Amid the ongoing conflicts in Israel, Gaza, Ukraine and places like Darfur, it’s impossible to ignore the haunting echoes of generational trauma around the world today. The root causes of these conflicts are deeply intertwined with historical wounds, spanning generations.

In the year that I unearthed the theory of Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS), Barack Obama clinched the presidency as the 44th leader of the United States. Simultaneously, the global stage bore witness to the most severe recession in recent memory. Amid this tumultuous backdrop, the 22-year-old version of myself embarked on a profound journey of self-discovery, grappling with the implications of this theory while the world teetered on the brink of collapse.

While most of my peers were working in any job they could get, I managed to secure a graduate position at ITV, the largest commercial broadcaster in the UK. However, my initial elation soon gave way to a harsh reality. Shortly after starting at ITV, I, along with hundreds of colleagues, found myself facing redundancy as part of the company’s sweeping cost-cutting and restructuring efforts due to the 2008 recession.