Wounded Healers

Child, the key is to love your wounds. – Sarah “Sadie” Delany, writer and civil rights activist

We hear some heartbreaking stories as we travel the nation working with young people and the adults who serve them.

We meet young people who are abused in ways that boggle the mind and turn the stomach. We see people of all ages whose own bodies seem to be turning against them, causing them horrible, near-constant pain. And we see individuals and families who can never seem to quite catch a break, being hit with unrelenting obstacles.

Many of these people view themselves as damaged, pounded into an ugly, almost unusable shape by the circumstances of their lives.

But when we see those people, we do not see that. What we typically see is people who are strong beyond measure, and who have been shaped by the struggles that they have faced in ways that have made them more resilient, more empathetic, and far more wise.

We see beauty in the wounds. And one of our hopes is that with some encouragement and the right tools, the people we meet who are facing such challenges can begin to see themselves the same way.

And as they do, they can then become what some call “wounded healers” – people who have en exceptional gift for helping others because of the pain that they have endured themselves.