Speaking Topics

Speaking to HealthCare

> Core Topics (Keynotes, Workshops, Webinars)

  • Family-Centered Care that Lasts – Build trust, connection, and collaboration that extend beyond the hospital walls.

  • The Human Side of Healthcare – Strengthen empathy, communication, and compassion in high-pressure environments.

  • Navigating Crisis with Care – Support families through NICU stays, grief, trauma, and chronic health challenges.

  • From Lived Experience to Lasting Change – Harness personal stories to inspire improvements in care practices.

  • Sustaining Your Team’s Heart – Prevent burnout and nurture resilience in healthcare professionals.

> Signature Talks (Story-driven, high-impact presentations)

  • Families bring essential insight, lived experience, and emotional truth into every healthcare interaction, but their voices are often overlooked. In this session, Tracy Pella draws from her NICU and bereaved journey and professional background in mental health to show how listening to and partnering with families can improve communication, trust, and patient and practice outcomes. Through real stories and practical tools, participants will learn how to elevate family voice, strengthen collaboration, and create care experiences where parents feel seen, respected, and truly included as partners.  

  • Spending 134 days in the NICU became an unexpected lesson in strength, leadership, and the systems families must navigate when everything changes. In this session, Tracy Pella blends lived experience with professional expertise to reveal what families carry, where systems succeed and fall short, and how providers can show up with compassion in the moments that matter most. Through honest storytelling and actionable insight, participants will learn how communication, presence, and trauma-aware support can transform the experience of families in crisis.

  • Trauma-informed care doesn’t start with strategies or protocols, it begins with listening. Drawing from lived experience and professional expertise, Tracy Pella shows how deep, compassionate listening can de-escalate fear, strengthen trust, and transform relationships between families and providers. Through real stories and practical tools, this session explores what families need most in crisis, how to recognize trauma responses, and how presence and intentional communication create safer, more human-centered care.

  • Grief and grit often grow side-by-side. In this deeply human session, Tracy Pella shares her journey after delivering twins at 23 weeks, losing Cohen and spending 134 days in the NICU with Cooper, and how that experience reshaped her understanding of resilience. Blending lived experience with professional insight, she invites audiences to rethink resilience not as “bouncing back,” but as carrying both pain and purpose with honesty and strength. Through storytelling and reflection, this session offers a fresh perspective on empathy, presence, and supporting others through their hardest moments.

  • When families are in crisis, the language we use, the empathy we offer, and the way we show up can profoundly shape their experience. Drawing from both lived and professional expertise, Tracy Pella shares practical, trauma-informed strategies to help providers communicate with clarity and compassion. This session highlights what families need most during overwhelming moments and how simple shifts in presence and connection can reduce fear, build trust, and support healing.

Speaking to Education

> Core Topics (Keynotes, Workshops, Webinars)

  • From Parent to Partner: Strengthening School-Family Connections – Practical strategies to honor family voices and build trust.

  • Trauma-Informed Education Begins with Listening – Tools for identifying and responding effectively to student and family stress or trauma.

  • Supporting Families in Crisis: Language, Empathy, and Presence – How to communicate effectively when caregivers are facing health or personal challenges.

  • Building Resilience in Educators – Methods for managing stress, preventing burnout, and sustaining compassion in demanding environments.

  • Bringing Lived Experience to Life in Education – Lessons from personal journeys that inspire actionable change in schools and programs.

> Signature Talks (Story-driven, high-impact presentations)

  • After years supporting students and families as a school psychologist, Tracy Pella’s understanding of the special education system shifted when she became the parent of a medically complex child. This session offers educators an honest look at what families experience on the other side of the table and how small changes in communication, compassion, and practice can transform collaboration. Through lived experience and professional insight, Tracy shares what helps, what hurts, and how schools can create truly family-centered support for those navigating complex educational and emotional journeys.

  • Trauma-informed care begins with listening, truly hearing the stories students carry and the needs their behaviors communicate. In this session, Tracy Pella draws from both professional and lived experience to show how listening can transform student relationships, improve regulation, and strengthen classroom connection. Educators will learn practical strategies to recognize stress responses, respond with compassion, and create learning environments where students feel seen, safe, and supported. This session reframes listening as a powerful intervention and the foundation of trauma-informed practice.

  • Educators carry an emotional load that often goes unseen, supporting students with complex needs while navigating constant change and personal challenges. “Resilience in Real Life” offers a grounded look at what resilience truly means for today’s educators, beyond the buzzwords. Drawing from her experience as both a school psychologist and a parent who has walked through trauma and grief, Tracy Pella shares relatable stories and practical strategies for building strength, connection, and sustainability in the classroom and beyond.

    Participants will explore how to recognize chronic stress, set healthy boundaries, model regulation for students, and foster school cultures that support emotional well-being. This session reframes resilience as an intentional, human-centered practice and reminds educators that they don’t have to cultivate it alone.

  • Families often carry crises, medical, emotional, or personal, into the school building, even when it isn’t visible. This session offers educators a compassionate, practical look at how to support families during their hardest seasons. Drawing from lived experience as both a school psychologist and a parent navigating crisis, Tracy Pella shares simple, trauma-informed strategies for communicating with clarity, building trust, and creating emotionally safe partnerships. Attendees will learn how to recognize stress signals, respond with empathy, and show up well for families when they need it most.