Many people with lived experience of violence or oppression have complex feelings about the word “empowerment.” This is because organisations and social advocates often use in a way to focus on themselves as the “empowerer” — the one giving the power to the people they want to support. In reality, though, we are often the ones who empower ourselves — who claim our rights by finding our individual and collective voice, rebuilding our trust in ourselves, and organising (ourselves and our communities) for healing action. CTI uses the word “empowerment” in the collective self-organising sense: Impacted communities are self-empowering communities organising for their rights and collective healing.