Narrative Healing among Victims of Violence: The Impact of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Abstract

Narrative interventions have been increasingly incorporated into social practice and applied to victims of violence. Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are interventions that seek to provide victims of violence with opportunities for healing and validation through a narrative process. In a qualitative study of the first TRC in the United States, the Greensboro TRC (GTRC) in Greensboro, NC, this research investigated the impact of giving testimony to the GTRC on the victims of a 1979 incident of racial violence. Most victims (N = 17) reported positive healing and validating experiences from their participation in the intervention. This study provides support for the healing assumption embedded in TRC processes and discusses implications for narrative interventions with victims.