I facilitate Support Groups for Adult Survivors of Child Abuse and Trauma

Hi, Randa: I highly recommend that everyone read Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology and How You Can Heal, by Donna Jackson Nakazawa, and The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der Kolk.

Also, visiting and participating in the Practicing Resilience community on ACEs Connection.

I don't have any books to recommend, just my experience running therapy groups for many years beginning in 1985. Here are some things I learned in the process.

1. It was my job to keep the room safe and use upsets between members as learning experience.

2.Most people thought this kind of group would be venting and actively processing old pain. Instead, I focused on what we now call resilience skills. One person might suggest a topic or a problem. And we worked on what they needed to surmount the problem.

3. If a person needed to process feelings extensively, I recommended an individual session.

Laura Coleman, Ph.D.

If you wish, you can reach me here:

agentledrlaura@colemanlifecoaching.com

Hi, Randa. Being a survivor who came face to face with triggers stemming from childhood abuse when I become a mom, I understand how murky the waters can be for adult survivors, particularly parents. After searching for help/resources on parenting as a survivor and coming up empty handed, I and a colleague created the resource we both went looking for. Our book Parenting with PTSD is available on Amazon. We have a public and private Facebook page, both with very supportive communities. Our website can also be a useful resource. I apologize for not adding links but I'm responding quickly (in between meetings!) on my phone. Please reach out if you would like to discuss further.

Hi Randa,

Here are the links that Dawn mentioned:

Parenting with PTSD on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xAND7g

Our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ParentingwithPTSD/

Our website, which includes blog articles and a resource page:

www.parentingwithptsd.com

Thank you everyone for taking the time to share your thoughts and ideas.  I have both of the books Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology and How You Can Heal, by Donna Jackson Nakazawa, and The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der Kolk, and plan on getting "Parenting with PTSD". 

I know the courage it takes to address the realities of being an adult who was abused as a child, and I also believe in Resiliency.   Coming from a place of  Heart Strength,  Love and Forgiveness, and creating our reality through our thoughts, our words and actions.    Rewriting our past, not to change the reality of what happened,  but create the beautifully strong Warriors that we have become.

Many thanks,

Randa Fox