Healing Centered Engagement of Black Survivors of Sexual Trauma in Marion County, Indiana

Trauma is a manifestation of the pain and experiences that holistically impact an individual physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and interpersonally. One element of trauma that is in need of exploring is its impact collectively. That is, the shared hurt by a community that transcends a personal silo. In particularly in the Black community, an ethnically marginalized community, this injury has a history of being “politically instigated…with aims at inflicting collective injury against certain groups thus undermines a collective wellbeing of a people” (as cited in Annie, 2020). This social phenomena, combined with personal experiences sexual violence that disproportionately impact the Black community, can cause survivors to feel that their journey to thrive is too far to conquer. Healing centered engagement is a new approach to addressing the collective needs of marginalized communities surviving collective traumatization. With the Black populations having a higher rate of sexual victimization and intersectional forms of trauma leading to adverse experiences, healing centered engagement can serve as a strength based approach to supporting the collective and individual healing. With the large population of Black individuals, higher rates of reported sexual victimization, and the socio-political landscape of racial trauma, Marion County, Indiana serves as a microcosmic background for understanding how healing centered engagement can support Black survivors of sexual trauma