The Courage To Heal - Authors

Authors

The Courage to Heal is written by feminist activists Ellen Bass, a poet and creative writing teacher, and her student Laura Davis, an author, writing teacher and incest survivor. Bass and Davis attributed efforts to confront incest and child sexual abuse to the Women's liberation movement. While working with students, Bass and Davis came to believe that the stories of some students were trying to convey painful memories of incest. From this idea, the two developed methods to assist students in recovering memories of abuse in childhood.

Neither Bass nor Davis have any training in psychotherapy or science, and they state that nothing in the book is based on any psychological theories. They have defended their lack of training with the claim that a PhD is not necessary "to listen carefully and compassionately to another human being"; neither author has ever acknowledged the errors they have made in their descriptions of memory and trauma. Despite their complete lack of knowledge about the workings of memories, the scientific approach or information and lack of qualifications, Bass and Davis still define themselves as healers and experts in the area of child sexual abuse, due to leading workshops with victims.