War, conflict, and organized violence

Being a child soldier or being recruited into armed conflict as a minor

Being recruited, coerced, or forced into armed conflict as a child or adolescent. Being made to participate in violence before you had the capacity to understand what was being asked of you. The particular complexity of having been both victim and participant.

If some version of this is part of your story, you already know that the hardest part is rarely the memory itself. It is carrying it in a world that mostly does not want to hear about it. This fellowship exists so you do not have to carry it alone, and so you never have to explain it to someone who has no idea what it means.

What can follow an experience like this

No two people carry the same experience the same way. These are some of the effects that people with this experience often describe. Having some of them, all of them, or none of them says nothing about how real what happened to you was.

Chronic pain no one can fully explain Pain that has been investigated and treated and remains. Thoughts about not wanting to be here Thoughts about not existing anymore. Exhaustion that sleep does not fix This is not tiredness. Self-harm Self harm is not about wanting to die. Hypervigilance or always waiting for something bad The nervous system that learned to scan for danger all the time. Flashbacks and reliving what happened After certain experiences, the brain can get stuck, replaying what happened through flashbacks, nightmares, or sudden intense reactions to things that remind you of it. Emotional numbness Not depression exactly. Insomnia or feeling unsafe enough to sleep Difficulty falling asleep.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.

You do not have to carry this alone.

Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.

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