The Pain We Carry Workbook - (Social Justice Handbook) by Natalie Y Gutiérrez (Paperback)

About the Book

Written by an author of color and based on her pivotal book, The Pain We Carry, this groundbreaking workbook provides a practical, step-by-step, and culturally informed approach to healing complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) as it is uniquely experienced by people of color. Using skills based in internal family systems (IFS) therapy, polyvagal theory, mindfulness, and more, readers will discover ways to feel safe in their bodies, build self-compassion, and find personal liberation--despite living within an oppressive social system.

Book Synopsis

Based on the powerful self-help guide, The Pain We Carry, this workbook will help you heal the invisible wounds of complex trauma and reclaim your mind, body, and spirit.

If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma from the toxic stress of--discrimination, racialized violence, racial stigmatization, traumatic grief, legacies of intergenerational trauma, poverty, sexual trauma, interpersonal violence, or the remnants of colonial and historical trauma--you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, rage, mistrust, fear, anxiety, depression, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or find it difficult to build and keep close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone.

Written by an author of color and based on her pivotal book, The Pain We Carry, this workbook provides a practical, step-by-step, and culturally informed approach to healing complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) as it is uniquely experienced by people of color. Using skills drawn from internal family systems (IFS) therapy, the cultural empowerment approach to healing, ancestral wisdom, and more, you will discover ways to feel safer in your body, build self-compassion, reclaim your Self, and find personal liberation and wholeness--despite living within an oppressive social system.

Let this workbook be your guide to:

• Learn how trauma is connected to grief
• Release trauma and burdens from your body, mind, and spirit
• Build self-compassion and resilience
• Reconnect with your ancestral wisdom
• Discover how to heal your heart and Soul and live a life of intention

It's time to find relief from the trauma and burdens you have been carrying and start celebrating and rediscovering who you are. With this workbook, you will uncover your own strength and work toward healing your C-PTSD and live a life of empowerment, reflection, and perseverance.

Review Quotes

"The Pain We Carry Workbook is a tender, transformative guide to healing the burdens of trauma while honoring ancestral wisdom. With compassion and insight, Natalie Gutiérrez names the -isms and oppressions that shape our pain, guiding readers toward liberation and resilience. This beautiful offering reminds us that we are whole, human, and worthy of healing. Natalie Gutiérrez was made for this work."
--Layla F. Saad, New York Times bestselling author of Me and White Supremacy--Layla F. Saad

"The Pain We Carry profoundly changed my life in ways I'm still trying to understand. Natalie gave me words for my unspoken feelings, for which I'm eternally grateful. This companion workbook deepened my healing, reaching places I couldn't yet access. It helped transform my trauma into art and action, setting me on an unexpected but necessary journey. I'll continue sharing this extraordinary work."
--Erika L. Sánchez, author of Lessons on Expulsion, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, and Crying in the Bathroom--Erika L. Sánchez

"ThePain We Carry Workbook is a journey of deep healing, and its wisdom is more crucial than ever. As an Arab American therapist, I appreciate how Natalie integrates somatic practices, IFS therapy, and ancestral healing with reflective prompts and culturally grounded exercises. In a time when racial trauma, displacement, and systemic oppression weigh heavily on so many, this book offers tangible, transformative tools for unburdening and reclaiming wholeness. A must-have for anyone committed to healing from the inside out."
--Micheline Maalouf, Arab American therapist specializing in trauma healing, founder of Serein Counseling, and online mental health educator--Micheline Maalouf

"A journey of powerful reclamation from the opening prayer to the last reflection question. Natalie's workbook clearly helps the reader to track the parts of the body and spirit that have been oppressed and marginalized, shaking the harm from our bones and blood. Through her words, our pain is held with tenderness and care, freeing us--so that we may rise into the medicine we are here to be."
--Asha Frost, Indigenous Medicine Woman, and author of You Are the Medicine--Asha Frost

"Natalie first told us that we are resilient souls despite the trauma we hold in The Pain We Carry, and now she's helping us connect with the medicine within. This workbook helps readers heal by asking the difficult questions while enveloping them in a safe space to allow for the necessary vulnerability that comes with this work. Her dedication to mending mind, body, and spirit through ancestral wisdom allows for the healing that the BIPOC community not only needs--but deserves."
--Virginia Isaad, managing editor for HipLatina--Virginia Isaad

"Natalie has given us a beautiful gift--one that holds our grief with tenderness and leads us to embodied liberation. For Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA+ communities, this is ancestral medicine, a spiritual reckoning, a homecoming. She walks with us, reminding us that healing is our birthright. She shows us how to excavate the wound and heal it. When you are ready, Natalie's wisdom and guidance will hold you."
--Tasha Hunter, MSW, LCSW, certified internal family systems (IFS) therapist, and author of Liberation--Tasha Hunter, MSW, LCSW

"Natalie Gutiérrez has written a beautiful companion to The Pain We Carry. In this workbook, Natalie's deep knowledge of trauma healing, broad understanding of the impacts of social systems on individual lived experience, and her genuine care for the topic really shows through in the writing and exercises. I've recommended the first book to so many friends, clients, and loved ones, and I can't wait to recommend this workbook as well!"
--Sand C. Chang, PhD, licensed psychologist, IFS Institute trainer, and author of All Parts Welcome--Sand C. Chang, PhD

"Natalie's The Pain We Carry Workbook is a lifeline for those carrying the weight of racial trauma. With deep care and wisdom, she offers practical tools to help you release burdens, reconnect with your ancestral strength, and step into healing. This is more than a workbook--it's a guide back to yourself."
--Juliet Diaz, literary activist, and author of The Altar Within--Juliet Diaz

"The tragedy of pain is not always the pain, but hurting alone. Natalie speaks intimately as a companion for your healing, offering a workbook that lifts burdens and does not add them, to be liberated and to liberate. I'm indebted to Natalie's voice, which brought me both the tenderness and tenacity to do the very hard work of tending to ourselves in a hardened world. Sit at her table and you will find gentleness for all you carry."
--J.S. Park, board-certified hospital chaplain, and author of As Long as You Need--J.S. Park

"This workbook is a handy accompaniment in a healing journey that cannot be missed. It presents the readers with tangible strategies for healing in a time when systemic oppression can stand in our way."
--Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts and Tías and Primas--Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez

"This workbook is a sacred offering--one that meets our trauma with the care and depth it's long been denied. Natalie Gutiérrez creates space for healing that is personal, collective, and ancestral, especially for people of color and Indigenous communities. Where colonial approaches to healing could not--or would not--meet us, this work does. It brings us home to ourselves with love and intention."
--Myrna McCallum, Métis-Cree lawyer, grandmother, and host of The Trauma-Informed Lawyer podcast--Myrna McCallum

About the Author

Natalie Y. Gutiérrez, LMFT, (she/her) is a Puerto Rican licensed therapist and healer in New York, NY. She is the author of The Pain We Carry. Gutiérrez specializes in supporting communities of color reeling from the soul wounds of complex trauma. She has worked to help many people on their journey of navigating and healing racial trauma, colonial and historical trauma, intergenerational trauma, and sexual trauma. Gutiérrez is a certified internal family systems (IFS) therapist and trainer at the IFS Institute.

Foreword writer Leslie Priscilla is a first-generation non-Black Xicana mother to three children, and the founder of Latinx Parenting. She has more than sixteen years' experience working with Latinx parents, children, and families who are practicing ways of connecting with one another and with themselves. She offers programming to increase individual and collective capacities for healing and thriving while sustaining their cultural values.