Whispers of Healing: The Power of Storytelling in the Shadow of Trauma

There are times when I share a piece of my personal journey, and I find myself using the word trauma. It's a word that carries weight—delicate and deep. I’ve learned to speak it softly, aware of its resonance in different settings.

When I’m with others, listening to their stories, I choose not to label their experiences. I honor whatever words they choose for themselves. And when someone calls their experience traumatic, I meet it with full recognition and respect.

Still, I've often heard: “Don’t use that word,” or “It’s too heavy.” There seems to be a quiet taboo around it—like a hush in the room.

But for some of us, naming our experiences is not just helpful—it’s healing. It’s a way of reclaiming them, wrapping them in light, and meeting them with gentleness and truth.

Trauma-informed storytelling

My passion for trauma-informed storytelling began in the most sacred of spaces: the therapy room. Through my own process of healing, I had the immense privilege of working with psychologist who treated storytelling like sacred art.

They listened to my words as though they were clay—molding, unraveling, reshaping them with care. They helped me dissect my narrative like a living, breathing thing—breaking it down to its rawest elements and gently putting it back together again.

Sometimes we dismantled it, only to rebuild it with more grace, more truth.

I became fascinated—no, enchanted—with how storytelling can be a therapeutic, alchemical, process.

I once read a line that has never left me, from an article called How Storytelling Heals.

“Trauma, illness and grief create frightening forests of pain, with unfamiliar roads,” writes Sunwolf. “In such a context, listening to stories suggests myriad pathways out of dark forests.” (Mohammed, 2018)

And oh, how I knew that forest. The dark, tangled woods of emotion. The tears that blurred my vision. The waves of anxiety. The trembling vulnerability of saying something aloud for the first time—of returning to old memories and re-living them through the act of telling.

But no matter how frightening those moments felt, they were also profoundly healing. There is power in sharing our stories. Gentle, fierce, transformative power. Still, we must be careful. Storytelling is not one-size-fits-all.

What nourished me might be overwhelming for someone else. Trauma-informed storytelling must always be handled with reverence. As one report wisely says,

"Storytelling often involves processing and sharing trauma, which has the potential to re-traumatize the audience or the storyteller." (National Consumer Advisory Board, 2019)

That’s why safety matters above all.

How Do We Create a Safe Space?

For me, healing only bloomed when I knew I was in a space where my story could land softly—where my tears were welcomed, and where my vulnerability could breathe without fear.

But what is a safe space?

When I speak with my students, I remind them: safety is deeply personal. What feels safe to me might feel different for you.

Maybe for one person, it means confidentiality. For another, it’s being seen, fully and without judgment. It might mean being able to speak freely, to cry without shame, to feel every messy feeling and still be held in compassion.

We each define our version of safety. And once we find that sacred space, the doorway opens—to deeper sharing, to tender connection, to storytelling as medicine.

Stories as Medicine

So… can sharing our stories be healing?

Yes, it can. Absolutely. But we all travel different paths to get there.

We each define our own sense of readiness, of safety, of voice.

When the moment comes—and only when it feels right—we may choose to speak, to write, to whisper our truths into the world.

And when we do, we begin the brave act of reclaiming our narratives. We give our stories new shape, new purpose. We let them serve our individual and collective healing. We don’t erase the pain—we embrace it, gently—but we also find new ways to carry it.

References:

Mohammed, Farah (2018) How Storytelling Heals. Available at: https://daily.jstor.org/how-storytelling-heals/ (Accessed on May 13th, 2025)

National Consumer Advisory Board (2019). Available at: https://nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ti-storytelling-1.pdf (Accessed on May 13th, 2025)