Cristen Giangarra
Inviting light after darkness:
Surviving trauma, grief, and the eventual, inevitable journey to finding beauty once again.
FEATURED
It’s Following Me No Matter What — I Have to Make Meaning of It
On the eve of the trial, I spoke to The Cut about the seven years since, and what I was unwilling to trade away.
"Eventually you will be able to see beauty again, and you will do everything in your power to protect that, because your life is worth fighting for."
About
Cristen Giangarra is a former Bone Marrow Transplant nurse turned writer and social justice advocate, most recently employed at Stanford Healthcare. From a young age, Cristen carried a divine sense of justice. Throughout her nursing career, she has worked to improve her workplaces to be more inclusive and equitable for both patients and employees.
When the unthinkable happened and she was assaulted by a ride-share driver, she fought for seven years to not be silenced or become another statistic, but raise awareness of the ongoing corporate greed at human expense. Seeking criminal and civil justice for the assault was grueling and Cristen tirelessly worked toward stabilizing and improving her mental health.
Cristen is now in graduate school at Santa Clara University to become a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with an emphasis in trauma counseling. She continues to advocate as a writer and speaker, while working towards soon guiding others as they navigate their own healing from trauma. She resides in the Bay Area, CA, with her partner, three cats, and dog.
How do you know what you like when you don’t know who you are? I became an expert at pretending to be ok. I began asking myself, “How do people dress? How to they present themselves? What do they like? Where do they go? How do they laugh?” If I couldn’t know me, I could pretend to be them. I could wear their costumes.