The Sim Cafe~

Join Deb as she meets with Jennie Moreau as they discover the unexpected common threads between simulation, acting, empathy, compassion, and storytelling in the personal and professional realms.

Season 3 Episode 30

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Biography

Jennie helps people find their voice. Whether in a corporate or studio setting, customized group workshops, or one-to-one coaching sessions, she empowers her clients to discover, create, and deliver magnetic messages. She has worked with professionals across a wide range of industries, from executives and their safety teams at a steel manufacturer in the Midwest to global nonprofits working to tell the stories and change the lives of those they serve to technologists leading innovation in Silicon Valley.

 

She uses her years of experience as a professional actor and coach to identify clients' core strengths, teach vital communication skills, refine essential content, and utilize all to enable conversations that unite speakers and listeners. She is a graduate of the 2021 Applied Compassion Training, part of the CCARE program at Stanford, and is certified as a Print coach and Crucial Conversations trainer, valuable resources which influence her work. Jennie works with global leaders and teams both virtually and in face-to-face sessions.

 

Representative clients include SAP, Mercedes Benz Research and Development North America, Steel Dynamics Inc., Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG), JLL, Heartland Alliance, Gads Hill Chicago, Women in Bio, Public Communications Inc. (PCI), Dominican University, speakers for TEDx, and the School, Institute of Design at Stanford.

 

As an actor, Jennie has worked extensively on stage, film, and television. In New York, she acted at Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, and Minetta Lane. In Chicago, she has performed at Steppenwolf, the Goodman Theatre, and Victory Gardens. She has done numerous commercials, episodic television shows (Law and Order, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med), and independent films. She has taught actors at Acting Studio Chicago, Victory Gardens Theatre, and Act One Studios.


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Intro:

Welcome to The Sim Cafe, a podcast produced by the team at Innovative Sim Solutions, edited by Shelly Houser. Join our host, Deb Tauber and co-host Jerrod Jeffries as they sit down with subject matter experts from across the globe to reimagine clinical education and the use of simulation. So pour yourself a cup of relaxation, sit back, tune in, and learn something new from The Sim Cafe.

Deb:

Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe. Today we're here with Jennie Moreau,and I'm gonna be solo today. Jerrod is not with me. So this episode will be Deb and Jennie. And Jennie why don't you go ahead and tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and then I'll explain how we met.

Jennie:

Thank you Deb. Thank you for convincing me to finally do this. We've had so many rich conversations. I am someone who's classically trained as an actor. I went to a conservatory for acting as part of my training. I've worked in New York and in Chicago, stage film, tv. I also teach acting. And I discovered as I was teaching actors here in Chicago that many of the people who came to my classes were not interested in becoming professional actors. They were interested in learning more about themselves and how they were communicating in the world, how they were showing up and how they could start to make choices to show up in more mindful ways. So following that path, I ended up developing a business where I work with folks in what I call the civilian world,<laugh>, right? Civilians, folks who are not actors. And I've had the great good fortune to work with individuals and teams across industries, corporate, nonprofit, healthcare, you name it, bringing those, those tools, foundational tools from O of observation and acting and choice making into those arenas.

Deb:

Thank you. And we actually met, I was involved in the Woman's Entrepreneur Institute and the company was selected and I was able to work with some amazing women who taught me many things. And one of'em was Dima. And she did a very warm introduction between the two of us. And it just led into a, a wonderful relationship where I've learned so much from you, Jennie, and I appreciate all that you've done. And I think one of the things that we bonded over a little bit was the hospice and palliative care interview that you had an opportunity to, to listen to.

Jennie:

Absolutely. Uh, as you mentioned, we, we bonded. It seemed like there were a lot of synchronicities in our professional and personal lives. I remember thinking, what is simulation? I don't even know what that is. And then realized I do that too in my work. And we bonded over hospice in particular because my mother was just recently enrolled in hospice with an absolutely incredible, incredible group caring hospice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And you and I started just sharing information, sharing stories, which is one of the ways people bond. And then I just got hooked on the sim cafe and I've been listening to all these podcasts and realizing all these wonderful connections. Very inspiring.

