War, conflict, and organized violence

Surviving genocide or ethnic cleansing

Surviving organized, systematic violence that was targeted at your ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy or eliminate it. The particular horror of violence that was not random but deliberate, organized, and aimed at erasing people like you from existence.

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. Shame or feeling like something is broken in you Not guilt about something you did. Dissociation or feeling detached from yourself Dissociation is what the nervous system does when what is happening is too much to stay present for. Thoughts about not wanting to be here Thoughts about not existing anymore. Homelessness or housing instability Homelessness and housing instability are often what trauma produces. Financial devastation or losing everything Financial ruin is often what trauma leaves behind. Exhaustion that sleep does not fix This is not tiredness. Immune or health problems that started after trauma The research is clear.

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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