Empathy By Design

When Systems Fail with Clay Gill

What if feeling “zapped” isn’t a personal failure—but a signal that our systems are misaligned with how we actually function?
In this live Empathy by Design conversation, I’m joined by Clay Gill—FLOW-certified coach, AuDHD advocate, and creator of the POWER Assessment™—to explore how energy, capacity, and design intersect for neurodivergent minds.
Clay’s work helps people understand what’s fueling their energy and what’s quietly draining it, especially in environments that weren’t built with neurodivergent nervous systems in mind. Rather than pushing motivation or productivity hacks, he focuses on practical, compassionate shifts that work with your wiring.
Together, we’ll talk about:
Why energy depletion is often a design problem, not a mindset issue
How neurodivergent experience offers early feedback about misaligned systems
What it looks like to design lives, workflows, and habits around real capacity
How small, honest adjustments can restore clarity, agency, and momentum
This conversation is for anyone who’s tired of overriding their nervous system just to keep up—and curious about what becomes possible when empathy becomes a design principle, not an afterthought.

When Leadership Carries Too Much: Designing Systems That Support Humans

When Leadership Carries Too Much: Designing Systems That Support Humans
Join Julie Johnson, host of Empathy by Design, in conversation with Amy Cornforth Long, lawyer and leadership consultant, as they explore how to build sustainable systems in law firms and organizations. This episode dives deep into the hidden cost of ambiguity in leadership, revealing how unclear systems force founders and leaders into constant "always-on" mode.
Amy shares practical strategies for removing ambiguity from decision-making, delegation, and accountability systems—helping leaders reclaim their time and build teams they can truly trust. Learn why the most common questions you're asked signal system failures, how to reframe accountability as visibility rather than pressure, and the critical difference between delegation as task handoff versus delegation as infrastructure.
Whether you're a law firm owner, founder, or leader in any organization, this conversation offers actionable insights on creating clarity, empowering teams, and designing systems that allow humans to thrive without burning out.
Featured Topics:
The hidden cost of systematic ambiguity
Building delegation systems with authority
Reframing accountability as visibility
The power of asking "what would you do?"
Flexible vs. inflexible processes
Why it's okay to say "I don't know"
Guest: Amy Cornforth Long, author of The Subtle Art of Leadership
Transcript
 

Orientation, Capacity, Choice

When motivation stops working, it’s easy to assume something is wrong with us.
But what if motivation was never the right starting point?
In this episode, Julie Johnson explores why motivation often fails — not because people lack discipline, but because nervous systems need orientation and capacity before choice is possible.
Drawing from polyvagal theory, somatic UX, and years of working inside digital health and wellness systems, Julie introduces a different sequence for sustainable change: orientation → capacity → choice.
This conversation is for anyone who feels burned out by “trying harder” — and for anyone who designs systems, programs, or tools meant to support human behavior.
Nothing to fix.Nothing to force.Just a different place to begin.
Show Notes
In this episode, we explore:
Why motivation is an unreliable starting point for change
How nervous systems orient before they engage
The difference between effort and capacity
Why repetition matters more than intensity
How choice emerges when conditions are right
A simple framework for sustainable change
From a polyvagal lens, lasting change follows a predictable sequence:
OrientationWhere am I?What’s happening?Is this predictable enough to stay?
CapacityDo I have the bandwidth to participate?Can my system stay without bracing or collapsing?
ChoiceWhat feels possible now — without pressure or threat?
When systems skip orientation and capacity, choice feels forced.When conditions are right, change happens quietly.
If you’re listening for personal support
If motivation has felt unreliable lately, there is nothing wrong with you.Your nervous system may simply be asking for a different starting point.
You can explore these ideas through short, predictable practices designed to support orientation and capacity inside the Let’s Integrate app.
→ Learn more about the app
If you build systems for other people
If you design apps, wellness programs, learning experiences, or lead teams, this episode names a common design failure — and offers a different way to think about engagement, trust, and retention.
Julie teaches this framework more deeply through her Somatic UX work and practitioner-focused learning spaces.
→ Explore Somatic UX & practitioner resources
A gentle closing reflection
As you move through your day, notice one thing that already feels predictable — not productive, not impressive, just steady.
That steadiness is orientation.That’s where capacity grows.That’s where choice begins.

Trust Is a Behavior

Join hosts Julie and Katie Kurtz for a deep dive into why trust isn't just a feeling—it's a behavior we can practice and build. In this live edition of Empathy By Design (part of the Signals and Systems newsletter), they explore the neuroscience of trust and how it intersects with trauma-informed leadership.
 
