Meera Atkinson proposes using writing to activate the repressed traumatic affect of trauma memory. Using the affect theory of Sara Ahmed and ethical philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Judith Butler, I argue that the vulnerable interdependence of individuals must be taken into account when responding to trauma. As suggested by feminist theologians: Serene Jones and Shelly Rambo, and affect theorists: Ann Cvetkovich, and Grace Cho, healing can begin with prayer or meditation, group therapy, and bearing witnessing as affective bodies. Cultural trauma that considers social dimensions of trauma illuminates the necessity of individuals and communities to engage in trauma work together to attempt to build up the personal and social fabric destroyed by trauma.

The possibility of healing can be explicated by the process thought of Alfred North Whitehead. While the past shapes us, new beginnings are possible. Liberation theologian Andrew Sung Park and womanist theologian Karen Baker-Fletcher construct ethical theories that incorporate process thought and traumatic affect as han and divine love. Resolving traumatic affect and reconciling interpersonal relationship are both helpful for healing.

Building on Emmanuel Katongole's and Catherine Keller's political theologies, I argue that imagination and narrative together can provide the trauma survivor with a vision of a new world where a cooperative collective engagement is now understood to be necessary to trauma survivors. Life after trauma involves new beginnings, rebuilding, reconciling, and seeking justice as individuals and communities together, as we are interconnected as affective assemblages.