Dr. Heather Evans sits down with Joe Velarde, Lead Pastor of Riverbend Community Church on the podcast Vision for the Valley. They take a look at what trauma is, what it does to us, and some helpful ways to process it. They also discuss ways to help others who may experience trauma: how to be a listening friend and as Dr. Heather Evans says, “help restore voice and power in the context of a safe relationship.”
I am thankful to Sojourners’ Online Magazine for publishing something I have written: Listening to Trafficking Survivors This piece includes some reflections of my work with human sex trafficking survivors in the Lehigh Valley, PA region. It’s not only a challenge to be aware of issues of injustice that impact our communities, but to also…
Dr. Heather Evans sits down with Deb Cummins Stellato on the Think Courageously podcast. Heather shares her journey of working with women and how “the work of trauma found her.” Heather and Deb explore the connection between the word courage and trauma. Trauma is an experience of threat that creates powerlessness and often silences the…
I had the opportunity to see Sound of Freedom, a movie that debuted in theaters on USA’s Independence Day and has received much coverage for being in the top of the box office its first week. Sound of Freedom soberly portrays just one example of human trafficking and promotes a loud and clear message that…
Quarantine. When it seems all has been stripped away, what remains? Comfort traded for uncertainty. Ease becomes disruption. Anticipation leads to loss. Shared spaces become divided souls. Joyful moments to forced boundaries. Sense of time is disordered (how do weeks feel more like months, yet how have we lost two months already?!). What has this…
I am preparing to teach a group of high school girls this weekend at a youth retreat. I have the privilege of talking about Deborah, a model of Biblical womanhood, and her partnership with Barak, a picture of God’s design for men and women partnering in mission as we reflect the image of our Creator. …
A fitting end to the week at the annual meeting for the Southern Baptist Convention was attending with one of the survivors “Yet She is Advancing”, an exhibit about New Orleans women and their advocacy for the right to vote. We learned that while women’s right to vote came in 1920 after decades of advocating…