As I read this book I felt the work of twenty plus years of mission-driven advocacy coming into focus, as if a weight is lifting. Each page is a gift and a map for anyone called to serve in an organization addressing the challenging continuum of caring for individual and community needs. Take up this book and use it every day!  — Ann Liske, Sexual violence prevention advocate

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Are you concerned about your organization?

Are you worried about how you are doing in your job? Are you looking for ways to help your organization be more sustainable or even heal from hurtful events in its past? We hope that the ideas and stories in Organizational Trauma and Healing will provide relief and hope to you as you think about your experiences and also offer new ideas for how to improve the health and well being of your organization.

For you who staff organizations and are longing for the best services for clients: Are you experiencing behaviors with coworkers that make the work harder? 

For you who are leaders in those organizations and are looking for ways of making your organization stronger: Are you seeing what you think are symptoms of deeper issues in your system?

For you who work as consultants or funders and are looking for new ways of thinking about the organizations you assist: Are you wanting concepts and tools to understand dynamics you have identified? 

For students learning about organizational culture and organizational dynamics: Are you looking for innovative ways of gaining insight about organizations and helping them to change?

Our intention is to help leaders and members to understand organizational identity, culture, trauma, and traumatization so they can use that information to heal their organizations and promote organizational health.

 

Why is learning about organizational trauma important? Organizational trauma is pervasive across nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and businesses. However, the phenomenon has received scant attention or been misidentified. Much work on organizational trauma ignores the systemic nature of traumatization and the insidious negative consequences to organizations once trauma becomes embedded in organizational culture. In fact, organizational trauma and traumatization seriously harm organizations; impacts may be drastic and long lasting.    Read more  >