This Little Book is possible because many people offered a piece of themselves to create a work greater than the sum of its parts.
Janice Jenner, who directs the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) Practice Institute at Eastern Mennonite University, articulated the idea for the STAR program (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) at the request of Rick Augsburger of Church World Service in the days after 9-11. The CJP faculty then contributed their wisdom, experiences, theories, and pedagogic expertise in designing and conducting the STAR trainings. Through the highs and lows of this process, their belief in the mission of STAR and the common good triumphed over individualism.
Kudos to CJP faculty Jayne Docherty (human security and peacebuilding), Barry Hart (trauma healing and peacebuilding), Vernon Jantzi (peacebuilding), Ron Kraybill (peacebuilding), Lisa Schirch (peacebuilding), Nancy Good Sider (trauma healing), and Howard Zehr (restorative justice) for their ongoing contributions, help, and support. Others who added to STAR content include Elaine Zook Barge, Vesna Hart, Janice Jenner, Amy Potter, Amela Puljek-Shank, and the hundreds of STAR participants.
Through it all, I have had the privilege of serving as the conductor of this orchestra: harmonizing the notes of the different fields, bringing the score of my own experience in trauma healing and neurobiology, keeping attuned to audience response, and marveling at the swells of the music and how it travels.
Thanks to STAR staff Sharon Forret, Kathy Smith, and Robert Yutzy for their support services; to Jennifer Larson Sawin, Janet Loker, and Ira Weiss for reading and critiquing the manuscript; to Howard Zehr and Jayne Docherty for critiquing and assisting in the justice and peacebuilding sections; and to Lam Cosmas, Marie Mitchell, and Jean Handley for the gift of their personal stories.
Thanks also to Howard Zehr and Good Books for their encouragement and editorial work, and to Church World Service for the multiple levels of support that helped to initiate and implement STAR. Special thanks to my husband Rick, whose support included taking over the care of the goats and many other things around home while I was writing.