The Transcending Trauma Project (TTP) is a research project that has examined how Holocaust survivors have coped, adapted and rebuilt their lives and how their trauma and recovery has affected their families. This is the only research project of its kind to look at pre-war and post- war factors, family dynamics, coping and adaptation strategies after the war and the impact of severe trauma based on direct interviews with three generations of survivor families
TRANSCENDING TRAUMA PROJECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
KNOWLEDGE: The mental health community now has more knowledge and tools to help victims of trauma. The knowledge has been disseminated by means of:
- Publication of many journal articles in the mental health professional literature and the publication of two books:
- Transcending Trauma: Survival, Resilience, and Clinical Implications in Survivor Families (Routledge 2012)
- Narrative Reflections: How Witnessing Their Stories Changes our Lives (Hamilton books, 2013)
- Teaching master’s level college courses, presentations at academic conferences, mental health conferences and community events.
TREATMENT: Victims of trauma, and extreme trauma, can receive research-informed psychological treatment and counseling to learn to cope, adapt and rebuild their lives. This impact is immeasurable. This improved treatment can now be used to help other groups affected by trauma such as military personnel and Veterans, victims of genocide and terrorist attacks, survivors of natural catastrophes, victims of family violence and child abuse, and more.
COMMUNITY IMPACT: Application of learnings can now be applied to a broader population in terms of understanding and applying strategies that families can utilize to promote resilience. We engage the public in the following ways:
- The Phil Wachs and Juliet Spitzer Archive of the Transcending Trauma Project Interviews are available to the public at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, The Temple University Archives, Philadelphia, and at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
- Digital content on this website including podcasts of original interviews
- Numerous talks and lectures