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What happens when storytelling isn’t just about raising awareness or driving donations, but about creating a space where survivors can be truly seen, heard, and supported?

On today’s episode of When Bearing Witness, I sit down with Anne Ream, founder of The Center for Story & Witness. Anne has spent two decades alongside survivors of gender-based violence, facilitating writing workshops and initiatives that honor lived experience while protecting the dignity and agency of each storyteller.

We discuss what she has learned about the healing potential of storytelling, how to create trauma-informed spaces that prioritize care, and the fine line between empowerment and exploitation in nonprofit storytelling.

About Anne K. Ream

Anne K. Ream is the founder of The Voices and Faces Project, a global testimonial writing program for survivors of gender-based violence and other human rights violations (now Center for Story & Witness); co-founder of World Without Exploitation, the national coalition to end human trafficking; and author of Lived Through This, a critically praised memoir that documents Anne’s multi-country journey listening to sexual violence and trafficking survivors. The recipient of numerous awards for her work using story to create social change, Anne is a regular contributor to New City Chicago and currently serves as board president at Justice for Migrant Women.

Connect with Anne K. Ream

Center for Story and Witness | Story and Witness Instagram | Anne K Ream Instagram | Anne K Ream LinkedIn

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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What does it look like to practice trauma-informed storytelling behind the camera?

In this episode of When Bearing Witness, filmmaker Heidi Burkey shares how she approaches documentary work with care and a deep respect for those she films. With projects featured on Netflix, Hulu, PBS, and Disney+, Heidi brings powerful insights into ethical storytelling practices that nonprofit leaders and communicators can learn from.

Together, we explore the parallels between documentary filmmaking and nonprofit storytelling, especially when it comes to navigating consent, power dynamics, and cultural context. Heidi reflects on moments in her career where doing what’s right meant stepping back, collaborating with community members, and rethinking her role as a storyteller. Her approach is a model for nonprofit communication ethics—one that prioritizes safety, transparency, and trust at every stage of the process.

About Heidi Burkey

Heidi Burkey is a seasoned documentary filmmaker specializing in character-driven stories with a passion for highlighting underrepresented individuals and communities. Through verité-led filmmaking, she strives to create films that offer a nuanced and empathetic perspective. As a filmmaker, she is known for her ability to quickly establish trust with individuals and adapt to the unique cultures and communities represented. Her films have been distributed on platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Max, PBS, and Amazon.

Connect with Heidi Burkey

Website | Instagram | From Reflection to Release Framework | Ethical Storytelling

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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In this episode of When Bearing Witness, Dr. Desmond Upton Patton invites us into a conversation about humility, listening, and the ethics of digital storytelling. He shares what he has learned from years of research at the intersection of social work, technology, and racial justice.

And he doesn’t stop at analysis, he challenges us to examine our own assumptions and shows how deep listening can disrupt bias and reshape how we understand digital expression.

A researcher, social worker, and AI ethicist, Dr. Patton explores how grief is often misread as aggression, and how those misreadings can escalate both online and offline violence. But the solutions, he reminds us, are not just technical, they are relational. He offers a model of trauma-informed storytelling rooted in cultural humility, reflexivity, and active listening.

We all bring our own lens to storytelling. But to do this work ethically, especially in nonprofit storytelling and storytelling for social impact, we have to slow down and ask hard questions: Am I the right person to tell this story? What information is missing? Who do I need to engage with, and how do I do that in a trustworthy and ethical way?

About Dr. Desmond Upton Patton

Dr. Desmond Upton Patton is a leading expert at the intersection of social work, technology, and racial justice, known for his groundbreaking research on how social media impacts grief, trauma, and violence in communities of color. A Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor with appointments across social policy, communication, and psychiatry, he developed the Contextual Analysis of Social Media (CASM) to address bias in AI by centering cultural nuance and lived experience. His work has shaped national conversations on digital violence and empathy, informed tech safety policies at companies like Twitter and Spotify, and been featured in The New York Times, Nature, and NPR.

Connect with Dr. Desmond Upton Patton

SafeLab | LinkedIn | BlueSky

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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Ensuring your digital marketing is accessible for all audiences may seem like a daunting task, but today’s guest, Dominique Dunlop, makes it feel not only doable but meaningful.

Dominique is the founder of A11y Impact and a champion for digital inclusion in the nonprofit world. With her background in inclusive education and lived experience with ADHD, she brings both heart and strategy to this conversation. We talk about how trauma-informed storytelling, nonprofit communication ethics, and accessibility are all connected, and why accessibility is more than just a box to check. It’s a way to truly connect.

If you’ve ever wondered where to begin, Dominique offers practical, realistic steps you can take today to make your content more inclusive, whether it’s your website, social media, or email. We also talk about how accessible storytelling can build trust, grow your reach, and strengthen your mission. This episode is for anyone who wants their nonprofit marketing strategies to reflect care, clarity, and impact.

About Dominique Dunlop

Dominique Dunlop is the founder of A11y Impact and a champion for nonprofit digital inclusion and accessibility. With a background in inclusive education and lived experience, she works to make the web a place where everyone belongs. Dominique believes that digital inclusion is not an afterthought; it is the foundation.

