In new book, author Heather Plett excavates her own story of dealing with trauma to show how she found healing and forgiveness

 

In 2015, Heather Plett wrote a blog post about how a palliative care nurse “held space” to help her get through the trauma of her mother’s death. That post went viral — it received 10 million views — and led her to create the Centre for Holding Space. She also wrote a book in 2020 titled The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership. 

Now Plett has written a second more personal book, titled Where Tenderness Lives: A Journey Of Self-Exploration, Forgiveness, And Individual And Collective Healing. 

In her first book, she offered a broad view of what it means to hold space for other people and for ourselves. In her second book, she shares more deeply about her own challenges and traumas, focusing on what she’s learned about holding space for herself. 

It’s a way for her to “excavate my own story” to show how she was able to weather some challenging experiences in life — a miscarriage, abuse, a horrific sexual assault, a difficult marriage and divorce — and “how I got through it and found healing by being tender, compassionate and forgiving of myself.” 

Read my interview with Plett in my Free Press column.