This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

Update: My Domestic Church has taken over the weekly 7 Quick Takes. I’ll try linking up there.

1. Michelle Hamel has an amazing blog about God’s long game, healing the wounded so their message will draw others to Him for healing: The Gift of an Unexpected Connection.
2. Oh my goodness, here we are two weeks into the new year and I’m just sharing here that All Things New made it onto TWO best books of 2021 lists. First, go take a peek at ARK Watson’s Insta, where she says “And All Things New was more revelatory than a year’s worth of therapy.”
3. And Carolyn Astfalk includes ATN in her Best Adult Nonfiction category. Thank you!
4. Speaking of Carolyn, she has a lovely piece at Catholic Mom about nighttime parenting–a ship I alas missed, but reading this article was a balm to the wound not only to what I should have been but to what I should myself have received.
5. A support group sister turned me on to Rumi’s poem “The Guest House.” I found it a great reminder of the fact that our feelings and thoughts are neither obligations nor life sentences but rather guests that do not stay forever.
6. Dr. Craig Malking of Rhttps://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Narcissism-Secret-Recognizing-Narcissists/dp/0062348116ethinking Narcissism has a quick read out there: 8 Lasting Effects of Having Narcissistic Parents.
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (please, leave a review–it takes courage, but it helps the people who need the message find it), and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

This week’s AV, as we approach the birthday of Robert Burns why not, here’s another goodie from Cinema Therapy, this one on BRAVE.

Thanks for reading, listening & watching, fellow image-bearers. Now give My Domestic Church a look-see.

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

1. It’s not all maladaptive: 5 Valuable Life Skills Often Learned by Those with Complex PTSD.
2. The Catholic Telegraph asks and responds to the question: Is Addiction Sinful?
3. “And especially for a woman to be charged with these things.” One way the cycle of abuse gets perpetuated and minimized is by the lie that only men can abuse. At the BBC, here’s Ghislaine Maxwell: Survivors speak of relief after guilty verdict.
4. With Mary as our Model, a Mother Finds Peace: thank you, Catholic Mom’s MaryBeth Eberhard.
5. Here’s another idea on how to make mental health resources accessible: America’s first mental health barbershop movement.
6. What is Future Faking?
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (please, leave a review–it takes courage, but it helps the people who need the message find it), and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

Plain visual rather than AV this week, and posting it because it’s still Christmas in the Catholic world, but here is how the Rudolph movie should have ended.

Thanks for reading, listening & watching, fellow image-bearers.

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

1. Speaking of fireworks, give a little thought to your local vets this NYE before you light up the fireworks. [Side note–if you have PTSD or CPTSD not connected to incendiary devices but you still experience fireworks as terrifying… that’s okay. Our bodies have been wired to survive by assuming worst case scenario. You don’t need to have active combat experience for it to be okay to give yourself a generous helping of self-compassion and maybe buy some noise-cancelling earphones or do something that will give you cozy feelings rather than terror feelings.]
2. This week, I got to post at Catholic Mom about Christmas, Holy Saturday, and the joy and grief of watching the kids get ready to fly the nest: The Twin Sisters, Joy and Grief.
3. Dr. Alexis Dallara-Marsh is at Catholic Mom writing about being alert for occasions of gratitude even in the midst of difficulty.
4. Many of us have had to make (or are in the process of making) the painful decision to go no contact in an important relationship. The Good Men Project has reflections on questions we ask ourselves about What Happens When I Go No Contact.
5. A huge part of trauma recovery happens when we learn to accept the present moment as it is without wanting to change it or rush off to the next supposedly better thing. AnnAliese Harry is at Catholic Mom writing about how to stay present in A Blink of an Eye.
6. Anecdotally, it looks like there has been an overall decline in mental health since, oh, about 1973. Maybe having fewer people around to be our friends and support network, not to mention creating a culture where voices can be silenced forever for the crime of making a biological parent uncomfortable, is creating a greater culture of mental and emotional destruction, C-PTSD, and overall disconnection. Maybe support a culture of life?
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (please, leave a review–it takes courage, but it helps the people who need the message find it), and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

Plain visual rather than AV this week, and posting it because it’s still Christmas in the Catholic world, but here is how the Rudolph movie should have ended.

Thanks for reading, listening & watching, fellow image-bearers.

In case it’s news, Kelly Mantoan of Kelly’s Seven Quick Takes over at This Ain’t the Lyceum has decided that it’s time to put an end to the 7QT weekly linkup. As stated previously, however, I’m going to keep this going. So here ya go.

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

1. An oldie from me: Christmas is not supposed to be like this.
2. Ashley Easter has 3 Reasons the Holidays are Triggering. Good for survivors and their supporters alike.
3. Catholic Mom’s Susan Ciancio writes about Finding Joy in Difficult Holidays.
4. Nicole Johnson is at Catholic Mom, too, about The Need to Be Heard.
5. Say no to these 7 behaviors over at Psych Central.
6. For those praying over going no contact with immature family members, especially as a result of their behavior around the holidays, here’s another piece from Psych Central, How and when to cut ties.
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (please, leave a review–it takes courage, but it helps the people who need the message find it), and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

For our AV, I leave you with a beautiful stairwell “Ave Maria.” This season, I wish you much unexpected beauty.

Thanks for reading, listening & watching, fellow image-bearers.

