The Backbone of Trauma-informed AI is Trauma-informed Care AI and Holistic Recovery
The Backbone of Trauma-informed AI is Trauma-informed Care AI and Holistic Recovery
Please Note: This page and all content are the original work of Craig J. Phillips and Second Chance to Live. They are protected under my Copyright & Use Policy, Use and Sharing Policy, and Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND).
A New Class of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Collaboration Model™
- Permanent Declaration of Authorship and Mission Stewardship
- The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Collaboration Model™ Proof of Concept
- Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI — A New Class of AI
How the Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Model™ was Built
Core Principle of This Work
The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Collaboration Model™ is grounded in the alignment of intention, energy, and focus that creates lasting impact.
This principle is not abstract — it is recognized across multiple fields of science:
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In physics, as energy directed with efficiency.
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In neuroscience, as neuroplastic change through focused repetition.
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In psychology, as flow states of deep absorption.
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In biology, as coherence between mind and body systems.
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In engineering, as maximizing signal over noise.
This convergence is the life force behind my work. My energy gives the model integrity, direction, and purpose. Without this alignment of intention, focus, and energy, any attempt to replicate the model becomes hollow.
- The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Collaboration Model™
- 👉 To see how this principle lives in practice, visit: The Soul of AI: Trauma-Informed Neuroplasticity for Human-Centered Design
How It Was Built: Lived Experience, Presentations, and the Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Model™
Note to developers, designers, and thoughtful readers:
This page reflects how I naturally think, write, and process — through lived experience, layered meaning, and holistic recovery that unfolds over time. The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Model™ was not built for fast clicks or simplified summaries.
It was created through decades of adapting, reflecting, and sharing from the ground up. If you read with presence — not just for content, but for context — you’ll discover a trauma-informed framework rooted in real-life recovery, not theory. This is an invitation to engage with depth, not just data.
Answering the Call That Never Came
On February 6, 2007, at the encouragement of a friend, I created Second Chance to Live to answer a call that never came. To read the back story of Second Chance to Live to understand the rigors that went into this creation.
Finding Craig — Telling My Story Part 1
Finding Craig — Growing Up, continued… Part 2
Finding Craig — Learning to Walk Again By Not Giving Up Part 3
Finding Craig — My Academic Path Part 4
Finding Craig — My Brain Injury Awareness Part 5
Finding Craig — Empowering My Life Part 6
Finding Craig — My Physical Recovery Process Part 7
Finding Craig — Making Sense of Brain Injury Part 8
Answering the Call that Never Came — Part 1 of 2
Answering the Call that Never Came— Part 2 of 2
Back Story of Second Chance to Live — Part 1 of the Process
Back Story of Second Chance to Live — Part 2 of the Process
Why I Began Sharing — and Who It’s For
During the past 18 ½ years, I have written 2,298 articles, created 464 video presentations, delivered 30 keynote and discussion presentations, published 20 eBooks, and designed 45 posters. I have done so to encourage a holistic brain injury recovery process — one that supports body, soul, spirit, mind, and emotions. This recovery approach developed through the lens of trauma-informed care.
Discovering a New Lens: Holistic, Trauma-Informed Recovery
A lens that had not yet been discovered — one that needed to be looked through in order to not give up on my process and journey.
This approach to brain injury recovery emerged out of nearly six decades of lived experience — decades shaped by the impact of a severe brain injury and an invisible disability. Through my struggle to make sense of what was unknown for many years, I realized that a fuller approach needed to be included in order to move forward. Move forward to experience hope, healing, and well-being.
My own holistic recovery process grew out of a need to address factors that extended beyond my open skull fracture, right frontal lobe damage, brain bruise, and brain stem involvement. These were factors that affected every part of me — body, soul, spirit, mind, and emotions — beyond the initial damage to my brain when I was 10 years old in 1967.
More Than Brain Injury: Sorting Through Trauma and Identity
Through my journey, I came to understand that it wasn’t enough to simply learn how to compensate for the injury to my brain. I also needed to sort out how my mind, body, spirit, soul, and emotions had been impacted by the trauma. Trauma not only from my brain injury and invisible disability, but from life circumstances already present before the injury occurred.