Connect with Dominique Dunlop

A11y Impact | Linkedin

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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In nonprofit storytelling, there’s often a disconnect between the trauma-informed and ethical practices we aspire to and the systems we’re working within. Many of us feel the urgency to do less harm and tell stories with greater care, but when trauma-informed storytelling meets organizational resistance, it can be hard to know where to begin.

Today’s guest, Dallase Scott, brings clarity and encouragement to that exact moment.

Dallase is the founder of Trust, a consulting firm that helps organizations navigate change with empathy, transparency, and strategy. She has supported more than 40 institutions, including Yale, Columbia, and Brown, along with collective impact initiatives like the Boston Green Ribbon Commission. In this conversation, we explore how nonprofit leadership can become more open to trauma-informed storytelling practices, how storytellers can influence from within, and what it takes to make trauma-informed storytelling part of your organizational culture.

About Dallase Scott

As founder of Trust, Dallase Scott brings a wealth of expertise and training in strategy, organizational design, change management, and design thinking that is unique in the field of sustainability consultants. Her balance of empathy, transparency, and structured engagement makes her a sought-after facilitator who provides customized support to guide stakeholders through an engagement and decision-making process that meets the needs and long-term vision of the institution. Clients value her personalized facilitation and engagement processes, carefully designed to strengthen the talent and capabilities which already exist in client organizations.

Over the past 15 years, Dallase has engaged faculty, students, staff, and senior administrators at over 40 higher education institutions, including Brown University, Tufts University, Yale University, University of Florida, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, and Princeton University. She has also supported many cohorts and alliances looking to use their collective impact to tackle larger, complex projects that overcome systemic barriers, such as the Boston Green Ribbon Commission, North Texas Food Policy Alliance, and the Ivy+ Sustainability Consortium, among others.

Connect with Dallase Scott

Trust | Growing Trust Series | Instagram

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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What does it really mean to create a work culture we don’t need to heal from?

In this episode of When Bearing Witness, I’m joined by Lindsey Fuller, an educator, coach, and Executive Director of The Teaching Well, for a deep and necessary conversation on trauma-informed storytelling, nonprofit communication ethics, and collective care.

We talk about how nonprofit storytelling impacts our nervous systems, why self-care alone isn’t enough, and what it looks like to build human-centered organizations rooted in ethical storytelling practices.

About Lindsey Fuller

Lindsey Fuller is an educator, coach, and changemaker with over 20 years of experience in education, facilitation, and leadership development. As Executive Director of The Teaching Well, she works to stabilize schools and redignify the teaching profession by supporting educators and nonprofit professionals with the tools they need to build resilience, communicate with care, and thrive in their work. Her approach centers trauma-informed practices, collective well-being, and sustainable organizational culture.

Connect with Lindsey Fuller

Gather at the Well Podcast | The Teaching Well | Linkedin

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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How do we communicate with care when marketing and fundraising often rely on urgency and pressure?

Today’s guest brings a thoughtful lens to one of the most overlooked areas in nonprofit storytelling: the words we choose and how they land. Stephanie Bilinsky is a trauma-informed copywriter who helps ethical entrepreneurs and organizations connect with their audiences through intentional, human-centered messaging.

In this conversation, we explore how trauma-informed storytelling practices can strengthen nonprofit leadership and communication ethics. Stephanie unpacks common copywriting tactics that unintentionally harm audiences, like scarcity, urgency, and pain-point marketing, and offers nonprofit marketing strategies rooted in clarity, choice, and consent.

About Stephanie Bilinsky

Stephanie is a trauma-informed copywriter for ethical entrepreneurs. She connects business owners with their dream clients through intentional, human-centered messaging.

Connect with Stephanie Bilinsky

Brandcendent.com | Linkedin | Instagram

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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What does it mean to lead with care when everything feels like it’s on fire?

Today’s guest brings clarity to one of the most important tools we have in times of crisis: storytelling. Catherine Alonzo is a strategist, storyteller, and CEO of Javelina, a branding and marketing agency helping purpose-driven organizations deepen their social impact. From minimum wage to marriage equality to climate justice, Catherine has helped shape the messages behind some of the most influential movements of our time.

In this episode, we explore trauma-informed storytelling as a vital piece of nonprofit communication ethics.

Catherine shares insights from her guide, A Guide to Effective Storytelling During a Crisis, including how to balance urgency with humanity, what it means to communicate with clarity during chaos, and how a simple decision tree can help nonprofit leaders speak out with intention.

About Catherine Alonzo

Catherine Alonzo is on a mission to deepen the social impact of purpose-driven, values-aligned changemakers. She does this through her work with Javelina, a branding and marketing agency that helps social change organizations tell a powerful story that moves their target audiences to action, and through her consulting practice, in which she teaches teams a value-based approach to decision making, team building, storytelling, and leadership so that they can advance their community impact.

Recognized for her business leadership by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Business Magazine, Arizona Big Media, and the Phoenix Business Journal, Catherine has been a part of some of the most influential change movements of our time, including increasing minimum wages, advancing marriage equality, widening transportation networks, preserving our climate and environment, and protecting abortion rights.

Connect with Catherine Alonzo

Effective Storytelling During a Crisis | Javelina.co | Catherinealonzo.com

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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