Synopsis

What happens when life breaks you—again and again?

For most survivors, the goal is resilience—to bounce back, to recover, to be “okay.” But Elizabeth A. Estabrooks, MSW, knows there’s something beyond resilience. After nearly three decades working with survivors of violence, interviewing thousands of women, and navigating her own journey through military service, retraumatization, and a transformative year-long solo road trip, she found it: resourcefulness.

Drawing on psychology’s Kintsugi metaphor—that we become stronger in the broken places—Broken in the Stronger Places challenges everything we think we know about healing. Because healing isn’t linear. It isn’t finished. And it doesn’t have to be.

Healing is never truly ‘done’—and in that truth, there is hope.

Empowering, eye-opening, and deeply personal, Broken in the Stronger Places redefines what it means to endure, adapt, and thrive.