Social Trauma

Beyond preserving the firsthand testimonies of participants and witnesses, individuals and societies must continually take responsibility for learning the painful lessons of the past in order to offer hope for the future. Survivor Café offers a clear-eyed sense of the enormity of our 21st-century human inheritance - not only among direct descendants of the Holocaust, but also in the shape of our collective responsibility to learn from tragedy.

When it comes to Christ-centered recovery, we, the church, have work to do. Our legalistic, box-checking, one-size-fits-all programs produce astonishingly high failure rates—which means far too many people are left to fight addiction, mental health problems, and suicidal thoughts on their own. The goal of The Uncovery is to help the church—and the world—see recovery through a grace-laced, gospel lens. Every single one of us has some trauma or issue from our past that may still be affecting our life today. This book offers listeners nudge to go deeper in the recovery space.

Riveting, honest, and raw, I Can Take It From Here recounts Lisa Forbes's harrowing journey into darkness—including a fourteen-year-long stint in a maximum-security prison—and her fierce resolve to understand the effects of the trauma she endured, to take personal responsibility for her actions, and to ensure that her history does not dictate her destiny.

One in six women is the victim of sexual assault. Using her own hard-won wisdom, author Jen Cross shows how to heal through journaling and personal writing. Writing Ourselves Whole is a collection of essays and creative writing encouragements for sexual trauma survivors who want to risk writing a different story. Each short chapter offers encouragement, experience, and exercises.

On December 10, 1953, tragedy was visited on a family when Nathaniel Allen was murdered on the Sampit River by his White employer, who lured him into the meeting under the false promise of reconciliation. Allen's death was recorded as an accidental drowning, a deliberate cover-up of the bullet hole seen by more than one witness. Three generations later, Phil Allen Jr. revisits this harrowing story and recounts the "baton of bitterness" that this murder passed down in his family.

Claudia Garcia crossed the border because her toddler, Natalia, could not hear. Leaving behind everything she knew in Mexico, Claudia recounts the terror of migrating alone with her toddler and the incredible challenges she faced advocating for her daughter’s health in the United States. When she arrived in Texas, Claudia discovered that being undocumented would mean more than just an immigration status—it would be a way of living, of mothering, and of being discarded by even those institutions we count on to care.

Over the last decade, Kevin Dedner has been on a mission to explore this powerful and troubling question, shining an unconventional spotlight on the impact of racism on mental health. In his debut book, The Joy of the Disinherited, Dedner articulates his call for urgent change: We must knock down the invisible barriers that make it harder for Black people to get the mental health care they need and deserve.

Black Americans' resilience during centuries of racially motivated violence is beyond remarkable. But continuing to endure this harm allows for generations of trauma to fester and grow. Healing has to be the priority going forward. For decades, Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts clung to her upbringing in the church, believing that racial reconciliation would come through faith and discipline, being respectable, and doing what's right. But when her cousin became the victim of a white supremacist's hateful rampage, her body and soul said, "no more."

This is an important resource for those who have survived serious injuries, their loved ones, and treating healthcare professionals. I consider this essential...and plan to have my students and junior colleagues read this book. There is so much helpful information to be had in a text that can only be written from a personal perspective. Often, injured individuals and their loved ones cannot anticipate or plan fully for the major life changes that follow a serious injury. There is just no way to really appreciate how different their lives will be.

As Black people, we are more likely to face a traumatic experience or suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But being Black is about more than the violence that has been perpetrated against us. It also means living a life of dignity and self-worth. We can pull ourselves out of the fire of painful experiences and gain the psychological flexibility needed to thrive, not just survive. Jennifer Shepard Payne presents culturally tailored acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) skills to help you heal from trauma, so you can live a meaningful life that is in tune with your own values.

Should this book have been written? Should it be read? Why is there still so much stigma, shame and taboo associated with mental health? Why do men struggle so much to talk about their problems? Are we adequately equipped? In the workplace, in your home, in the church, in society? The introduction in this book briefly explains how our brains work, it is a powerful organ. Are you trapped in a negative mindset? This book will change the way that you think.

Hey there, super kids! Today, let's talk about a very special person named DeShala. She's like a superhero in her own way, and she's on an amazing mission! DeShala is a super cool social worker at an elementary school, just like yours, but she works in a place called Wisconsin - that's also known as the cheese state!

Do you struggle with relationships in general? If you have never heard of the term boundaries, or have never understood how to have boundaries, then this book is for you. This book will address these questions and provide insight on where to start. The information in this book can help you to learn how to take your rights back!

All the secrets to benefit from the power of the vagus nerve to overcome anxiety, depression, ptsd, trauma, and strengthen your immune system.

You see the path forward. Yet. You find yourself frustrated by their inability to take ownership of their advocacy. You might find yourself struggling to simplify complex legal information, to delicately navigate emotional conversations or even answer repeated questions. If only there was a way to understand what was going on in the victim’s mind…

Having a pet dragon is so much fun! He can sit, roll over, and play. He can candle a birthday cake, light a campfire, or so many other cool things! But what if your dragon experienced a traumatic event? What if he’s constantly having bad dreams about the terrible thing he experienced? What if he wasn’t able to rest well and telling you his tummy hurts? What if he tried to run away but couldn’t escape from his thoughts of the awful thing that happened? What if he didn’t want to share with you or to talk about the terrible thing he saw?

As life hurdles challenge and test our existence - or whatever you may call your ability to believe - there are manmade options available in the form of a drug in which some of us elect to escape, drown out, pause, or simply ignore. But whatever you deem it, the mind has been called "power" of man to respond as it is uniquely designed.

Amidst the 12 cranial nerves that are responsible for connecting the brain with the head, torso and the neck (and obviously also all the other organs that come along the way), there is a nerve which is the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, the 10th cranial nerve, called the vagus nerve also known as the X cranial nerve, which is the longest nerve in the human body that plays a major role in keeping your body healthy and fit.

It is easy to be depressed if you live in a neighborhood that has few supportive resources available or is marred by gun violence. We are able to diagnose people with depression, but how does one heal a neighborhood? This City Is Killing Me brings policy and psychology together. Through case studies, Jonathan Foiles opens up his therapy door to allow us to overhear the stories of individual poor Chicagoans. Through statistics and the example of Chicago, he teaches us how policy decisions have contributed to these individuals’ suffering.

Encourage the vulnerable, difficult, and fun communication necessary to build strong relationships and fortify them against dysfunction, divorce, or separation. Do your everyday conversations feel like an endless cycle of repeat? Does silence dominate your time together? Every relationship goes through its phases, some harder than others, but that doesn’t mean you should simply accept that you are powerless and passively sit by and wait for the phase to run its course. What if you could turn that loop in your throat into a spiral of loving, honest, and exciting connection?