Has this happened to you? Did your boss or colleague say, “We’re like a family here?”
Here’s why that’s a problem. This phrase might help you become trauma bonded to your nonprofit job.
What does that mean? If you are wondering if you’re in a nonprofit trauma bonding situation, read on. We’re going to find out.
Desiree Adaway- “Sometimes the Universe removes people from your life for your protection. Don’t run after them. What or who needs to be released for your survival?”
Trauma bonding is when a person involved in a toxic or abusive relationship forms a strong bond with, and often idealizes, their abuser. When people say, “I LOVE MY JOB I work ALL THE TIME and they ask me to work on the weekends and nights and I don’t even mind!” This can be a sign of trauma bonding. This emotional connection with an abuser is an unconscious way of coping with trauma or abuse.
Ever feel like you’re walking on eggshells with your boss or colleagues, hoping to gain their approval?
This can be a sign of trauma bonding.
What makes a trauma bond more likely if you work at a nonprofit or in movement spaces?
Tada Hozumi says, “Trauma-bonds are essentially emotional entanglements that form when we go through peak experiences together that resonate with pieces of unprocessed trauma in our unconscious and cause us to surpass our emotional thresholds.
Trauma-bonds almost always produce codependent dynamics where the objects of admiration become redeeming saviors that can do no wrong – until they do. When enacted in a community, trauma-bonds tend to create cult-like collective dynamics.”