Looking for trauma-informed education and resources?
Here you’ll find exercises, training and tools you can read, listen to, watch, and implement.
BOOKS ON TRAUMA + THE BRAIN AND BODY
Books by Dr. Gabor Maté
[descriptions copied from https://drgabormate.com/book/]
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture. In this book, Dr. Maté dissects how Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems are actually seeing an upsurge in chronic illness and general ill health. The Myth of Normal is a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing.
When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. Based on medical research and the author’s clinical experience as a family physician, When the Body Says No explores the role of the mind-body link in conditions and diseases such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, IBS, and multiple sclerosis. Dr. Maté’s book promotes learning and healing, providing transformative insights into how disease can be the body’s way of saying no to what the mind cannot or will not acknowledge.
Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder. Written from the inside by a doctor who himself has Attention Deficit Disorder, Scattered Minds offers a groundbreaking and optimistic perspective on this much-misunderstood condition, seeing it not as a disease but as a problem of brain development in the context of a stressed society.
In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction, explores addiction as a symptom of distress, from the pain of individual trauma and family history to the spiritual emptiness pervading our entire society. Dr. Maté weaves brain science, case studies, personal testimony, and social critique into a powerful and kaleidoscopic look at one of our culture’s most perplexing epidemics.
Books by Other Authors
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
[description copied from https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score]:
Drawing on more than thirty years at the forefront of research and clinical practice, Bessel van der Kolk shows that the terror and isolation at the core of trauma literally reshape both brain and body. New insights into our survival instincts explain why trauma interferes with the brain circuits that involve focusing, flexibility, and being able to stay in emotional control. Making it safe for trauma victims to inhabit their bodies, and to tolerate feeling what they feel, and knowing what they know, can lead to lasting healing. This may involve a range of therapeutic interventions (one size never fits all), including various forms of trauma processing, neurofeedback, theater, meditation, play, and yoga.
Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives, by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir.
[description copied from https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250056115/scarcity]
Scarcity creates a distinct psychology for everyone struggling to manage with less than they need.
Busy people fail to manage their time efficiently for the same reasons the poor and those maxed out on credit cards fail to manage their money. The dynamics of scarcity reveal why dieters find it hard to resist temptation, why students and busy executives mismanage their time, and why the same sugarcane farmers are smarter after harvest than before.
Once we start thinking in terms of scarcity, the problems of modern life come into sharper focus, and Scarcity reveals not only how it leads us astray but also how individuals and organizations can better manage scarcity for greater satisfaction and success.
OTHER RESOURCES
Nonviolent Communication - NVC Academy: Free 30 Day Introductory NVC Course (Nonviolent Communication)
If you have trouble expressing your needs: A List of Needs We All Have
If you have trouble expressing your feelings: A List of Feelings We All Have
BIPOC Writing Space: BIPOC Writing Space | Firefly Creative Writing
Changing Lenses: Upcoming Events
Changing Lenses: JEDI (Justice, Equity, Decolonization, Inclusion) Library
DECOLONIZING THERAPY AND ANTI-OPPRESSIVE, ANTI-RACIST TRAUMA HEALING RESOURCES
Decolonial Therapists and Trauma Courses:
Linda Thai: https://www.linda-thai.com/
Akilah Riley-Richardson: https://akilahrileyrichardson.com/
Shayla Sima Dube: https://wellnessempowered.com/
David Archer: https://archertherapy.com/
Asian Mental Health Collective: https://www.asianmhc.org/
Compassionate Inquiry (Gabor Maté and Sat Dharam Kaur, ND): https://compassionateinquiry.com/recorded-seminars/
BOOKS ON TRAUMA + RACISM, INEQUITY, OPPRESSION
The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color, by Natalie Y. Gutiérrez.
If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma—such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence—you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone. This groundbreaking work illuminates the phenomena of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) as it is uniquely experienced by people of color, and provides a much-needed path to health and wholeness.
Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity, by Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon
Coauthors Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon are professional therapists who witnessed firsthand how mental health issues often went unaddressed not only in their own immigrant families, but in Asian and Asian American communities. Where I Belong shows us how the cycle of trauma can play out in our relationships, placing Asian American experiences front and center to help us process and heal from racial and intergenerational trauma.
My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem
The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all American bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—the police.
My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice, by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel
Raj Patel, the New York Times bestselling author of The Value of Nothing, teams up with physician, activist, and co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition Rupa Marya to reveal the links between health and structural injustices—and to offer a new deep medicine that can heal our bodies and our world: the deep medicine of decolonization.
Decolonizing heals what has been divided, reestablishing our relationships with the Earth and one another. Combining the latest scientific research and scholarship on globalization with the stories of Marya’s work with patients in marginalized communities, activist passion, and the wisdom of Indigenous groups, Inflamed points the way toward a deep medicine that has the potential to heal not only our bodies, but the world.
Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society, by Dr. Arline T Geronimus.
Dr. Arline T. Geronimus coined the term “weathering” to describe the effects of systemic oppression—including racism and classism—on the body. In Weathering, based on more than 30 years of research, she argues that health and aging have more to do with how society treats us than how well we take care of ourselves. She explains what happens to human bodies as they attempt to withstand and overcome the challenges and insults that society leverages at them, and details how this process ravages their health. And she proposes solutions.
Until now, there has been little discussion about the insidious effects of social injustice on the body. Weathering shifts the paradigm, shining a light on the topic and offering a roadmap for hope.
Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, by Trisha Hershey.
Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy. In this book, Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice.
Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us.
Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.
BOOKS ON TRAUMA + SELF-COMPASSION AND GRIEF
The Wild Edge of Sorrow: The Sacred Work of Grief, by Francis Weller.
Noted psychotherapist Francis Weller provides an essential guide for navigating the deep waters of sorrow and loss in this lyrical yet practical handbook for mastering the art of grieving. Describing how Western patterns of amnesia and anesthesia affect our capacity to cope with personal and collective sorrows, wrapping it in a secret mantle of shame. This causes sorrow to linger unexpressed in our bodies, weighing us down and pulling us into the territory of depression and death.
Weller reveals the new vitality we may encounter when we welcome, rather than fear, the pain of loss. Through moving personal stories, poetry, and insightful reflections he leads us into the central energy of sorrow, and to the profound healing and heightened communion with each other and our planet that reside alongside it.
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer.
Are you kinder to others than you are to yourself? More than a thousand research studies show the benefits of being a supportive friend to yourself, especially in times of need. This science-based workbook offers a step-by-step approach to breaking free of harsh self-judgments and impossible standards in order to cultivate emotional well-being. In a convenient large-size format, the book is based on the authors' groundbreaking eight-week Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program, which has helped tens of thousands of people worldwide. It is packed with guided meditations (with audio downloads); informal practices to do anytime, anywhere; exercises; and vivid stories of people using the techniques to address relationship stress, weight and body image issues, health concerns, anxiety, and other common problems. The seeds of self-compassion already lie within you—learn how you can uncover this powerful inner resource and transform your life. initiatives.
The Grief Recovery Handbook, 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition: The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce, and Other Losses including Health, Career, and Faith, by John W. James and Russell Friedman.
This classic guide which has helped many people move beyond loss and towards recovery, has been expanded in this special 20th anniversary edition. The new material includes guidelines for choosing which loss to work on first and specific instruction for dealing with loss of health, career, faith, and much more.
Incomplete recovery from grief can have a lifelong negative effect on the capacity for happiness. Drawing from their own histories as well as from others’, the authors illustrate how it is possible to recovery from grief and regain energy and spontaneity. Based on a proven program, The Grief Recovery Handbook offers grievers the specific actions needed to move beyond loss.
New material in this edition includes:
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Loss of faith
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Loss of career and financial issues
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Loss of health
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Growing up in an alcoholic or dysfunctional home
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma And Restoring Wholeness With The Internal Family Systems Model, by Dr. Richard Schwartz.
Discover an empowering new way of understanding your multifaceted mind—and healing the many parts that make you who you are.
