Honouring the Wounded Healers
Dr Angel Acosta's community art project deserves to be replicated around the world.
“What would it mean for all of us — as Americans in particular — to learn how to be wounded healers, to process and metabolise our trauma, then become agents of proactive change, to activate racial healing and more?” — Dr Angel Acosta.
Resonant World #16
Carl Jung famously coined the term ‘wounded healer’, based on the myth of Chiron, the Greek god who suffered an incurable wound, and dedicated himself to a life of compassion and healing.
But as Dr Angel Acosta reminded guests at the virtual launch of the Wounded Healers Portrait Series last week, the concept is not owned by Greek culture, nor does it belong solely in the dominion of Carl Jung.
And judging by the stunning images and audio interviews with the nine educators, community organisers and practitioners featured in the project — the numinous power of the wounded healer archetype is transforming suffering into medicine for individuals and communities across the New York metropolitan area in 2023.
(You can watch the launch event here).
“As I think about the Wounded Healer Portrait Series, the podcast, the work that is to come, I see it as an invitation for myself to continue to heal, and to bring all of us along who are ready, because it is work to heal — it is not for the faint of heart, but it is all worth it.” — Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz.
The idea for the portrait series emerged a year-and-a-half ago, when Angel was thinking about ways to communicate the essence of his specialist subject and personal mission: the Healing-Centred Restorative Paradigm in Education.
In what Angel calls ‘the healing-centred turn,’ this emerging field combines a range of approaches based on restorative justice; social-emotional learning; mindfulness, and trauma-informed teaching to radically re-envision education systems to equip students to respond to this age of interlocking crises.
Inter-generational joy
Angel noted that a huge amount has been learned about the impact of trauma on communities over the past few decades. But his experience in healing-centred education showed how rapidly students could also recover ancestral resources:
“We’re not just imbued, and filled with, and overwhelmed by trauma,” Angel told the launch. “We have incredible access to inter-generational joy; inter-generational healing; inter-generational resilience.”
So instead of starting by asking people the trauma-focused question of ‘what’s wrong with you?,’ Angel said, why not begin by asking:
“What are the resources that you need to feel complete; to feel a sense of wholeness? … How can we create experiences that enable us to enrich your life through a sense of belonging ? How do we invite healing?”
These are the kinds of questions that drive the subjects in the portrait series: Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz; Justis Lopez; Maria Tan; Cory Greene; Dolores Acosta; Ian P. Levy; Luis Alejandro Tapia; Angela Kariotis and Jen Gowers.
There is no substitute for visiting the Wounded Healers Portrait Series website and spending some time with the stunning portraits shot by Paper Monday, and listening to the audio, in which the subjects tell their stories in their own words.
But before you do, I wanted to suggest that this format could serve as a model for honoring the work of other pioneers in building trauma-integrating organisations, communities and movements around the world. As the many crises afflicting this planet intensify, we’re all going to be summoned to the path of the Wounded Healer — whether we embrace it consciously, or are dragged along against our will. If we can begin to integrate this archetype into our individual lives, then there may be more chance of harnessing its alchemical quality at a collective level as well.
That’s going to be a lot easier if there are examples to inspire us — near and far — that show what’s possible when we embrace the deepest pain inside ourselves, discover what it has to teach, and then share that wisdom as generously as we can.
“If you don’t take care of a wound, it just keeps getting worse. So some wounds we need to go into them and just put it to rest…When you do some work around that wound, you can live in that experience and it might not hurt so much because you are dealing with the wisdom of it, you already worked through some of the hurt, and now you’re understanding and learning lessons.” — Cory Greene.
My Process Writing This Edition
I only heard about the launch event a few hours in advance, thanks to an email from Angel, whose work I first encountered when we both served as co-hosts of the Collective Trauma Summit 2022. (I wrote about Angel’s dialogue with Dr Bayo Akomolafe during the summit in Resonant World #6).
Though it meant a late night in London, it was amazing to me to be able to step inside such an intimate event, and feel into the sense of community Angel had evoked. I felt inspired by Angel’s passion, intellectual clarity and evident love for the people featured in the series. It still amazes me that I could engage with this project from the comfort of my home an ocean away. It feels good to have a chance to remotely cover a story that sits so squarely in my beat as self-appointed Global Healing Correspondent, and I hope this edition of Resonant World might help weave some fruitful connections.
Climate Trialogue with Liam Kavanagh and Jacob Kishere
Jacob Kishere hosted myself and Liam Kavanagh, a cognitive and social scientist working to aid more effective action on the climate crisis, for a trialogue aimed at envisioning a pragmatic and transformative response. We explored the challenges in striking a balance between cultural transformation and political pragmatism, and attempted to formulate a trauma-informed understanding of the climate conversation and our systemic stagnation. As Jacob summarised:
“What is the quality of approach needed in this conversation? And how do we confront injustice with love? What kind of soul-force and vitality is needed now?”
If you haven’t already, I highly recommending subscribing to Jacob’s unique substack blending philosophy, cultural commentary and insights into his own process — which has seen some powerful transformations unleashed in recent months.
What’s Next On Resonant World
I’m now focused on writing up interviews with two remarkable women involved in grappling with the legacies of very different forms of collective trauma, in Britain and Peru. More soon.
Events that Caught My Eye
Together with the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma Europe, Journalismfund.eu is hosting two webinars on climate crisis reporting, trauma and journalism on February 17 and 24. Details here.
I report and write Resonant World in time outside my role as global investigations editor at nonprofit climate news service DeSmog. Any donation helps keep this show on the road and provides a very welcome morale boost and affirmation of my work. Thank you.