More About Brave Space for Survivors

Brave Space for Survivors is basically the same as regular Brave Space except the term "survivors" is mostly defined in that space right now as those who have survived sexual trauma. While I have survived this, I have also survived physical traumas through serious illness and the physical trauma of birthing as well - these can go hand in hand sometimes if - in particular - there is childhood trauma, which is the case for me since I survived early childhood sexual trauma which can set a person up for a lifetime of trauma. I wrote a play about it after #metoo started in October of 2017, and that play puts me in a rather public place as a survivor. It spurred me to create Brave Space (just the regular Brave Space at first, and now the Brave Space for Survivors). 

Brave Space for Survivors (BSS) is a rare place in that it's one of the few places outside therapists' offices where survivors can be open about what we have lived. There is no hierarchy of survival in BSS because I don't believe that one kind of survival should be arranged above another. Mostly we do our writing - I don't change the kind of prompts we have, although I try to be mindful to make them potentially as joyful as any other prompts - they are not specifically about trauma because trauma survivors aren't expected to write about trauma. 

Afterwards when we discuss our process, trauma can come up in terms of how it affects our abilities to make work. Because it will do that. We might be writing about trauma, and that can be a difficult thing to do, so the process might be about discussing that. We try to do so with non-triggering language which means being kind, being thoughtful, but mostly we are now a community that embraces an open dialogue about what it means to be a creative person who has survived trauma and how that affects us and our work. 

Of course the things I do to facilitate work for writers in regular Brave Space is also available in BSS. If a writer comes up against a difficult passage and chats to me for help, I help! I am there to virtually hold anyone's hand through the writing process with the creation of strong boundaries, (e.g. let's set a timer for 3 minutes and I'll check in again then), or with questions that will help a writer find their way, and with general support as someone to witness the struggle. 

Brave Space for Survivors tries to be a non-judgmental space where anyone can choose to write about or not write about trauma in a kind and supportive environment and discuss this struggle openly afterwards.