Life and Hope Out of Darkness: Creative Interventions for Helping People in Violent Communities

With real-life examples, this book contains tools for providing effective support for people facing ongoing trauma due to living in a community with high levels of violent crime. It provides hope in a world of despair and reveals how creativity and mindfulness shed light out of darkness. The lessons it teaches are relevant to us all.

Can a young British woman from across the seas impact a group of African women living in a poverty-stricken community likened to a war zone? How can she help them deal with trauma when they constantly live in trauma? Life and Hope Out of Darkness: Creative Interventions for Helping People in Violent Communities reveals the story of Sarah Coleman and the women she worked with, using art, drama, puppetry, dance, mindfulness and breathwork to shine a ray of light and hope into the lives of women stuck in a whirlwind of violence and poverty.

Sarah takes the reader on a journey using the voices and stories of three women (each created from an amalgamation of people she worked with) to depict what life is like living in such difficult circumstances. She emphasises the importance of creating a safe space for effective therapeutic work to happen and how to achieve this in a violent community. Sarah also explores how to navigate differences, including the necessity of acknowledging white power and privilege. She describes how to help people create good support structures in their lives and how to seek support from each other.

In a community where isolation is a means of survival, her book opens up the possibility to connect: to play with each other, to reach into each other’s lives and build a way of creating a healthy community, to learn to forgive past hurts and to receive forgiveness, to embrace new potential, and to reach out and search for role models for guidance. It also delves into the importance of psychoeducation to raise awareness of what is happening in the body, with exercises in breathing, dancing and movement. Sarah highlights the importance of shaking out the body to dispel trapped trauma and calm the nervous system down.

Working in violent communities takes its toll. Sarah gives testimony of the impact on her life and the importance of self-care. The book ends by affirming it is possible to live with hope despite difficult circumstances. Each chapter ends with thoughts for reflection that benefit us all, making us look at the ways in which we live and how we can all work to make things better.

This uplifting book is recommended reading for all therapists and trainees involved in working with groups or the repercussions of trauma, and for individuals looking to bring hope and inspiration into their lives.