Donna's Blog: Writing to Heal
Exploring the Science of Emotion, Trauma, Health, and Healing
Thank you for joining me in my little corner of the web! I’m Donna Jackson Nakazawa, an award-winning science journalist and speaker passionate about exploring the intricate connections between neuroscience and human emotion. Over the years, my work has been dedicated to uncovering how our early life experiences shape our brains, bodies, and overall well-being. I’ve delved deep into the science of how trauma affects our health and how we can find pathways to healing.
I offer online courses that empower you to reframe your narratives and heal from past trauma through a powerful journaling process, based on the innovative, trauma-informed, mindful Neural Re-Narrating™ program I’ve taught at universities and behavioral health groups nationwide.
My newest book, The Adverse Childhood Experiences Guided Journal, a workbook that applies my writing-to-heal program through exercises and prompts, will give you the guidance and space to process painful thoughts, feelings and memories to bring you peace, healing, and hope.
Feel free to dig into my blog posts – past and present! If you find the information here insightful and valuable, I hope you will also join me on my Substack, Healing Together with Donna Jackson Nakazawa, where I aim to create a warm and welcoming space where we can further explore together the profound connections between our emotions, past experiences, and health. I will be sharing insights, stories, and science-based strategies, all grounded in the latest neuroscience research. For now, as I work on building an engaging and supportive community, all my articles and features will be FREE. I hope you’ll consider following and supporting my work as we build this meaningful space together.
My Online Courses
Your Healing Narrative
Write-to-Heal With Neural Re-NarratingTM
Breaking Free From Trauma
3-hour self-paced workshop
Available now!
Neuroscience-Based Writing Practices to Rewire Your Brain from Trauma
The trauma of your past can’t be undone, but you can take charge of how it affects you. This compassionate journal offers a safe space to help you process, heal, and reclaim your power.
Writing to Heal - Recent Blog Posts
- All Posts
- Angel and the Assassin
- Childhood Disrupted
- Chronic Illness
- holiday stress
- Neural Re-Narrating™️
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- The Adverse Childhood Experiences Guided Journal
- The Last Best Cure
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- Unhealed trauma
- Writing to Heal
It can be so challenging as a wife and mother (and as a caregiver of an aging parent) to shift gears from taking care of others to taking care of ourselves. And if you experienced any childhood adversity, it makes it that much harder. Like me, you ...
While I feel deeply called to extend love and compassion to others, I’ve come to an important realization: I deserve that same love too. Part of honoring that truth means learning to protect my space and energy with greater care...
Are you feeling the pressure of the holiday season? You’re not alone. The holidays aren’t always as happy and perfect as movies and commercials make them seem. In my workshops across the country...
Our Unhealed Trauma and Anxiety Are Creating a Crisis for Our Teens. A groundbreaking CDC study recently asked teens to self-report the adversities they face and how those experiences affect them. The findings are sobering...
Begin to Uncover the Impact of Childhood Trauma with Writing-to-Heal Strategies. Have you ever wondered if experiences from your past might still be shaping how you feel and respond to life today? Unresolved childhood trauma can quietly linger, impacting both your...
How healing your own wounds can transform your children’s lives What if the one thing your kids are hoping and waiting for is for you to do the work to grow with them instead of staying stuck in old behaviors and reactions that never served you, and certainly don’t serve them? If this resonates…
Do you feel you have enough connection and community in your life? I’ve been missing it. My family and lifelong friends fulfill my longing for deep personal connection but sometimes – especially in an era of digital overwhelm, fraught interactions on social media, and...
Often, people who have a history of trauma in childhood find themselves struggling to flourish in adulthood. Trauma affects the brain in ways that can make you more likely to experience difficulty when faced with emotionally stressful and demanding situations in your relationships, at work, and as a parent. Throughout my life, both growing up and…
