How do we address trauma, interrupt cycles of violence, and build resilience in a turbulent world of endless wars, nationalism, othering, climate crisis, racism, pandemics, and terrorism? This fully updated edition offers a practical framework, processes, and useful insights.
The traumas of our world go beyond individual or one-time events. They are collective, ongoing, and the legacy of historical injustices. How do we stay awake rather than numbing or responding violently? How do we cultivate individual and collective courage and resilience?
This Little Book provides a justice-and-conflict-informed community approach to addressing trauma in nonviolent, neurobiologically sound ways that interrupt cycles of violence and meet basic human needs for justice and security. In these pages, you’ll find the core framework and tools of the internationally acclaimed Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program developed at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in response to 9/11. A startlingly helpful approach.
"This insightful work is transforming the peacebuilding field which is now addressing trauma not only as a consequence of violence but as an important variable at the heart of instability. Yoder emphasizes the trauma-violence connection and presents a trauma-healing model that is the foundation for initiatives around the globe." —Belkys López, Director of Research and Learning, Green String Network, Nairobi, Kenya
"With Trauma Healing, Carolyn gives us an invaluable tool for understanding the links between trauma, security, and violence. Perhaps more importantly, she offers a practical roadmap for disrupting cycles of violence in our homes, communities, and within our global family. Trauma Healing is a must-read. Don’t be misled, this Little Book is big—it has the power to transform you and the world." —Daria Nashat, Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) Trainer, Brussels, Belgium
"Carolyn Yoder’s Little Book is essential reading for everyone working toward racial healing. Foundational to the peacebuilding community of Coming to the Table—which seeks to overcome America’s legacy of slavery—it lights the way for individuals and communities to break free from historic trauma and the cycles of violence it induced." —Sharon Leslie Morgan and Thomas Norman DeWolf, Co-authors of Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade
"Yoder’s Little Book presents a succinct yet comprehensive framing of a bio-psycho-social understanding of trauma and various approaches to healing. With its increased attention to historical, cultural, and structural causes of trauma, the Revised Little Book of Trauma Healing is an essential introduction to trauma for justice advocates, community organizers, leadership trainers, and anyone concerned with personal and collective manifestations of trauma." —David Anderson Hooker, PhD, Professor of the Practice of Peacebuilding Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame
