The most devastating thing about trauma is that it robs us of our agency. It makes us the “subject” of someone else’s actions or a “victim” of circumstance. It forces a narrative onto us that we didn’t choose.

But here is the breakthrough: when you tell your story, you stop being a character in a tragedy and start becoming the author of an epic.

Storytelling allows us to separate our identity from our trauma. You are not the “broken thing” that happened to you; you are the woman who survived it, the woman who is processing it, and the woman who is rising above it. This shift in perspective is where your power lives.

By naming your experiences, you take ownership of them. You decide which parts of the story define you and which parts were simply stops along the way.

In our community, we see this transformation every day. It is a transition from silence to strength.

If you’re feeling like your identity has been buried under the weight of your past, I encourage you to explore what it means to reclaim your identity after trauma. It is the first step in picking up the pen and writing a new ending.

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About the Author Katrina Staggers Harvin Nonprofit Founder/ President, Her Story, The Gathering Inc.

Katrina S. Harvin is an accomplished healthcare leader, author, and community advocate dedicated to driving operational excellence, empowerment, and transformational impact. With extensive experience in Health Information Management (HIM) leadership, Katrina champions strategic performance management, cross-functional collaboration, and process optimization to advance quality, compliance, and team development across…

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