Rooted and Rising: Awake’s Newest Event Focuses on Healing through Grounding and Connecting Practices
Awake launched its first Rooted and Rising event on October 22, marking the beginning of a new series designed to offer survivors, and those who support them, practical tools for healing. Events will feature mental health professionals and trauma-informed experts sharing practical and effective strategies that support the whole person.
Executive Director Sara Larson opened the evening by welcoming participants across the country and expressing gratitude for their presence. She shared that Rooted and Rising is an expression of Awake’s mission to foster transformation and healing for all who have been wounded by abuse in the Catholic Church. “Whatever your experience or perspective, you are welcome and valued here,” Larson said. “We honor your courage in showing up tonight.”
The evening’s host, Survivor Resource Intern Natalie Pucillo, introduced the speaker, Mitch Mueller, LPC. Mitch is a licensed counselor who approaches mental health and addiction recovery from both clinical and faith-informed perspectives. His presentation guided participants through grounding techniques, mindful awareness, and steps toward finding safe and effective therapy.
Mueller began with a gentle mindfulness exercise that invited attendees to notice their breathing, heartbeat, and surroundings. He encouraged participants to approach their experiences without judgment, reminding them that mindfulness helps the body reconnect to the present moment after trauma. “You are learning to listen to your body again,” Mueller explained, “this is how healing begins.”
Mitch Mueller
He shared that coping after trauma often starts with small, consistent practices. These include focusing on sensory experiences, taking slow breaths, stretching, journaling, emotions, or naming feelings aloud. Such practices help interrupt cycles of anxiety, flashbacks, and self-criticism. Mueller emphasized that everyone’s journey is unique and that it is important to discover which tools work best for each person.
The second half of the presentation explored how to find professional care. Mueller outlined the three stages of trauma treatment: stabilization, working through trauma, and reintegration. He encouraged attendees to seek therapists who are trauma-informed and to trust their instincts when choosing someone to walk alongside them. “The most important part of therapy is feeling safe with your therapist," he said, “healing takes time, but you do not have to walk through it alone.”
For the remainder of the evening, Mitch answered a variety of questions from the audience. Topics ranged from therapeutic modalities for trauma treatment, to reconnecting with prayer as a survivor of abuse by a Church leader, to affording psychological treatment. One theme Mueller returned to repeatedly was the essential role of connection in the healing process. In response to a question about how leaders can encourage healthy coping within their roles, Mitch explained, “...we're fragmented as a society, and we're often cut off from the connection with other people that we need to heal and make sense of our experiences.” He emphasized that one of the most important things leaders can do is create spaces where people can support one another and heal together, like through Awake’s Survivor Circle model.
As the evening came to a close, Mueller offered a suggestion that those who are healing from trauma make it a specific focus to seek connection and grounding: “doing things that really connect you with positivity, with meaning, with purpose, with connection with other people… all of those positive things are going to be foundational”.
Awake extends our gratitude to Mitch Mueller for sharing his wisdom, and to everyone who joined for the first Rooted and Rising event.
- Maggie Flanagan
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