Deb:

Thank you. Thank you. And now that you understand simulation a little bit better,<laugh><laugh>, why don't you share with our listeners how your specific work dovetails into simulation?

Jennie:

Sure. Well, I mentioned that a lot of people who come to an acting class wanna understand acting is the art of truthful human behavior. It really isn't people showing up And let me show you, let me just pretend to be someone else and I can do whatever I want. Or conversely, I'm just gonna be me. Actors are in service of a story, whether that be film or television or even a commercial. So it's important to understand the story or the project or the mission. That's the overarching goal and your role within that. And how do you collaborate with the other actors on stage with the people who are doing the technical work, the sound crew, the director, et cetera. And so those skills, that ability to begin with observing oneself and observing others and making conscious choices in a false environment are completely transferable. So when I do that, in terms of simulation, that, so I was making the connection in that way. I specifically, I said, I use improv based exercises. So I heard one of your guests talking about yes, just saying yes, yes. And is a foundational principle for improvisation. Meaning I see and hear you and I'm gonna build with what you offered. It doesn't mean I have to agree with you, but I'm gonna honor that. That was said. So I use that. I use various improv based listening skills exercises with folks. I use role play with my clients so that they get to practice. What would it be like to show up in a situation that is potentially triggering, whether that's asking for a raise or having a, a colleague who's really unhappy and you're their manager. And you have to find a way to display empathy and compassion and still set your boundaries or working with folks in the legal profession or working with folks in healthcare. So I've worked on both sides, both as the role player and as the facilitator, helping the participants learn the skills that allow them to flex in those various situations.

Deb:

So what I heard you say is you've had the opportunity to work in many different industries, not essentially, and I'm air quoting, obviously simulation. But you've used simulation as a technique for training legal and other different disciplines. Correct. Why don't you?

Jennie:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Deb:

Why don't you talk a little bit about the differences in training an attorney. We had this conversation, I think our listeners will find it interesting.

Jennie:

Yeah. Yeah. Then one of those roleplay. Oh yeah. It's a witness in a deposition case, for example. And so we have to know both sides of the case because every time you go to a different room, you're taking on a different character. You're a different side of the case and two characters on each side. So sitting in the room and hearing people's, so there's no memorized script. We are flexing in the moment either answering questions or not setting up a circumstance where the attorney has an opportunity to learn what kind of questions to ask, when to go deeper. Sometimes the, the teaching professors, the partners will know us as actors or know me and they'll say things like, okay, answer every question with the question. Or, I want you now to answer the questions in a way that the attorney really should say, have you, have you used any controlled substances before our deposition today? Or<laugh>, or to push back in a human way. There was one instance though I also have done it for ethics classes at Northwestern. And brilliant students, they're young, they're learning to be attorneys. They've studied a case, they have group conversations about a decision they think they're going to make. It makes a lot of sense if you're using your head. But when a real human being comes in and has a response that is perhaps one of devastation or disappointment or anger, the attorneys suddenly all that idea about what I was going to do can go out the window cuz here's a real human being. How do you really respond to them?

Deb:

Can you, can you provide an example so that our listeners can actually kinda see what you're talking about? Can you paint that?

Jennie:

Sure. There were these, uh, it was an ethics case about a young woman that was me playing this character who had a pro bono case. And these attorneys were gonna take her case and stand up for her rights. She'd been wrongfully, um, discharged from service as a service person in a very wealthy household. And the setup of the case is that friends of the wealthy household owner say that they wanna use this firm for their own case, but it would be a conflict of interest for them to have the pro bono case, this young woman. So they have to make a decision. Do they go for the wealthy householder's friend? Do they represent them? Because this could be a lot of good future business. It's prestigious. They, you know, they haven't gotten very far with the pro bono case. It would be okay, they can turn that down almost every time. That's the choice they make. When I come in as the witness, there are lots of choices one could make, right? I've just received the information. I decided to play it very quiet, just hear it, receive it. And I started crying, really, really crying. I let it, you know, yes, this is my acting ability, right? But the poor young<laugh>, the poor young women who were delivering the news to me, their whole, their faces fell. There were a a box of Kleenex beside them. And I actually said, could I have the Kleenex? They started to cry too. It's funny now. It ended up being f unny. As soon as we let it go, we were not laughing in the moment. We were all honestly moved by it. And what they realized is, wait a minute. I've g otta t ake i n a whole human being. Right? Right. And the opposite of that would be, for example, let's say you set up a, a serious simulation. I'll say that for me. Let's say it's roleplaying, right? And I've worked with a lot with folks in the tech industry and there's some very high stakes and people learning to how to have challenging conversations and still show up with compassion to really listen what to what people are asking for. And sometimes people will come in and they're laughing and they're joking. If we can work with, I know you've run into this too. Here's the thing. If we can work with the laughter and realize, oh, that's a human response to stress. So if participants are laughing, I go with it. Let's go with it. Let's incorporate it. If we try to squish that, if we try to push it down, it will come out some other way. But if we welcome it into the room, there's endless possibilities. And then you get authentic human behavior, a n amazing conversation.

Deb:

I like that. And I like the idea about the empathy and making sure that you're being in the moment with people and realizing that that laughter is not laughter. Like from a really funny joke.

Jennie:

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Deb:

Being at, you know, watching Saturday Night Live. This is something that has triggered something within an individual and that this is their defense mechanism to protect them, to put their guard up.

Jennie:

Absolutely. I mean, humor does not just exist in a comedy. How many times have you've been to a wake or a memorial service and before long people are telling funny stories and it's often unconscious. It's not thought about ahead of time, but it's, it's one of the ways that we cope. And so if we can bring that into the room, in the world of improvisation, anything someone says or does is called an offer. So you don't just look at the words they're saying, you're looking at the whole person, the emotions, the stress responses. So I could, you know, I can see you right now that our listeners can't, but I'll describe it if I can. But you can hear it in my voice. If I say, I'm really happy to be here, I'm excited. What's my offer? Right. Your offer is, you're not really happy to be here. Exactly. And so if you are present with me, you can pick up on my offer.

Deb:

Right.

Jennie:

And you might respond. How would you, if you were picking up on that offer in real time, how might you respond to me? Would you go with, well, I'm excited too, and keep going. What would you do? What might you say,?

Deb:

Say, Jennie, uh, why don't you tell me what excites you about being here today?

Jennie:

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,

Deb:

Why are you excited? Why are you inspired?

Jennie:

Yeah. Or so what or a how is always a good question cuz it allows curiosity and allows us to go deeper.

:

Right. Or you might even say, oh, your voice sounds different today. What's going on? Is it for a good time?

Deb:

Yes. Yes.

Jennie:

By fully owning the offer.

Deb:

Right.

Jennie:

Which requires us to observe the other person, really be present with them. So much easier sent than done. Well and especially in these days of technology.

Deb:

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,

Jennie:

it's really, really hard. And it's hard, a hard thing to train. And it's a hard thing to, it's gonna continue to be a difficult thing that we need to, and I think you talked about it earlier, be aware mindfulness. Yes. Yes. It was interesting, my work, of course, like everyone's switched to zoom during the pandemic. And while there were some things, some exercises in simulations that would role plays that lend themselves easily to in person and have more impact in person, there were also other things that we discovered doing it virtually. There's a certain intimacy that can happen. Let's face it, it's, you know, the closeup and people choosing, even something as simple as people choosing to have their camera on or off is an offer is a way that they are showing up. And so respecting that and doing what we can to enlist them and make them comfortable is part of that presence. It's not one size fits all.

Deb:

You know. Jenny, I'm gonna ask you, and, and this is a little bit off target of a question. How do you make yourself cry?

Jennie:

Oh,<laugh>.<laugh>. Actually now that's a great question. People will say, just don't blink or pull out a nose hair that doesn't really work.<laugh>, that's cheat cheating. I mean, it could work. What it's based in is this, I understand the structure, like I said, the structure of the story that I'm telling. And if I understand my role in that story and play it a moment, at a time, every moment as that character being connected to what I am doing to, for, or with another human being on stage or in real life, it's like setting up a roadmap. You play it in action at a time. You discover a moment at a time, the things that happen in the scene or in life. And if I'm doing that time after time, after time after time, even for the long run of a play, or even if I'm shooting something on film and they do a two shot, then they come in and do a closeup of me and then they do a closeup of my partner. Oh, a plane goes overhead. You gotta bring it every time. The way to bring it is not think, oh gosh, I hope I cry. It's to follow the moments that happen to understand the given circumstances. There's the simulation, right? I'm this person in this world, here are the things that happen. How will I behave if I set that up and follow at a moment, at a time. Emotions follow.

Deb:

And part of the reason I'm, I'm asking that question is because can you conversely not cry? I worked in the emergency department for 25 years. And there was so many times that I wanted to cry. I used to say to myself, be tough ER Deb. Yes. And I actually had kind of a mechanism that I would take like a piece of paper and if I was welting up, cuz I didn't wear glasses at the time,<laugh>, I would just go like this. Like I was like, honestly, like my eyes are sweating<laugh> and, and be able to, to push it away so I wouldn't cry. But conversely, how do you do that? I mean, there are times when, when it, it felt right to cry with a patient. But a lot of times you need to be, you need to be tough. Well, you just said it, you played a role and you just named her. I am tough ER Deb<laugh>. Right,

Jennie:

Right? So, so that's the other thing is that when we talk about role-playing, whether you're talking about for simulation, for acting, if one of the things I do, if I'm, I've worked with many C-suite leaders as well who have big keynotes to give or you know, they have a TV appearance, we source the different parts of themselves, of them I should say. Or I will play with in rehearsal. I'll say, okay, do it as if we play with different roles. Do it as if you are an ER nurse, do it as if you are a newscaster. Do it as if you are the queen of England. What crazy things. But there's always something they find in there that they can tap into or tell it as if your do the same keynote critical data as if you're talking to a class, a group of world class experts now, as if you're talking to teenagers on their phone. Can't change the content. You have to find a way to get their attention. People shift naturally.

Deb:

Have you ever been at, in any famous movies or any famous TV things or?

Jennie:

All of the Chicago shows.

Deb:

So Jennie, why don't you tell us a little bit about some of the shows and things that you've been in? B ecause I'm curious.

Jennie:

People always ask me this. It's funny, I currently live in Chicago. Like you, Deb and I have had the good fortune to be on all, they call it the Chicago one universe of Chicago PD. Chicago Fire. Chicago Med. I have done major roles on all of them. Fabulous guest star roles. Always someone on the worst day of their life. So everything from a woman whose house collapses, oh my god. My daughter's inside to, um, a woman who is married to someone that she doesn't realize is running drugs and secretly has a thing for prisoners. And then their daughter gets kidnapped. I mean all in one hour. And it gets solved to a woman who is a psychopath. This was Chicago Med and she convinces someone to injure their neighbor so my character can get their apartment<laugh> to most recently, I don't know why they cast me this way, Deb. Interesting. Most recently the wife, the very sweet wife of a deli owner. And he just keeps having accidents because she's putting eyedrops in his coffee.

Deb:

Oh, good. Good. So we'll have to put some of those links to the shows in case our listeners wanna see our movie star. Ooh. Okay.<laugh>. All right. Can you share with our listeners the biggest thing you'd like them to know? Something that when you learned it, it changed the way that you, that you practice or a personal aha moment?

