Liz Walker presents "No One Left Alone"

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• Admission to the event is $5.
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ABOUT THE BOOK

"Inspiring, thoughtful, and beautiful." --BRYAN STEVENSON

"A tender reminder and spacious invitation." -- FATHER GREGORY BOYLE

"Liz Walker accomplishes a difficult literary and theological balance with stunning clarity." --OTIS MOSS III

An extraordinary account of a Black church that decided to give neighbors a space to share their grief, No One Left Aloneprovides a blueprint premised on a simple truth: the wounded heal best together.

As the first Black woman to anchor the Boston-area evening news, Liz Walker found herself in an industry that defined the neighborhood of Roxbury largely by violence. But when she became a pastor there, Walker grew close to households marked not only by trauma but by courage--including the family of Cory Johnson, a young father who was murdered. In the wake of their worst nightmare, the family reached out for help.

As Walker's congregation invited neighbors to gather, they created soft spaces for others' grief to land. There, in the stories told, the meals shared, the tears shed, and the silences kept, people found a space to receive their sorrow. Out of this ministry grew a grassroots trauma-healing program, one now being replicated across the country.

Through this groundbreaking book, begin to imagine what story-sharing groups might look like in your context. Face the disparity of grief that comes from racism and systemic inequality, and learn to confront legacies of harm. Discover the healing power of listening, as well as the art and skills of accompanying someone in pain. Further, grasp how caregivers, pastors, counselors, and other healers--many with their own wounds--can benefit from soft spaces too.

Marked by history and surrounded by violence and loneliness, we all long for healing. In the tradition of esteemed writers like Bryan Stevenson and Cole Arthur Riley, Walker writes about how community helps us transfigure trauma. There is nothing dramatic about listening to someone's story or sharing our own. But there is mystery here, and sacredness. No one has to be left alone..

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Before she created the Can We Talk Program for Community Healing, Liz Walker was the pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a humanitarian focusing on women’s education in South Sudan, and a television journalist, the first Black weeknight news anchor in Boston. As Founding Director of the Can We Talk…Network, Rev. Walker has expanded her Roxbury-based model of transformative, healing trauma support to 15 replication sites in New England and around the country. Most recently, she traveled to the Middle East to train Christian leaders in creating a Can We Talk healing model in Palestine.

An avid cyclist and rowing enthusiast, Liz, the mother of three and grandmother of two, spends her private time between Boston and Sarasota, Florida.

ABOUT THE INTERLOCUTOR

Lisa Hughes is an award-winning journalist and news anchor at WBZ-TV. She joined the station in June 2000 from CBS Newspath, the CBS-TV Station Group’s satellite news service in Washington, D.C. Lisa anchors the 5, 6, and 11 o’clock weekday newscasts with David Wade.

In 25 years at WBZ, she has covered every major news event in New England.

Her many honors include a 2014 Columbia DuPont Award and a 2013 George Foster Peabody Award for WBZ-TV’s team coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. She won the New England Emmy Award for Best Anchor in 2014, 2016, and 2023 and earned an Edward R. Murrow Award for reporting. In 2020, Boston Magazine named her one of Boston’s 100 Most Influential People and Best TV Personality.

Lisa is also involved in a number of community organizations and charities. She serves on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts and on the Advisory Board of the Pan-Mass Challenge. She is a 15-year PMC rider who also volunteers her time with Project 351, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester, and the DAV 5K.

Born in Moscow, Idaho, Lisa earned a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Washington.

She lives in Wellesley with her husband, Mike, their daughter, Riley, and son, Dylan.

Host or Publisher Wellesley Books