About This Project

This study asks if integrating Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) into dialogues at a shared campus (Grandview UMC, Shalom Victory, Bridging the Gap) in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio can lower barriers caused by historical and refugee trauma. Hypothesis: This 6-week mixed-methods intervention (World Café, somatic tracking) will statistically increase empathy, trust, and collective safety among the 12–15 participants, moving these distinct congregations fromisolation to active, unified koinonia.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

To integrate structural stability and safety, this project synthesizes three bodies of research.

First, this work is rooted in the efficacy of

What is the significance of this project?

As urban neighborhoods grow increasingly diverse, churches sharing a single campus frequently struggle with territorial segregation and unresolved communal trauma (thlipsis). This project is highly significant because it offers an empirical, trauma-informed framework to dismantle these hidden spatial dynamics. Grounded in Josiah Royce’s “Community of Memory” philosophy and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Trauma-Informed Care standards, it provides a safe, clinically supervised environment overseen by a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S). By tracking real-time somatic stress markers and qualitative behavioral shifts, this study establishes a scalable, ethically vetted blueprint for multi-ethnic fellowship and spatial justice that other divided, cohabiting urban faith communities can implement globally.

What are the goals of the project?

This six-week intervention aims to dismantle systemic isolation and establish a data-driven framework for communal healing. First, the project transitions three cohabiting congregations from polite, parallel isolation into active, collaborative joint participation (koinonia). To facilitate this, the study provides an ethically guarded space where participants can safely vocalize generational, refugee, and institutional scars without re-traumatization. Additionally, the intervention implements somatic body-awareness practices to track and expand the collective window of tolerance regarding shared physical church boundaries. The researcher will gather qualitative baseline data through questionnaires, World Café dialogues, and journals to measure shifts in inter-congregational trust and empathy. Ultimately, these objectives culminate in the publication of a replicable model for urban churches navigating trauma.