The Adverse Childhood Experiences Guided Journal - (The New Harbinger Journals for Change) by Donna Jackson Nakazawa (Paperback)

About the Book

Whether or not we share our story with others, processing past experiences by writing them down on paper lets us see our trauma in new and more transformative ways. This compassionate guided journal offers powerful exercises, prompts, and write-to-heal techniques grounded in neuroscience to help readers recognize patterns of trauma from their childhood and build resilience by rewriting their brain's internal story.

Book Synopsis

The trauma of your past can't be undone, but you can take charge of how it affects you. This compassionate journal offers a safe space to help you process, heal, and reclaim your power.

Trauma and its effects can feel like a never-ending storm, and there's no safe harbor in sight from the thoughts and emotions that toss and turn so violently and unpredictably in your head. But healing is possible. Your brain can actually re-wire these thoughts and emotions. And you can direct that powerful healing process through journaling. By putting your thoughts to paper, you can identify, choose, and permanently adopt new ways of responding to stress. You can create a new narrative of your life--one that breaks you out of your most deeply ingrained and self-destructive thoughts and behaviors.

In this powerful guided journal, internationally acclaimed neuroscience journalist and author Donna Jackson Nakazawa outlines her inspiring, innovative, trauma-informed, and mindful Neural Re-Narrating(TM) program to help you:

• Acknowledge your past while engaging in the present moment
• Create a new and empowering written narrative you can revisit again and again
• Release worry and trauma from your body by putting it onto the page
• Reduce your anxiety and alleviate symptoms of depression
• Access inner calm--even in stressful situations

The act of unburdening oneself is essential when working through troubling or traumatic experiences. Through thoughtful, guided writing experiences, you'll find the strength to live authentically--with hope and optimism for the future.

Review Quotes

"TheAdverse Childhood Experiences Guided Journal is packed with exercises that are carefully curated and expertly designed. Thoughtful, helpful, and gentle in its approach, this book will be a trusted resource for many adults who are healing from childhood trauma. It's destined to become a classic."
--Hope Edelman, grief and loss coach, author of Motherless Daughters, and founder and CEO at www.motherlessdaughters.com--Hope Edelman

"Although the path to heal from childhood trauma is often confusing and challenging, Nakazawa is the gentle and clear guide needed for the journey. This journal offers survivors evidence-based trauma healing tools in accessible and straightforward ways, giving everyone who reads this access to agency, power, and healing. When more people have this tool--and can begin to heal from their childhood injuries--our communities, families, and future is more hopeful."
--Hillary L. McBride, PhD, registered psychologist, podcaster, speaker, and author of The Wisdom of Your Body--Hillary L. McBride, PhD

"Donna Jackson Nakazawa expertly guides her reader toward a deep understanding of childhood adversity and its lasting impact. With compassionate writing prompts, digestible neuroscience, and engaging mindfulness, her guided journal invites body and mind into the healing process, creating an essential resource for individuals recovering from developmental adversity."
--Kelly McDaniel, LPC, NCC, trauma therapist, and author of Ready to Heal and Mother Hunger--Kelly McDaniel, LPC, NCC

"Donna Jackson Nakazawa offers a compassionate and humane approach to overcoming the wounds of adverse childhood experiences by encouraging us to transform our internal turmoil into insightful written reflections. Her gentle and kind spirit is palpable throughout the book, providing readers with a sense of comfort and support as they navigate their inner anguish. A must-read for anyone who is struggling with emotional challenges related to adverse early experiences!"
--Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, Harris-Woodman Chair, and director of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research unit at the University of Western Ontario--Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD

"Our capacity to make sense of early life experiences that may not have made sense at the time is a powerful source of healing. While we cannot change the past, we can transform our lives from unresolved to resolved trauma through healing relationships accompanied by deep reflection on how the past has impacted us and what we can do, now, to create new ways of feeling, thinking, and behaving. The powerful set of exercises in this guided journal offers a way to make sense of your past and deepen how to identify and shift adaptations to the challenging, adverse experiences you may have had in your life. Research suggests that this making-sense process is part of what can empower us to 'earn' security in our attachment and free ourselves to live the life we've only dreamed might be possible."
--Daniel J. Siegel, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Personality and Wholeness in Therapy, The Developing Mind, Mindsight, Parenting from the Inside Out, and Aware--Daniel J. Siegel, MD

"This journal is a gem that will aid many in their journey to healing from childhood adversities! Research consistently documents the benefits of expressing one's difficult experiences in writing. But this workbook is much more than a guide to putting one's story on paper. It shows how to weave healing compassion into the difficult memories of life--and reconnect mind, heart, and body through a very impressive array of skills. Very well done!"
--Glenn R. Schiraldi, PhD, author The Adverse Childhood Experiences Recovery Workbook; stress management faculties at the University of Maryland (ret.) and International Critical Incident Stress Foundation; Resilience Training International--Glenn R. Schiraldi, PhD

About the Author

Donna Jackson Nakazawa is creator of Your Healing Narrative, the writing-to-heal program that uses the Neural Re-Narrating process she pioneered. She is author of Girls on the Brink, and the best-selling Childhood Disrupted. She has lectured and taught at major universities and organizations, and is a frequent contributor to national news programs and publications.