Curtis Miller
My mission is to uncover belonging in our interdependent narrative and then unleash its power to heal our communities.
Training, Program development, Evaluation, and consultation:Consulting
iCAN Workshops (for Caring Adults) Connect Coalition Development Coalition or Team Retreats Storytelling for Belonging Program Development Research and Evaluation Team Building through Storytelling Positive Discipline for Parents Positive Discipline in the Classroom Sources of Strength Youth Mental Health First Aid Adult Mental Health First Aid Appreciative Inquiry Curtis' story |
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I am a Community Psychologist and long time community builder in Vancouver, WA. where I live by a creek with my wife of 31 years and a couple dogs. My two grown children live and work in Seattle. I am the principal consultant and instructor for Connect ED and relish opportunities to share stories over good food and drink. My formal education has so far been undertaken at Multnomah and Concordia University. My informal and perhaps more valuable education continues to come through life as a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, friend, neighbor, and community member. Also, Google, TED, and YouTube.
I am a reader and book collector, irregular writer/author, cyclist, runner, motorcycle fixer, woodworker, and old Ford truck tinkerer. I am a certified Mental Health First Aid instructor (for both youth and adults), a national Sources of Strength trainer and Positive Discipline trainer for teachers and parents. I briefly taught psychology at Concordia university. I spent many years as a construction contractor and am now in active recovery. I built a tiny house with my dad, was a coffee shop owner for a brief stint, helped start and grow a church. I've been a pastor and I'm recovering from that too. I have worked with many organizations, sat or am sitting on too many boards and committees and constantly look forward to both contemplation and teaching. I have been given generous love, guidance, kindness, wisdom, patience, insight, and opportunity that I rarely, if ever earned.
I am a reader and book collector, irregular writer/author, cyclist, runner, motorcycle fixer, woodworker, and old Ford truck tinkerer. I am a certified Mental Health First Aid instructor (for both youth and adults), a national Sources of Strength trainer and Positive Discipline trainer for teachers and parents. I briefly taught psychology at Concordia university. I spent many years as a construction contractor and am now in active recovery. I built a tiny house with my dad, was a coffee shop owner for a brief stint, helped start and grow a church. I've been a pastor and I'm recovering from that too. I have worked with many organizations, sat or am sitting on too many boards and committees and constantly look forward to both contemplation and teaching. I have been given generous love, guidance, kindness, wisdom, patience, insight, and opportunity that I rarely, if ever earned.
I am a fascinated studier of the human heart and mind, both the individual person and the relational context. Our capacity is shared by potential and obstacles. I believe that resilient strength and glory are infinitely possible for every human. Healthy relational connections are nearly always foundational.
Our culture is broken because it is comprised of broken people. Fortunately, our community is an organic entity, a complex, interdependent ecosystem. And as all organisms and ecosystems, it contains within its unified and connected parts - the capacity to heal. In our brokenness, we find our strength - if we look together.
I've seen trauma-informed storytelling in small groups transform the lives of people of all ages and socio-economic experiences, spectrums of education, mental health, political and religious persuasions, and expectations that the effort would work at all. I've seen it work between strangers and people who have known each other for decades. I've worked within education, government, the faith community, business, juvenile and adult justice, human trafficking, non-profit, and neighborhood. I've seen this work on an airplane with one person over a four hour flight, and in a room with a hundred plus people. Storytelling is difficult to resist and it's powerful to effect positive change.
Our culture is broken because it is comprised of broken people. Fortunately, our community is an organic entity, a complex, interdependent ecosystem. And as all organisms and ecosystems, it contains within its unified and connected parts - the capacity to heal. In our brokenness, we find our strength - if we look together.
I've seen trauma-informed storytelling in small groups transform the lives of people of all ages and socio-economic experiences, spectrums of education, mental health, political and religious persuasions, and expectations that the effort would work at all. I've seen it work between strangers and people who have known each other for decades. I've worked within education, government, the faith community, business, juvenile and adult justice, human trafficking, non-profit, and neighborhood. I've seen this work on an airplane with one person over a four hour flight, and in a room with a hundred plus people. Storytelling is difficult to resist and it's powerful to effect positive change.
