A Recovery Story That Heals

Abstract

Introduction. It is one thing to talk about intergenerational trauma and substance abuse in general terms, and quite another to get an experiential sense of what it is like for someone dealing with it firsthand. In a profoundly courageous presentation, Mabel Kudralook Smith, who is originally from Barrow, presents her personal story. She takes to heart the notion that to heal, you have to talk about those matters that are causing you pain. Such accounts are healing because they allow the storyteller to pull together a coherent narrative that helps make sense of what she or he has experienced. The narratives often provide a sense of release as the teller is no longer expending energy on keeping personal or family secrets and being ashamed. Such stories are also healing for the audience, because they allow others, through the sharing of experience, to better understand what the speaker has endured and learned. If the listeners have faced similar issues, the narratives can inspire them to embark on or persist in their own similar journies. WHA