Trusting Yourself in Invalidating Systems: A Healing-Centered Model

Abstract

Marginalized individuals often work within systems that invalidate their worth, identity, and contributions. These systems, whether in academia, healthcare, education, or corporate spaces, perpetuate psychological distress through microaggressions, gaslighting, exclusion, and structural oppression. In such environments, self-trust becomes not only difficult but radical. Thus, this article introduces the TRUST Model, a healing-centered, liberatory framework that explores how individuals—especially those from historically marginalized communities—reclaim and sustain trust in their internal voice and truth. Rooted in healing centered engagement theory and liberated cognitive behavioral theory, the TRUST model comprises five interrelated domains: (1) Tuning Into Invalidation, (2) Recognizing and Renaming the System, (3) Uncovering and Reclaiming Your Inner Voice, (4) Strategizing for Resistance and Protection, and (5) Tending to Healing and Reconnection.