The Role of Community in Healing from Trauma
Katherine Medina-Pineda, MHC-LP
Our understanding of trauma within the mental health field has grown and expanded over time, arguably in great part due to our more nuanced understanding of intersectionality (Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, 1989) and Adverse Childhood Experiences, also known as ACEs (Dr. Vincent Felitti and Dr. Robert Anda, 1995-97). While trauma is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-V) as “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence” (APA, 2013), we know from the ACEs studies that chronic exposure to physical and emotional abuse or neglect and exposure to community violence have a detrimental impact on individuals’ mental health and development. A more holistic definition of Trauma is the “results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being” (SAMHSA Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative, 2012).
While trauma has long been understood as an individual experience, social justice frameworks have helped us understand how trauma is as much an individual as it is a collective experience. For instance, many minoritized people come from lineages and communities that have endured chronic colonial violence: the impact of multi-generational colonial violence is generational trauma. Colonization and capitalism are the cause for climate change, and its impact results in community trauma whenever there is a mismanaged flood, fire, or pandemic. The many wars and genocides over the course of human history are also ecocides that favor profits over humans and nature. The Mental Health Industrial Complex (MHIC) emphasizes individualist models as the only evidence-based treatments to heal and relate to one’s traumatic experiences differently, however, there is strong evidence that shows the importance of community in healing from trauma.
Ways Community Helps
Normalization and validation: Shared experiences help survivors see their responses as natural and valid, countering shame and self‑blame.
Empowerment through mutual support: Peer roles emphasize equalized relationships where both giving and receiving support contribute to recovery—not just isolation Stand TogetherPsychiatry Online.
Practical guidance and resource navigation: Peers and community groups help newcomers find services, learn coping tools, and rebuild daily life routines.
Reduced stigma and isolation: Peer and community connection counters the withdrawal and self‑stigma that often accompany trauma.
Social Support Networks
Longitudinal research demonstrates how perceived social support strongly predicts trauma recovery. Individuals with greater overall support show marked decreases in presentation of PTSD symptoms at higher rates than individuals without support networks (Sippel et al., 2024). It is estimated that 70-95% of the world population has experienced at least one traumatic event. Despite the fact that exposure to trauma does not necessarily mean a person will go on to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress, this staggering percentage of exposure demonstrates how suffering truly is a shared experience among all human beings. Social support networks offer us opportunities to empathize with one another and develop resilience.
Peer Support Over a Shared Experience
Peer support—delivered by individuals with lived experience of trauma—offers unique benefits. A scoping review of trauma survivors affirms that peer support provides hope, guidance, and socioemotional reinforcement that professional services may not always be able to provide. Qualitative interviews from survivors, caregivers, and clinicians highlight that peer support helps people feel less alone and offers a unique opportunity for healing by being witnessed and witnessing each other in a shared painful experience. A 2021 meta‑analysis published by BMC Psychiatry found that peer‑support interventions—especially self‑management and structured group programs—yield meaningful improvements in recovery, empowerment, and coping skills, with effects often comparable to clinician‑led care in certain domains. Peer‑delivered trauma‑specific programs, such as peer‑led Seeking Safety, can reduce PTSD symptoms and support long‑term functioning, even in settings with limited access to professionals.
Intersectionality of Healing in Community
There are many wonderful frameworks developed by Black and Indigenous psychologists with the intention of directly addressing colonial and racial trauma among their own communities. In 2020, Chioneso et al. published a framework titled Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling (C-HeARTS) that combines storytelling with community interventions in order to empower groups toward developing shared narratives and cultivating critical consciousness. In 2021, Lakota social worker Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart and her team developed a pilot program titled Iwankapiya which consisted of Historical Trauma and Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG) combined with group interpersonal therapy to address the high levels of substance use and suicidality that affect Indigenous people in the United States Empire at disproportionate rates. These are necessary and nuanced frameworks that offer the most marginalized and minoritized populations an opportunity to collectively validate and affirm their experiences, build individual and community resilience, and develop new, anti-oppressive shared narratives that empower communities.
Conclusion
Recovery from trauma is not simply a clinical journey—it is deeply relational and social. Community, peer groups, and supportive networks offer validation, resilience, and a sense of belonging that clinical interventions alone rarely provide. While individual therapy can be helpful to provide person-specific coping tools and help an individual learn how to make sense of their own experiences and narratives, the true markers of healing is about our ability to be in community with one another. Human beings are inherently social creatures, and we require each other in order to survive and thrive.
Sources
Brave Heart MYH, Chase J, Myers O, Elkins J, Skipper B, Schmitt C, Mootz J, Waldorf VA. Iwankapiya American Indian pilot clinical trial: Historical trauma and group interpersonal psychotherapy. Psychotherapy (Chic). 2020 Jun;57(2):184-196. doi: 10.1037/pst0000267. Epub 2019 Dec 2. PMID: 31789541; PMCID: PMC8216771.
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). (1970, January 1). A review of the literature. Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207192/
Chioneso, N., Hunter, C., Gobin, R., McNeil Smith, S., & Neville, H. (2020). Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling: A Framework to Address Racial Trauma in Africana Communities. Journal of Black Psychology, 46(95). https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10277181
Lyons, N., Cooper, C., & Lloyd-Evans, B. (2021, June 23). A systematic review and meta-analysis of group peer support interventions for people experiencing mental health conditions - BMC psychiatry. BioMed Central. https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-021-03321-z?utm_source=