Healing, Resilience, Self-Care, Investment: Participants Share their Experiences Healing from Trauma
By Brandon Martinez, Research Associate
Everyone has a different pathway to healing from trauma. In East Harlem, one program is tapping into an array of established and up-and-coming methods to give its participants the tools to both heal from past trauma and face new challenges safely and healthily. Here’s what some of them had to say about their experiences.
Healing from past trauma is a deeply personal journey, one that requires a supportive environment to build connections with others while cultivating resilience. Given each healing journey is different, it’s important for program providers to understand which approaches, services, and environments best support the individual and communal healing of their participants.
One such program in East Harlem is taking a trauma-informed approach to support the people it serves, utilizing both established and innovative services to achieve this goal. As a result, participants have made significant strides in addressing their trauma and have reported improvements in their mental health and social relationships. Here, you can hear from them what that progress looks like and means for them going forward.
The Exodus Center for Trauma Innovation (CTI) in East Harlem was created in 2017 to address trauma experienced by individuals and communities impacted by the criminal legal system. The program provides its participants with a supportive environment that nurtures their goals and supports their healing journeys with clinical services—like individual counseling and group therapy—as well as nonclinical programming, such as art classes, karate, and open mics.
In a newly published brief, an evaluation team at the Center for Complex Trauma at Icahn School of Medicine (CCT) spoke directly with program participants to better understand, in their own words, how healing is supported through a multi-pronged approach. The findings presented in the brief shed light on the conditions necessary for supporting the long and personal process of addressing past and current traumas, identifying and regulating emotions, and learning to heal with others by one's side.
For more information about CCT’s ongoing evaluation of the CTI, visit the CTI Evaluation page.
Mechanisms of Healing
In a previously published brief, CCT found that nearly 9 in 10 CTI participants reported being able to better cope with challenges as a result of their participation in the program. Seeking to understand more about their healing process, survey respondents asked to share their experiences at the CTI. Based on conversations with participants and more than three years of observational data, the CCT evaluation team identified five key mechanisms of healing at the CTI:
Awareness and regulation of emotions
Investing in growth and practicing self-care
Building connection and finding strength in shared experiences
Cultivating resilience and nurturing hope
Embracing empowerment and practicing self-compassion
Overall, the mechanisms of healing revealed in this brief help us understand how the CTI supports participants’ personal healing journeys.
First, the program helps individuals understand their emotions, paving the way for lasting emotional stability.
By giving them the tools to understand the root causes of their feelings—especially intense ones such as anger or anxiety—participants described being better able to manage them. For participants like Robert, this not only led to reduced feelings of stress and depression, but to better relationships and interactions with others.
“I was able to identify patterns. Sometimes you don't process things right away when they happen to you, you would tend to put a lot of things under the rug and it come to you later. And it can reflect as depression, anxiety, or some sort of trauma, that traumas that I have experienced in the past that I wasn't able to process or I didn't have the education to process these traumas at the moment.
And while I was in CTI, I was able to identify those things.”
- Robert, CTI Participant
Second, by cultivating self-investment, the CTI enables participants to initiate practices that support positive changes in their personal and social lives.
The term “self-care” is used often on social media and beyond, but doing so is not always so easy in practice. Kelly joined the CTI "seeking clarity and a better understanding of herself and her past,” and wanting to understand how this affected her. Through building community with her CTI peers and attending group therapy, she was able to confront past trauma, learn to be kind to herself in everyday ways, and commit to long-term goals.
“I incorporate some form of self-care every single day, even if it’s small or something simple. I make sure I take out time as a single parent to just regroup myself and do something that's gonna make me happy.
Even if it's just going to the store and buying my favorite sandwich or something like that. Literally just investing in yourself.”
- Kelly, CTI Participant
A strong sense of community, a cornerstone of the program’s approach, provides individuals with a validating and empowering space to face their trauma and challenges.
