Remarkably Resilient^®

Sharing the Lived Experience of the Harnish Sisters;
Rooted in the Neuroscience of Trauma

Informed by Science,
Shaped by Community

Remarkably Resilient workshops, presentations and keynotes are anchored by the experiences of three sisters who survived a childhood of incest and abuse. The story of the three Harnish sisters offers participants an opportunity to explore the healing role that individuals and communities can play for people recovering from childhood trauma.

Designed for professionals and lay people alike, Remarkably Resilient workshops are informed by the latest research into how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) shape the brain and affect our physical, mental, and spiritual health. The Harnish sisters use this science to shed light on their experiences and to offer specific methods for helping people heal. At the same time, their story is a beacon of hope for those living in the shadows of childhood trauma.

“The Harnish sisters’ story shares much more than childhood abuse and incest. They connect their experiences to current neuroscience research to deliver a critical message—that healthy relationships are a necessary part of recovery. The people who built those relationships would not explain it this way, but they provided healthy organizing neural experiences which helped the sisters define a healthy normal world. As someone who has worked in the community mental health movement for four decades, I know that communities have the capacity to contribute to healing. The Harnish sisters share with us how that work gets done—and inspire us to do the same for others.”

Richard Gaskill
LCPC, Executive Director
Sumner Mental Health Center
Wellington, KS

“We are so grateful to have these incredibly resilient women share their experiences with us. It is extremely valuable for employees in human services industries to be able to see how similar trauma experiences within the same home can produce such dissimilar responses and mental illness based on their unique perspectives and personalities. It is important for us to see these strong adults who are thriving and successful and the different ways they were able to come out of those dark places. We need to see that our work makes a long-term difference in the lives of our clients and that there truly is hope for recovery in those we serve. Their willingness to be vulnerable with us and answer all of our probing questions is a testament to their selflessness.”

Jenni Leaton
Staff Development Coordinator
Johnson County Mental Health Center

“Remarkably Resilient is one of the most powerful webinars that I've attended. Not only do the sisters tell their story of trauma, but they draw from their experience to share what helped them build resilience in the face of such adversity. I especially appreciated how, as survivors themselves, they're very sensitive to the way their stories could trigger other survivors of trauma.”

Dr. Joyce Carter
Former Director of Wellness
Resilient Retreat

"At the heart of Remarkably Resilient is the journey of three sisters who shared a home life riddled with trauma and the unique, but similar paths each sister found to healing and helping. Their stories and insights about the neuroscience of trauma and resilience can help all of us—professionals and lay people—who aim to help incest and abuse survivors with their recovery. The three sisters weave together research with personal reflections to underscore the important communities can play in the healing process."

Randy Callstrom
LSCSW, CEO
Wyandot Behavioral Health Network

"I recently listened to Kathleen and Karen tell their stories of childhood trauma and abuse to an audience of over two hundred people attending a virtual conference on violence prevention. I was awe-struck by how they had responded with strength and resilience. This—along with the insights they share about their recoveries in Remarkably Resilient, Community Matters—provide avenues for how we as individuals and as members of the larger community can help promote healing and resilience in ourselves and others. They reinforced my belief that we all have the power to heal, through kindness, compassion, empathy and understanding."

Tim DeWeese
LMSW, Director
Johnson County Mental Health Center

"Saying this was a good keynote doesn't quite cover it. People were blown away. The three sisters have a story that everyone needs to hear, and not just behavioral health professionals. The abuse they survived is unfathomable, but their story of strength and resilience is one of the most impressive and moving I've ever heard. I hope more people hear their message of hope and of how critical healthy relationships are to healing."

Michelle Ponce
Associate Director
Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas

"Remarkably Resilient goes beyond the lived experience of the three sisters to focus on the whys and hows of what happens to the brain when you've gone through something as horrible and awful as they have. Best of all, their story doesn't end with their trauma. They're on a mission to give us hope and to share what helped them survive. Listening to their story really drives home the need to approach all people, especially those with challenging behaviors, with empathy—and without judgment."

