Trauma-Informed Ghostwriting & How I Help People Transform Pain Into Purpose
I am a memoir ghostwriter for people who have been through hell and back again.
Not the polite, sanitized version of hell that makes people comfortable at dinner parties. I'm talking about the kind that leaves scars on your soul. The kind that makes you question if you'll ever feel safe in your own skin again.
Those struggles and challenges are what shape you into the strongest version of yourself.
I can step into the deepest, darkest places of your story—the ones that still make your chest tighten when you think about them—and capture them while holding space for you as you transform that pain into purpose.
I can do this work because I've been there myself. I've experienced dark nights of the soul and emerged from those depths. I've experienced mental health crises, abusive relationship dynamics, addiction, divorce, loss, grief, ambiguous grief, family dynamics, being near a natural disaster, losing everything and needing to build a new life and start over.
I've written about these life experiences, too. I know personally the power of alchemizing pain, crafting a narrative, letting the first draft be messy and full of letting go. I understand what it means to be the author of your own life.
As an empath and highly sensitive person, I experience the highs and lows of life with intensity. But I embrace and welcome that intensity rather than running from it. I see my sensitivity as one of my greatest strengths. I feel fully. And unlike some, I am willing to lean in and include those things in the writing rather than creating a watered down version.
What Makes Trauma-Informed Ghostwriting Different
Here's what most people don't understand about ghostwriting: It's not just transcribing your words. It’s not just staying at the surface of your message and using pretty language to dress it up. It's excavating the blueprint of who you are. It's mining for gold in the shit of life that you've been through. It's pulling out the survivor stories buried so deep you've almost convinced yourself they didn't happen.
Because part of you knows that if you can unearth those things and communicate them with others, you can help people change and heal just like you have.
My foundation as a storyteller runs deep. I was a journalist in my high school and college years and have always loved getting to know people on a deep level through interviewing. I understand the trust required in letting someone into your life to help tell your story. I value truth. Integrity. Meticulousness. And slowing down to take time to celebrate healing and change and to thank people for their willingness to be vulnerable.
I value taking as long as it takes to get the full story out and trusting the process as we get there.
In high school, I wrote two cover feature stories about cancer journeys. One was on a teacher's daughter under age 5 and how her family was facing the unimaginable. The other piece focused on a woman who had gone to my same high school and was also a journalist. She documented her cancer journey in a powerful diary series published by The San Francisco Chronicle that later became an award-winning book. These pieces showed how even in our darkest moments, our stories have the power to connect and heal.
As high school yearbook editor, I covered our school's Every 15 Minutes program. It’s this powerful two-day drunk driving prevention experience where they simulate a crash and hold mock funerals to show students the devastating ripple effects of one terrible decision. I never imagined that decades later I'd be on my couch with my husband, talking about our own years of drinking that led to trauma, took us down dark paths, and ultimately brought us back to choose sobriety.
My Journey as a Trauma Memoir Ghostwriter
My personal journey has shaped how I approach ghostwriting work. I've been in therapy off and on throughout my adult life, excavating my own wreckage. EMDR, EFT tapping, both Eastern and Western practices… I've walked through the fire of my own healing because I understand that holistic transformation can't be faked. It has to come from a deep inner place.
I've been studying yoga, Reiki, shamanism, astrology, human design, PTSD, and other healing practices for years. What I've discovered is that the creative process and the healing memoir writing process are intimately connected. When we write from our wounds and from our scars, we uncover blocks and fears that have been living in our bodies for years. Sometimes they show up as depression or chronic pain, spiraling in and out of toxic relationships, sometimes in other ways. Things shift when we take the time and courage to sit down and write about what happened.
How I Work with Difficult Stories
My ghostwriting process goes deeper than traditional memoir writing services. Through extensive interviews and sacred conversations, I help authors unearth the stories they’re ready to move on from. Ghostwriting isn't therapy, but it sure as hell touches those raw places where your truth lives.
Clients often report feeling lighter and different after seeing the words on paper.
