The Pain We Carry is a non-fiction book written by a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, intended to be read by people of color who are wanting to navigate the Complex PTSD that comes from the trauma of racism. I read this book not as a person of color, but as a white therapist. I work with many POC and believe it is deeply important to learn as much as possible about the ways in which the trauma of oppression affects clients. As with all trauma, symptoms resulting from experiences of racism are not deficiencies in the people who experienced them - they are adaptive, functional responses to trauma. I really appreciated that this book spoke about multiple forms of racism - systemic, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized - and addressed both experiences that the individual reading may have had, as well as inherited trauma from harm experienced by ancestors.

This was a fabulous book, chockfull of compassion. I loved the IFS overview and the number of exercises for readers to complete. Highly recommended for folks who are navigating the effects of racism, as well as for those who work with POC as clinicians.

Thanks so much to Natalie Gutiérrez and New Harbinger Publications, Inc., for this ARC through NetGalley. The Pain We Carry is available now!

A fascinating, at times difficult insight into some of the many struggles and traumas women of colour face on a day to day basis. An excellent book if you are interested in human psychology and understanding the world from a different perspective

Those of us that are apart of the BIPOC community are have experienced some type of trauma as a racial group. This is a thought provoking book that is the beginning of the process in helping us heal. There are examples of traumas experienced by several different groups in the book with personal examples of different individuals, along with questions to help us do our self work in order to get the healing process going. It is something that you will want to refer back to frequently.

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions.

This is a much needed book and especially well-timed. Though I can argue that this should've been happening sooner. PTSD and other mental health issues are not only overlooked in POC communities, but are also taboo subjects so I'm glad we have this.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

This is an amazing book. I put off reading it until I was in a better mental state. Some of the content can be triggering. It's good to know you're not alone. I enjoyed the various aspects, spiritual, practical and psychological. This book should be used within the psychological curriculum. Trauma can be passed down similar to diabetes. With the right treatment and assistance, one can overcome.

This is an approachable and useful book for folks looking to do some introspection around racialized identities and C-PTSD. Gutierrez doesn't overly intellectualize and speak "above" the reader, and takes on a more conversational tone that comes across with more warmth and genuineness. That said, it is clear that she holds a lot of knowledge, experience, wisdom, and training. My only issue with this text is that the author switches between different descriptions of her audience, and at times this can come across as mainly addressing Black and Brown folks. There's nothing wrong with that, but I would have liked a little more clarity or care about the intended audience as the title suggests all POC-identified people would be included.

It took awhile for me to get through this book, while it was very helpful in finding ways to heal, it was also very triggering for me. That being said, I think it can really help others

The Pain We Carry

I really enjoyed this book, not fully knowing how deep of a dive it would do into what CPTSD is and the ancestral healing mechanisms that are used by people. I appreciated the various citations to people who have done vast amounts of research and who are heavily in the field of psychology and also spiritual healing.

I've not really learned much about spiritual healing in my past, but like the author am interested in getting connected more with my Puerto Rican roots and how our people healed and the traumas that they endured. I found this to be an interesting book to jump start wanting to be more attuned to my culture. It's my belief that those who read this will most definitely benefit from it.

The Pain We Carry by Jennifer Mullan and Natalie Gutierrez is an important addition to the literature on race-based traumatic stress and ways to combat the negative effects of racial trauma. This is a book that honors the legacy of BIPOC people and our cultural inheritance and traditional healing practices. I enjoyed that throughout the book the authors share grounding practices, meditations, and healing rituals that are all ways to reclaim what the trauma of racism and systemic oppression has taken away. I enjoyed reading a text written by clinicians of color who encourage us, as people of the African diaspora, to honor the resources of our ancestors that are ours to inherit and that we might feel disconnected from.

As readers, we are asked to consider the effects of what they call "cultural legacy burdens" that have been passed down to us in order to facilitate generational healing. One of the ways we are taught to do this is by reclaiming our relationship to our bodies in a world where we have had to encounter and perhaps internalize so much hostility as it relates to the violence of racism, sizes, transphobia, sexism and all forms of relational wounding. They write: "Being fluent in your body's language is the antidote to trauma" and I know this line will stay with me as a reminder to connect to my inner world and hold space for constant self-compassion.

There are resources shared throughout the text such as downloadable audio recordings to help us deepen our healing and mindfulness practice. I really enjoyed The Body Scan audio and look forward to checking out the others..

This book also served as a reminder to me of the importance of rest as resistance and why it can be so hard for us to prioritize rest. We have been taught that "letting our guard down leaves you open to more harm" and we wonder "how your body can rest in a world that seeks to erase you." The authors remind us that the only way to heal is to fully witness what we are carrying. It is in the respect of being a witness that we learn to transcend our pain and turn it into something beautiful. It is our inheritance to do so.

Thank you so much to the author and publisher for the E-arc copy!

White supremacy has had a mark on all of us. ESPECIALLY those of us whose ancestors were it’s victims. And while Our people have gotten closer to real liberty than generations past, the wounds of our own experience and the experience of our parents and grandparents have left us hurting in ways that most of us are not equipped to address. Until now. This book is an important tool in address those wounds and preparing for a future of recovery. I will be buying copies for Black family members and friends.

This book unraveled layers of pain, of the little things that are presented as 'responsibility' that actually are years of generational trauma- and it took me back to my childhood and to the history and how I saw people who were black like me being treated.
It's interesting that the title talks of unpacking generational trauma of people of color- and how the little things we overlook, become the big things we can never ignore.
It's an interesting book with many more insights which is crucial to the life we live now.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.