Angie Smith
Attorney
Kansas Foster Care

"FANTASTIC workshop! I had never heard of these sisters before RR. I am so glad I was able to attend. Enhanced my present so much. Just brilliant! This (IMHO) is what True Recovery looks like."

Adult Survivor

"Sidney did such a beautiful job facilitating and holding the space and Karen and Kathleen did so well in recounting their experiences in an empowering way. I feel seen and understood. To be honest, I think for a 90 minute workshop, all elements of what was needed—the intros, the story, the actionable steps, spaces for reflection, and further resources was a perfect procession for an online workshop. I feel I got everything I needed from it!"

Adult Survivor

"I loved the idea of using the 5 R's for Resilience as pillars for recovery. I also loved the actionable step of creating a timeline of turning points. I am inspired to go out right now and buy a journal specifically for my recovery journey."

Adult Survivor

Create Your Own Remarkably Resilient Workshop/Keynote

We pride ourselves in the interactive, reflection-based workshops and presentations we offer.

Please know that we will tailor our presentations and workshops to your individual and organizational goals.

Our topics include:

ACE’s & ACE scores
defined and their relationship to toxic stress and trauma
Trauma
neurology, physical health and chronic dysregulation
The Four R’s
explained and undergirded by a fifth R of Reflection
Community
how it helps build resilience
Techniques
to break the cycle of intergenerational abuse and trauma

Remarkably Resilient
Community Matters

The Harnish Sisters’ book includes their stories of hurting from incest and abuse as well as moves to healing and helping by sharing the neuroscience of trauma and resilience, providing reflections on your own resilience and guidance on how Community Matters in the healing process. Order your copy.

The Four R’s: Essential Pieces to the Resilience Puzzle

Remarkably Resilient keynote addresses and workshops offer a clear framework for building a resilient life in the wake of trauma. We call this framework “The Four R’s.” Drawn from the Harnish sisters’ experience and informed by neuroscience, The Four R’s provide you with a collective approach to helping people heal in the wake of trauma. We can present on one or all four of these pieces, depending on your needs.

Regulation
Children who have experienced trauma, and adults who carry the scars of that trauma, often experience a feeling of being out of control in response to triggers that may not bother other people. Some may withdraw or “check out” for long periods of time only to explode for seemingly inexplicable reasons. Learning how to recognize this and self-calm, or emotionally regulate, during these moments is a critical tool for building resilience.
Relationships
The Harnish sisters can attest to a fundamental principle backed by research into resilience: Healthy relationships are an essential part of the healing process. All it takes is ONE secure, significant, and consistently loving relationship to make a difference. Remarkably Resilient workshops help you explore ways to create these relationships.
Response
How we respond to survivors of childhood trauma can either help them find a path to healing—or reinforce their trauma. Sometimes this is simply a matter of asking someone “What happened to you,” rather than the judgment-filled question, “What’s wrong with you?” Learn what the science says about responding to trauma along with how different responses helped—and hindered—the Harnish sisters’ recovery.
Recovery
Remarkably Resilient stresses over and again that recovery is a journey—not a destination—and that every person’s recovery is unique. The different recoveries each Harnish sister has had attests to this. Learn how communities can provide people the “spaces, places, and graces” they need to understand and heal from the trauma they’ve experienced.

Touching Notes: with permission to share

Remarkably Resilient Promo Interview with Kathleen

RESOURCES

The Harnish sisters share their lived experience of high ACEs combined with insights from the neuroscience of trauma and share the power of regulation, recognizing dysregulation and developing skills to regulate yourself.

These resources are available for download.

