The Enlightened Family Business Podcast

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast
The Trauma-Informed Trustee with Amanda Koplin
 

Episode Summary
In this episode of The Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker sits down with Amanda Koplin, LPC — licensed professional counselor, entrepreneur, author of The Trauma Informed Trustee, and certified hostage negotiator. Amanda brings a unique and deeply human lens to the world of estate planning and trust administration, revealing how unaddressed trauma, addiction, and mental health challenges can derail even the most carefully constructed estate plans. She shares how her work with Koplin Consulting bridges the gap between behavioral health and the trusted advisor community, offering practical strategies for trustees, estate planners, and wealth advisors to better serve families navigating these complex intersections.
Episode Chapters
·  00:00 – Introduction: Meet Amanda Koplin
·  03:30 – What it means to be a "trauma-informed" trustee
·  08:15 – How addiction and mental illness show up in estate planning
·  14:00 – Real stories: when trust distributions do more harm than good
·  20:30 – The role of trusted advisors in supporting beneficiary mental health
·  27:45 – Amanda's journey from mental health urgent care to Koplin Consulting
·  34:00 – What hostage negotiation taught her about family dynamics
·  40:15 – Practical tools for trustees dealing with high-conflict beneficiaries
·  47:30 – Building sustainable support systems within estate structures
·  53:00 – Final thoughts and how to connect with Amanda
Websites
·  koplinconsulting.com
Book
·  The Trauma Informed Trustee by Amanda Koplin
LinkedIn
·  Amanda Koplin LPC
About Amanda Koplin
Amanda Koplin, LPC is a mental health counselor, entrepreneur and thought leader who creates innovative solutions to fill gaps in the mental healthcare system. She is also the author of "The Trauma Informed Trustee" and a certified hostage negotiator.
Amanda frequently speaks to trusted advisors such as estate planners, trustees, family business offices, and wealth advisors to educate, train, and support them in understanding how addiction, mental illness, and eating disorders impact the creation and implementation of estate plans and trust administration. She is passionate about helping people achieve mental wellness and creating sustainable support systems and solutions which integrate seamlessly into real life.
In 2016, she sold her first business, a mental health urgent care clinic, to create Koplin Consulting, a nationwide concierge behavioral health treatment team service. Amanda is a speaker and a nationally sought after consultant who specializes in creating unique treatment plans and recommendations for individuals struggling with psychological concerns such as addictions, eating disorders, lack of motivation, and other issues impacting mental wellness. She is particularly adept at involving trusted advisors and family members in order to create the greatest impact.

How Family Business Owners Can Address Succession Avoidance
Why do family business owners put off succession conversations—and what helps them move forward? Chris and Heidi Engel explore the fears, family roles, and relationship patterns that can stall a transition. They discuss how honest dialogue, trust, and a clearer next step can help families navigate change.
In This Episode
00:00 — Understanding the family behind the business Introducing a relationship-centered approach to leadership transitions, with attention to communication, safety, and individual agency.
06:34 — Why succession conversations get avoided How fear, uncertainty, and the pressure to make permanent decisions contribute to postponement—and why succession is an ongoing process.
12:36 — Family roles, identity, and authority How longstanding family roles influence business conversations, and why recognizing the next generation as capable adults matters.
16:24 — The cost of delaying succession How repeated delays can erode trust, create resentment, and drive next-generation leaders away. Moving forward requires visible action.
22:08 — Creating space for difficult conversations Why each family needs an approach that fits its circumstances, and why relationships and communication deserve attention alongside governance.
27:33 — Bringing unspoken fears into the open Exploring concerns about ownership, responsibility, and burdening the next generation. Understanding emotions can help families identify what is blocking progress.
34:49 — Finding clarity one step at a time How future roles and structures can emerge through ongoing dialogue. Clarity can mean knowing the next step without having the entire future mapped out.
40:40 — Connecting individual values with a shared vision How personal goals and family values inform the business's direction, and how family members can contribute through different roles.
44:27 — Choosing a facilitator for complex family dynamics What to look for in someone who can create safety, work with tension, and keep people engaged when conversations become emotionally difficult.
46:54 — Why lived experience matters Why knowledge alone is insufficient—and how a guide's personal experience and ability to stay present build trust when things get challenging.
Key Takeaways
Treat succession as an evolving conversation.

Address family relationships alongside leadership and ownership structures.

Surface the fears and assumptions behind avoidance.

Build trust through action and follow-through.

Focus on a clear next step.

Seek guidance from someone with experience navigating emotionally complex transitions.

