How to help a Gaslit community?

Helping a concealed gaslit community requires a delicate approach focused on validation, education, documentation, and building strong support systems. The hidden nature of the abuse means external help must prioritize empowering the community to recognize and resist the manipulation on their own terms. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Initial Steps for External Supporters

Believe Them Without Question: The primary goal of gaslighting is to make victims doubt their own sanity and experiences. Your most crucial role is to offer unwavering belief and validation.

Validate Their Feelings and Reality: Repeatedly affirm that you hear, believe, and understand their experiences. Statements like, "I see that your perspective is different from mine, but my feelings and reality are valid," or "I know what I saw/heard" can be powerful tools for the community to reclaim their reality.

Educate on Gaslighting Dynamics: Provide information and resources about the tactics used by toxic and dysfunctional systems or individuals. Understanding why gaslighting arises and the signs of manipulation (e.g., "You're too sensitive," "That never happened") can help the community members identify the abuse without feeling "mentally ill" or overly sensitive.

Encourage Documentation: Advise community members to keep a private, well-hidden record of events, including dates, times, and specific details (e.g., in a journal, voice memos, or emails). This evidence can serve as a "touchstone of reality" when self-doubt creeps in.

Building Resilience and Support

Foster a Strong Support Network: Encourage the community to connect with trusted individuals or form support groups where everyone shares similar experiences. This counters the isolation that gaslighters often impose to maintain control.

Promote Self-Care and Self-Compassion: Help members engage in activities that build self-esteem and provide clarity, such as physical activity, mindfulness, or pursuing hobbies. Remind them to be kind to themselves and forgive themselves for any self-doubt they experienced.

the desperation is undeniable for so many who are being gassed, and gaslit daily, as a way of life in Puna Geothermal radius on Hawaii Island.

Facilitate Access to Professional Help:

Suggest seeking help from mental health professionals specializing in trauma and abuse. Therapists can provide a safe space to process experiences, develop coping mechanisms, and rebuild self-esteem.

Empower Through Participation: Create opportunities for the community to make decisions and take action, even in small ways. This helps rebuild their confidence in their own judgment and ability to effect change.

Strategies for Addressing the Gaslighter/System

Set and Enforce Boundaries: Help the community establish clear boundaries regarding what behavior is unacceptable. This might involve setting limits on interactions or ending conversations when boundaries are crossed.

Avoid Arguing About Reality: Gaslighters rarely respond to logic or evidence. Teach community members that they won't "win" an argument with a manipulator. Instead, they should focus on asserting their feelings and reality ("I know how I feel, and I'm not changing my opinion") and then disengage from the circular debate.

Give Voice to the Issue: At a societal level, simply naming the gaslighting is a form of reparation and helps restore truth to groups that have faced historical oppression. Bringing the issue to light can cultivate a community that values moral behavior and understanding.

Its extremely sad and desperate.

Lets amplify all voices that are oppressed.

Lets free Puna

Lets free Hawaii

KahuPuna

Aloha Activism

#aolepgv #endgeothermal #endgeothermal