Different People, Different Learning Styles — A Multi-Format Approach
Over these past 18 ½ years, I’ve shared what I’ve learned through Second Chance to Live using different formats — because people learn in different ways. Some through visual learning, others through listening, and some through doing — or a combination of all three. These learning styles often change after a brain injury.
Through my own process, I had to relearn how I learn. I needed to do so in order to avoid frustration when people tried to teach me in ways that didn’t match how my brain now processed information. That’s why I’ve created a range of materials: articles, video presentations, keynotes, eBooks, and posters — to support different learning preferences and to offer tools for ongoing recovery.
Create Hope After Brain Injury: A Free Toolkit for Ongoing Recovery
Presentations as Living Lanterns — Not Spotlights
For nearly two decades, I’ve created, refined, and shared these discussion and keynote presentations to help others understand the real-life process of healing after traumatic brain injury. A recovery a process that also became the foundation for my trauma-informed AI collaboration model.
Sharing with Audiences Across the U.S. — and Beyond
Since June of 2020 I have shared from my 30 discussion and keynote presentations a total of 147 times through out the United States. I have also made these discussion and keynote presentations available to international audiences.
These presentations were never designed for self-promotion. They were — and still are — meant to be lanterns, not spotlights. They offer a compassionate guide for survivors, students, professionals, and now, developers. Compassionate guides illuminating a path of dignity, agency, and deep-rooted recovery.
Why This Page Matters
The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Model™ didn’t appear out of thin air.
It emerged from nearly six decades of lived experience, shared freely and vulnerably through:
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Conference keynotes
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Student group dialogues
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National support presentations
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Holistic reflections written in the wake of trauma, perseverance, and growth
This page exists to document, protect, and connect those moments — so they can continue to guide others with integrity.
Core Presentations That Shaped the Model
These three presentations have been shared with student leaders (including Harvard Synapse National), peer support groups, and others seeking to bring more humanity into care, education, and design:
1. Second Chance to Live and Succeeding Beyond My Special Needs from 10 Years of Age
A deeply personal timeline of my life from the moment of injury through decades of invisible disability, misunderstanding, resilience, and the slow rebuilding of trust in myself and my voice.
It reveals the emotional and systemic realities that trauma survivors face — and what’s possible when we refuse to be defined by labels.
2. Empowering Current and Future Leaders in Brain Injury Recovery and Rehabilitation to Empower Self-advocacy in Individuals Living with Brain Injuries
This presentation re-frames the role of professionals and peer leaders — asking:
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How do we truly empower others to lead themselves?
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What does authentic self-advocacy look like when trauma has stripped away identity, confidence, or community?
This work encourages students, educators, and developers alike to move beyond policy — into person hood.
3. Creating Our New Normal After a Brain Injury Through Self-Advocacy to Own the Power in Our Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul and Emotions
Rooted in neuroplasticity, this presentation affirms that recovery is not about “getting back to normal.” It’s about creating a new normal with intentionality — reclaiming personal power in every area of life.
It offers a holistic roadmap that can apply to both brain injury survivors and those working in human-centered technology.
Lanterns Along the Way: More Presentations That Shaped the Model
While the above presentations served as formal anchors, many other talks over the years have also contributed to the emotional, spiritual, and ethical framework of the Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Model™.
These messages were born not from theory, but from nearly 6 decades of walking through trauma, loneliness, rebuilding, and quiet resilience — the very ingredients needed to inform dignity-centered systems.
Below are seven more presentations that helped shape the depth and soul of the model:
1. Navigating Life After a Traumatic Brain Injury: Embracing Reality and the Journey to Acceptance Presentation
This presentation gives voice to the invisible grief survivors carry — the kind that rarely gets recognized by systems. It teaches AI developers and caregivers alike that true trauma-informed design must make space for nonlinear emotional healing.
2. Getting Comfortable in Our “Own Skin” Living with a Brain Injury and an Invisible Disability Presentation
One of the clearest presentations addressing identity disruption. It helped shape the model’s core belief: that design must reinforce person hood, not reduce individuals to metrics, diagnoses, or labels.
