the interaction between culture, recovery engagement, the recovery processes and healing
Our research and training are focused on understanding the interactions between culture, Gender based violence (GBV), self-hood and trauma recovery. Here is the conceptual framework we are testing to understand and predict recovery engagement and healing for trauma survivors. Below are some definitions of how we understand our concepts.
Gender-Based Violence
GBV is harm inflicted upon individuals and groups that is connected to normative understandings of their gender. GBV undermines the health, dignity, security, and autonomy of its victims, yet it remains shrouded in a culture of silence. GBV includes physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse, threats, coercion, and economic or educational deprivation, and can occur in public or private life.
GBV is a deeply rooted in social norms and practices, and is based in gender inequality, and, as such, is a human rights violation. Both women and men experience gender-based violence but most victims are women and girls. Using the term GBV instead of violence against women highlights the fact that many forms of violence against women are rooted in culturally supported norms that support power inequalities between women and men.
We believe that GBV will create trauma for those who suffer from it. Technically, “trauma” is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience or event. However, in modern English, trauma references the effect of an event on the health of an individual, group, or society. Synonyms of trauma in English include injury, damage, or wound. Individual trauma is defined as the result of an event, series of events, or set of circumstances experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening, that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.
Culture, trauma and trauma recovery
Culture is a shared conceptual understanding that is collectively formed and transmitted across generations. These shared understandings are internalized at the individual level as internalized perceptions, beliefs and values that motivate or constrain practical and social activity. Our research focuses on the perceived transmission, internalization, and impact of cultural beliefs, values, and goals on trauma recovery meaning and behavior.
Cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to horrendous event, and this trauma shapes their group consciousness and identity. Women and girls are extremely diverse and are unevenly subjected to GBV based on a wide variety of interacting socioeconomic forces, like race, religion, class, education, ethnicity, and a host of other factors. However, GBV exists in all societies and in all social classes. The cultural trauma of violence interacts with GBV, making culture a central variable to consider when trying to understand and eliminate GBV.
Trauma recovery
Trauma recovery is the process of restoration, making or becoming sound or healthy again, especially the restoration of functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Recovery is non-linear, uneven and interactive together. Progress and setbacks are normal and expected. The ultimate goal of trauma recovery is the reclamation of actions, skills, characteristics, and strengths that together restore and enhance health, security, and well-being.
The trauma recovery process includes the interacting skill and perceptions that shape the recovery journey. Each survivor’s journey is unique and requires individualized support.
the skills and perceptions that shape a recovery journey include:
- trauma definition
- balancing emotions, body, cognition, and behavior
- acceptance of trauma impact
- holistic self-view
- autonomous functioning
- engagement with a supportive social network
Recovery Engagement is a holistic, strength-based view of trauma recovery and healing processes, and refers to the way that the survivor engages to promote a successful trauma recovery process. Cultural norms and specificities shape survivors’ recovery journeys, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive interventions. Recovery engagement is characterized by:
Recovery actions are the actions that survivors take when they engage in trauma recovery. these include:
- sharing/connecting
- building positive emotions
- reflecting and creating healing spaces
- establishing security
- planning the future
Barriers and facilitators to recovery engagement
Barriers to trauma recovery include the internal perceptions and the external conditions that impact recovery engagement. Internal perceptions include the ways people perceive themselves and the actions they can take on their recovery journey. External barriers to recovery engagement are the social, cultural and structural factors that impede one’s ability to access or engage in recovery actions.
Movement in trauma recovery can be mobilized by motivators and turning points and enabled by internal and external resources.
Meaning is a central facet of a successful trauma recovery journey. Meaning-making involves reappraisal and assimilation in order to incorporate new and traumatic information into prior autobiographical information. Meanings about oneself as a person, meanings about including people’s expectations of them, and the overall understanding of why the event occurred.
Trauma Healing
Trauma Healing is the social, spiritual, cultural, and psychological processes in which one actively strives to find wellbeing, integrate their traumatic experience into their identity, and move toward a future where their trauma does not limit their ability to connect with others and pursue their goals and aspirations. Trauma healing represents an active process through which survivors strive to find well-being, integrate their traumatic experiences into their identity, and work toward a future where trauma does not limit their connections or aspirations.