Faith and Trauma Informed Care

....or, How a former prosecutor turned minister and hospital chaplain learned to help herself and others embody love, mercy, and courage in response to trauma.

Rev. Ellen Corcella, J.D., M.T.S., M.Div., has faced trauma personally and encountered traumatized individuals throughout her careers as a New York City prosecutor, ordained minister and hospital chaplain. As a chaplain resident, embedded with a trauma surgical team in a level one urban trauma hospital, she struggled to find a path toward hope for her patients and their families. Corcella determined to mine her life and spirit for the faith and fortitude needed to look trauma in the eye and accept its presence in her body. Corcella encourages us to embrace our own woundedness so that we can become sources of healing and hope for ourselves and others.

She is the author of Walk with Me: A Journey through the Landscape of Trauma. A graduate of Christian Theological Seminary, her master’s thesis Mimetic Rivalry or Caring Relationship: The Counter-Narratives of Ruth and Mary Magdalene, argued that Rene’ Girard’s mimetic theory does not inevitably lead to rivalry and violence.  She earned her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in political science from George Washington University.