Nonjudgmental witnessing is not passive. It is not an agreement. It is not indulgence. It is the disciplined act of staying present with what is real, without trying to correct, minimize, fix, or control it. When I say witnessing, I mean something specific. I mean, holding steady eye contact while someone tells the truth they have never said out loud. I mea,n noticing the tremor in their hands and not rushing to stop it. I mean recognizing that the body is discharging something that once had nowhere to go. I mean staying regulated enough that their pain does not become your emergency. For many trauma survivors, what injured them was not only what happened. It was what happened in the absence of a witness. Violence without intervention. Shame without defense. Grief without acknowledgment. Fear without protection. The nervous system organizes around those absences. It learns that intense emotion must be managed alone. It learns that visibility is dangerous. It learns that...