Trauma Recovery Center Nicaragua was inspired by the Holy Spirit while I was on a mission trip to a children’s home in 2009. The goal of the mission trip was to love on the children, help as needed and support the staff. I was in a master’s program for Marriage and Family Therapy with a specialization in Trauma Recovery and I realized that there needed to be a training center that would specialize in the treatment and healing of trauma that would empower Nicaraguans to be effective in those skills.

I felt a moving in my heart and could see clearly that training those that can serve their communities and also train others was an effective way to make a lasting change in the communities least served in Nicaragua.

I spoke to several Nicaraguans about the idea and there was a 100% consensus that such a training center would make a dramatic difference in Nicaragua.

After a small seminar at which we received double the participants expected we then produced a 3 day conference on trauma for the psychological community. Over 300 attended and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the importance for the training center. The mental health community is hungry for more knowledge and skill.

From the outstanding attendance of our conference I could tell that those in the helping professions of Nicaragua are hungry for knowledge and skill, however, it is important to understand the limitations of such a quest in the poorest country in Central America. It is also imperative to understand that in general, most mental health research and publications are almost exclusively produced and written in the English language and with a westernized cultural focus. Westernized cultures have within them language and basic understandings of mental health constructs due to easily accessible resources. Rarely is that material translated into Spanish let alone imparted to Latin America with a cross-cultural understanding. Trauma Recovery Center Nicaragua is here to help bridge that gap.

I have spent the last 6 years learning Spanish (although it’s still a work in progress), learning culture, and making contacts. After some sage advice from a wise, long term missionary I then re-grouped and saw clearly the path to go forward.