Fractured Communities: Dissecting the Ripple Effects of Gun Violence

This book is a fusion of conviction, struggles, and commitment towards the ideals of community healing. Within the pages of this book, Rev. Sky Starr demonstrates her commitment to the healing of communities. As a community advocate and trauma specialist, her work exemplifies the ideology that community healing is a natural part of community development. For racialized communities devastated by gun violence exposure, death, and injuries, this development is wrapped up in the politics of race that hampers community healing.

The modern politics of gun violence, primarily related to race and criminality, takes away from the social and psychological impacts of gun violence on individuals, families, and communities. Rev. Starr compels us to re-examine, reframe, and redefine the issue of gun violence from a humanistic perspective, by settling on the heart of the matter-the traumatic impact of violence on communities. She challenges us to think of the centrality of the impacts on affected communities, and calls attention to the urgency for social change.

Annette Bailey, PhD Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

About the Author

Reverend Sky Starr is a well-known pillar of the Toronto community and functions as a minister, therapist, educator, researcher, author, celebrant, advocate, and sought-out consultant for her grief, trauma, and gun violence expertise.

Rev. Starr holds a Master's in Psychology and a Bachelor's in Community and Religious Studies from Tyndale University. As an avid community stakeholder, she helped form a crisis response network team in Jane & Finch that she co-chaired for three years as a crisis first-responder.

Passionate about her community and people as a whole, she is the Founder, Executive Director, and CAO of Out Of Bounds: Grief and Trauma Support (OOB), established in 2006. Recognizing there was no adequate help for victims and survivors of gun violence, OOB's purpose continues to provide humanitarian support in response to the ongoing grief-related trauma experienced by youth, families and communities affected by gun violence.

Providing creative, compassionate care for people traumatized by violence, the Reverend also works with schools and organizations across the Greater Toronto Area, from a trans-cultural and caring perspective.

Learn more at https: //outofboundsjf.org/ And https: //higherhealingcounselling.com/