Diana Gurley holds a PhD in medical sociology, with further training and experience in epidemiology and psychiatry. For over thirty years she has worked extensively on the ground in communities cha...показать большеDiana Gurley holds a PhD in medical sociology, with further training and experience in epidemiology and psychiatry. For over thirty years she has worked extensively on the ground in communities challenged by violence, poverty and isolation, focusing on trauma and its consequences, seeking to understand the ways small bands of people help the recovery process or exacerbate it. She has found that there are key components to healthy communities that can encourage growth and transformation, and that can counteract traumatic events. She brings to the study of trauma personal stories of adults who were severely abused as children, of men and women in prisons and jails, of couples in fertility treatment, of the homeless, from people living in Central Harlem and on Native American reservations and in Appalachia, through hospitals and substance treatment, and from families with few resources seeking to care for the very old and the very young. The themes of help and harm cross all of these social boundaries. She has noticed that the most damaging of traumatic events often arise from social circumstances, but that in our culture, most of the treatment for traumatic harm is individualized. She proposes that there are ways our families, neighborhoods, faith groups, school and work environments and helping facilities can help to restore well-being after harm.показать меньше