Here are some healing resources that I’ve come across in my own healing work. I’m a trauma survivor and artist; I’m not a licensed mental health professional or anything of the sort. I’ve worked with some wonderful therapists over the years and encourage everyone to keep searching for their right therapist.
If it’s all too much
Life is a lot right now. It’s very human to feel overwhelmed, scared, exhausted. If you’re finding it all too much, please know that people are waiting to help you. Please trust that you make life more beautiful and alive by sharing yourself with us. Please know that things change, and get better. So please stay.
Jennifer Hecht tells you why you should stay (On Being podcast)
Speaking of Suicide – Excellent resources from Dr. Stacey Freedenthal
Fireweed Collective – Community-based mental health resources. Free toolkits, groups, and peer counseling.
If you need someone to talk to
Warmline.org – National directory of warm lines: Free peer counseling with volunteers who have personal experience with mental health challenges. An option for folks who are not presently in crisis.
If you have trauma in your body
Strongly recommend The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and Peter Levine’s books including Waking the Tiger. Also, My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem.
For folks looking to do their own healing work, or self-educate on trauma, I loved Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma by Janina Fischer. A fantastic workbook.
Resmaa Menakem talks about trauma & race (On Being)
Bessel van der Kolk, how trauma lodges in the body (On Being)
Peter Levine on healing trauma (Being Well podcast)
On finding a therapist. Bottom-up vs top-down therapies (Therapy Chat podcats)
If you had a hard childhood
Pete Walker’s website is a great resource for childhood trauma and complex PTSD. Includes some free articles, therapy resources. His book Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving is excellent.
Pete Walker on complex and developmental trauma (Being Well podcast)
What is CPTSD? (Beauty after Bruises)
For sciencey researchy types: Dr. Bruce Perry on developmental trauma (Being Well podcast)
Gabor Mate on how our childhood shapes every aspect of our lives (Motherkind podcast)
Also Gabor Mate’s movie The Wisdom of Trauma
The book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Dr. Lindsay Gibson, is on fire (hear her on Therapy Chat).
On Shifting Toward Nonviolence
See the books of Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, Tara Brach (Buddhist perspective)
All human beings should read Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
Then they should read The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz
Metta (Lovingkindness) meditation: See Sharon Salzberg’s short sweet book Lovingkindness
Transformational and restorative justice: Lots of voices here. Try Mariame Kaba (Chris Hayes interview), Sujatha Baliga (Vox Conversations inteview)
Imagining the nonviolent state with Ta’nehisi Coates, Ezra Klein
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Note to Evan. Add sections on addiction, grief, depression and anxiety, loneliness, psychedelic therapy. Thanks–Evan
Evan Wagoner-Lynch 