Jennie:

Yeah, I think, I mean, there are lots of them, but I think I find myself saying, don't try harder, try different. And it's, it's something I've told my students, it's something that I work with my clients on and for myself as well. Ah, as well. It's, oh, uh, if I'm doing the same thing again and again and then tensing up around it, often something different or unexpected ends up creating ease. It's also about actually doing it, not just thinking it or feeling it. Give it a try.

Deb:

I think that that's really a good aha and a good thought about not to try harder to try different Absolutely. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, just try a, a subtle change in what you're doing might be all you need to do to get that outcome that you want. Whether it's, you know, like from a health perspective, you know, walking around the block on extra couple steps, whatever it is, try different, not harder.

Jennie:

Yeah. And then one other thing that was a huge aha for me, just, and you can add this if you want or not. I, you and I also bonded over the fact that I did the applied compassion training at Stanford. It's part of their care Center for Compassion Altruism Research and Education Program. And it's an 11 month program. I did it in 2021. There were two cohorts of 60 people each from across the globe across industries learning to activate. So interesting. It was called Act Compassion. And we all designed capstone projects and we actually had to actually do these in the world. My mentor, Robert Cusick, who's one of the founders of that program our first weekend, gave us the definition of suffering. He said, it's anytime anything is other than the way you would like it to be. I thought, huh? What? He said, really, I don't like what I'm having for dinner. Wait, that can't be suffering. How's that possible? By simply naming it, without judging it, by simply naming, ah, this is what's happening in this moment. We have turned toward our own suffering, which is compassion to suffer with. Named it and allowed it to soften that. The simple naming of what's happening without trying harder or trying for an outcome or trying is compassion. And it's also learning to accept.

Deb:

Yeah. Right. When we can accept things you and I talked about before that are really hard, like when our dog gets old mm-hmm.

Jennie:

<affirmative> or when our mom is in hospice.

Deb:

Right.

Jennie:

And we can't control that. No. We can't control. And even even naming, I don't wanna accept this right now. Okay. Right. That's okay too. That's where I am in this moment. And so it all really does come back to that moment t o moment t o moment t o moment. Whether that's acting or living or just being.

Deb:

Well. And I think that I, I don't know if you've watched the, the show Shrinking? No, not yet. I will. It's a, it's a pretty good Apple TV series. Harrison Ford has uh, seen where he just says, you know, he gives himself 15 minutes a day to just as mad as he can. He's trying to, and I hope I don't give this away to the listen listeners, but he's trying to process the diagnosis of Parkinson's and so he gives himself 15 minutes a day to just cry and carry on and just accept what he needs to accept and then move on with the rest of the day. Yeah. I, I think especially for women, it's a little more difficult cuz we tend to have everything and, and I apologize if I'm generalizing on that, but it seems like an easier way to compartmentalize things than women do.

Jennie:

They try to be tough. Er nurse Deb. Yeah.<laugh>. I'm kidding. Well, I think, yeah, and I've, have you heard of that concept of constructive worry where you actually decide? 10 minutes. I'm gonna go ahead and worry, I'm gonna worry, I'm gonna write it down. And then it's one sleep technique, healthy sleep hygiene. Oh, actually I worried about that already today and I can worry about it some tomorrow, but to set aside that time.

Deb:

Yeah. Right. I'm wondering if you have any final words that you'd like our listeners to remember this conversation by? Did we miss over anything that we had, we had hoped we were gonna discuss?

Jennie:

Oh, we k ind o f talked about storytelling. Okay. We talked about storytelling. Again, you and I, there've been so many riches i n that, in that how people process and heal and learn and pass on information through story. And t hat's w hat your podcasts have all been about, interestingly enough too. Right?

Deb:

Right.

Jennie:

Everyone is telling a story of their experience and I think as we listen to them, no matter what field, it's why I said, what is simulation? That the story, the themes, the human experience creates that commonality and we recognize it and it sticks with us.