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast
Ep. 169: The Decisions You Need to Make Before Succession Ever Begins
 

In this special Family Business Executive Forum episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker and co-presenter Christy walk a live audience through a pre-succession readiness framework that most families never encounter until it's too late. Rather than treating succession as a single event — the transfer of power, ownership, or authority — Chris and Christy reframe it as a multi-year process that begins long before anyone is ready to step away. Using a seven-dimension readiness scorecard, they guide listeners through an honest self-assessment of where their family enterprise stands today: shared direction, family alignment, continuity, leadership bench, governance, roles and accountability, and ownership mindset. They explore why stewardship is a fundamentally different framework than ownership, why non-family employees can read family favoritism before leadership can, why what got you here won't get you there, and why the strongest succession plans are built before succession feels urgent. Packed with real client stories, practical warning signs, and five conversations every family should begin now, this is one of the most actionable episodes in the series.
Episode Chapters
·       2:15   Succession Is Not an Event — It's a Process
·       3:51   The Seven Readiness Dimensions: An Overview
·       4:49   What Stewardship Actually Means
·       6:01   The Pre-Succession Readiness Scorecard
·       7:15   Dimension 1: Shared Direction — Do We Know What We're Trying to Preserve, Grow, or Change?
·       12:31  Organizational Identity and DNA
·       12:33  Dimension 2: Leadership Bench — Are Future Leaders Developed Before They're Needed?
·       17:31  Tracking Leadership Readiness — Tools and 360s
·       19:11  Dimension 3: Roles and Accountability — Are Expectations and Authority Clear?
·       23:15  Dimension 4: Family Alignment — Can We Discuss Difficult Issues Without Damaging Relationships?
·       26:47  The Role of a Facilitator in Holding Difficult Conversations
·       29:26  Dimension 5: Governance — Are Ownership, Board, Family, and Management Decisions Separated?
·       34:46  Dimension 6: Ownership Mindset — Are Future Owners Prepared to Steward, Not Merely Inherit?
·       37:54  Dimension 7: Continuity — Could the Enterprise Function If a Key Person Stepped Away Tomorrow?
·       41:40  What Successful Continuity Actually Requires
·       44:05  How to Pull Your Advisory Team Together
·       44:21  Why Plans Fail Before Transition Begins
·       49:11  Five Conversations to Begin Now
·       51:00  Your 30-Day Commitment
·       53:14  Closing: Build the Plan Before It Feels Urgent
 
Websites
·       chrisyonker.com
 
Contact
·       chris@chrisyonker.com

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast
Ep. 168: You Can't Change What You Can't Be With — A Conversation with David Young
 

In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker sits down with David Young — somatic experiencing practitioner, collective trauma healer, co-executive director at Somatic Experiencing International, and founder of The Art of Collective Integration — for a wide-ranging conversation on one of the most underexplored dimensions of human development: why intelligent, well-educated people keep repeating patterns that hurt them, and what it actually takes to change. David brings a remarkable lineage to this work — the son of an African American former Black Panther-turned-missionary and a Taiwanese mother, trained in intelligence analysis, East Asian philosophy, pastoral ministry, and somatic psychology. Together Chris and David explore why transformation isn't a cognitive event but a full-body physiological experience; why self-help books give us the cherry on top without the cake underneath; the difference between cultivating performance and cultivating wisdom; how the nervous system holds patterns that fire faster than the speed of thought; why anxiety in the rising generation is best met with co-regulation before analysis; what resilience actually means and why it's the highway to both personal and collective change; and what it looks like to raise a generation that can hold the complexity of a volatile, uncertain, rapidly accelerating world. This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered why knowing better doesn't always lead to doing better.
Episode Chapters
·       1:07   Meet David Young
·       4:05   Breaking Patterns — What's Really Going On
·       5:55   Developing the Rising Generation for the Future
·       7:00   The Stages of Development Haven't Changed — But Everything Else Has
·       10:56  Belonging vs. Becoming: The Tension Every Rising Gen Faces
·       15:37  Why Highly Intelligent People Keep Repeating Harmful Patterns
·       17:24  Why Self-Help Books Give You the Realization Without the Change
·       22:36  Same Car, Different Engine: What Changes When Healing Happens
·       23:09  Performance Culture vs. Wisdom Culture
·       27:53  Pain and Pleasure Are Not Enough — The Limits of Leverage
·       29:33  What the Nervous System Has to Do With Everything
·       34:35  Anxiety in the Rising Generation — What's Really Driving It
·       36:52  Co-Regulation: The First Step Before Asking Why
·       41:14  Building Resilience: The Highway to Personal and Collective Change
·       47:16  Resilience Is the Capacity to Stay in Flow With Adversity
·       48:01  A Message for Parents and Family Principals
·       50:28  Resources and Farewell
 
Websites
·       artofcollectiveintegration.com
·       traumahealing.org
·       chrisyonker.com
 