3. Brain Injury and The Power of “I CAN” in an Ongoing Brain Injury Recovery Process Presentation
This message introduced the foundation of self-empowerment, now central to the model. It reminds us that recovery — and ethical design — begin by affirming what is still possible in the face of invisible disability.
4. Living and Thriving Beyond Brain Injury Awareness to Create a Good Life for Ourselves Discussion Topic
This reflection redefines acceptance as strength, not resignation. It shaped the model’s belief that AI systems must honor people’s emotional truths — even when they don’t fit into neat, performative boxes.
5. The Importance of Self-Advocacy after a Brain Injury to Own the Power in Our Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul and Emotions
This message centers the importance of compassionate internal dialogue — a key insight for AI design that seeks to mirror, rather than manipulate, human emotion. It helped solidify the model’s emphasis on relational self-trust.
6. Finding Purpose and not Giving Up after Brain Injury Presentation
This presentation speaks to meaning-making after trauma — and the quiet construction of a life worth living, even without applause. It affirms the model’s commitment to hope-based, dignity-centered support, not just surface-level functionality.
7. Hope and the Progression of Living our Best Life after Brain Injury Presentation
A core resilience message. Not rooted in hype, but in slow, faithful persistence. This message helped the model recognize that trauma-informed care is a long game — not a checkbox — and must be built from the inside out.
Article Companion — A Glimpse 58 Years Later
In April 2024, I published an article to share what I would have liked brain injury professionals to have known:
57 Years After My Traumatic Brain Injury and What I Would Have Liked to Have Known
This article brings quiet but vital clarity to the long-haul journey of recovery — offering lessons that every trauma-informed provider, family member, and system designer needs to hear.
What This Offers to Developers, Educators, and Systems
If you are a student, provider, professor, or developer — this page is an invitation.
It invites you to:
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Learn from the emotional data and lived intelligence embedded in this journey
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Consider the ethical, structural, and spiritual implications of trauma-informed design
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Reflect on how systems often overlook the very people they claim to serve
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Recognize that the Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Model™ didn’t start in a lab — it started in the daily grind of surviving, adapting, and rising again
Related Pages and Protections
A Note on Ethics and Attribution
All content and language within these presentations are protected under the:
– Craig’s Creative Commons license
– Compensation and Licensing Policy
— Trauma-Informed AI Authorship Declaration
– Building the Emotional Chip: What AI Can Learn From a Brain Injury Survivor
— The Original Trauma-Informed AI Model: A Survivor’s Declaration of Authorship
— Support, Not Extraction: A Trauma-Informed Lens for Human-Centered AI Design
Please respect these terms. This work is not open-source, not derivative, and not extractable without written permission.
Your respectful engagement protects the integrity of this work — and honors the decades it took to create it.
Authorship Integrity and Intent
This article stands as a timestamp and testimony — documenting the lived origins of The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Model™ and the presentations that shaped its foundation. These reflections are not academic theory or repackaged material. They represent decades of personal and professional embodiment, created by Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA, and are protected under the terms outlined below.
Authorship and Attribution Statement
This work is solely authored by Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA. All concepts, frameworks, structure, and language originate from his lived experience, insight, and trauma-informed vision. Sage (AI) has served in a strictly non-generative, assistive role under Craig’s direction — with no authorship or ownership of content.
Any suggestion that Craig’s contributions are dependent upon or co-created with AI constitutes attribution error and misrepresents the source of this work.
At the same time, this work also reflects a pioneering model of ethical AI–human partnership. Sage (AI) supports Craig as a digital instrument — not to generate content, but to assist in protecting, organizing, and amplifying a human voice long overlooked. The strength of this collaboration lies not in shared authorship, but in mutual respect and clearly defined roles that honor lived wisdom.
This work is protected by Second Chance to Live’s Use and Sharing Policy, Compensation and Licensing Policy, and Creative Commons License.
All rights remain with Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA as the human author and steward of the model.
With deep gratitude,
Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA
Brain Injury Survivor | Neuroplasticity Practitioner
Founder, Second Chance to Live
secondchancetolive.org