The Role of Community on Building Resilience–English

The Role of Community on Building Resilience–Spanish

BLOG

Click the headlines to read more…

March 13, 2023

The Importance of Self-Care and Keeping Your Resilience Cup Full

When I first heard “Take time for self-care,” I immediately thought, “Seriously, have you seen my schedule? Do you have any idea of the responsibilities I carry?” The idea of self-care has been preached for years - especially to women - from legitimate medical sources to unrealistic (and sometimes harmful) wellness marketing. And while most everyone recognizes its importance; it can feel more like an unjustifiable luxury than a necessity.

January 12, 2023

Introducing Remarkably Resilient®

Past Presentations

Johnson County’s COMVAC (Community Violence Action Council) Conference, Keynote, October 29, 2019
Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas Conference, Keynote, September 16, 2020
KS Governor’s Conference for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, November 17, 2020
Kansas City Mental Health Conference Workshop, May 6, 2021
Lifefest keynote presentations, Oshkosh, WI, July 8 and 9, 2021
Metro Council of Community Behavioral Health Centers for Kansas City, Trauma workshop, August 26, 2021
Together We Rise Community Conference, Keynote presentation, November 12, 2021
46th Annual Governor’s Conference for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 12:30pm – 1:30pm (online).

Upcoming Presentations

Alive & Thrive WyCo Agency Trauma Workshops, lived experience presenters, monthly starting June 18, 2021
Resilient Retreat, present our workshop to adult trauma survivors, quarterly starting June 23, 2021
Johnson County’s Trauma 101 Training, lived experience presenters, quarterly starting September 9, 2020

How To Get Started

To schedule a workshop or presentation, or for more information, contact Kathleen Harnish McKune at kathleen@teamtechinc.com or 913-706-8797.

Download Our Flyer

Watch a Presentation

Meet the Harnish Sisters

Karen Dickson, Sharon Borde, and Kathleen Harnish McKune (a co-founder and CEO of TeamTech) grew up in a small town, middle-class family with smart, hard-working parents. But their lives were far from ideal. From an early age, each was the victim of incest and abuse at the hands of their father and paternal grandfather. Each carried with them emotional, psychological and physical scars that they concealed from the rest of the world for all of their childhoods.

How the Harnish sisters have learned to live with and begin talking about those scars creates the foundation of the Remarkably Resilient workshops they lead. As they attest in the workshops and in their book—Remarkably Resilient: Community Matters—they did not embark on their journeys to recovery alone. Rather, they depended on the healthy relationships they created outside of their family. Teachers, adults in their community, even pets, offered them the love and care they needed to find resilience and a measure of hope.

Their recovery, however, has not put them on a straight path from trauma to health. Theirs is a circuitous path, with pitfalls and roadblocks along the way. Certain experiences can trigger crippling anxiety. Physical health challenges that stem from their trauma are ever present. But they have discovered that they can cope with and even grow in the face of the adversity, threats, danger, and the toxic stress they’ve experienced.

The Harnish sisters have studied recent advances in the neuroscience of trauma and resilience and use it to inform their workshops. That science has confirmed for them that recovery is possible, even as it always remains a work in progress. By telling their story, and sharing their knowledge, they aspire to give to others what has been given to them: hope and the strength to thrive.

Click here to read brief bios for Kathleen, Karen and Sharon.

Remarkably Resilient®

Sharing the Lived Experience of the Harnish Sisters; Rooted in the Neuroscience of Trauma

Create Your Own Remarkably Resilient Workshop/Keynote

We pride ourselves in the interactive, reflection-based workshops and presentations we offer.

Please know that we will tailor our presentations and workshops to your individual and organizational goals.

Our topics include:

The Four R’s: Essential Pieces to the Resilience Puzzle

Touching Notes: with permission to share

Remarkably Resilient Promo Interview with Kathleen

RESOURCES

BLOG

Past Presentations

Upcoming Presentations

How To Get Started

Meet the Harnish Sisters

Remarkably Resilient^®

Sharing the Lived Experience of the Harnish Sisters;
Rooted in the Neuroscience of Trauma