About David Young
David Young 楊正賢, M.A., CMMT is the Co-Executive Director of Somatic Experiencing International and the founder and lead teacher of The Art of Collective Integration (ACI), a methodology for addressing collective trauma and societal polarization through somatic, relational, and systems-based practices. As a collective trauma integration facilitator, certified mindfulness meditation teacher, and executive coach, David supports communities and organizations through critical transitions — helping them heal from collective trauma, navigate complexity, and enable healthy communication in polarized environments.
With 20+ years of experience in leadership development, systems change, and trauma-informed consulting, David brings a unique approach that integrates somatic awareness, collective intelligence, and wisdom traditions to foster resilient, adaptive organizations. He has designed and facilitated large-scale leadership retreats and community healing initiatives in over 30 cities across the US and Europe, focusing on intergenerational leadership, cultural resilience, and conflict transformation. He is also a co-creator and co-facilitator of Attuned: Becoming Trauma Informed & Trauma Responsive in Professional Settings (accredited by the Law Society of Ontario) and The Leadership Dojo, an eight-week practice-based facilitation training.
A student of collective trauma healing with Thomas Hübl, David holds multiple certifications in mindfulness, trauma facilitation, and conscious leadership, and is a teacher on Insight Timer, a global meditation app. He enjoys traveling, camping with his kids, martial arts, and hanging out in tea shops.

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast
Ep. 167: The One Plan Every Family Is Missing with Libby Boatwright
 

In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker sits down with Libby Boatwright — certified financial planner, former Stanford Medical Center chaplain, pastor, and author of The Last Things We Talk About — for a candid, deeply practical conversation about the one plan most families never make: an end-of-life plan. Drawing on decades of experience in palliative care, hospice work, financial planning, and pastoral ministry, Libby walks through the full spectrum of what families need to navigate when a loved one faces a serious diagnosis or decline — and why waiting until the last minute makes everything harder and more costly. Chris and Libby explore the critical difference between palliative care and hospice, how hospitals really operate and what they won't tell you, why your advanced directive is your most important legal document, the caregiving crisis quietly bankrupting American families, how to be an effective patient advocate inside a system not designed to help you, and what it actually looks like to help a loved one die well. Chris also shares his own firsthand experience navigating hospice for both parents — including a powerful story about standing up to a hospital trying to redirect his mother's care. This is a conversation every family should hear before they need it.
Episode Chapters
·       2:22   Meet Libby Boatwright
·       4:31   What End-of-Life Planning Actually Covers
·       7:29   When the Diagnosis Arrives: Legacy, Bucket Lists, and Getting the House in Order
·       10:00  The Circles of Support — Who Will Be There When It Matters?
·       12:44  How to Start the Conversation When Families Don't Want To
·       15:00  The Advanced Directive, HIPAA, and the POLST — The Three Essential Documents
·       18:32  The Caregiving Crisis: Costs, Burnout, and Family Conflict
·       23:36  Alzheimer's, Memory Care, and What It Actually Costs
·       26:17  Protecting Assets: Trusts, Look-Back Periods, and Planning Ahead
·       28:13  Navigating the Hospital System: Case Managers, Patient Advocates, and How to Fight for Your Loved One
·       35:00  Palliative Care: What It Is, When to Use It, and Why Most People Don't Know
·       38:09  Hospice: Medicare's Gift at the End of Life
·       41:18  Chris's Story: Standing Up to the Hospital
·       46:59  About the Book: The Last Things We Talk About
·       50:16  Resources and Farewell
 
Websites
·       elizabethboatwright.com
·       chrisyonker.com
 
Book
·       The Last Things We Talk About: Your Guide to End of Life Transitions by Elizabeth Boatwright (Bull Publishing, 2021) — available on Amazon
 
About Libby Boatwright
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth "Libby" Boatwright, BCC-PCHAC, CFP, is a chaplain, pastor, certified financial planner, and author who has spent over 30 years counseling families on end-of-life issues, loss, grief, estate planning, and the emotional and spiritual dimensions of dying. She served as a Relief Chaplain in Oncology Outpatient Palliative Care Medicine at Stanford Health Care, where she worked alongside hundreds of patients and families navigating serious illness and end-of-life transitions.
In her book The Last Things We Talk About: Your Guide to End of Life Transitions (Bull Publishing, 2021), Libby offers a practical framework for creating what she calls the "white book" — a simple binder or flash drive of all the materials a family will need when a loved one passes — helping heirs avoid what she calls "the treasure hunt" of lost documents and unspoken wishes. Libby has lectured at universities, colleges, and medical institutions, led seminars at national conventions, faith communities, parenting groups, senior fellowships, and estate planning forums. She has published in Cancer.net, Morningstar, CSA Journal, and Barron's, and has been featured in newspapers across the country. She has also appeared on ABC Nightly News and hosted her own radio show, The Fiscal Therapist, on KAIM.
Libby holds Master's degrees from UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and Fuller Seminary, a Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics and Future Studies from George Fox University, and holds certifications as a Certified Financial Planner and Board Certified Chaplain with Advanced Certification in Hospice and Palliative Care. She lives in Northern California.