Insightful Author Nola Hennessy Challenges Societal Misconceptions In New Book

With another four awards garnered for her latest book, Post-Traumatic Stress - Not a Life Sentence (Viewing Trauma and its Effects through a Resilience Lens) and more than 70 in total for her collection of empowering and inspiring books, including No Boxing Allowed and her children's trauma recovery book Feronia, Australian author and business leader Nola Hennessy is opening conversation about what it means to experience and subsequently heal from psychic (emotional) trauma. She is also taking the media and mental health field to task to remove the stigma and "D" factor that so often follows a traumatic event.

Since it was released, Nola's new book has taken home 19 awards, including most recently being honored in Los Angeles with another two outright winner awards in the category of 'Best General Non-Fiction' book in the United States.

"I believe it's time for individuals to be empowered to recover, fully heal, and then thrive after suffering a trauma and for the stigma of emotional trauma, which is currently seen by most people as a mental illness and incurable, to be removed altogether. Building and growing resilience after traumatic events is the key to survivors becoming thrivers," Hennessy said. In Post-Traumatic Stress - Not a Life Sentence (Viewing Trauma and its Effects through a Resilience Lens), Hennessy advocates for the removal of the 'D' label given that psychic trauma is about the emotional impacts from a traumatic event, not about a mental health condition.

As advocated by many in the counselling professions, 'emotional responses after trauma are actually normal responses to an abnormal event.' Prolonged emotion-based responses are simply longer-term responses to the original event, not a disorder or permanent disability. Hennessy, a multi-award-winning international businesswoman, author, educator and qualified former rehabilitation specialist, believes that our modern-day society incorrectly relies on a mental health model and this is keeping those who suffer trauma effects including PTS symptoms from feeling empowered and hopeful to heal fully from their traumatic experiences.

She concludes, "Prolonged emotional responses after an event are not and do not have to be a life-long affliction. When the sufferer of the symptoms takes back the control they lost during the traumatic event and, in conjunction, focuses on positive outcomes for themselves, then together with addressing the root causes of their PTS symptoms, they can really begin to heal and come out the other end of their symptoms with more resilience than before." Hennessy's main objective in writing the book is to empower and inform those who've experienced psychic trauma, particularly about the importance of removing the misleading 'D' label, so that sufferers and society as a whole can get out of the cycles of dependency on drugs and treatments, and remove the 'disabled' mindset.

Whilst Post-Traumatic Stress - Not a Life Sentence (Viewing Trauma and its Effects through a Resilience Lens), was informed by her own traumatic experiences since her early childhood, Hennessy explains that her own life history with trauma is an optional read only. The book is written for survivors to improve outcomes for themselves and develop 'Resilience for Life,' a special chapter in the book. The book chronicles facts, concrete examples and case studies that all support Hennessy's championing of psychic (emotional) trauma and the importance of remaining focused on best case rehabilitation outcomes. Hennessy advocates for shifting the viewing lens away from mental health, to a resilience lens, in which human physiology and the body's innate ability to heal itself is fully acknowledged and the encouragement of recovery, empowerment and a greater level of self-awareness can each be used to foster a person's healing.

"Where this book reinforces that complete healing from post-traumatic stress symptoms can be achieved, especially through choosing a path of recovery, repair, resilience and empowerment, it also reinforces that a change in thinking to the positive, and visualizing a 'best-case' result, automatically empowers those who've endured trauma to realize more positive outcomes than they may have previously seen as possible," she states. "There are even books and research papers defining PTS as a chronic and disabling condition," says Gary Berman, a Major in the Australian Army. "If this were the case, it would be easy to conclude that PTS is a life sentence. In contrast, Nola Hennessy's book is a refreshing and easy to read book with just enough technical information to be helpful but not overwhelming."

"Nola offers through a new easily relatable perspective a 'sense of hope.' She builds this sense of hope through many new ways of looking at PTS, simple explanations or clarification of facts and most importantly, useful analogies. Nola advocates that PTS is a normal response to the adverse psychological and physical consequences of exposure to circumstances and situations which present threat or challenge to the individual. A great starting point for all of us!"

One of Rotary International's Inspirational Women 2011 and the USA's Women of Impact 2014, Nola rose from a childhood of severe constraints, enduring multiple traumas during her formative and teenage years. She became a senior manager at age 16, a senior leader at age 19, and has three times risen to the top of her chosen profession, despite living through further traumatic events in those early decades of adulthood. Nola is globally recognized for delivering outstanding results against the strongest adversity, and remains enduring in her passion to teach and inspire others to live lives of positivity, compassion and love.

Since 2010 Nola has led Serenidad Consulting in its strategic intent to facilitate positive relationships and global peace outcomes, and remains committed to educating and supporting the full healing of people impacted by trauma. For more information on Nola Hennessy and her latest book Post-Traumatic Stress - Not a Life Sentence (Viewing Trauma and its Effects through a Resilience Lens), visit www.serenidadconsulting.com.

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