Hello, there, folks. Long time, no blog. Now that it’s summer and I’m gearing up for edits with Our Sunday Visitor on The Broken Grown-up’s Guide to Joyful Family Life, I’m hoping to get a little more work done in terms of service to fellow Catholics (and, hey, even you non-Catholics) who are working on trauma survivorship.

To that end, it’s my goal (and we know how that goes) to participate weekly in Kelly’s Seven Quick Takes over at This Ain’t the Lyceum.

So here’s my first attempt at sharing seven resources for Catholics recovering from trauma.

Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

1. The Face of Mercy is a new Catholic mental health resource worth checking out. They’re about to launch a class on Catholic ministry in a post-COVID world–worth checking out.
2. Through Lesley Lynch’s fiction I became a fan of the concept of Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice goes beyond punishment for abusers into amends made to survivors. Here’s an article that shows RJ at work here in the USA.
3. If you haven’t already, do subscribe to Saint Dymphna’s Playbook, Catholic Mental Health podcast by LMFT and Catholic Hipster, Tommy Tighe.
4. Since a LOT of us are survivors of families impacted by narcissistic abuse, you might find Dr. Ramani’s videos on narcissism as helpful as I have. Here’s one on The Shame People Feel When They Come From Narcissistic Families.
5. As many trauma survivors have self-medicated (ineffectively, of course) through addiction, allow me to recommend Catholic in Recovery, where the Twelve Steps and the Sacraments meet in a nice, cozy home complete with virtual holy water fonts right now. You might especially like The Body Keeps the Score: Real Recovery Includes Emotional Healing.
6. Did you know that there’s this Catholic spiritual ministry to sexual assault survivors? I didn’t. It’s called RISE.
7. Lastly, Integrity Restored was kind enough to let me blog for them in preparation of the Feast of St. Maria Goretti on July 6. So here’s my article with them, Porn, Addiction, and the Redemption of Alessandro Serenelli.

Bonus #8 in progress: I’m working on creating a series of Sunday gospel reflection journal pages for trauma survivors. If you would like to join the beta testing team for those and receive free journaling pages next week through Advent 2020, please sign up for my newsletter. For doing so, you’ll also get a free copy of Get Moving With St. Dominic’s 9 Ways of Prayer.

How are you holding up these days in your healing journey? It’s been tough here. Let me know how I may pray for you? Meanwhile, make sure you give Kelly & the SQT crew a look see.