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\u201cThe one thing I love about NARM is that it's empowering. It helps you realize that there\u2019s so much power in you. It returns your agency. The power of agency is that you let go of the helplessness.\u201d -Wangui Wanjiru

Host Sarah Buino and her guest Wangui Wanjiru, a Kenyan clinical psychologist and the first NARM Therapist on the African continent, seek to humanize the culturally-specific challenges of complex trauma care in Africa.

Wangui describes the cultural orientation that\u2019s very present in Kenyan culture, a strong focus on the group over the individual.\xa0 She says people don\u2019t personalize themselves or each other outside of sweeping social categories. And when people do acknowledge their individuality, they are labeled as \u201cselfish\u201d.\xa0

While painting the picture of how more communal based cultures work against the individual\u2019s connection with themself, Wangui describes the bind that comes with the desire to remain in connection with your culture.

Sarah and Wangui talk about what they\u2019ve learned in their NARM Training-- that when someone is more connected with themselves, they actually have more capacity to be connected with others, their community, and their culture. Paradoxically, reconnecting with the self, which pushes against the Kenyan social construct of \u201cthe group over the individual\u201d, will actually allow for more connection with the Kenyan culture as a whole.\xa0

Wangui brings up an important question: What are we gaining from losing touch with ourselves?

And then Sarah and Wangui go even further in their discussion, reflecting on the impacts of racial oppression and cultural trauma, to ask: Who is benefiting from people losing touch with their individuality?

Sarah prompts Wangui to share what it has been like to bring NARM to Africa and applying the NARM approach to her work with her clients.\xa0

They discuss whether healing trauma is possible as cultures are still currently living through trauma: How can one transform trauma amidst ongoing trauma and oppression?\xa0

\u201cThe beauty of reclaiming your self is that when issues come, or even though you\u2019re still living within the trauma, these issues don\u2019t come to an empty soul, or they don\u2019t come to a dead soul.\xa0 They\u2019re coming to a soul that can resist and choose what gets in and what does not get in. And that\u2019s the empowering part of it. Yes, people might be continuing to go through trauma, but as long as the software within themselves is different, you\u2019re giving them the virus protection. It\u2019s not about getting people out of trauma, it\u2019s not about let\u2019s do this treatment after the trauma is done, it\u2019s letting empower people as they\u2019re going through trauma so they will carry less of it.\u201d

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NARM Training Institute

http://www.NARMtraining.com

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The NARM Training Institute provides tools for transforming complex trauma through: in-person and online trainings for mental health care professionals; in-person and online workshops on complex trauma and how it interplays with areas like addiction, parenting, and cultural trauma; an online self-paced learning program, the NARM Inner Circle; and other trauma-informed learning resources.\xa0\xa0

For the full show notes including references, podcast episodes mentioned, and a quick glossary of terms, visit us at http://www.narmtraining.com/transformingtrauma

This episode was edited by The Creative Impostor Studios.

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