Overcoming Trauma

by Vivien Wilson | ISBN 9780648371953

“Vivien is a gifted and powerful writer, her lucid descriptions imprints pictures of suffering as she expresses her feelings and experiences in bare faced honesty. While encountering a remote and lonely time in her life Vivien’s simple faith is highlighted through the dramatic circumstances she has faced through her time in Africa and in the Northern Territory.” 

Sharlie Pickering Co-Founder of Omega Writers

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Overcoming trauma, and then living a productive life is possible if we rise up above our circumstances, instead of allowing them to control us, or even destroy us along the way. 

On life’s journey I witnessed much suffering. As a preventative health care nurse working in Aboriginal communities in Queensland this led to spending eight years working for World Vision in developing countries, starting off with Ethiopia in 1985 where I witnessed mass starvation, a place of incredible trauma for the families left behind.

Mozambique from 1989-1991 was considered the poorest country in the world.  As a health officer I saw the desperate situations using child soldiers to prop up their armies, whilst many families starved, and people becoming refugees in their own country. 

In 1994 after the Rwandan genocide, I helped run a World Vision Unaccompanied Children’s Program. Witnessing the horror of mass killing fields, and the effect it had on the children, it left me with undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This did not knock me down as I learned about the need for love and forgiveness. 

Liberia was in civil war in 1999.  With God given courage I stayed for 6 months as a Health Educator.  Here I was triggered and realised when I panicked in a shooting accident that I actually did need assistance for Post Traumatic Stress. As part of my healing process I wrote my first book, A Full Life. 

Feeling the need to return to Central Australia, this time to help in the ever increasing number of Aboriginal petrol sniffers, Teen Challenge Centralia was set up and operated for many years. I wrote a second book, Called to the Centre. Again as a cathartic exercise, but also in the hope the book would help others with issues similar to mine. 

Alongside this calling I also had a paid job with a community service. Domestic violence is highly prevalent in the Northern Territory, underpinning some of the newer stories that unfold in this book. 

This book is for all people suffering from PTSD. It is for those on the brink of suicide, those who have given up, those crushed by their experiences. As you read this book I believe you too can become resilient and continue living a full life. 

www.vivienwilson.com