HEALING FROM THE ROOTS

WHAT IT TAKES TO BREAK THROUGH GENERATIONAL TRAUMA, BEHAVIORS AND ADDICTIONS.

BY MICHELE DARR PHOTOGRAPHY FLOSSIN STAFF

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” -Maya

Angelou

Portland writer, poet and healer, Javelin Hardy is a soul defined by a purpose and a calling to help others overcome the ghostly heat of childhood and intergenerational trauma. Growing up in the small southern town of Minden, Louisiana, 53-year old Hardy began writing around the age of seven years old in a journal she kept as an outlet to help her escape her traumatic surroundings and keep a record of what she endured.

Growing up in the 1980s, Hardy endured not only sexual and other forms of abuse, she was also a witness to the crack cocaine epidemic which devastated Black communities across the U.S. Deciding to return to college when her children were three and five years old, she struck out on the road to healing in an effort to find words for her experiences and to learn more about how trauma causes and foments mental and emotional sickness within the mind, body and spirit.

As a student at Portland State University, she pursued her masters degree in social work with an emphasis on family systems theory and applications to address trauma and PTSD. After years of counseling and study, she fell in love with dialectical behavior therapy, which has four components to it: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation. “I have been practicing these modalities for the past 15 years and I am able to implement them alongside yoga, Reiki, and sound bowl therapy. I also love cognitive behavior therapy, which teaches you the situation that leads to yourself, because when you hold it in it turns into sickness.”

Finding the words and a contextual understanding of the effects of trauma on the human mind, body and spirit was a journey that led to the realization that many of her friends and family had similar stories. In learning that the Black community still suffers from not just current, but all of the trauma of three generations before hers, Ms. Hardy’s path led her to begin studying and reading the history of her ancestors and the ceremonial healings they used. “The major components about ancestral healing is that you are including the power of your ancestors alongside your community to weep, touch, perform ceremonial washings and to eliminate all the trauma that we carry,” she shared. “By speaking my truth, I am no longer holding it. We don’t have to hide anymore. We don’t have to keep secrets like our ancestors.”

One of Hardy’s deepest and most heartfelt goals is to help her community heal by being there with them through the process, walking them through the journey and helping them understand that they’re not alone. She remembers her late mother as continuing to inspire her as she remembers watching her rock in silence and hide in her room. “She was depressed, in the dark and staying in abusive, unhealthy relationships,” Hardy reflected. “The inspiration is in the choice not to live in dysfunction and within the confines of abusive relationships while also helping other women to regain control of their lives and save themselves and their children through doing the work to not pass on generational pain. “

Ms.Hardy has also shared her inspiration with the world by writing two autobiographical books of poetry. “I held onto my secrets for so long and the abuse that I suffered as a little girl truly affected me when I was a mother raising my two sons,” she remembers. “After a lot of counseling and personal healing, I decided to speak my truth. The people that abused me appeared to be happier than I was, so I exposed them in order to be set free. I felt like the world had been lifted off of me. I could breathe. I no longer have the responsibility of my abusers from all the shame and guilt that I carried as a child and a grown woman. I gave myself permission to be free.” the emotion and how we deal with it. I did a lot of studying on how trauma affects the brain and how memories are stored in the body, which causes us a lot of autoimmune disease, arthritis, lupus, and fibromyalgia. Grief and loss work has also truly helped me and if there is one thing that my generation has changed is that it’s OK to go to counseling. It’s OK to find somebody to trust to deal with your pain. The most important thing is to not hold it to

Javelin Hardy is the owner and operator of Healing from the Heart. The services that she offers are Reiki, sound bowl therapy and ancestral healing. She is also a certified yoga instructor.