I'm feeling excited if not a little trepidatious. I'm launching a peer support group this month in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for adult identifying women who are interested in working together to recover from the lies we learned about ourselves and others as a result of childhood trauma.
Talking about trauma in my community usually receives a trauma response of resistance. And yet I interpret that as validation of the need for what I want to do: to increase awareness and action towards addressing the pervasiveness of trauma in our society.
I've spent the last 16 years recovering from the first 42. The bulk of my recovery involved learning about trauma and how it affected me. I started with Judith Herman's book Trauma and Recovery. That was my workbook. When my world first crumbled, no one in my community had any idea what I was dealing with. Fortunately I connected with people elsewhere who had experienced similar circumstances, and they referred me to Herman's work. Even though I used a psychiatrist and psychologist to help stabilize me during the early years, they still didn't have a clue what my real issues were. Fortunately I had Herman and my peers to give me guidance, validation and hope.
I didn't even hear about ACEs until 2014, and they were absolutely the missing piece in my recovery. Since then I've been trying to muster up equivalent interest from others, to little avail.
I've recently taken flight off the mountain and engaged deeply here at ACEs Connection. The validation and encouragement I have received have verified what I've long known, that I may be a lone voice in my immediate community, but I'm not alone in my vision.
So I'm stepping forward again to invite others to join me on this journey towards reclaiming our individual and collective lives from the impairing childhoods we have perpetrated through our colonizing mindset.
I'm hopeful that people will join me on this journey. Thank you for your moral support. I'll keep you posted how things go.
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