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After the rupture: how communities carry collective trauma and find healing

UNSW Sydney

Key Facts:

When tragedy strikes, entire communities can be left reeling. A UNSW researcher says recovery from collective trauma depends on the same force that often causes the harm: the actions of people.

Australians this year marked 30 years since the Port Arthur massacre, days after ANZAC Day and months after another conflicted Australia Day.

These anniversaries arrived amid a seemingly endless cycle of global instability, disasters and violence – including the recent mass shooting at Bondi.

“Collective trauma is a shared, large-scale event that impacts the psychological, social and physical wellbeing of large groups and communities – whether this is a mass shooting or violence, war, or natural disaster,” says clinical psychologist and UNSW Sydney discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health postdoctoral research fellow Dr Gulsah Kurt.

“Unfortunately, traumatic events are quite prevalent and collective traumatic events are increasing day by day in every setting at the moment,” she says.

Unlike individual trauma, which disrupts a person’s sense of safety and control, Dr Kurt says collective trauma does this at community level – reshaping relationships, trust and bonds between individuals.

She says beyond the individuals affected are families, first responders, local communities – even those born decades later – who also carry the psychological impacts of an event through shared storytelling, media coverage and public rituals.

Time heals all wounds?

Traumatic events, Dr Kurt says, are often “encoded in time and place and bodily sensations”, which is why anniversaries, locations and media coverage can act as powerful triggers.

Born in Türkiye, which she says is a “trauma-prone country”, Dr Kurt has experienced both natural and human-made disasters – and sometimes, at the forefront.

While social disconnection is already a global public health concern, the same feelings of isolation and loneliness can also form a secondary wound after trauma, particularly among forcibly displaced people.

“Even if we’re not consciously thinking about the event, the anniversaries, memorials or news coverage can bring back the same emotional intensity,” she says.

Collective trauma can also explain why Australia Day carries such conflicting meanings. For some, the day represents pride and belonging. For others – particularly First Nations communities – it evokes dispossession and intergenerational trauma.

“People can have mixed feelings because the same event means very different things,” Dr Kurt says.

“Even for those who were not present at that moment or not even born, they still know about the impact on the generation they are a part of and what has changed,” she says.

“Some communities create meaning from trauma through collective action and the pursuit of justice.

“That's the really important part – the seeking of a renewed commitment to safety.”

The hidden toll

In the immediate aftermath of traumatic events, distress becomes most visible as fear, anger and anxiety.

“Most people recover over time, especially with support from loved ones,” Dr Kurt says.

However, a “small but very important proportion” continue to experience lasting psychological effects including post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety.

“Healing from collective trauma involves whether you can trust your community, your government, the world,” Dr Kurt says.

When that trust is broken, rebuilding it becomes more than an individual task.

“It takes active effort from communities and governments – everyone has a role in recovery.”

She says collective trauma can reshape public policy, with the gun law reforms introduced after Port Arthur being an example.

“Justice plays a really significant role in recovery after collective traumatic events,” Dr Kurt says.

“These actions have more enduring impacts in the community and society.”

‘Getting on with it’

Post-tragedy, headlines often praise a community’s resilience.

Dr Kurt says sometimes the term is oversimplified.

“Resilience is actually very common, it’s not exceptional after trauma,” she says.

But recovery is not universal, with some people developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and substance use.

She says framing recovery as an expectation can leave those who struggle feeling like they failed.

“We need to acknowledge strength,” she says, “but also make sure people who need support are not overlooked.”

Dr Kurt also says collective trauma can remain unresolved in cases where people feel their experiences are not acknowledged, that there is no reconciliation.

This means some communities can “get stuck in time, in places,” she says.

Lifting those who lift others

Collective trauma can also be carried by those who help others in need.

First responders – from paramedics to police officers, firefighters and humanitarian workers – face elevated risks of psychological distress, including PTSD, burnout and substance use.

Many also experience what researchers call ‘moral injury’, which is psychological distress arising from actions or situations that conflict with deeply held values.

“They may have to make impossible decisions, like which person to save first in a rescue,” Dr Kurt says.

“This kind of decision might transgress individual values and beliefs, which takes a significant toll. It changes how they see themselves and how they relate to other individuals and the world.”

Supporting these workers, she says, is essential – not only for their wellbeing, but for the resilience of the systems that respond to crises.

A recent study on the ‘Caring for Carers’ project examined Syrian mental health workers in Türkiye and northwest Syria who were already participating in an online supervision program when the 2023 Türkiye–Syria earthquakes struck. Dr Kurt was part of a team who could then assess whether the supervision buffered their psychological distress after the disaster.

The study found ongoing peer supervision helped reduce psychological distress after the disaster – evidence, Dr Kurt says, that support systems can help protect the people carrying trauma on behalf of others.

“For this population, support comes in different forms, like peer support, organisational support, policies and organisational culture to protect those individuals,” she says.

Healing together

Traumatic events are often created through the human actions of war, violence and injustice. But research suggests just as human actions can create trauma, they can also help heal from it.

A systematic review of refugee experiences found that social support from family, community networks and shared cultural ties was one of the most powerful protective factors for the recovery of refugees fleeing conflict.

“What happens through human hands can only be healed with the help of others around us,” Dr Kurt says.

That can take the form of acknowledgement, of justice, policy change, remembrance – and, most importantly, connection.

“Sometimes social support is a much more important and potent protective factor for psychological wellbeing and functioning,” Dr Kurt says.

“Collective trauma can only be healed by the collective action of individuals, communities and governments,” she says.

“It really does take a village. We need each other.”

Contact details:

Melissa Lyne, UNSW news & content

E: [email protected]