

"Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims."
- Judith Herman, Trauma & Recovery.
The sanest among us can be driven mad in a world gone crazy ...
Imagine such a world as a family household. Some members of the family maintain control or dominance over the others to assert their status and authority; some create chaos while others work hard to compensate for day-to-day order; some are blamed or punished as the black sheep or scapegoats of the family, while others are ignored or locked up in the basement, their screams met with silence and denial.
Few members of this family clearly acknowledge the core imbalances and speak out against the dysfunctional patterns of abuse that they experience or witness every day - as single individuals, they are easily silenced by a collective voice that tells them that they are too sensitive, imagining things, or are outright crazy. Without the support of a larger whole, these few individuals may eventually be pressured or brainwashed into believing that perhaps they are wrong or even insane.
13. HEALING ~
Bearing Witness & Holding Space
Essay by Katarzyna Vedah. Aug.1, 2019
When we are attuned to reality, we may at times perceive and experience things that we don't like. We may feel pain and suffer trauma. Denying the situation, suppressing our discomfort, or ignoring our wounds (or those of others) does not eliminate the reality.
It is in acknowledging, exposing, and expressing what needs to be healed (individually and collectively) that we can purge the shrapnel of our pain, clean out the wounds, and return to a state of health & well-being.
Ideally, healing starts with a safe space and the support of others. The process of recovery can be effective when a community bears witness to the suffering and provides a safe container for the person, group or culture to express and integrate their wounds without blame, shame or judgment.
In itself, the very experience of being seen and heard by someone who cares can be powerful and healing, especially for those whose very autonomy or sense of self has been repeatedly suppressed or silenced.
When a core part of our being or identity is cut off or denied natural expression (physically, emotionally, mentally, through language, ceremony, connection, etc.) pain can erupt from the imbalance. It can show itself through psycho-emotional instability, illness, addiction or dysfunctional interpersonal patterns that can spread like a social plague.
Collectively, we, as a society of wounded and isolated individuals, can perpetuate the cycle of trauma for generations to come, or we can acknowledge the voices calling out from our basements, give them the safe space to express themselves, and create a stronger identity based on wholeness, well-being and the creative potential of life.
VIDEO (YouTube):
Art of Embracing Damage (Nerdwriter)
Psychological Disorders (Crash Course)
VIDEO (YouTube): School of Life
Art as Therapy – Alain de Botton
VIDEO (YouTube): TED Talk
Proof We Can Heal Ourselves? –
Healing Illness with the Subconscious - Danna Pycher
Melissa Walker
DOCUMENTARY: Trailer
(National Geographic)
The Connection: Mind Your Body (Shannon Harvey)
(Hartleben & Richards)

RIPPLE EFFECT
CREATIVE INSPIRATIONS TO ENGAGE THE CAPACITY TO FEEL

SOUND RECOVERY
FILM / VIDEO: Trailer
The Fall (Tarsem Singh)
Love & Mercy (Bill Pohlad)
Peaceful Warrior (Victor Salva)
MUSIC / VIDEO (YouTube):
Push + Pull – July Talk (July Talk VEVO)
Everybody Hurts – R.E.M. (REM hq)
I Hold You – Clann (House of Youth)
Re – Nils Frahm (Erased Tapes)
Beyond this Moment (Patrick O’Hearn)
MUSIC / WEBSITE: Patrick O’Hearn
MUSIC / WEBSITE: A Tribe Called Red
PERFORMANCE (YouTube): BBC Radio 1
HUMOR / MUSIC / VIDEO: Two Set Violin
Great Composers & How It Feels
16 Personality Types Make Music
INTERVIEW / MUSICIANS / VIDEO:
July Talk with Tom Power - q on CBC
From the Sidelines: Buffy Sainte-Marie
VIDEO (YouTube): TED Talk
From Marine to Actor - Adam Driver

HEALTHY M.O.
HEALTHY MENTAL OUTLOOK & PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT

ON
THE
EDGE
ADDICTION
AND
RECOVERY
VIDEO (YouTube):
Trauma & Addiction (Crash Course)
Building Walls to Keep Pain In (Teal Swan)
Science & Compassion (Fraser Health)
VIDEO (YouTube): Dr. Patrick Carnes
Chemical vs. Behavioral Addiction
How Does the Recovery Process Work?
BOOK:
A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps:
The Classic Guide for All People in the Process of Recovery. By Partick Carnes

THE PROCESS
PRACTICAL REINFORCEMENT FOR SELF-CARE & DAY-TO-DAY LIVING

EXPRESSIVE THERAPY
VIDEO (YouTube):
Art as Empowerment – A. Lawton (TED)
Art Therapy Heal the Soul? (Soul Pancake)
How Art Heals – London Art Therapy (Vimeo)
Arts in HealthCare (UK HealthCare)
Art Medicine? (FdtnforArtandHealing)
Power of Music on the Brain (ABC Science)
By Howard Richman & Judy Nelson
VIDEO (YouTube): TED Talk
What Medicine can Learn from Art – L. Wilk
GIM THERAPY / VIDEO (YouTube):
Guided Imagery & Music (GIM) Therapy
Creative Healing – Michael Samuels
PTSD – Belleruth Naparstek (part 1-5)
VIDEO (Vimeo): Marilyn Clark
A Bonny Method Experience – B. Abrams
WEB / ARTICLE: By Laura K. Kerr

SHIFT GEARS
EXPANDING PERSPECTIVES, AWARENESS & CONSCIOUSNESS

TBA
To Be Announced...
To Be Announced...