Deb:

Right. I think that, you know, when you talked about the attorney thing and you think about there's three sides to every story. there's my side, there's your side, and then there's what actually happened. And you know, to get back to that point, what is the story I'm telling myself and how sometimes the story you're telling yourself can really k ind o f cloud your mind from being in the moment and being mindful and appreciative and enjoying the wonders of life.

Jennie:

And naming that is one of the ways that a person, all of us can deal with our triggers. So when we are triggered to be able to name a couple of things, what is the physical reaction? Whew. I'm getting hot, I'm tense, my throat is closing up. I'm sweating a whole lot. Potentially. How am I feeling? I'm angry or I'm just, or I'm embarrassed or I'm sad. What nervous system response is being triggered? Fight, flight, freeze or fawn. The possible new fourth one. And what's the narrative? What's the story that I'm telling about myself or others? They don't care about me or I'm a failure or I don't know how to do anything, or Oh my gosh, I've over over promised.

Deb:

Right, right. But pretend name it, we catch it, we catch it in that moment. Can you go over that fawning again? You and I had talked about it and I kinda, I had an aha with that, but then I.

Jennie:

Yes, yes, yes. Actually, one of my colleagues from the Applied Compassion training, we were, we did deep work i n triggers. In fact that, that was my capstone project, A trigger workshop. And she is a nephrologist in California, Stanford trained L akshmi N essen. And she said fawning, it's the fourth one that they're investigating. And so fawning people pleasing some folks when they're, and they're doing t he research to say, can we really quantify this as a, you know, as a stress response that sometimes when people are triggered, oh, it's okay. Right. No, it's fine. That kind of people pleasing, backing away why I'm in danger. You might hurt me, so let me make it nice, nice, nice.

Deb:

I think I'm a fawner<laugh>. Have you done it?

Jennie:

I, Hey, it's, I don't think, and again, these are all human responses to being threatened. They m ay, you know, they're not a moral failing.It's what we do to be okay. And that's the other thing, right? If we're doing a role p lay or if we go back to like, how do you bring these sorts of a wa, how do you take all of these awarenesses and put them in a simulation environment? Do some, I like to do exercises that help people in a funny way, notice what they go to. Great. We just did these silly improv e xercise. Great. How did you show up? And they're naming the physical, they're naming the fight or flight, they're naming t he, how their voice changes all t hat. Great. No judgment. Now let's put you in a situation when it happens, what are the possible tools you could use? And sometimes who's your lifeline,< laugh> a nd the rest of the group so people can coach each other. So powerful.

Deb:

Yeah, because it's, it's gotta be hard, like on the site, on the set,

Jennie:

the set<laugh>.

Deb:

On the set where getting different people to work together that haven't worked together in the past.

Jennie:

Yeah.

Deb:

Like similar to when you come into, you know, a new environment like the police or the fire department or emergency department. When you haven't worked with these teams in the past, I think cops will develop the good cop, bad cop routine. Right,

Jennie:

Right. There you go. Roles again. What are the familiar roles that we go into?

Deb:

I'm gonna be the good cop, the fun.<laugh>, Uhhuh,<affirmative>. Bambi.

Jennie:

I'll call you Bambi<laugh>.

Deb:

Alright. What do you think though, if you're gonna have our listeners remember this conversation by what would you, what would you like them to remember?

Jennie:

I'm pausing because it could be don't, uh, we said, you know, don't try harder, try different. Also, we're all actors, we all play roles every day in every part of our life is part of the beauty of being a human being. There's nothing phony about it, but noticing the different roles that we play and the different parts of ourself that show up when they show up enable us to make conscious choices moving forward. We can't control the outcome, but we can, when we train ourselves in this way and become aware we can make choices about how we show up.

Deb:

Thank you, you. And with that, we are going to say farewell to our listeners. And happy simulating.

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Outro:

Thanks for joining us here at The Sim Cafe. We hope you enjoyed, connect with us at www.innovativesimsolutions.com and be sure to hit that like and subscribe button so you never miss an episode of The Sim Cafe.

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