Voices of Warriors (VOW)

When we experience trauma, our sense of self and the way we perceive the world around us becomes hijacked. Many women who have faced traumatic events feel a need to “keep the secret,” thus compounding their pain with isolation, dissociation, hypervigilance, and shame. Survivors of trauma can even feel that they themselves are “bad” and not deserving of a happy, healthy life.

Sharing a traumatic experience with others can restore a sense of connectedness, meaning, and understanding. The goal of group psychotherapy is to provide this kind of corrective emotional experience in which the dynamics of self-blaming, silencing, and disbelief of the victim are shared and then worked through.

Group discussion will arise organically, but some of the following topics will likely be addressed:

• Revelation of each participant’s trauma experience(s).
• Description of how trauma has influenced members’ lives, including their intimate and sexual relationship and the relationship she has with her body.
• Discussions of how shame, hypervigilance, dissociation, and PTSD affect survivors in daily life.
• Development of a supportive community of other women who truly understand.