Build from the Rubble: A New Model for Survivor Identity After Violence
Tracks
Room 3: In-Person Only
| Tuesday, November 25, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM |
Overview
Amanda Anderson, L'occitane
Details
The Personal Earthquake Principle - Why identity fractures after trauma and how to rebuild from the inside out
PIVOT Framework - Five actionable steps for identity reconstruction after abuse
Capacity Over Coping - How to move survivors from surviving to self-led rebuilding
Speaker
Mrs Amanda Anderson
Global Mental Health Project Lead & Mental Health Ambassador Australia
L'occitane
Build from the Rubble: A New Model for Survivor Identity After Violence
Presentation Overview
Build from the Rubble: A New Model for Survivor Identity After Violence
Too many trauma-impacted individuals - including those navigating life after domestic violence - are told to “heal.” But healing alone isn’t enough. What’s often missing is a clear, practical roadmap for rebuilding identity, reclaiming agency, and rising with clarity after everything familiar has been shaken.
Drawing from two evidence-informed frameworks - the PIVOT Identity Reset System and the Wound, Scar, Mend Model - this session introduces a trauma-aware, psychologically grounded approach to post-crisis transformation. It doesn’t stop at resilience. It redefines it.
You’ll explore how trauma fractures not just safety, but selfhood - and why traditional “bounce back” models fall short for those trying to rebuild a life, voice, and identity after coercive control or chronic disruption.
While I do not speak from personal experience of domestic violence, I speak from two decades of lived trauma, rigorous study, and frontline mental health engagement with people whose identities were shaped - and sometimes silenced - by violence, loss, or invisible wounds.
This session is for survivors, carers, and the people who walk alongside them - including practitioners, educators, and community leaders. You’ll leave not only with a deeper understanding of how identity is shaped by trauma, but with practical, empowering tools to support transformation without shame, silence, or saviorism.
Too many trauma-impacted individuals - including those navigating life after domestic violence - are told to “heal.” But healing alone isn’t enough. What’s often missing is a clear, practical roadmap for rebuilding identity, reclaiming agency, and rising with clarity after everything familiar has been shaken.
Drawing from two evidence-informed frameworks - the PIVOT Identity Reset System and the Wound, Scar, Mend Model - this session introduces a trauma-aware, psychologically grounded approach to post-crisis transformation. It doesn’t stop at resilience. It redefines it.
You’ll explore how trauma fractures not just safety, but selfhood - and why traditional “bounce back” models fall short for those trying to rebuild a life, voice, and identity after coercive control or chronic disruption.
While I do not speak from personal experience of domestic violence, I speak from two decades of lived trauma, rigorous study, and frontline mental health engagement with people whose identities were shaped - and sometimes silenced - by violence, loss, or invisible wounds.
This session is for survivors, carers, and the people who walk alongside them - including practitioners, educators, and community leaders. You’ll leave not only with a deeper understanding of how identity is shaped by trauma, but with practical, empowering tools to support transformation without shame, silence, or saviorism.
Biography
Amanda is a Human Capacity Builder, speaker, and lived trauma expert who helps people rebuild after personal earthquakes. Her work is grounded in lived experience - including loss and complex trauma - and powered by frameworks like the PIVOT System and the Wound, Scar, Mend Model. This isn’t theory or academic jargon; it’s lived experience transformed into a real way forward. She doesn’t do inspiration - she does reclamation. Her keynotes and workshops support survivors, leaders, and professionals to take ownership of their stories and their futures. Amanda works with those who are ready to rise - not despite their story, but because of it.