Let's discover.
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My approach is positive, collaborative, participatory and empowering. Whatever problems we solve and whatever we learn will not amount to lasting change unless we invest our energy with hope for what we can accomplish collectively. Most of the time, I'm a temporary visitor. For this reason, my goal is that you will hold all that is of value from our time together and take responsibility for spreading it.
My consulting, program development, evaluation, and workshops are comfortable, experiential learning and sharing environments based on empirical evidence and research. They are intended to develop a narrative of interdependence both in our sessions and as a result of them. |
My wife and I - Vancouver waterfront
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Table Mountain + beard - Columbia Gorge
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Figuring out selfie stick - office
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Recommendations & Quotes
"This retreat exceeded all my expectations. I felt like I would be able to learn something that I would be able to take back to my school, but am blown away with the quality and caring individuals involved in this weekend." KR, Connect St. Helens Coalition Launch retreat attendee.
"This weekend surpassed my expectations for connectedness as well as making concrete plans for moving forward - most retreats I've been to only focus on one or the other." Connect St. Helens Coalition Launch retreat attendee
"The entire workshop was eye opening and encouraging. I would love to see all teachers take this workshop and use it with all of their students." Geni Hammer
"The presentation was high quality and some of the material I was familiar with. However, it all was extremely useful and Curtis is a quality presenter who relates to his peers and audience. The power point was professional, the videos were relevant, and the discussion was academic and interesting. I think it would be very useful in any school (public or private)." Kirsten Benko
"So much material! Really needs to be a weekend retreat type of event to cover everything. Presenter was awesome!" Mary Ann Briggs
"I felt there was something in each segment of the workshop that will be useful in both of my jobs. This was the best workshop I have ever attended! The material was relevant and Curtis kept me engaged the entire day!" Pat Storms
"Curtis locks you in from the second you walk through the door! He has an amazing ability to tell a story and connect with the crowd. He speaks from the heart, his knowledge of the content is immaculate, and his passion for the content is contagious. Not only will you leave his training with more understanding of the topic, you will leave his training wanting to help change the world!" Erick R. Suksdorf
"Curtis is a dynamic and engaging presenter. He delivered a presentation alongside our school district staff, and provided a fresh perspective for the needs of the audience. Curtis is very knowledgeable about the impact of ACES (adverse childhood experiences) and the tools need to build resilient youth, and he was very willing to share this information with educators. We appreciated his flexibility in adapting the delivery of content for the intended audience, within a specified amount of time. Curtis draws from his experience as a community member, parent, and professional to illustrate the hope of a resilient community which protects their youth from the harmful effects of trauma." Susan Peng-Cowan
"Hi Curtis! I just want to say thank you so much for putting together the ACEs training! I had the opportunity to share about it with my co-workers as well! We had a patient who was a mess and I used some of the knowledge that I'd gotten in the training to talk with her and help her understand what was going on. I talked with my co-workers to help them gain some insight and empathy into why she was the way she was. Do you ever do trainings at Legacy Salmon Creek or know someone who would be open to doing that? I think the information you shared about ACEs was so insightful into helping me understand why our patients are the way they are. I would love my co-workers to be able to benefit from it too." Lindsey Karlsen
"The Resilience workshop was well conducted, informative and fun!" Rachel
"A great mix of presentation and exercises - the exercises helped in understanding the feelings that can be produced by types of responses." Susan
"This is a useful tool to expose people to the foundational issues and approaches to addressing trauma in children and youth." Loren
"The resilience info will definitely impact the way I interact with my own kids and hopefully I can share with other parents." Kacy
"This helps me understand the underlying issues behind behaviors and try to problem solve together!" Eunice
"The workshop was far more informative than I was expecting. It got me to think on a different level." Melinda
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