The Challenge to Heal Workbook & Journal: Work Out & Release Trauma Resulting from High-Control Situations

This Workbook & Journal is a companion volume to the book "The Challenge to Heal". In that book, Chapter 11 encourages the reader to document the story of the manipulation, exploitation, coercion, mind-control and abuse that they were subjected to in a high-control group. Sometimes, however, it is difficult to know where and how to start. "The Challenge to Heal Workbook & Journal" is designed to help you with that challenge. Prompts and pertinent quotations are provided to help trigger your memory and explore different aspects of your high-control history. Julia Cameron, author of "The Artist's Way" says, "Writing is medicine. It is an appropriate antidote to injury. It is an appropriate companion for any difficult change." This workbook and journal will become a reliable, non-judgmental companion through your recovery from high-control abuse in whatever form that took for you (cult, terrorist group, polygamist sect, pseudo-religion, political cult, criminal gang, extremist supremacist group, human trafficking ring, etc.). There is something deeply healing about honoring the difficulties, the losses, the challenges and the triumph of making your way out, by taking the time to remember, think about, and document it all. As you progress through the difficult parts of telling your story (using the prompts at the top of each page) and begin to enjoy the healing benefits of so doing, eventually your personal narrative will become a celebration of life – your new life – free from all coercive controls and interference. In a way, this document of the story of your abuse in a high-control group is like an intimate letter to yourself. A love letter, in that - amidst the account of the dis-empowerment and pain - you acknowledge and appreciate the person who survived it, and honor all that you have accomplished by claiming your freedom. As you record the story of your exploited past, you will begin to enjoy moments of satisfaction and contentment in the present - and exciting glimpses into the future – one that will finally be of your design and of your making.When we have spent time in high-control groups that required us to suppress and repress our authentic self, taking time to create a narrative of the experience is one way to discover what drew us into the group, what kept us there, what prompted us to consider leaving, how we managed the leave-taking and the toll that all of that took on ourbody/mind. As you document your story you will rediscover who you are, what you value, what you think, what you need, what you want – creating a way to peel back the layers of in-authenticity you had to create to protect yourself from so much undue interference. As you document, you will finally discover your true self waiting to emerge. What a joy!