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No One Left Alone: A Story of How Community Helps Us Heal
"Inspiring, thoughtful, and beautiful." --BRYAN STEVENSON
"A tender reminder and spacious invitation." -- FATHER GREGORY BOYLE
"Liz Walker accomplishes a difficult literary and theological balance with stunning clarity." --OTIS MOSS III
An extraordinary account of a Black church that decided to give neighbors a space to share their grief, No One Left Alone provides a blueprint premised on a simple the wounded heal best together.
As the first Black woman to anchor the Boston-area evening news, Liz Walker found herself in an industry that defined the neighborhood of Roxbury largely by violence. But when she became a pastor there, Walker grew close to households marked not only by trauma but by courage--including the family of Cory Johnson, a young father who was murdered. In the wake of their worst nightmare, the family reached out for help.
As Walker's congregation invited neighbors to gather, they created soft spaces for others' grief to land. There, in the stories told, the meals shared, the tears shed, and the silences kept, people found a space to receive their sorrow. Out of this ministry grew a grassroots trauma-healing program, one now being replicated across the country.
Through this groundbreaking book, begin to imagine what story-sharing groups might look like in your context. Face the disparity of grief that comes from racism and systemic inequality, and learn to confront legacies of harm. Discover the healing power of listening, as well as the art and skills of accompanying someone in pain. Further, grasp how caregivers, pastors, counselors, and other healers--many with their own wounds--can benefit from soft spaces too.
Marked by history and surrounded by violence and loneliness, we all long for healing. In the tradition of esteemed writers like Bryan Stevenson and Cole Arthur Riley, Walker writes about how community helps us transfigure trauma. There is nothing dramatic about listening to someone's story or sharing our own. But there is mystery here, and sacredness. No one has to be left alone.
"A tender reminder and spacious invitation." -- FATHER GREGORY BOYLE
"Liz Walker accomplishes a difficult literary and theological balance with stunning clarity." --OTIS MOSS III
An extraordinary account of a Black church that decided to give neighbors a space to share their grief, No One Left Alone provides a blueprint premised on a simple the wounded heal best together.
As the first Black woman to anchor the Boston-area evening news, Liz Walker found herself in an industry that defined the neighborhood of Roxbury largely by violence. But when she became a pastor there, Walker grew close to households marked not only by trauma but by courage--including the family of Cory Johnson, a young father who was murdered. In the wake of their worst nightmare, the family reached out for help.
As Walker's congregation invited neighbors to gather, they created soft spaces for others' grief to land. There, in the stories told, the meals shared, the tears shed, and the silences kept, people found a space to receive their sorrow. Out of this ministry grew a grassroots trauma-healing program, one now being replicated across the country.
Through this groundbreaking book, begin to imagine what story-sharing groups might look like in your context. Face the disparity of grief that comes from racism and systemic inequality, and learn to confront legacies of harm. Discover the healing power of listening, as well as the art and skills of accompanying someone in pain. Further, grasp how caregivers, pastors, counselors, and other healers--many with their own wounds--can benefit from soft spaces too.
Marked by history and surrounded by violence and loneliness, we all long for healing. In the tradition of esteemed writers like Bryan Stevenson and Cole Arthur Riley, Walker writes about how community helps us transfigure trauma. There is nothing dramatic about listening to someone's story or sharing our own. But there is mystery here, and sacredness. No one has to be left alone.
- GenresNonfiction
1 pages, Audio CD
Published April 8, 2025
21 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 11, 2025
As an avid consumer of news and an almost lifelong Bostonian, I’ve followed Reverend Liz Walker’s (Rev. Liz) long and multi-faceted career with deep admiration. Reverend Walker has touched individuals around the world with her inspiring preaching, her teaching, her listening skills, and her powers of healing. Whenever she writes or speaks, I pay attention.
Now Rev. Liz has written a book about the power of healing within a community, “No One Left Alone” (NOLA), and I wish it could be required reading or listening for anyone who is interested in learning how to show up for trauma victims and others in need, patiently listening to them, caring about their pain, and maybe even helping to change their lives. It’s a beautiful book about healing – how to help others heal, how to heal yourself, and why healing is so valuable and important.
I am a white senior citizen who spent most of her adult life in still-segregated Boston. Reading NOLA, I was deeply affected by Rev. Liz’s description of how a Black community found solace and hope in church, and in the alchemy of love, faith, forgiveness, grace, and fellowship; she offers plenty to learn for the rest of us. Although the Cory Johnson Program, a “grassroots healing program” in Roxbury, MA, is the crucible in which Rev. Liz’s work was forged, the need for finding accessible and effective ways to heal those who are broken, including ourselves, is universal.
