Survivor networks: language & legitimacy, pathways (and limits) to civic engagement, visibility & performance of survivorship, emotional & practical lifelines
🧡 New (open access) research alert: doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
“We can endure suffering but not meaninglessness”: Identity, meaning-making, and community in online firearm violence survivor networks
Deanna in the window of the newly opened Love Coffee in Summertown
New writing spot - ☕️
🧡 New research brief: scholars.org/contribution...
"While [networks] can empower collective action, they can also create subtle expectations about how survivors should respond to trauma."
Based on: doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
#PublicHealth #GunViolence #Survivors
The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford framed by blooming pink magnolia branches under a clear blue sky, with people walking and cycling nearby.
View of Queen’s College towers rising behind a magnolia tree in full pink bloom, seen from All Souls College against a bright blue sky.
Magdalen College tower viewed through a stone archway, with a sunlit quadrangle and greenery in the foreground.
Close-up of yellow and red tulips in bloom in a garden at New College, with historic college buildings softly blurred in the background.
The astronomical start of spring is here 🌸🌼
📷 Instagram | ObservingOxford, UmairAtOxford, Magdalen College & Judy.Martin46
#SpringEquinox
If you haven’t watched “All the Empty Rooms” yet, you should.
Absolutely heartbreaking but a reminder to everyone that every gun violence tragedy & headline & statistic is a person with a family and community behind them 😞
30 years after the #Dunblane mass shooting, we honor the lives taken and remind ourselves that meaningful change is possible when communities and government act together.
How do people cope after gun violence exposure? New research helps us understand the role of online peer support ⬇️
This study from DPhil student Deanna Giraldi aims to understand how survivors of firearm violence engage with & make meaning through online survivor networks.
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
On April 9th, I'll be presenting at OnTarget (@uconnarms.bsky.social & @yalesph.bsky.social) on addressing psychosocial and physical harms in the aftermath of firearm violence while amplifying experiences of survivorship. Register here: events.uconn.edu/arms-center/...
oh wow! would love to hear if this paper reflects your/your support group’s experiences!
Thank you!
“We can endure suffering but not meaninglessness”: Identity, meaning-making, and community in online firearm violence survivor networks: doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
Survivor networks: language & legitimacy, pathways (and limits) to civic engagement, visibility & performance of survivorship, emotional & practical lifelines
🧡 New (open access) research alert: doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
“We can endure suffering but not meaninglessness”: Identity, meaning-making, and community in online firearm violence survivor networks
📄 Read the full paper in SSM – Qualitative Research in Health:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
#GunViolenceResearch #SurvivorNetworks #DigitalPeerSupport #TraumaRecovery #PublicHealth #QualitativeResearch
But these networks are complex spaces.
Survivors also reported:
- Pressure to share stories publicly
- Emotional labor managing visibility
- Negotiating expectations around advocacy
Recovery is dynamic, and network participation often evolves over time.
Survivors described these spaces as:
- Emotional lifelines
- Practical resource hubs (therapy, compensation, memorials)
- Opportunities for mentorship & civic engagement
🚨 New research alert! 🚨
I’m excited to share my first solo paper from my doctoral research on how survivors of firearm violence engage with online survivor networks.
A thread 🧵👇
Lecturing on injury prevention and the Haddon Matrix this morning 👩🏻🏫
Starry sky
Starry sky over the mountain
Featuring the most amazing starry sky I’ve ever seen at the Mount Teide Reserve ✨
(taken on iPhone13 so you can just imagine what it was like in real life….)
Sunset at Mirador el Chipeque
Ollie picking a flower for me on our walk to the beach
Hike up El Chinyero volcano
Deanna & her best friend
Incredible week chasing sunsets & hiking volcanoes with my best friend in Tenerife ☀️ 🌺 🌋
“Survivors have always been at the center of my work because we live with the consequences long after the headlines fade... If you don’t listen to the people who’ve been harmed, you can’t truly understand the problem—or be a part of the solution.”
Deanna & Ollie at anniversary dinner
Deanna & Ollie at anniversary dinner
Celebrated 3 years with my best friend yesterday ❤️
First day of a new academic term today! 📚
Today’s agenda:
👩🏻💻 teaching fellow for a masters course on preventing interpersonal violence
✍🏼 a few meetings for a UK civil service report I’m in charge of drafting
👩🏻🏫 lecture on international organizations roles in democracy
🍽️ PhD dinner with UK MPs
Library at St. Antony’s in Oxford
The cozy chapel library has been my cold weather work spot this week! PS that’s the best snowball I’ve seen in a long time!
Making Christmas lasagna from scratch (& 251 little meatballs) with nonna’s recipe! 🎄
Christmas tree by Bryant park ice rink
Mom & dad at the Christmas market in Bryant park
“You will never be a New Yorker if you don’t learn to walk faster” tote
Always a magical Christmas in NYC ❤️
[Bryant Park Christmas market with my parents 🥰]
Thank you! See you in Feb!!
Arizona State University Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a recipient of the 2026 BRIDGS Emergent Scholar Fellowship. We received a very strong applicant pool, and you were identified as
Thrilled to share that I’ve been selected as a 2026 BRIDGS Emergent Scholar Fellow!
BRIDGS (Bringing Research and Innovation into the Debate on Guns in Society) Initiative advances empirically driven, interdisciplinary research on the multifaceted role of guns in society.
You’re not alone. The balance between head-in-hands defeat between senseless civilian violence & the government actively breaking itself + the opportunity (burden?) of creating the change ourselves
Hard to heal in a traumatic environment
I’ve felt so incredibly heavy during this week’s news cycle
Someone was shopping for Christmas while doing revisions! 😭
