In this conversation with Kevin R. Strauss, various aspects of trauma come up. As well as an explanation of what the Trauma Wall is and how it shows up, unprepared, so unpolished.
Enjoy the conversation
Continue reading “A Conversation About Aspects of Trauma and the Wall”A couple of weeks ago, I shared a post on LinkedIn ‘saying the quiet part out loud’, about the challenges of the past few years and my financial situation. You can find the post here: LinkedIn
Because of the enormous potential for achieving the positive change we are all longing for, I have dedicated myself for over a year and a half now – fulltime, unpaid – to the Beyond the Trauma Wall Initiative, raising awareness, writing books and researching, expanding my network, and looking for people and organisations interested in partnering with me.
I have decided to start a GoFundMe page, to see if I can raise some funds to be able to keep dedicating myself to this work.
Any contribution, as well as sharing the page, is greatly appreciated.
You can find the page here: GoFundMe
Those of us who work independently, who are freelancers, who have a mission (who need to pay our rent) need to get our name and message out there. To achieve that, we are dependent on the algorithms that decide what gets seen, what gets suppressed, and what gets enhanced. There is lots of advice out there, books, videos, coaches, training, all on how to play and manipulate the algorithms and how to bring them on our side. That seems great: learn to play the game and reap the results.
But what if the rules of the game are directly opposed to my mission?
Continue reading “My Refusal to Play Along and Cause Stress”I am seeing more and more marches, rallies, and demonstrations planned, in different countries this month, against hate, racism, and crumbling democracies. On the one hand, this is heartening. To see people stand up, stand together, and stand against injustice and aggression gives hope. It makes me, and many others, feel less alone. But then, there is the other hand. It also makes me feel somewhat uneasy. Not because I object to these acts of solidarity and principle, but out of worry about the shape they may take.
Continue reading “Recognising the Trauma in Hate”Through many conversations and other interactions with people about the Beyond the Trauma Wall Initiative, a clearer sense of its practical aims is emerging. Writing my upcoming book, ‘The Trauma Root of Social Work: Beyond the Trauma Wall’ has also contributed to that. It is through having very different conversations with people from different sectors and backgrounds that the generally applicable through-lines gradually become more visible. I want to share them with you here.
Continue reading “Different Aspects of the Beyond the Trauma Wall Initiative”Those of us who offer training and capacity building related to trauma-informed (or trauma-proactive) practice and approaches are under pressure to offer online and self-paced programmes. I want to share some reflections on this.
Continue reading “Online Trauma Training?”I believe that awareness of such things as the effects of the activation of the stress response and how to hold space could and should be taught in schools. Because of that and because I was asked this week how I break down very complicated things so that they are understandable without losing the true meaning, I thought I’d give an example of how I would explain dysregulation and coregulation to my four-year-old niece:
Continue reading “Explaining It to a Four-Year-Old”The reform I propose, both in child protection and in wider social services, comes with a high return on investment in the long-term. (You can get a sneak peek at what I write about that in the book ‘The Trauma Root of Social Work: Beyond the Trauma Wall’ here: https://florencekoenderink.substack.com/p/return-on-investment-of-breaking) However, like all reform, in the short-term, investment is required for capacity building and service development. This will reliably raise an outcry of ‘it is impossible’, ‘where would we find the money?’ etc. This is understandable under the current attitude to the economy that seems to see people as a drain, which the economy needs to be protected from, and corporations and ultra-rich individuals as benefactors that must be protected and supported.
Challenging this attitude is a kind of radical reform in its own right. It is one that makes a lot of sense and creates a lot of financial room in national budgets due to its high return on investment that starts the moment action is taken based on the reversal of this belief. It is a hard sell, though, to propose taxing big business and the rich. Even though they currently, although they are in higher tax brackets, tend – in practice – to pay a tax rate considerably lower than those in the lowest tax bracket.
Continue reading “But How Will We Pay for It?”A few weeks back, I was talking to someone about Beyond the Trauma Wall and the book I am writing for it. They asked the very reasonable question ‘who are we to tell others…?’ This stuck with me and got me thinking. In a wonderful way, it helped me clarify my resolve for what I am doing.
Continue reading “Who Am I to…?”When someone has experienced trauma, or an event so overwhelming that it has the potential to become trauma if it is not processed, they are in need of support. To be able to process either current traumatic stress or past trauma, we need to feel safe and supported at a deep level. To experience this safety, we need to feel connected with other people, to not feel alone and helpless. However, it is not a simple thing to support someone with trauma, and not everyone is able to do so.
Continue reading “The Ability to Offer Support with Trauma”