame, fear, anxiety, and more,
- Everyday healing practices that allow space for mindfulness, gratitude, self-affirmation, and body awareness,
- How to handle triggering events or situations in a healthy way,
- how to navigate relationships following an assault or secondary exposure to trauma,
- How to build confidence and self-worth,
- How to support survivors in their recoveries,
From Hardship to Leadership: Transforming Pain into Progress
Brittany’s world was turned upside down with the sudden death of her brother. Heartbroken, she surrendered to alcohol dependency. Five years later, she was brutally raped and beaten by a stranger. Again, her pain consumed her, until she hit rock bottom. She had to make a choice: continue on the path of self-destruction or salvage the beauty from her brokenness. She chose the latter, picking herself up with resilience and a newfound appreciation for the purpose in her pain. It was then that she found that life’s overarching mission, to forge connectedness and be of service to others, was far greater than any adversity standing in her way. That’s what fuels her today as a renown social entrepreneur, international photojournalist for women’s crisis centers, rape prevention speaker and wellness coach.
In this session, Brittany will illustrate that when we choose to salvage our suffering through strength and empathy, we can also become a beacon of hope and support for those still lost in the dark. Combining raw and relatable stories, actionable advice, and compelling research, this experience will empower audiences to take brave action in their own lives.
Learning Outcomes
As a result of attending this program, students will learn:
- How to recognize and challenge the cultural stigmas and misconceptions surrounding mental health, addiction, eating disorders, and the countless other ways that trauma “lives out loud.”
- When acknowledging adversity: shame promotes opposition in our lives, whereas empathy promotes opportunity.
- Our deepest pain can be the seed to our greatest purpose.
- Pain is universal, we have a choice to seek joy and compassion over bitterness and self-pity.
- The 3-step process to “purposing your pain.”
After the Assault: Healing Through Self-Care for Survivors and Their Peers
Ending sexual assault on college campuses has never been more important. Messaging highlighting primary prevention makes up the majority of programming, and rightfully so. But outside of on-campus resources, how are survivors and their peers who support them being equipped to care for themselves from the inside out? Brittany Piper understands the severity of maintaining a self-care routine from the perspective of a survivor, as well as a supporter who has worked in rape crisis centers around the world. From battling with shame, depression, addiction, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, and/or Secondary Traumatic Stress, these are the challenges students face after being exposed to trauma. In this interactive program, Brittany will walk students through emotional, mental and body exercises designed to root out the toxins that sexual assault leaves in its wake. In addition, they will receive a self-care workbook, empowering them to support themselves and others in their healing.
Learning Outcomes
As a result of attending this program, students will learn:
- How to develop a personalized self-care routine that will be beneficial in the recovery process following an assault or secondary exposure to trauma,
- How to identify and root out blocks that are holding them back from healing,
- Self-care exercises that confront feelings of depression, shame, fear, anxiety, and more,
- Everyday healing routines that allow space for mindfulness, gratitude, self-affirmation, and body awareness,
- How to handle triggering events or situations in a healthy way,
- How to navigate relationships following an assault or secondary exposure to trauma,
- How to build confidence and self-worth,
- Breathing and yoga exercises that grant space for introspective communication, connection and self-love
BRITTANY’S BLOGS
The following are past entries Brittany has written for the CAMPUSPEAK Speaker’s Voice Blog
