written<\/a> about how often survivors are used as emotional click bait at conferences, hearings, and in general and how artificial the divide between “survivors” and “experts,” – especially at this hearing when all of the survivors are also professionals, and as “expert” as the expert panel in terms of this topic and their years of work as teachers, as parent educators, community leaders, and non-profit founders, all geared towards addressing the very topic of this conference (i.e. prevent trauma and adversity and managing traumatic stress and creating trauma-informed programs).<\/p>\n\n\n\nI’m not even going to go into detail about how surviving trauma (not guaranteed) and managing traumatic stress (which can be deadly), is a whole type of expertise which should be valued. I’m not going to rant about how much I hate the “lived experiences” label (as though there’s any other kind) and that it is reserved entirely on people with very specific types of experiences. All experience are lived and have value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me, those who have survived trauma and manage traumatic stress can simply be called experts, as well as survivors. In addition to personal expertise as relates to surviving trauma, they may often have tons of professional expertise. Possessing both types of expertise holds value. Their testimony should not be entirely skipped over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Rep. Ayanna Pressley (of MA, my home state) said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nShouldn’t survivor testimony be included if not prioritized? Maybe it’s a simple oversight by whoever manages the oversight committee web page? If so, I hope it’s corrected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I keep going back the hearing on “Identifying, Preventing, and Treating Childhood Trauma,” and when I do, I notice that the YouTube video of the testimony skips over the survivor testimony. Entirely. There are two videos on the Oversight Reform page. The first (starts at the 1 hour and 30 minute mark, as shown above) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4974,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Survivor Testimony Skipped Over: An Oversight of the Oversight Committee? - Heal Write Now for Trauma Survivors & Adults Abused as Children<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n