Trauma Aware: A Christian's Guide to Providing Help and Care

Hope and Help for Trauma Sufferers and Supportive Helpers

What is trauma? How can we recognize it, and how do we offer help that is biblically faithful and empathetic?

Licensed and trauma-trained counselor Eliza Huie equips you with biblical foundations and clinical insights to help you better understand trauma and offer care to those suffering from its debilitating effects. Trauma can entangle the soul, freeze the body, and cloud the mind. In the face of this struggle, Trauma Aware emerges as an essential resource. This compassionate and informative book demystifies trauma, helping you to
 

• understand the vitally interactive connections between brain, body, and soul
• promote healing with the aid of assessments, calming practices, and an array of practical tools
• improve care for others with proven strategies that lead to growth and change

“Trauma is an emerging field where we seemingly learn more with each passing month. Theology is a timeless field where we want to remain faithful to our faith’s foundations. In Trauma Aware, Eliza takes us by the hand to orient us to the experience of trauma in light of Christian theology; she helps us explore the timely in light of the timeless. As you process your own profoundly painful experiences or come alongside others doing so, this book will help you find God’s comfort for life’s most intense sufferings.”
—Brad Hambrick, pastor of counseling at The Summit Church; author of Navigating Destructive Relationships

“Eliza Huie has written the book on trauma that our generation of Christian counselors has desperately needed. She deftly manages a Herculean task in taking a complex topic like trauma—who it impacts, what it is, how to care for those affected—all while remaining imminently accessible to the lay caregiver and the professional counselor. Readers will come away sobered, educated, and encouraged to walk the hard path with those whose lives have experienced trauma, but they will also come equipped with a hope that restores beauty for ashes.”
—Jonathan D. Holmes, executive director, Fieldstone Counseling

“If you’ve ever wanted to help someone who is hurting, this book is for you. In these pages penned by an author who lives out what she writes, you will find biblical truth, clinical precision, and practical counsel that will enable you to wisely and compassionately help (and not further hurt) people who are hurting. And in the process, you may (like me) find yourself deeply helped amidst your own hurts.”
—David Platt, lead pastor at McLean Bible Church, Washington, DC; author of Radical and Something Needs to Change

“We can all greatly benefit from Eliza’s well-rounded and God-glorifying approach to trauma. Through these pages, she explores, very practically, the good gifts given us in science, medicine, and psychology so that God may be more glorified in us, body and soul, and that we receive the best in him. She artfully turns an investigation into the dark place of trauma into hope in our loving Savior, Jesus. Patients and providers at my practice benefit from resources like this to learn how best to steward their minds and bodies as they work through traumatic experiences.”
—Dr. Adam O’Neill, PA-C, DMSc, psychiatric physician assistant and owner of Adam O’Neill & Associates LLC, Washington, DC.

“In a fallen world filled with brokenness, understanding trauma is crucial. In this accessible and engaging resource, seasoned counselor Eliza Huie defines trauma and its impact on the body, mind, and soul. With compassionate skill and researched wisdom, Huie offers practical ways to love our neighbors with informed grace and gospel truth. I will return to Trauma Aware again and again—highly recommended.”
—Eric Schumacher, podcaster; songwriter; author of The Good Gift of Weakness and Ours: Biblical Comfort for Men Grieving Miscarriage

“Trauma Aware provides a wealth of information for Christian helpers who want to learn about trauma and its effects on the body, emotions, mind, and soul. Eliza Huie shares biblical wisdom and practical expertise to spur churches toward becoming safe spaces where trauma survivors can experience healing. This book is a must-read for pastors, ministry leaders, counselors, and people-helpers of all kinds.”
—Beth M. Broom, LPC-S, executive director of Christian Trauma Healing Network; contributing author to Caring for Families Caught in Domestic Abuse: A Guide Toward Protection, Refuge, and Hope

“Eliza Huie draws from her extensive clinical and theological experience to provide the reader with a clear and balanced understanding of the subject of trauma. She uses easy-to-understand terms to show how trauma impacts the brain and the body. Her book does an excellent job of defining what trauma actually is and distinguishes it from events in life that are discouraging, hurtful, even terrible, but don’t qualify to be labeled as trauma. Additionally, Trauma Aware provides great practical tools that the reader can use immediately when assisting a friend, family member, or church member.”
—Tim Sanford, MA, LPC, clinical director, Focus on the Family Counseling Services Department

“The church has needed this book for a long time. In a practical and accessible style, Eliza Huie offers expert advice on how to care for people who have experienced trauma. Trauma Aware engages scientific research, draws on current trauma literature, and grounds itself in God’s Word to offer an expanded framework for joining people in their trauma recovery. I already know I will be recommending this book over and over again.”
—Esther Smith, LCPC, director of Christian Trauma Counseling; author of A Still and Quiet Mind 
 

“In Trauma Aware, Eliza helps to foster a heart of compassion and comfort for those of
us seeking to be ‘conduits of care’ for individuals who have experienced life-changing
and traumatic circumstances. She equips us with biblical truth and with a posture of
humility to listen, to respond graciously, and to care deeply.Every Christian should read this book—either as one wanting to help others or one seeking to better understand their own hurt. This book provides a salve of hope and healing through Christ for a broken world. Lord, come quickly!”
—Jeff Dalrymple, executive director, Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention
 

“Eliza Huie’sTrauma Aware offers a profound exploration of the complexities of trauma through a biblical lens. With compassionate wisdom, she guides readers to understand how trauma can impact our lives and how God’s grace can heal. Filled with practical tools and biblical insights, Huie equips individuals and churches to address the reality of trauma and seek wholeness. This is the book the church has needed for a long time on this issue.”
—Jason Kovacs, executive director, Gospel Care Collective 
 

“Trauma studies—and traumatized people—deserve the church’s best efforts. In Trauma Aware, Eliza helps us minister to the whole person, body and soul. The book evidences her strong case knowledge, maintains a connection to biblical and theological reflection, and engages the broader field with readable surveys and constructive Christian wisdom. We all need to hear this healing calling: moving toward sufferers, bearing burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ.”
—Rev. Michael Gembola, LPC, executive director, Blue Ridge Christian Counseling