
When Jesus began his ministry. He stood up in the temple and spoke this proclamation:
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
In these verses, he proclaimed his mission to the world, that He has come to be the healer of every pain, illness, sorrow and those who are broken in mind, body, and spirit. But, in order to do this, he has commissioned us, his disciples as well in this mission.
To a great degree the Church today spends a great deal of time ignoring, or silencing the victims. When the subject of abuse and trauma are brought out, it is many times carefully staged; and air brushed. Victims of trauma learn to keep silent, they quickly learn people are uncomfortable with uncensored reality.
This is something Jesus never shied from. Each encounter he had with those who cried out to him for healing; came as they were, there was no time for pretense, careful staging, or worrying about what people thought. We see him making mud and rubbing in a man's eyes as he healed him of blindness, standing and asking how long a child had been as he was from the distraught father, before he delivered him from demonic bondage, commanding the name of the demons tormenting the wild man from Gadarene, and not worrying that it may not sit well with the towns folk. He asked questions, he entered into their suffering, He moved with compassion. We need to go back to the bible, and learn from Him again.
Then there are those who have experienced trauma, perhaps multiple times; who are expected to "get over it", within a period of time set by the onlookers. If you don't seem to improve within the timeframe set for you by other's, avoidance and labeling comes next. The video below is excellent on this subject. This woman has many very important points that bring light on how to minister to the trauma victim. She also makes some very good comments on what trauma victims experience from family, community, and the world in general. Her observations are very discerning. She discusses sexual abuse, but also many other forms of abuse, and those experiencing great losses.