Share this comment
Hi everyone! I'm Paulina and my Substack revolves around HEALING COMPLEX PTSD. openselflove.substack.c…
It's a combination of personal reflections, affirmations, and prose related to the healing journey. My parents are survivors of the Cambodian genocide, and I feel like it is my responsibility to heal both my trauma and the generational …
Hi everyone! I'm Paulina and my Substack revolves around HEALING COMPLEX PTSD. https://openselflove.substack.com
It's a combination of personal reflections, affirmations, and prose related to the healing journey. My parents are survivors of the Cambodian genocide, and I feel like it is my responsibility to heal both my trauma and the generational trauma that I inherited! Yay!
Oftentimes we think we need to heal in isolation, but I think it is important and much more beneficial to find healing within community.
Hi Paulina! Gotta love that intergenerational trauma, yes? I really appreciate you telling your personal story and using your voice in such a powerful way. I'm sorry for the suffering you've experienced, but I'm very glad to meet you. I look forward to getting to know you more on this creative path! ❤️
Hi!! Thank you for the kind words. Haha yes, the "character building." I'd like to think that all this pain and suffering need not be in vain--that I could repurpose it into something instead. 🤍
I’m looking forward to reading some of your work, Paulina.
Paulina, a good friend of mine is also a survivor. I met her through the local Chinese church here in Oregon. I can’t even imagine the trauma of what they endured.
Hi Susan, yes, I agree. Can you believe it was only recently recognized as a genocide by the UN in 2018--that decades had gone by without much support or justice for survivors? There's a lot of shame around mental health struggles with that generation, and that's further reinforced by the fact that the global stage didn't recognize the need for support systems for survivors. A lot of them don't want to talk about it but fail to see how their unaddressed trauma still affects them in the present and affects the people around them.
Paulina, that’s so sad. I understand the shame around mental health and trauma in that generation. I am a counselor. Also, I met a number of people when I worked in China who had nightmares and poor sleep from what they endured during the Cultural Revolution. But even my good friend here wasn’t comfortable getting help so she just lives with the impact of trauma. In 2018 my friend who is a MFT and I traveled to China and we taught workshops on a counseling approach to therapists in Kunming. I am very aware of the pain so many Asians carry, and the horrific experiences in Cambodia would have been so devastating. I look forward to reading your work.