Empowered Boundaries: Speaking Truth, Setting Boundaries, and Inspiring Social Change

Strengthen relationships, build more resilient communities, and develop a stronger emotional toolbox

Explaining power and privilege and the links between individual safety and community safety, Cristien Storm shows readers how to set emotional boundaries that build vibrant social movements and a better world for all. As there have been increases in violence against women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQI-identified people, there has been a corresponding demand for individual and community self-defense, boundary setting, and bystander trainings. Boundary setting can be used not just as a means for personal safety but as form of solidarity, resistance, and inspiration.

From saying no to a boss who always asks you to work late, to setting a boundary with a loved one, to navigating an uncomfortable situation at the bus stop, Cristien Storm offers a new approach to verbal boundary setting that is accessible for all bodies and identities. Practical in scope, the book includes tools, tips, and strategies from Storm's decades of experience leading boundary-setting workshops. Grounded in resiliency and trauma-informed theory, Storm pays particular attention to the experiences of women, people of color, immigrants, and LQBTQI-identified people, making this necessary reading for anyone looking to create healthier relationships and build stronger communities.


About the Author
CRISTIEN STORM is a writer, activist, politicized mental health therapist, and co-founder and former Executive Director of Home Alive, a self-defense organization started in the '90s as a response to the brutal murder of a Seattle musician. At Home Alive, Cristien developed and facilitated self-defense and boundary setting curricula rooted in traditional martial arts, social justice, and anti-oppression sensibilities. She was a featured panelist on a three-week European human rights speakers tour on gender and sexism in progressive and radical social movements entitled "Culture War." In addition to speaking at events, she has collaborated with local activists to develop and present self-defense and boundary setting trainings addressing sexism, transphobia, and heterosexism in social justice movements. Cristien is also a co-founder of If You Don't They Will, a Northwest collaboration that provides concrete and creative tools for countering white nationalism through a cultural lens.