Ilyse's Story

Trudi Wolfe, ACSW, LCSW holds professional licenses in clinical social work, marriage and family therapy, and school counseling. Trudi earned two master's degrees at Indiana State University in counseling and in marriage and family therapy. She also received her Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Indiana University and her Certificate in Applied Educational Neuroscience from Butler University. 

Trudi has worked in the field of psychotherapy and counseling for over 35 years in a variety of settings including residential, inpatient, outpatient, and school. Throughout her career, she has helped clients from ages two through adulthood who have experienced trauma. Trudi worked 14 years at the Family Growth Center, a clinic specializing in providing trauma therapy for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

As a school counselor, Trudi has been awarded both state and national awards for her school's comprehensive school counseling program. In 2017, Trudi was instrumental in her school district being awarded the Lilly Endowment School Comprehensive Counseling initiative grant. Trudi has provided trainings and consultation for schools in setting up programs that are trauma-informed and brain-aligned. She has also given multiple presentations for the Indiana School Counselor Association state conference and Keep Indiana Learning through the Central Indiana Educational Service Center. 

Trudi has expertise in the following areas: 

• Child and Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse, Physical Abuse and Neglect 
• Complex Trauma/Developmental Trauma
• Group Therapy
• Play Therapy
• Grief Therapy 
• Trauma-informed Schools and Brain-aligned Practices for Schools 
• Development of Comprehensive School Counseling Programs 
• Professional Presentations on a Variety of School Counseling Initiatives   

Currently, Trudi facilitates groups for trauma survivors at the Indianapolis Trauma Therapy Center. She also provides consultation and training on trauma-informed practices for schools. 

Read her most recent blogs about building a trauma-informed school:   https://keepindianalearning.org/building-trauma-informed-school/ ; https://keepindianalearning.org/knowledge-opportunities-allies-experiences/

https://keepindianalearning.org/bumps-roadblocks-and-detours-along-the-way-building-a-trauma-informed-school-part-3/

Read more about Trudi on the ORCID ID page as well as find links to her additional publications:

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6942-0204

Katarina Svabcikova is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance and holds eRYT200/RYT500 and YACEP designations. She teaches weekly yoga classes and workshops at local yoga studios, is a Co-lead trainer in a 200h Yoga Teacher Training and a Director of a 50h Yin Teacher Training in the Indianapolis area. In July 2022, Katarina worked with Indiana University Health's Center for Mindful Practice as a Yoga Teacher and Wellness Consultant, engaging nurses and doctors in evidence-based practices and somatic movements that support the regulation of the nervous system and focus on releasing stress and tension from the body.

Katarina’s personal experience of trauma led her to passionately study the topics of healing, trauma, PTSD, neuroscience, and vagus nerve regulation. She was searching for ways to manage “life after” the trauma and learned that our bodies hold on to trauma even after a traumatic event is over. Trauma, quite literally, rewires our nervous system, specifically the vagus nerve. Science has proven that yoga heals the nervous system and allows survivors to reclaim their bodies and their lives. Katarina found yoga to be an abundant source of healing, deepening her trust, compassion, forgiveness, and grace.

“Quite frankly, yoga saved my life. My personal yoga practice is the practice of my heart because yoga allows me to be who I truly am. To me, yoga is a tool through which I can connect to my body, mind, and spirit. It is a tool that reminds me that courage, strength, compassion, kindness, and love are all so inherent in all of us. It is a practice of learning how I want to show up for myself and the people around me."

Katarina is committed to helping others heal from trauma, both mind and body. She firmly believes that our body and somatic based practices need to be involved in a holistic approach to trauma therapy. Katarina says her healing process has been her most important work. She is humbled and honored to be able to offer her knowledge, experience, and compassion, as well as her own healing, to others embarking upon their own healing journey. Katarina teaches clients yoga therapy techniques that promote the regulation of the nervous system and works with clients to personalize programs to meet their individual needs, guiding, and supporting them in re-establishing mind-body connection via gentle somatic movement and mindfulness-based practices.

Originally from Slovakia, Katarina has lived in the US for over 16 years. Katarina has spent almost 11 years in a corporate world which she only recently transitioned out of. Outside of work, she likes to read books that feed her soul and spend time with her partner and their dog. She is learning how to just rest and be still, enjoying each moment as it passes by.