NOLA is multi-layered: It begins with an analysis of the history and causes of systemic racism and the violence it begets. Rev. Liz then describes in heart-rending detail the aftermath of the unsolved murder of Cory Johnson, a much beloved father of two young children. She retraces her steps into developing a roadmap for healing a family, a community, and other trauma victims. Her that-without-which source of strength is her radiant spirituality and great humanity; she always shows up for others with a whole heart, an outsized capacity for empathy, respect for everyone she meets, and a bottomless reservoir of patience.
Rev. Liz provides each member of the circle that came into being following Cory Johnson’s murder – his family, his Pastor, church community, local law enforcement officers, neighbors, scholars, and policy makers – a safe space where they can speak honestly without the fear of being judged.
One of the microcosmic layers in NOLA involves the healing that unfolded for Rev. Liz as she was ministering to others. She, too, had experienced pain, grief, and trauma, but because those feelings had long been buried, they festered. As many of us have learned, the act of listening to and uplifting others is bidirectional.
There is not a “one size fits all” approach to healing trauma, but the spiritual wisdom and accessible strategies described in NOLA are, at their core, both timeless and ancient. Although Rev. Liz understands that the experience of one family’s and one church community’s transformative grief work might feel too situation-specific to generalize, she reports that early efforts to seed the Cory Johnson Program in other communities around the country are bearing fruit with similarly encouraging results. Rev. Liz offers the possibility that we can, however slowly, help trauma survivors find ways to simultaneously hold opposing and even conflicting emotions…pain and recovery, grief and hope, and rage and forgiveness.
Moreover, a community-based approach to healing trauma has never been more needed as we watch the dismantling of mental health clinics and other vital community services that were always a limited, but necessary, backstop.
Rev. Liz is a gifted storyteller and meticulous reporter. She has been in the public eye for over 50 years, and has always led with love, integrity, and grace. What does it mean to heal, and is there a way for the rest of us to participate in helping the most vulnerable among us? I am more hopeful, and more motivated as a result of reading NOLA. If you, too, might be seeking a trustworthy and tested source of understanding, hope, and guidance, open these pages, find an inspirational teacher, and keep her close. Anyone who is willing to consider Rev. Liz's methodologies will doubtless find an on-ramp to healing our broken world, one encounter at a time.
I remember turning on the TV one night following Liz Walker’s retirement from the anchor desk at Boston’s WBZ Channel 4. She was being interviewed, and the segment was titled “Someone you should know!” I would only add to that, “and someone you should read, someone you should listen to, and someone who can teach us how to do more to help others.” After all, why else are we here?
Now Rev. Liz has written a book about the power of healing within a community, “No One Left Alone” (NOLA), and I wish it could be required reading or listening for anyone who is interested in learning how to show up for trauma victims and others in need, patiently listening to them, caring about their pain, and maybe even helping to change their lives. It’s a beautiful book about healing – how to help others heal, how to heal yourself, and why healing is so valuable and important.
I am a white senior citizen who spent most of her adult life in still-segregated Boston. Reading NOLA, I was deeply affected by Rev. Liz’s description of how a Black community found solace and hope in church, and in the alchemy of love, faith, forgiveness, grace, and fellowship; she offers plenty to learn for the rest of us. Although the Cory Johnson Program, a “grassroots healing program” in Roxbury, MA, is the crucible in which Rev. Liz’s work was forged, the need for finding accessible and effective ways to heal those who are broken, including ourselves, is universal.
NOLA is multi-layered: It begins with an analysis of the history and causes of systemic racism and the violence it begets. Rev. Liz then describes in heart-rending detail the aftermath of the unsolved murder of Cory Johnson, a much beloved father of two young children. She retraces her steps into developing a roadmap for healing a family, a community, and other trauma victims. Her that-without-which source of strength is her radiant spirituality and great humanity; she always shows up for others with a whole heart, an outsized capacity for empathy, respect for everyone she meets, and a bottomless reservoir of patience.
Rev. Liz provides each member of the circle that came into being following Cory Johnson’s murder – his family, his Pastor, church community, local law enforcement officers, neighbors, scholars, and policy makers – a safe space where they can speak honestly without the fear of being judged.
One of the microcosmic layers in NOLA involves the healing that unfolded for Rev. Liz as she was ministering to others. She, too, had experienced pain, grief, and trauma, but because those feelings had long been buried, they festered. As many of us have learned, the act of listening to and uplifting others is bidirectional.
There is not a “one size fits all” approach to healing trauma, but the spiritual wisdom and accessible strategies described in NOLA are, at their core, both timeless and ancient. Although Rev. Liz understands that the experience of one family’s and one church community’s transformative grief work might feel too situation-specific to generalize, she reports that early efforts to seed the Cory Johnson Program in other communities around the country are bearing fruit with similarly encouraging results. Rev. Liz offers the possibility that we can, however slowly, help trauma survivors find ways to simultaneously hold opposing and even conflicting emotions…pain and recovery, grief and hope, and rage and forgiveness.
