A Tree of Life Informed Exploration of Intergenerational Trauma in Second-Generation British Eritreans

Rationale and Aims: The experiences of second-generation British Eritreans, a community shaped by colonialism, war, and forced migration, are absent from intergenerational trauma research, despite growing recognition of the mental health needs of racialised communities in the UK. This study explored how intergenerational trauma shapes their psychosocial wellbeing, situating lived experiences within historical, cultural, and structural contexts. Methods: Using a critical realist approach, 18 participants took part in Tree of Life and Forest of Life narrative workshops, followed by semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterns across interviews. Findings: Five themes were identified: (1) Survival is not the End: Inherited Wounds from War to the Diaspora, (2) "You're Just a Spectator": Intergenerational Storytelling and Emotional Inheritance, (3) Reconstructing Family in the Diaspora: Survival, Roles and Relational Ruptures, (4) Fragmentation to Fluidity: Carving Out an Existence Along the Margins, and (5) Carrying the Weight: Emotional Wounds and the Search for Healing. Trauma was experienced as an ongoing, structurally embedded condition, reproduced through cultural silencing, disrupted family systems, identity misrecognition, and systemic exclusion, alongside adaptive resilience through spirituality, cultural memory, and collective storytelling. Discussion: Findings challenge individualised, Eurocentric therapy models, proposing a shift from "What happened to you?" to "What do you carry?". This reframing validates inherited survival strategies, recognises systemic injury as a clinical concern, and positions second-generation British Eritrean experiences as critical to reshaping how intergenerational trauma is theorised, researched, and addressed in clinical practice.