A unique component of the CTI are the participant-led discussions where, as peer specialist William noted, “’they really let me have the floor and just talk my feelings.’” This was different than the groups at other programs, where "’facilitators just chat all day. Like, you can’t even barely say, “Yeah, today wasn’t a good day for me.”’" Through these open discussions, William found he was able to address feelings of anger and allow himself to reflect on all the progress he’d made.
“I learned to... take time for myself and to really invest in myself and be kind to myself.
And because that's what, that's one thing they used to say a lot, like, be kind to yourself, show grace to yourself.
And it takes a lot of practice in doing that. And I incorporate that every single day.”
- William, CTI Participant
The CTI also focuses on the importance of resilience among its participants—encouraging them to regain a sense of ownership over their lives and healing journeys.
Healing from trauma is a huge step—but not the last one. By processing their experiences both individually and with each other, CTI participants were able to learn from each other and develop effective, positive coping mechanisms with which they can tackle future challenges with hope.
“I definitely did receive a little bit of healing from like the different perspectives and just knowing that like there was hope, you know.
I feel like the program, they really try hard to instill hope into the lives of people that have been traumatized in any way.”
- Mary, CTI Participant
Finally, the program provides its participants with a solid foundation of tools, techniques, and approaches that allow them to nurture supportive environments conducive to long-term healing for themselves and their peers.
The CTI’s approach aligns with studies on the relationship between trauma healing and positive social-emotional outcomes. For example, previous studies show that emotional awareness can improve interpersonal relationships (Neff, 2003; van der Kolk, 2014), while individual self-care supports emotional regulation and general well-being (Padesky & Mooney, 2012; Neff & Germer, 2013).
“I felt more comfortable with CTI and Exodus, you know, being around people that been through what I've been through. So it's a relief, you know, a pressure alleviated that I know with somebody that been through what I've been through and they want to help, you know, and it's a lot when somebody has been where you've been through or probably is where you're at and still reaching out that hand, you feel me?
Saying if you need that help, come get that help. Come get it from me. Come get it from us.”
- Ashley, CTI Participant
The spaces where healing occurs also matter, with research demonstrating that supportive social environments are key in providing individuals with the space to facilitate growth and reinforce self-efficacy (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Similarly, studies show how cultivating a sense of resilience and hope (Bonanno, 2004) and self-compassion (Han & Kim, 2023) supports transformative healing journeys by enabling individuals to reinterpret their trauma and engage in healthier coping strategies.
ABOUT THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE INVESTMENT INITIATIVE
Under former Manhattan District Attorney Cy R. Vance, Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office created the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) in order to use $250 million seized in international financial crime prosecutions to invest in transformative projects that will improve public safety, prevent crime, and promote a fair and efficient justice system. CJII is a first-of-its-kind effort to support innovative community projects that fill critical gaps and needs in New York City’s criminal legal system infrastructure.
CJII focuses on three investment areas—crime prevention, diversion and reentry, and supports for survivors of crime. The CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance manages and provides technical assistance to CJII contractors, and conducts oversight and performance measurement throughout the lifetime of the initiative.
Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, Trauma, and Human Resilience: Have We Underestimated the Human Capacity to Thrive After Extremely Aversive Events? American Psychologist, 59(1), 20–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.20
Han, A., & Kim, T. H. (2023). Effects of Self-Compassion Interventions on Reducing Depressive Symptoms, Anxiety, and Stress: A Meta-Analysis. Mindfulness, 1-29. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02148-x
Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-Compassion: An Alternative Conceptualization of a Healthy Attitude Toward Oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860309032
Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2013). A pilot study and randomized controlled trial of the mindful self-compassion program. Journal of clinical psychology, 69(1), 28–44. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.21923
Padesky, C. A., & Mooney, K. A. (2012). Strengths-based cognitive-behavioural therapy: a four-step model to build resilience. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 19(4), 283–290. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.1795
Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Target Article: "Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence". Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Illustrations by Brandon Martinez. Photo by Aerial Film Studio on Adobe Stock.