I've done this work with a former NFL player, sitting with him as he shared the most raw moments from his childhood and how they shaped the man who would later go on to be an athlete, a prison guard, and an elite fitness trainer. I'm working on a piece now with a survivor of abuse whose story continues to shock and inspire me. Her willingness and openness to healing is exactly the kind of readiness that makes my job so fulfilling. Week by week, we ground her traumatic experiences into something new. Possibility. Truth. Hope. Trust.
It isn’t easy… sometimes it’s heavy and dark, but it’s worth the work of going there and speaking out loud about what happened.
When someone trusts me with the pieces of themselves they've never spoken aloud, magic happens.
That's why I weave in optional energy work and breathwork as part of my holistic memoir ghostwriting approach. When we're digging up memories that made your world implode, your body needs an anchor. Your nervous system needs to know it's safe to remember, safe to speak, safe to be witnessed.
The interviews are a space where someone can finally see the whole story, honor the jagged pieces, and say, “Yes, this matters. Yes, I matter. Yes, I can move forward and author a new chapter of my life.” There's medicine in being truly seen, and the Reiki allows me to hold energetic space while we work, creating a container strong enough for you to rebuild.
Writing Dark Memoir: Not for Everyone
Fair warning: This transformational memoir writing isn't for everyone.
Some people want their stories tied up with neat little bows. They want trauma-lite, healing-adjacent content that won't make anyone squirm. That's not what I do.
I love working with people who are ready to crack themselves open but from a space of safety. People who want to move at their right pace, not rushing anything, and taking breaks when needed. People who want creative freedom and authenticity and who are willing to trust me in the process. I love working with people who understand that their deepest wounds might just be their greatest gifts to the world.
Those seeking a spiritual memoir ghostwriter who can handle mental health memoir content without flinching.
Why I Love This Work
This is the work that gives me purpose. There's nothing quite like witnessing someone step fully into their story, claiming every piece of their journey, the beautiful and the brutal alike. Every personal story ghostwriting project teaches me something new about resilience and courage, and about the human capacity to transform suffering into wisdom.
I wake up grateful that I get to hold space for these sacred transformations. That I get to help people alchemize their deepest pain into their greatest medicine. That I get to be trusted with the stories that matter most.
If you're someone who's been through hell and you know you need to write about it, I’m here. If you need a trauma sensitive memoir writer, but don’t know where to start, let’s talk. If you're ready to turn your survival story into a beacon for others walking through their own darkness, if this work calls to something deep in your bones, I'm here.
I understand the memoir ghostwriting process inside and out.
When you really sit with it, you realize that your story isn't just yours anymore. It belongs to everyone who needs to know they can walk through hell and come out holding their own light.
Note: Every project I do is unique. Ghostwritten manuscripts that are 40,000-70,000 words generally start at $44k. Many clients work with me for 6 months to a year and we sometimes meet in person to do immersion work.
But here's what makes this investment truly extraordinary: You're not just paying for a professionally written book. You're investing in a complete life transformation that happens to produce a powerful manuscript along the way.
My clients consistently tell me that the process itself becomes the most valuable part. As we craft your story together, you'll find yourself releasing trauma that's been stored in your body for decades. Patterns that have kept you stuck suddenly become clear. Shame that you've carried for years begins to dissolve as you speak your truth out loud, often for the first time.
The woman I'm working with now told me recently, "I thought I was hiring you to write my book. I didn't realize you were going to help me reclaim my life." Another client said the interviews were more healing than years of therapy… not because I'm a therapist, but because there's something profoundly transformative about being truly witnessed in your story without judgment.
By the time we finish, you won't just have a manuscript that can change other people's lives. You'll have:
Released trauma patterns that were keeping you small
Gained crystal clarity on your purpose and message
Developed unshakeable confidence in your story's value
Experienced what it feels like to be completely seen and honored
Created a legacy piece that will impact readers for generations
The book is beautiful. The personal transformation is priceless.
Most of my clients say they would have paid the investment fee just for the healing that happened during our work together and that the professionally written manuscript feels like the most generous bonus imaginable.
Just some food for thought if you’re considering this path ;)
Ready to do a free 30-minute consultation call? Contact me through my form here.