Katie, creator of the Trust Works certification program, breaks down her TRUST acronym (Trauma-Informed Relational Upskilling and Systems Transformation) and explains why trust must be demonstrated through consistent, predictable actions—not just good intentions. The conversation covers:
The neuroscience of trust: How our nervous systems build trust at their own pace through co-regulation and predictable behaviors
Trust vs. trustworthiness: Why "Am I trustable?" is a better question than "Am I trustworthy?"
DBT and polyvagal theory in practice: Moving from orientation to capacity to choice, and why emotions sometimes need to be overridden by behavior
Conflict as opportunity: How to design systems that prepare for—not avoid—conflict and repair
Self-trust through relationship: Why we can't develop self-trust in isolation
Whether you're leading teams, building products, or navigating relationships, this conversation offers practical frameworks for demonstrating trust through behavior—especially during times of collective stress and uncertainty.
Perfect for anyone interested in trauma-informed leadership, nervous system work, human-centered design, and building trustable systems in

Softening Our Edges: Co-Regulation and Creative Growth

This is part of a three-part series on Art as Nervous System Attunement with Dr. Anu French. If you haven’t listened to the previous two podcast episodes yet, we gently recommend starting there — they include a somatic practice that sets the foundation for what we’re exploring here.
In this episode of the Empathy by Design Podcast, host we welcome Dr. Annu French, a pediatrician specializing in integrative medicine, to explore the intersection of art, sound, movement, and healing. Together, they discuss how creative practices like painting and music can help regulate the nervous system, foster resilience, and support both individual and communal healing.
Check out her Red Bubble Store
Dr. French shares insights from her clinical experience, highlighting the importance of co-regulation, the power of spirals and labyrinths, and the role of vibrational medicine in promoting well-being. Listeners are invited to participate in mindful practices and learn how simple acts—like humming or drawing—can create moments of connection, softening, and transformation.
The episode closes with a chant, emphasizing the theme of new beginnings and the ongoing journey of healing through empathy and creativity.
00:00 – Introduction to the episode’s theme: healing through art, sound, and movement.00:47 – Dr. Annu French shares her integrative medicine background and the role of creativity in resilience.03:55 – How art, music, and safe spaces support nervous system regulation in clinical practice.07:25 – The importance of spirals, emotional coherence, and personalized healing.12:10 – Using movement, painting, and sound for self-regulation and co-regulation.18:45 – The science of sound, humming, and vibrational medicine.27:00 – Reflections on “softening,” resonance, and community healing.38:00 – Dr. French’s music, accessible art, and closing chant on new beginnings.
To go deeper in nervous system exploration, check out our app
 

Integrative Practice Lab: Art, Somatics and Growth

Integrative Practice Lab: Art, Somatics & Healing (Part 2)
with Dr. Anu French & Julie Johnson
Download the Integrate App: https://letsintegrate.live/appExplore Dr. Anu French’s RedBubble Store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/anufrench/shop
Episode Summary
In this experiential part-two episode of our three-part series with integrative pediatrician and artist Dr. Anu French, we step directly into the intersection of affirmative art, somatic regulation, and tiny-signal practices.
Rather than simply talk about the power of art in healing — we practice it.
Using Anu’s “I Am” affirmative paintings as a visual anchor, Julie and Anu guide listeners through a layered somatic art experience:
entering presence through sound
letting the artwork meet your nervous system before your mind
scanning the body through color
sensing subtle shifts in breath, tone, and tension
exploring micro-movements inspired by brushstrokes
journaling into resilience, belonging, and self-remembrance
This episode mirrors the Spiral Flow sessions inside the Integrate App and gives listeners a full-body taste of how art becomes a portal for reorganizing the nervous system, strengthening resilience, and widening capacity.
Listeners are encouraged to:• pull up one of Anu’s paintings• settle into a comfortable posture• allow the artwork and your own body to enter a gentle dialogue
This is one of the most immersive sessions we’ve recorded — part workshop, part meditation, part intimate conversation.
Transcription

From Canvas to Clinic: The Power of Empathy and Art in Healing

Soft Edges, Strong Roots: Art, Healing, and Nervous-System Leadership with Dr. Anu French
In this episode, Julie sits down with artist, pediatrician, and integrative healer Dr. Anu French to explore how creativity becomes medicine, how art regulates the nervous system, and why beauty is a form of repair.
Together, they move through the spirals of identity, healing, and leadership — weaving polyvagal wisdom, somatic creativity, and the power of community-based artistry.If you’ve been craving a conversation that feels like color, breath, and belonging…you’ll feel at home here.
⏱️ Episode Timestamps
00:00 — Opening Soft LandingA gentle arrival and what it means to create from a regulated place.
06:12 — The Moment Art Became MedicineDr. French shares the turning point that transformed her creative practice into a healing path.
15:45 — Nervous System & CreativityHow color, shape, repetition, and ritual support coherence and widening emotional capacity.
23:18 — The Role of Beauty in Trauma-Informed WorkWhy beauty isn’t indulgent — it’s stabilizing, grounding, and community-building.
31:02 — Spiral LeadershipHow Dr. French embodies “soft edges, strong roots” in her integrative work.
38:40 — Co-Creation & Community HealingThe power of shared space, mutual attunement, and art as relational repair.
44:55 — ✨ Dr. French’s Call to ActionExplore her artwork, gifts, and healing-centered creations on Redbubble.
🎨 Call to Action: Explore Dr. Anu French’s Art
Let your nervous system land in color, softness, and meaning.Browse Dr. French’s Redbubble store to bring her healing art into your home, workplace, or practice space:✨https://www.anufrench.com/art#red-bubble-collection
Episode Transcript