1. Patrice Fagnant-Macarthur is at Catholic Mom with a review of Catholic therapist Tommy Tighe’s new book, St. Dymphna’s Playbook, which shares a title with his podcast.
2. Surprise! University of Georgia researchers find connection between childhood trauma and opioid addiction.
3. If you have heard of someone who has gone no contact with an emotionally immature parent or other family of origin, and you just don’t understand how any one could do that to family… read The Missing Missing Reasons.
4. You’re not alone: Compulsive showering as a trauma coping mechanism is a thing.
5. This may be a repeat, but I know I have some new readers (::waves::), but here are 7 Things People Who Grew Up Unloved Need As an Adult.
6. Looking for support as you face holiday gatherings with emotionally immature people? Please visit my Resources page.
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (please, leave a review–it takes courage, but it helps the people who need the message find it), and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

For our AV, if you need to see your own virtue after coming out of developmental & complex trauma, check out Cinema Therapy’s episode on Katniss of The Hunger Games.

Thanks for reading, listening & watching, fellow image-bearers.

In case it’s news, Kelly Mantoan of Kelly’s Seven Quick Takes over at This Ain’t the Lyceum has decided that it’s time to put an end to the 7QT weekly linkup. As stated last week, however, I’m going to keep this going. So here ya go.

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

1. Kelly Guest has an AMAZING piece at Catholic Mom on mental health: Thank God for the miracle we didn’t ask for.
2. Another Catholic Mom piece: Johanna Stamps with Self-care vs. God-care.
3. Trauma survivors are prone to doing all sorts of painful things in order not to feel the pain of abandonment. Here are 4 Tips to Overcome Fear of Abandonment.
4. Good Men Project has 5 Lessons I Learned from Surviving Child Abuse.
5. 3 Ways Unresolved Trauma Derails Relationships, thanks to The Good Men Project.
6. Oldie but goodie: Melissa Presser at Catholic Mom with her story on rediscovering the person God made her to be–through dance–with And One
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

Skipping the AV this week due to time constraints: I’m working on having some Thanksgiving/holiday prep content for compulsive overeaters. Have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading, listening & watching, fellow image-bearers.

So I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Kelly Mantoan of Kelly’s Seven Quick Takes over at This Ain’t the Lyceum has decided that it’s time to put an end to the 7QT weekly linkup.

So while there will no longer be a place for me to link up this weekly list of resources, articles, and thoughtful content for those of us who live at the places where Catholicism and trauma healing overlap… I’m inclined to keep it going.

Why?

Because over the past few weeks, I was wondering if it might be time for me to move my time resources away from this particular item on the to do list, and someone messaged me privately to say how much she was getting out of these posts, especially in terms of making sense of her past. So at least for now, I’m going to keep posting these as long as my schedule allows. God bless you for reading.

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

1. One of the things I hear the most from people who hear my story is, “But I don’t have trauma.” Well, PTSD is not uncommon.
2. A question I address in All Things New and that a LOT of family dysfunction survivors ask every day: Should your narcissistic parents have access to your kids?
3. Trust in God can be such a HUGE barrier for trauma survivors. Laura Nelson at Catholic Mom writes about lessons in humility and trust from her GPS.
4. Here’s a lovely piece out of Cincinati about community resources and law enforcement working together to build relationships that provide healing for adverse childhood experiences.
5. Hey, trauma survivors affected by depression: Pope Francis is asking us all to pray for you this month.
6. If you’ve been reading these posts for any length of time, you may have noticed my interest in the topic of moral injury, especially the perpetrator type. Here’s a great piece that describes moral injury and emerging options on what to do about it.
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

This week’s media: I received another chance to talk with Anne DeSantis of Patchwork Heart Ministries & Fiat Ministry Network. This one is for last week’s episode of Journeys in Faith, and we talk a little bit about All Things New, a little bit about my reversion story, and a little bit about the forthcoming Filled With Good: Theology of the Body for Food Addicts.

Thanks for reading, listening & watching, fellow image-bearers.

Here’s me, doing my bit to participate weekly in Kelly’s Seven Quick Takes over at This Ain’t the Lyceum.

So here’s…

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

Takes. Best described as quick. Seven of them.

1. 7 Things Someone Who Grew Up Unloved Needs As an Adult
2. A short & sweet primer on 5 Types of PTSD (which one is your favorite?)
3. The reason you’re codependent is…
4. Anxious, avoidant, anxious-avoidant… Wanna change attachment styles?
5. There are true and false crosses? What’s the difference?
6. What lessons can a blind cat teach us about sudden changes? Christine Johnson at Catholic Mom shares.
7. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

This week’s media: I took on distraction in prayer for the October 21 Catholic Mom Facebook Live. How do you handle distraction during prayer? Here are my helpful hints!

And now go give Kelly and her 7QTs a look see!

Here’s me, doing my bit to participate weekly in Kelly’s Seven Quick Takes over at This Ain’t the Lyceum.

So here’s…

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

Takes. Best described as quick. Seven of them.

1. Compassion shot: Adults with PTSD have lower brain connectivity.
2. More deeply on that note: People With Neurological Conditions Often Experienced Childhood Trauma.
3. Moral injury is when hurt people hurt people: The anguish of unintentional killing.
4. I’m a big promoter of finding groups of supportive voices to help you rebuild your relational self. Here’s a piece rating (in that writer’s opinion) The 6 Best Online PTSD Support Groups.
5. Another study on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on chronic disease in middle age: read it here.
6. Ending with your weekly reminder that All Things New: Breaking the Cycle and Raising a Joyful Family is available for purchase. Already read your copy? Leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, and don’t forget to link up with this month’s An Open Book from Carolyn Astfalk & Catholic Mom.

This week’s media: Dr. Ramaini on a little-mentioned type of emotional abuse: future faking.

And now go give Kelly and her 7QTs a look see!