I’m incredibly grateful that Veterans Affairs asked my friend Sarah Jefferis to give a TED talk because now this video exists in the world. In it, she bravely shares how writing can be a prescription for healing from post-traumatic stress and moving into post- traumatic growth. In this video, she issues a gentle trigger warning to viewers because she draws from her own history of childhood sexual assault and religious trauma.
“Creativity is a basic human response to trauma and a natural emergency defense system.”
Louise Desalvo, Writing as a Way of Healing
Sarah’s presence in my life as a long-distance Covid buddy and now writing coach has helped me find more courage when facing the blank page. I’ve learned how to stop the self-sabotage that keeps me stuck in writer’s block and move forward on my personal writing goals. Since 2020, I’ve been trying to host periodic writing retreats for myself, and she has also helped me make the most of that precious time. During a recent week-long silent writing retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where the monk Thomas Merton lived and wrote, I had longer sustained periods being in flow, and it felt like a switch had been flipped in my brain. I was able to face traumatic events from my past with clarity and courage, and I’m thankful I’ve been able to bring that feeling home.
Sarah works with writers and non-writers alike to help them launch their creative projects—books of poems, essays, fiction, as well as academic, business, and policy writing. But her specialty is any and all creative writing, and she is a talented multi-genre writer herself and an accomplished public speaker for hire. If you’re embarking on a writing project that would benefit from professional support, I can’t recommend her highly enough!
Also, if you want to encourage a sister who is speaking BOLD truth into the world to offer a positive example of someone who has used writing to heal from sexual trauma, please let her know how awesome she is. It’s not easy to do what she did here, but I know her speaking and writing are helping many people find their fire.
Onward!
Élan Young 