The national inquiry has stalled — and for many survivors, the impact runs far deeper than frustration or disappointment. What we’re witnessing isn’t just politics; it’s trauma being reactivated in real time.
When politicians try to control or manage the truth, survivors experience something painfully familiar — being unseen, unheard, ignored, silenced, or not believed. The nervous system doesn’t distinguish between now and then when it senses threat. The body remembers.
Trauma in Real Time
Trauma isn’t the event itself; it’s what happens inside of us as a result of it. It’s stored in the body — in the nervous system. Before healing, anything resembling the original trauma — real or perceived — can trigger an emotional flashback: distressing felt memories that overwhelm the system and activate fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses.
For me, it was always flight. I could pack a family’s entire life into a Micra in under an hour and start over — new location, new job, new house, new school — inside a week.
To the untrained eye, it looked like chaos — constant movement, instability, unpredictability. But in reality, it was survival.
I wasn’t running from responsibility; I was running from danger my nervous system still believed was real. I don’t call that a disorder; I reserve the word disorder for the violent behaviour that caused it.
We’re seeing those same nervous system dynamics in the inquiry itself:
- Politicians trying to control and restrict (power and dominance)
- Survivors getting angry, frustrated, and fighting back (fight)
- Others walking away, even though it’s the thing they want most (flight)
- And some fawning — aligning with the system to preserve peace and reduce perceived threat (fawn).
Division is the predictable by-product of trauma when safety and trust are missing.
The Cycle of Post-Traumatic Stress
In my Reconnect & Regulate program, I use a diagram called “Stuck in Flight” to help people visualise what happens inside the body when trauma is reactivated:
- Trigger (Present Moment): Something — a tone of voice, a phrase, or a situation — signals danger to the body.
- Body Detects Threat: The nervous system immediately mobilises for survival.
- Implicit Memory Activation: Emotional flashbacks flood in — felt memories, not always visual, that recreate the emotions of the past.
- Brain Fills in the Blanks: Logic shuts down as the survival brain takes over — it assumes danger and prepares to flee.
- Survival Mode (Flight): The urge to escape becomes overwhelming — to run, relocate, start over.
I once experienced this cycle more than fifty times: fifty-three house moves, fifty-three moments of panic, fifty-three new beginnings. Each time, I thought I was running from a situation — but I was really running from a sensation.
People often judged me as unsettled, unreliable, or unwilling to commit, without understanding that what was happening inside of me wasn’t a choice — it was a nervous system doing its best to keep me safe. As a society, we often think with our eyes without looking closer.
From Survival to Healing
Healing is possible. Over time, through deep self-understanding and regulation practices, I learned how to switch off my body’s constant threat response and create safety from within. I developed strategies for processing and recovery — tools I now use and teach every day.
The things that once left me running, hiding, and terrorised are the very things I can now face calmly, without fear. I still notice the traces — echoes of past trauma that occasionally ripple through my nervous system — but instead of reacting, I listen. I pay attention. I respond with awareness and compassion.
That’s what recovery truly is: not erasing the past, but learning to stay present when it whispers.
A Hybrid Model for Justice and Repair
I believe the answer lies in a hybrid inquiry model — one that holds systems to account without causing further harm. A model where truth and healing can exist side by side.
Stage 1 – Judicial-Style Hearings
Independent and transparent hearings where evidence is heard under oath before a balanced panel — including a jury of lived experience. This stage focuses on truth, accountability, and integrity, free from political or media interference.
Stage 2 – Restorative Inquiry
Once the facts are clear, the focus must shift to understanding and repair. Survivors, community members, professionals, and institutions work together to explore how harm occurred and how to prevent it in future. This stage must be guided by trauma-informed principles: safety, compassion, dignity, and choice.
Such a model would allow survivors to be heard without being retraumatised, and systems to be held accountable without being adversarial. It would restore both trust and humanity.
We can’t rebuild public trust by repeating the same patterns.
We need a process that honours truth without causing harm — one where survivors’ voices guide the change that follows.
Maybe it’s time to stop calling these inquiries “investigations” and start calling them what they truly could be — transformations.
The Importance of a Trauma-Informed Approach
For inquiries involving survivors of trauma, the process itself must be trauma-informed — not just in name, but in practice. This means understanding that behaviour is communication, that reactions are shaped by past experiences, and that safety is the foundation for truth-telling.
I use the #TRUST Framework as a simple, human guide for trauma-informed practice:
T – Trigger Recognition: Notice signs of distress or dysregulation and pause before proceeding.
R – Reassurance: Communicate safety and predictability; let people know what to expect.
U – Understanding: Listen to what’s being said beneath the words — attune to emotion and energy.
S – Safety: Prioritise emotional, psychological, and physical safety at every stage.
T – Truth: Honour the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable — truth and safety can coexist.
TRUST allows survivors to stay connected to their voice without their body going into defence. It transforms the inquiry environment from one of reactivity to one of regulation.
The Person-Centred Approach — #CUE
For those chairing or facilitating such proceedings, I believe the person-centred approach offers the most ethical and effective foundation. Carl Rogers identified three core conditions for authentic human connection — what I call the CUE Approach:
C – Congruence: Be real. People feel when something is inauthentic. Authenticity builds safety.
U – Unconditional Positive Regard: Offer respect and value to each person’s experience, without judgement or hierarchy.
E – Empathic Understanding: Seek to understand from within another’s frame of reference — not just what happened, but how it felt.
Applied to inquiries, CUE ensures the tone, body language, and environment all communicate psychological safety. It helps survivors regulate, professionals stay grounded, and truth to emerge naturally — without coercion, suppression, or shame.
Towards True Justice
Justice isn’t only found in courtrooms or inquiry reports. It’s found in the tone that listens, the eyes that see, and the collective courage to repair what was broken.
To the survivors standing up for truth, despite being called liars — please don’t blame yourselves for what’s happening. Your nervous system is responding exactly as it was designed to. You have every right to your voice, your boundaries, and your truth.
Take care of yourself.
The truth will set you free — but it must be held by systems safe enough to hear it.
Deborah J Crozier
Founder at A Positive Start CIC
Advocating for a Trauma Informed Society