Introducing: Life after Trauma
A new chapter for our community (& your input on what’s next)
Happy New Year! I hope the early part of 2025 has been treating you well. I got some much needed rest over the holiday break, and am very excited about what this year will bring.
I’m starting this year with a new name: Life after Trauma.
When I first realised that I’d have to change the name, I was bummed! I invested a lot of myself (& my time, money, labour) in Beyond Survival and I’m sad to let that name go. But a legal issue arose and I knew I had to make a change.
I spent a lot of time dreaming up a new name: there were post its and poetry books and a very messy brain dump on the wardrobe door. I distilled all my ideas into a mural board, which had more than 200 colour coded options. I got a lot from
informative post on naming your newsletter, and get some useful insight during ’s recent workshop . Huge thanks to Amanda and my fellow participants for their insights (, , , and a few others I’m probably forgetting).I spent a lot of time searching puns, idioms and quotes trying to find something that captured the magic and messiness of life after trauma.
In the end, I threw it all out and went with the most descriptive (& perhaps plainest) title of the bunch: Life after Trauma. I chose it because my number one mission is to reach as many survivors as possible. I want them to know that this community exists, that they can find sustenance, community and resources here.
Nothing else is going to change. You can still expect a weekly essay about life after trauma, with threads, resource guides and the Ask Clare advice column sprinkled in.
I’ll still be hosting SurvivorStack, a growing directory of newsletters about life after trauma. It currently lists more than 70 newsletters, and has been one of my favourite projects on this platform. I’ve met so many great writers in this genre over the last few months, and I’m so grateful to have discovered their work.
I’m also excited to launch some new things in 2025!
The first episode of the long-awaited Life after Trauma podcast will be published this month. I spoke with
about her book ‘Lifting Heavy Things’ and can’t wait to share our conversation with you. Laura had some great advice about finding trauma-informed exercise professionals, as well as tools to manage triggers. This was a really personal conversation for me. For many years, I was too traumatised to exercise and I know Laura’s expertise would have been an enormous help if I’d found it back then.January also means I’m in planning mode, and I’m so curious about what you would like to see on Life after Trauma this year.
I’ve been thinking about hosting community events and classes. Would you be interested in doing The Artist’s Way together? I did it for the first time last Spring, and it had a profound impact on me. Maybe we could explore the role of creativity in trauma recovery together? Or perhaps you’d be interested in some practical resources for writing about trauma?
Or, perhaps there are other themes you’d like me to explore? Maybe it’d be fun to explore the intersections of money and trauma? Or trauma and relationships? Or trauma and our working lives? I have so many ideas, and can’t wait to share them with you!
Rather than bombarding you with questions, I’ve put together a short survey to capture your feedback. It should only take a few minutes of your time, but it’ll be an enormous help as I begin to shape this year’s work.
I’m building Life after Trauma with survivors in mind. I want this to be a space where you feel seen and supported as you rebuild your life after trauma. If there are particular things you’d like to see, please let me know either via the survey or in the comments below.
Thank you for input. I can’t wait to dive into your feedback.
💕 If you like the new name or are happy to see me in your inbox again, please tap the heart below to help spread the word.
💬 In the comments, I’d love to hear your feedback on what you’d like to see on Life after Trauma throughout 2025. What would you find interesting or helpful? What would help you feel less alone? I’m excited to chat in the comments.
Sorry to hear about the name change, but delighted you're still here!
Great name ‘it does exactly what it says on the tin!’
Bit of a strange request but some work or insight into (when your abuser dies) how to navigate your own feelings whilst supporting others in their grief.
I only want to recover myself from the trauma and would not nor do I ever intended to destroy the memories of the person they loved.
It’s hard to sit through the outpourings of grief for my abuser and as a survivor of their abuse I find myself asking myself “was it really that bad?”