Leading Through the Dark: Healing Sexual Trauma in Postsecondary Educational Spaces

• In Event: Experiences in Higher Education

Abstract

The information presented herein, comes from my larger dissertation entitled “Leading Through the Dark: Hope and Healing After Personal and Collective Trauma.” Investigating ways in which healing from trauma can occur in sustainable ways and drawing from my personal experience as a trauma survivor of sexual violence in an academic environment, I share my healing journey through traditional and radical healing modalities. The writing also addresses our collective responsibility to create healing opportunities and services that address the needs of survivors, beyond options that exist within the paradigm of higher education. The brief writing herein reorients the purpose of the larger paper, by shedding light on the need for expanding survivorship and survivor agency in educational spaces.

Author

• Melissa Barker, The Phoenix Project, LLC.