The poetry of forgiveness: poetic inquiry, forgiveness and autoethnography in the context of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) recovery

ABSTRACT

The psychological, emotional, physical and spiritual wounding caused by childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and the ways in which one dimension of the trauma impacts another is extremely complex. Accordingly, restorative healing practices call for survivor-centered approaches to being with and healing from the embodied wounding and attachment trauma that results from sexual violence. Developing a practice of poetic inquiry, this article suggests, is one such means of contributing to and cultivating practices that seek to center and prioritize the experience of the survivor, especially as concerns the survivor’s journey through forgiveness.

KEYWORDS:

• Trauma
• forgiveness
• poetic Inquiry
• childhood sexual abuse (CSA)
• feminism

Disclosure statement

The author declares no potential conflicts of interest.