Sanctuary of Healing: Transforming Churches into Trauma-informed Spaces

(Paperback)

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A powerful and compassionate guide for clergy and lay religious leaders seeking to help their parishioners navigate trauma and cultivate their physical and spiritual well-being.

With compassion and insight, pastor Julia Matallana Freedman empowers religious leaders to address the prevalence of trauma in their congregations with empathy and care. Bringing startling data about the prevalence of sexual, racial, and generational trauma in the U.S. to light, she asserts that holding space for parishioners' traumatic life experiences-truly delving into and exploring the pain of their past in one-on-one sessions-can help transform places of worship into what she calls "sanctuaries of healing." Through practical tools and a call to "hold space," this guide offers actionable steps to create safe, intentional environments where healing and wholeness-both spiritual and physical-can flourish.

Author Bio

Julia Matallana Freedman is a full-time pastor at a local Episcopal church in the Diocese of Massachusetts. She holds a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. A first-generation college graduate, Julia is passionate about the intersection of faith and trauma, often preaching on social justice, suffering, and the importance of living out our faith in contemporary society. She lives in Riverside, Rhode Island.