1: The Getting Real with Hilary Show with Hilary Burns - Episode 11: The Getting Real with Hilary Show with Hilary Burns - Episode 1
UK Health Radio Podcast
Hilary Burns talks with Tracy Hunt about how running clubs, trauma awareness and compassionate support are changing lives inside prisons and on the streets of Los Angeles. The conversation touches on childhood ACEs, emotional regulation, racial and economic inequality, and what real second chances can look like.
37:32•25 Apr 2026
Trauma, Prisons and Second Chances: Getting Real with Hilary and Tracy Hunt
Episode Overview
- Childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences strongly shape the paths that can lead people into crime and addiction.
- Many incarcerated people and correctional officers live in constant fight-or-flight and have never been taught how to regulate their emotions safely.
- Running clubs like Skid Row Running Club and Born to Run create community, purpose and leadership opportunities for people in recovery and in prison.
- Asking "what happened to you?" instead of "what’s wrong with you?" opens the door to understanding, healing and genuinely supporting change.
- Social-emotional learning and simple regulation tools, taught from an early age, may reduce later problems, including school exclusion and imprisonment.
“Rather than judging people, instead of 'what’s wrong with you?', ask 'what happened to you?'”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety, justice and healing? This debut episode of The Getting Real with Hilary Show brings together host Hilary Burns and guest Tracy Hunt for a candid conversation about trauma, prisons and what genuine second chances can look like.
Tracy, an operations manager, personal trainer and wellness coach, shares how a 2018 documentary, *Skid Row Marathon*, pulled her into the Skid Row Running Club in Los Angeles — even though she "still does not like running". From there, her life shifted towards supporting people in recovery, those experiencing homelessness and, most powerfully, incarcerated men and women.
She talks about entering San Quentin in 2019 with the club’s running group and how meeting the men inside "just changed my life." That connection led her to the Compassion Prison Project and regular visits into prisons, where she works with running clubs like the Born to Run Club and joins Trauma Talks sessions focused on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
The episode keeps circling back to one key idea: instead of asking "what’s wrong with you?", Tracy urges asking "what happened to you?" She and Hilary chat about childhood trauma, emotional regulation, and how many people in prison never had a chance to learn basic calming tools. Stories of self‑harm, constant fight-or-flight in prison yards, and correctional officers’ unaddressed trauma sit alongside hopeful examples of incarcerated men coaching running groups and building community.
Hilary also connects this to schools, describing social-emotional learning work where even kindergarten children learn how to tell when they’re "not regulated" and choose simple ways to calm down. It’s a conversation that blends raw honesty about racism, poverty and addiction with a quiet but steady belief that people can change when they are seen, heard and supported. If you’ve ever wondered what practical compassion inside prisons looks like, this one might stay with you long after it ends.
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