ABSTRACT
Design thinking has emerged as an ubiquitous, repeatable and reliable process for driving innovation in a modern business context. One of the ways this is possible is through intentional and controlled induction of stress states on the body to drive innovation ideation. Through learning to harness stress, turn it on and off and leverage it for problem-solving, survivors are able to gain a new relationship with their trauma and foster positive self-image and healing. Pulling from my own career experience as a top design thinking educator and innovation consultant and navigating my own personal healing journeying as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, I will explore the positive linkage between these methods and how other survivors can harness the body’s defense against trauma for their own self-healing.
