Help others navigate trauma through book club

MILWAUKEE – Navigating abusive trauma can be a difficult thing for many, but a Milwaukee juvenile attorney works with young people to provide help and resources.

Eileen Cruz works with the Milwaukee Center for Children and Adolescents. She said she finds peace by sharing her personal experiences and traumas and hoping to help other young people find ways to overcome similar things.

She wanted to offer a safe space to talk about feelings, emotions, thoughts and everything in between. She said she struggled with feelings of anxiety and depression most of her life and has been able to find the courage to start her healing journey.

“I realized that until it came out and strengthened myself and had a voice to be able to talk about these things, that there would be so many other young people who would not be able to hear about it,” Cruz said. .

Most recently, she hosts a book club with young women where they discuss topics around mental health. She has also created her own curriculum to help them engage in productive activities, such as journaling.

Cruz said the book club has been able to focus on those topics with her latest book, “Caught in My Thoughts.” She said the book is about a princess seeking to be saved and how some relationships affected her life. She said participants often use the characters in the book as someone to relate to, which kickstarts conversations.

“I always practice what I teach the young girls, and you really understand that emotions are okay,” Cruz said.

At the Milwaukee Center for Children and Adolescents, staff work to provide services to children and youth who have been exposed to any form of violence or abuse.

Director Michelle Wink said it is important to give young people these opportunities and said Cruz is the perfect woman for the job.

“Eileen is well-respected in her community for being an expert in working with victims of human trafficking, but she is obviously interested in helping young people recover from all sorts of traumas,” Wink said.

Wink said this kind of work with young people is crucial to society.

“Everyone deserves to be safe in their own home, and we have the advocates, the tools, and the support systems to help them,” Wink said.

Cruz said taking on this role as a lawyer has been a big part of her own healing journey and hopes her work will impact many other young people in the coming days.

“It has given me a lot of strength to be able to talk about these things,” she said. “Now I feel like I could stand as a superhero.”

She said her goal is to give others a chance to understand that it’s a good thing to have these conversations, and to help them start their journey to a happier and healthier life.

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