trauma stewardship

I am starting this blog for my class.

I am curious to see where it will lead.

Today I went to a training by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky of The Trauma Institute. She co-authored the book Trauma Stewardship. We spent the morning thinking about the way that bearing witness to trauma at our jobs affects us in our lives. For instance, it did not really occur to me that it was not normal to do a background check on everyone you date. To me it just seems smart. I know that when I bring up domestic violence at a party, it can kill the mood. I feel like I have some obligation to remind people of the atrocities that take place in our community. Now I see that my need to do this is a sign to me that my work is giving me hurts that I carry around, and can learn to metabolize. Also apparently most people don't meet couples and scan their interactions for dynamics of power and control, or suspect that men who pick up kids or put them on their laps are child molesters.

We spent the afternoon thinking about how to keep ourselves healthy, so that we can be resilient enough to keep showing up and being supportive during other people's traumas. The emphasis was on prioritizing your time so that you have islands of peace, moments when you can re-regulate your emotions and come back to a place of equilibrium. I have no idea how to do this while I work a pretty stressful job and go to school, and try to maintain relationships to the people in my life. But I think a good starting point is ending my homework now at 9 pm on Friday night and going to spend time with my friends.