Safe-Enough Spaces for Shadow Work: Jungian Psychology, Tarot, and Transformation

with Shannon Knight, LCSWAuthor of Dark Shadow, Golden Shadow & Co-Host of Tarot Diagnosis
In a time when so many people are craving deeper, more meaningful transformation, shadow work has re-emerged as a powerful pathway — not as a trend, but as a remembering. A remembering that healing is not just about soothing… it’s about integrating the parts of ourselves we’ve hidden, armored, or outgrown.
In this episode, host Julie Johnson sits down with Shannon Knight, psychotherapist, shadow work facilitator, and co-host of The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast. Together, they explore the heart of shadow work through a compassionate, trauma-informed lens.
Shannon brings forward wisdom from her new book, Dark Shadow, Golden Shadow, offering a grounded, accessible roadmap for safely exploring the unconscious — especially for those who feel pulled toward deeper self-inquiry but want to move at a pace that honors their nervous system.
This conversation moves through:
What Shadow Work Really Is (and Isn’t)
– The roots of shadow work in Jungian psychology– Why the “golden shadow” is just as important as the dark– How shadow work gets misunderstood — especially on social media
Tarot as a Symbolic Mirror
– How symbolic tools help us access the subconscious with gentleness– Ways tarot imagery can illuminate emotional patterns, defenses, and desires– Why tarot doesn’t diagnose — it reveals
Trauma-Informed Shadow Work
– What makes a “safe-enough” container for going deep– The risks of forcing confrontation or bypassing the body– Why curiosity and compassion expand real capacity for change– How to notice when you’re dysregulated or pushing too far
Integration, Community & the Slow Spiral of Growth
– How to take insights back into your daily life– Why community matters when exploring shadow material– The role of steady, consistent micro-practices
Whether you’re brand new to shadow work or have been on the path for years, this episode offers grounded guidance, embodied practices, and an invitation to meet your inner world with softness.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
📚 Shannon’s Book
Dark Shadow, Golden Shadow: A Guide to Exploring Your Hidden SelfA practical, beautifully written companion for anyone wanting to explore their shadow with safety, gentleness, and psychological depth.Purchase Dark Shadow, Golden Shadow below
📲 Explore Deeper with the Integrate App
If you want to bring this work into your daily rhythm, the Integrate App offers a trauma-informed ecosystem designed to support shadow integration:
🌀 Tiny Signals
Small, 30-second nervous-system practices to ground, widen, and regulate as you meet deeper material.
🧘‍♀️ Spiral Flows
Somatic sequences that help move shadow insights through the body — not just the mind.
✨ Shadow-Informed Reflections
Journaling prompts, gentle tarot spreads, and symbolic inquiry practices.
🌱 Integration Pathways
Workshops, audio practices, and guided flows that help you metabolize what arises.
Shadow work is potent — and having a supportive, nervous-system-aware structure around it keeps you steady and empowered.Download the app and begin your spiral of care:letsintegrate.live/app
🔮 Connect with Shannon Knight
– Website: The Tarot Diagnosis– The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast: The Tarot Diagnosis Podcast– Instagram: Follow her IG
🤍 Connect with Julie Johnson + Integrate's Affinity Group
– Instagram– Substack– Workshops & Offerings:– The Integrate App: letsintegrate.live/app

Designing with the Subconscious: Hypnosis, Safety & Activated Nervous Systems

In this episode of Empathy By Design, Julie Johnson sits down with Sabrina Johnson — hypnotherapist, RTT practitioner, Reiki master, and spiritual mentor — to explore how hypnosis and subconscious work can support women and high achievers who are carrying burnout, pressure, and old survival patterns in their nervous systems.
Together, we trace the link between somatics, the subconscious, and design: how our nervous system “speaks” through the subconscious, why urgency can start to feel like safety, and what becomes possible when we slow down enough to notice what’s emerging instead of just pushing through. Sabrina shares how she uses hypnosis, RTT, NLP (carefully and ethically), and Reiki to help clients meet old beliefs with compassion, not force — especially women navigating trauma, addiction, people-pleasing, and leadership pressure.
We also get honest about the shadow side of popular modalities:how tools like NLP, hypnosis, and parts work can be deeply supportive in the right hands — and genuinely harmful when used without trauma-informed care or awareness of neurodivergence.
🔍 In this conversation, we explore:
How the subconscious and nervous system are constantly in dialogue
Why so many high achievers learn that urgency = safety and effort = worth
How hypnosis creates a safe “back door” to rewire beliefs without re-traumatizing
The difference between embodied confidence and “fake it till you make it”
How modalities like RTT, Reiki, and sound can help people who struggle to access language or talk therapy
The importance of safety, consent, and pacing when working with trauma, addiction, and neurodivergence
Why slowing down, visualizing, and practicing new beliefs in the body is a form of nervous-system design
If you’re curious about hypnosis, skeptical because of how you’ve seen NLP or “mindset work” misused, or you’re a high achiever who’s tired of performing confidence while your body is exhausted, this episode offers a grounded, trauma-informed way to think about subconscious work.
🌀 Explore more:You can experience daily Tiny Signals, spiral-based practices, and micro somatic support for emotional regulation and polyvagal awareness inside the Let’s Integrate app — the ecosystem this podcast lives inside.
Connect with Sabrina Johnson on LinkedIn or hypnotherapy, RTT, Reiki-infused meditations, and spiritual mentorship through her online community and offerings.

Aliveness over “Regulation”: Emergence and Emotional Composting with Lydia Hooper

What happens when we treat design as a practice of intention, attunement, and aliveness—not control? In this rich conversation, host Julie Johnson welcomes strategist/facilitator/designer Lydia Hooper to explore trauma-informed, healing-centered design across personal, relational, and systemic layers. We unpack Daniel Hallin’s “Spheres of Consensus/Controversy/Deviance,” how creatives work the edges, and why “positive deviance” offers a humane alternative to move-fast-and-break-things.
Lydia traces her path from therapeutic bodywork to civic tech, naming the skills of therapeutic presence, grief literacy, and community grounding. Julie shares a live case study in emotional composting—letting an old Instagram presence die to re-root elsewhere—and together they reframe “regulation” as aliveness, with simple anchors like feeling the ground and predictable rhythms. If you’re navigating emergence, risk, burnout, or moral injury, this one’s a steady hand on your back.
Highlights
Design as intention + alignment (not extraction)
Hallin’s spheres & why edges matter for culture change
“Regulation” → Aliveness (and why words shape bodies)
Composting projects, platforms, and identities
Positive deviance: learning from outliers inside constraints
Anchors & rituals for times of systems-level upheaval
GuestLydia Hooper — healing-centered strategist, facilitator, and designer working at the intersection of complexity, culture change, and collective liberation.
Resources mentioned
Daniel Hallin: Spheres of Consensus/Legitimate Controversy/Deviance
Lydia Hooper's Patreon graphic of Hallin's Sphere's of Consensus
Design Justice Network principles
Joanna Macy: The Work That Reconnects
Lydia’s Open House (Dec 5): Transmuting Burnout & Moral Injury into Shared Dreaming & Tender Confidence
Time-stamped guide
00:00 – Cold open & welcome to Empathy by Design
01:06 – What “design as intention” means across relational, systemic, and personal layers
03:05 – Meet Lydia Hooper: from therapeutic bodywork to human-centered design and civic tech
06:32 – Healing-centered strategy & therapeutic presence as portable skills
09:58 – Emergence vs. job titles: being many things in a transactional culture
12:24 – Hallin’s Spheres: consensus → legitimate controversy → deviance (and why creatives work the edges)
16:47 – Complexity literacy: holding the both/and without collapsing into binaries
20:13 – Why “regulation” can subtly enforce suppression; reframing toward aliveness
23:45 – Design thinking’s expansion/convergence tension—and how convergence can shut down generativity
27:28 – Composting practices: Julie’s story of retiring an Instagram and re-rooting elsewhere
31:02 – Grief as a design input; learning from ecological & climate grief work
34:36 – Positive deviance 101: strengths-based outliers and solutions inside constraints
38:50 – Risk and emergence: noticing where you already take risks (body, habits, relationships)
42:15 – Anchors & rituals: “the ground is clarifying” (feet, routines, predictable rhythms)
46:20 – Public creators, identity shifts, and letting past work live on without you
50:05 – Emergence ≠ disruption: rooted, relational change vs. move-fast-break-things
53:18 – Listener self-inquiry prompts for seasons of change
56:00 – Invitation: Lydia’s Dec 5 Open House on transmuting burnout & moral injury
58:10 – Where to find Lydia & closing reflections
Connect
Find Lydia Hooper on LinkedIn
Learn more about Design Justice Network & The Work That Reconnects
Join the Dec 5 Open House 
Graphic of Daniel Hollins Emergent Work Framework
If you enjoyed this episode: share it with a friend who’s composting an old chapter and leaning into aliveness. 🌀.
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