My Story Vault: Juxtaposition of Trauma and Identity: Physician/patient, Teacher/student with Amy Sosne

In this episode of My Story Vault, Amy Sosne joins Dr. Dennis Rebelo to reflect on a life shaped by trauma, resilience, and an ongoing commitment to trauma-informed education. A medical doctor, author, and educator at Williams College, Amy traces her story from growing up in New Jersey through her academic path at Williams, Mount Sinai, and psychiatry residency, where her lived experiences began to profoundly reshape her understanding of mental health, care, and institutional systems.

Amy discusses her early exposure to childhood trauma and how dissociation, hyper-efficiency, and achievement became survival strategies. She shares how these patterns followed her into medical training, culminating in burnout, misdiagnosis, and repeated hospitalizations that ultimately led her to step away from residency. One triggering encounter with a patient set her back to her traumatized self and caused her to question her ability to continue as a physician. This trigger led to a breakdown of her identity, which had long suppressed her traumatized younger self. No longer able to be a solid physician and resident, she became a patient. Over a series of psychiatric misdiagnoses—resulting from her inability to process and voice her trauma—and repeated hospitalizations, she ultimately decided to step away during her second year of her psychiatry residency.

Through candid reflection, Amy describes how the healthcare system often failed to fully recognize trauma histories, both in patients and in clinicians themselves.

The conversation explores Amy’s pivot toward education and her work teaching college students and supporting elementary school outreach programs in North Adams. Central to her approach is the concept of a “mindfulness toolkit,” which she frames as learning to be one’s own first responder. Using the metaphor of an “inner tree,” Amy explains how roots, trunk, and branches represent life circumstances, core stability, and chosen pathways, including how loss, injury, or disruption does not destroy the whole self.

Amy also reflects on writing her memoir, A World Turned Upside Down; A Memoir of Healing, and her mindfulness guide, Your Inner Tree; Building a Mindfulness Toolkit - Yourself as First Responder, describing the emotional impact of authorship, the limits of resilience narratives, and the need for radical acceptance. She speaks openly about ongoing institutional challenges, professional evaluation systems, and the importance of setting boundaries to protect one’s mental health. Throughout the episode, Amy emphasizes the necessity of trauma-informed lenses in education, healthcare, and organizational life, grounding her insights firmly in lived experience rather than abstraction.

Links:

Amy Sosne – Your Inner Tree
Amy Sosne – A World Turned Upside Down

Amy Sosne Consulting (site has links to buy books, blog, and info)

amysosne.com

Berkshire Innovation Center:

www.berkshireinnovationcenter.com

Narrative Research Group:

narrativeresearchgroup.org

For more information or to share a question or insight, please email Shannon [at] narrativeresearchgroup [dot] org