Healing Hurt Hearts Trauma Journal

Book excerpt: This journal is called "Healing Hurt Hearts” because it’s important to acknowledge and own your personal trauma(s) in order to effectively address and heal from them. Trauma is the experience of severe psychological distress following disturbing or life-threatening events. The long-term effects of traumatic experiences can make it difficult for you to move forward in life. However, with any journey, you must first start. The work that you will be doing will center around your trauma narrative. A trauma narrative is a psychological technique used to help survivors of trauma make sense of their experiences, while also acting as a form of exposure to painful memories. When completing a trauma narrative, the story of a traumatic experience will be told repeatedly through verbal, written, or artistic means. This journal will help you process your thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors regarding your trauma(s). Through various therapeutic exercises, inspirational quotes/statements, daily activities, and introspective journal prompts, you will be guided along your healing journey. As an added bonus, personal stories from trauma survivors (like you) are included along with resources to seek further assistance, if needed. It is recommended that this trauma journal is completed with a professional counselor. However, this is a self-help journal that can be completed independently in 6 months, one year or more. If at any time you feel the need to take a break from this journal, that is okay. There is no time limit on unpacking your trauma. It’s all up to you! Your healing is a page away!