H.G. Roberts

I received my bachelor’s degree in English/creative writing from Florida State University and a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Florida. I am well-versed in communications theory and its application. I have studied media messages and the cognitive filters we use to process and interpret information. I understand how messages—especially those preached from the pulpit—shape our agendas, instill biases and influence our perspectives.

Several years ago, when I sensed the first itch to write On Monsters and Phantoms, I began to immerse myself in the literature around ACEs, beginning with Nadine Burke Harris’ and Vincent J. Felitti’s seminal work on linking childhood trauma to negative health outcomes in adults, which launched a national conversation on the topic in the early 2000s. I also researched the concept of scrupulosity—a form of obsessive compulsive disorder involving religious or moral obsessions—and how that condition could be born from ACEs. Since then, I have linked with nationally-renown ACEs thought leaders to glean more insight into ACEs and human behavior. They became trusted advisors and sounding boards during the years I spent writing On Monsters and Phantoms, and have become my friends since.

I am a member of the ACEs-Too-High online community, where I keep an eye on emerging trends, discoveries and personal testimonies. I started a Resilience Community, which allows ACEs survivors to share their personal stories via podcasts I record with them. I’ve learned that resilience means something different to everyone, yet a beautiful theme has emerged: when survivors share their stories, they inspire others to share theirs. Sharing leads to understanding and community, which can lead to discovery and healing.

Additionally, since 2010 I have partnered with Syraj Syed, Ph.D., principal for Your Authentic Self Work. Dr. Syed is a narrative education specialist and an expert in developmental meaning-making. He empowers clients to approach their own narrative through inquiry and reflexivity, thus equipping them to rewrite their narrative toward an intentional, chosen life that is authentically theirs. He utilizes narrative methods for developmental meaning-making and sustaining wellness to empower individuals and organizations toward conscious growth based on their own narrative insights. Like the aforementioned UF researchers, Dr. Syed is a trusted friend and advisor, whose vast contributions and insights helped shaped On Monsters and Phantoms.  

As I gained ACEs knowledge, I not only applied it to writing On Monsters and Phantoms, but I began to share it with the Gainesville community through participating in Third House Books podcasts on consciousness and reflexivity with Dr. Syed; attending workshops and learning sessions at mental health rehab centers, the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, and Ignite Applied Theater; delivering graduate student lectures at UF; and sharing stories at public storytelling events hosted by Guts and Glory GNV and Self-Narrate.

As the community became more familiar with my work and message not just about ACEs but also about using storytelling and journaling to discover connections between childhood trauma and adult mental and physical health conditions, I was invited to speak at Gainesville’s Florida Public Relations Association chapter and Story:GNV, and I was the featured guest on WUFT-FM’s Unvarnished podcast hosted by Taylor Williams in September 2018. In January 2019, I spoke to members of the United Church of Gainesville about the impact of rejecting your religion to save your soul. All this while working a full-time career unrelated to ACEs and writing On Monsters and Phantoms, raising two adopted children, and partnering with my wife on her journey through stage 4 metastatic breast cancer! (There’s another book to be written buried somewhere in all of that.)

On the other end of the spectrum, prior to my emergence from, for me, a destructive fundamentalist paradigm, for 20 years I taught the Bible to youth at churches I attended; led or co-led worship music at churches; led an independent music ministry based in Gainesville, Florida, where I shared the Gospel through song and my original music was played on Christian radio; led Bible studies at a local mission house for recently-released male prisoners; and hosted small-group Bible studies at my home. In short, I’m well-acquainted with the inner-workings of fundamentalist Christianity, its churches and its precepts.

I have had two short stories published in The Gainesville Sun: Dad Music and The Duke of IHOP. Dad Music also was published in Braided Brook, A Journal of Stories About Growth, Volume 4; and Life Records: Stories from the Intersection of Music and Memories.