Negotiating Trauma

Trauma often operates like an iceberg: what lies beneath the surface, its depth, its contours, its complexity, its largess, is obscured, especially at first—and at times always and for good reasons. But forgetting that the visible tip is a smaller part of the complex whole is especially easy in certain fast-paced and demanding professional settings.

In many professions, perhaps especially those where the “helpers” must maintain a gladiator-like image on the surface, discussing trauma is relatively new even though the struggles of engaging trauma are as old as the profession.

As a human rights advocate focused on gendered violence work, about nine years ago I began employing the term Negotiating Trauma to encourage various practitioners, including lawyers, to recognize and better prioritize the many emotional plays in our everyday work. We are constantly negotiating the often unspoken and unseen emotions of several players.