Ways to Heal Self and Society from Trauma

The Aspen Institute Apr 25, 2019
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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Ways to Heal Self and Society from Trauma

Giving Compass’ Take:

• The Aspen Institute profiles the work of Amanda Lindamood, a trauma survivor who has been a leader in sexual violence prevention and responses.

• What can we learn from Lindamood’s experiences? One takeaway is to confront the fragmentation of trauma.

• Here’s why treating childhood trauma should become a public policy priority.

If you work with people these days you confront trauma and the effects of trauma. Trauma, whether from abuse, sexual violence, racial injustice or other causes has a way of spreading outwards from an initial victim or group of victims to inflict collateral harm on friends and family, neighborhoods, and communities.

Amanda Lindamood, a trauma survivor herself, is deeply dissatisfied with what has been built to help people heal, and she wants to create something better. At 22, Lindamood found herself a department head at a major sexual violence prevention and response organization. Six years later, she is an emerging thought leader on the subject.

Amanda describes the fact that trauma isolates the survivor. People do not understand what you’ve gone through, or they can’t handle it, or they can’t hold it for long.  You quickly grow to view violence as rampant, invisible to the institutional and cultural structures of power that allow it to continue.

The isolating effects of trauma apply to communities as well as individuals. Many whole communities have been hit by historical trauma. The trauma has gone unacknowledged, yet must be dealt with before real relationship can exist anew.

Read the full article about healing self and society from trauma by April Lawson at The Aspen Institute.

Interested in learning more about North America? Other readers at Giving Compass found the following articles helpful for impact giving related to North America.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    How to Support Families

    Giving Compass' Take: • Ali Miller and Mary Gray recap highlights from the Families at the Center Summit, sharing insights for funders who want to support families.  • How can you incorporate these practices into your giving?  • Learn about a family-based care model for children in need.  1. Meet families where they are. A dynamic panel of parent leaders kicked off the Summit, lifting up their individual journeys and sharing suggestions for how systems and policies can better meet the needs of families. At the core of the discussion was the belief that we must meet families where they are. All too often, our institutions assume families will reach out when they need support; however, this assumption overlooks common barriers, such as distrust of systems or parents’ fear of judgment. 2. When you shift from transactional to relational engagement, magic happens. Authentic family engagement means treating families and parents as partners from the beginning. However, relationships between parents and providers/educators are often transactional. 3. Cross-sector collaboration is key. To strengthen family engagement efforts across the region, we must take a close look at how we’re collaborating across the early childhood ecosystem. A true systems-level approach to family engagement requires strong communication across organizations, effective strategies for referrals/warm hand-offs, and a shared understanding of core family engagement principles. Participants said having opportunities to connect at places like the Summit could help bridge gaps and create opportunities for agencies to leverage one another’s strengths. 4. Co-create, evaluate and keep track of milestones along the way. At the Summit’s Learning & Evaluation breakout session, three field leaders discussed strategies for evaluating family engagement efforts and how to include parents in the process. The panel emphasized the importance of working in partnership with families to co-design, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of family engagement strategies. Read the full article about supporting families by Ali Miller and Mary Gray at Medium.

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