In Their Own Words: Trauma survivors and professionals they trust tell what hurts, what helps, and what is needed for trauma services

This monograph is the work of over 200 courageous women and men in the State of Maine who have dared to hope that the truth and wisdom of their experience will be heard by those in power, and that Maine’s mental health and human service systems will respond to the long ignored plight of children and adults traumatized by histories of interpersonal violence. Both survivors of abuse and the professionals they trust give voice in this book to their experiences with individuals, organizations, and systems that have been shaped and influenced in such a way that they frequently harm, rather than help, the individuals they serve. Readers will be moved by their accounts of what hurts, what helps, and what is needed from our service systems for healing and recovery.