Awkward genealogy conversations: the 5 levels of pushback 12 June 2026 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Genealogy , How-to & step-by-step , No Comments Photo by Jonny Caspari on Unsplash When we enter the world of trauma-informed genealogy, we enter a space where we will likely discover information that’s difficult for ourselves and others. Our families’ secrets […]
Trauma-Informed Genealogy: where history and healing meet 29 April 2026 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , No Comments There is a quiet convergence happening that is, as yet, largely unrecognised. On one side are therapists, working with the symptoms of trauma as they appear in the present: anxiety, depression, addiction; stumped by […]
Untold family stories: deliberate silence or dissociation? 28 April 2026 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , No Comments There is a strange silence that runs through many family histories. It appears, at first glance, deliberate: names omitted, events blurred, whole chapters missing. We tend to assume that someone, somewhere, chose not to […]
The importance of context in genealogy research 24 April 2026 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , No Comments Context, context, context. When researching our family’s genealogy, we encounter events that are familiar to us today—like births, marriages, and deaths—and other events that are different from the past yet whose context we understand. […]
Unanswered genealogy questions – the secret garden in Italy 13 November 2025 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , No Comments If you could go back in time and meet any of your ancestors, what are the unanswered questions you’d want to know more about? Unanswered questions I have several burning questions for […]
The Beaufighter – assembling genealogy clues 12 November 2025 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , No Comments Genealogy is a jigsaw puzzle. Whether we’re just searching for facts or trying to recover our family’s emotional narrative, we seek out puzzle pieces to help us build up the picture. Very often, these pieces […]
“They should be out looking for my father” 6 November 2025 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , No Comments Shortly before she passed away, my mother mentioned that my father only ever spoke of his own father once. They were driving through St. Helier, Jersey, at Christmas—this was probably in the mid-1950s—and […]
The Sunderland Memorial – uniting a splintered family 12 June 2024 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , 3 Comments The village of Praa Sands on the southern coast of Cornwall is a little-known beach resort where families come to play in the sand and surf or hang out at the beachside café. […]
How to work with the geography of generational trauma 8 December 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , How-to & step-by-step , No Comments I’ve recently come to a new understanding of the importance of geography in resolving generational trauma. Trauma formation is inextricably linked with the place it occurred. I’m ashamed […]
With our family history, only the truth will serve 4 August 2023 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Generational trauma , No Comments On my journey to clearing generational trauma, there have been several quotes that’ve stuck with me. In something of a ‘duh’ moment, it’s only just struck me they all have a common […]