Just one week after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Dr. Marty K. Casey founded Show Me Arts Academy, a place and a practice where young Black people could safely express themselves through art, music, and theatre. She later created UnGUN Institute to help families recover from the “trauma bullets” of gun violence. Last January 10, Marty was a guest, along with author Francis Weller, on RadJoy’s Global Day of Mourning. (You can watch the conversation here.) Last week, she received a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her work.

Because so many of us are shaken by the after-effects of trauma during the holidays, we invited Marty to share her thoughts on how we get assaulted by trauma—and how we let it go. Watch her response in the video here.