Public truth telling is a form of recovery, especially when combined with social action. Sharing traumatic experiences with others enables victims to reconstruct repressed memory, mourn loss, and master helplessness, which is trauma's essential insult. And, by facilitating reconnection to ordinary life, the public testimony helps survivors restore basic trust in a just world and overcome feelings of isolation. But the talking cure is predicated on the existence of a community willing to bear witness. 'Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships,' write Judith Herman. 'It cannot occur in isolation.

Performing is a profound experience at least for me. It's not as if I sit down and play 'Fire and Rain' by myself just to hear it again. But to offer it up... the energy that it somehow summons live takes me right back and I do get a reconnection to the emotions.