Is there just one “you”? We’ve been taught to believe we have a single identity, and to feel fear or shame when we can’t control the inner voices that don’t match the ideal of who we think we should be. Yet Dr. Richard Schwartz’s research now challenges this “mono-mind” theory. “All of us are born with many sub-minds—or parts,” says Dr. Schwartz. “These parts are not imaginary or symbolic. They are individuals who exist as an internal family within us—and the key to health and happiness is to honor, understand, and love every part.”
You’ll explore:
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How honoring and communicating with our parts changes our approach to mental wellness
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The ego, the inner critic, the saboteur—making these often-maligned parts into powerful allies
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Why our parts become distorted and stuck in childhood traumas and cultural beliefs
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The Self—discover your wise, compassionate essence of goodness that is the source of healing and harmony
RESOURCES ON DECOLONIAL, ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-OPPRESSIVE APPROACHES TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Racial Trauma Clinical Strategies and Techniques for Healing Invisible Wounds, by Kenneth V. Hardy
Racial trauma is an inescapable byproduct of persistent exposure to repressive circumstances that emotionally, psychologically, and physically devastates one’s sense of self while simultaneously depleting one’s strategies for coping. It is a life-altering and debilitating experience that affects countless numbers of people of color over multiple generations. Unfortunately, the failure to consider the interrelationship between racial oppression and trauma limits clinicians’ ability to work effectively with many people of color who live amid sociocultural conditions that are injurious to their psyches and souls. Even when therapy is trauma-informed, it rarely devotes adequate attention to racial oppression and the pervasive trauma associated with it.
This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomy of racial trauma and the debilitating hidden wounds associated with it. Racially sensitive trauma-informed interventions and strategies that centralize race and racial oppression in every facet of the therapeutic process and relationship are meticulously highlighted, making this a must-read resource for all practicing and aspiring clinicians.
Transforming Complex Trauma: Reflections on Anti-Racist Psychotherapy, by David Archer
Learn the connections between social identity, racial trauma, and mental health. With empathy and expertise, Archer encourages us to explore complex trauma through an Anti-Racist Psychotherapy lens. In his down-to-earth style, mixing personal stories and therapeutic insights, Archer welcomes you on a transformational journey that’s fresh, comprehensive, and unapologetically anti-oppressive. This book isn’t just to be read; it’s a new paradigm to help all people get the healing they deserve.
Trauma-Informed Psychotherapy for BIPOC Communities: Decolonizing Mental Health, by Pavna K. Sodhi
Grounded in trauma-informed approaches, intersectionality theory, and critical race theory, Trauma-Informed Psychotherapy for BIPOC Communities: Decolonizing Mental Health embodies psychotherapeutic practices via anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and culturally responsive paradigms. Complete with practical case studies, psychoeducational frameworks, and the author’s own inclusion and healing therapy (IHT) model, content from this book inspires practitioners to update their therapeutic competencies to effectively support BIPOC clients.
Decolonizing Trauma Work: Indigenous Stories and Strategies, by Renee Linklater.
In Decolonizing Trauma Work, Renee Linklater explores healing and wellness in Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. Drawing on a decolonizing approach, which puts the “soul wound” of colonialism at the centre, Linklater engages ten Indigenous health care practitioners in a dialogue regarding Indigenous notions of wellness and wholistic health, critiques of psychiatry and psychiatric diagnoses, and Indigenous approaches to helping people through trauma, depression and experiences of parallel and multiple realities. Through stories and strategies that are grounded in Indigenous worldviews and embedded with cultural knowledge, Linklater offers purposeful and practical methods to help individuals and communities that have experienced trauma. Decolonizing Trauma Work, one of the first books of its kind, is a resource for education and training programs, health care practitioners, healing centres, clinical services and policy initiatives.
Traumatic Stress Studies Certificate Program (A 7-month program led by
Bessel van der Kolk, MD): https://traumaresearchfoundation.org/programs/certificate-program/
Academy of Therapy Wisdom: Online therapy courses at the intersection of psychotherapy, spirituality, and social change.. https://therapywisdom.com/