Moreover, a community-based approach to healing trauma has never been more needed as we watch the dismantling of mental health clinics and other vital community services that were always a limited, but necessary, backstop.
Rev. Liz is a gifted storyteller and meticulous reporter. She has been in the public eye for over 50 years, and has always led with love, integrity, and grace. What does it mean to heal, and is there a way for the rest of us to participate in helping the most vulnerable among us? I am more hopeful, and more motivated as a result of reading NOLA. If you, too, might be seeking a trustworthy and tested source of understanding, hope, and guidance, open these pages, find an inspirational teacher, and keep her close. Anyone who is willing to consider Rev. Liz's methodologies will doubtless find an on-ramp to healing our broken world, one encounter at a time.
I remember turning on the TV one night following Liz Walker’s retirement from the anchor desk at Boston’s WBZ Channel 4. She was being interviewed, and the segment was titled “Someone you should know!” I would only add to that, “and someone you should read, someone you should listen to, and someone who can teach us how to do more to help others.” After all, why else are we here?
April 18, 2025
4.5
Powerful memoir about trauma, collective recovery, and resilience in the Black church community in the Roxbury/Boston area following the marathon bombing and the murder of Cory Johnson. Their experiences with coming together and finding ways to heal together provides a blueprint for other communities to follow. Liz Walker’s story is powerful, moving, and informative. I learned a lot and appreciated hearing it in her own voice.
*Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.
Powerful memoir about trauma, collective recovery, and resilience in the Black church community in the Roxbury/Boston area following the marathon bombing and the murder of Cory Johnson. Their experiences with coming together and finding ways to heal together provides a blueprint for other communities to follow. Liz Walker’s story is powerful, moving, and informative. I learned a lot and appreciated hearing it in her own voice.
*Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.
May 3, 2025
I really enjoyed this book and hearing about resources around me that I didn't know and before. I've always thought that Liz Walker is so articulate and intelligent. This book supported that.
April 8, 2025
No One Left Alone is a moving account of how the tragic murder of Cory Johnson, a young father with a bright future, affected his family, friends, church, and community. Their collective grief sparked a need to find a way through their trauma to healing.
The healing journey began by sharing their stories with others in a caring, safe, and judgement-free space. It is in community togetherness that they begin to heal and ensure that no one is left alone to deal with their trauma.
Trauma affects everyone even when we do not know or recognize it. The stories in the book will educate you, pull at your heart strings, inspire you, offer you hope, and model a way forward.
The healing journey began by sharing their stories with others in a caring, safe, and judgement-free space. It is in community togetherness that they begin to heal and ensure that no one is left alone to deal with their trauma.
Trauma affects everyone even when we do not know or recognize it. The stories in the book will educate you, pull at your heart strings, inspire you, offer you hope, and model a way forward.
May 10, 2025
No One Left Alone by Liz Walker is one of those rare books that doesn’t just inspire—it leaves you longing to help create the kind of world it describes. If Barbara Brown Taylor talks about “holy envy,” then this book is a perfect object of it. Walker’s outreach program, Can We Talk?, is a living embodiment of the kind of raw, vulnerable, healing community that so many faith settings aspire to but often miss.
What moved me most was Walker’s embrace of what I can only describe as a “lead with vulnerability” culture—something that reminded me powerfully of Alcoholics Anonymous. Her approach flips the script on what too often becomes performative in church: the polished faces, the tidy testimonies, the collective pretending that everyone’s fine and faith is easy. Walker doesn’t play that game. She creates soft spaces in hard places, where grief, doubt, and suffering are not obstacles to spirituality—they're the doorways into it.
There’s a beautiful section in the book about checking in—about texting someone, stopping by, simply showing up for people in grief. Coming from a faith tradition where visiting others is also a practice, I was struck by how Walker’s version felt more human, more tender. Less about assignment, more about presence. It wasn’t institutional—it was incarnational. She doesn’t just talk about compassion; she lives it, fiercely and humbly.
Walker also names a tension many of us feel in organized religion: how easily doctrine and institutional structures can crowd out the very purpose they were meant to serve—unconditional love. Her work is a call to return to that root, and her life is a kind of living sermon on what that looks like.
One honest reflection I’ll offer: the book engages deeply with race and the Black experience in America—something I appreciated, though parts of it were harder for me to personally relate to. That said, Walker’s voice is never alienating. Even when writing from her own context, she does so with grace, not accusation. Her stories invited me in rather than shutting me out, which made them even more powerful.
In the end, we need more Liz Walkers in the world. Her example shows that real faith isn’t about certainty or performance—it’s about presence, community, and fierce compassion. Anyone could benefit from this book, especially those who are longing to see how faith and vulnerability can meet in healing, transformational ways.
What moved me most was Walker’s embrace of what I can only describe as a “lead with vulnerability” culture—something that reminded me powerfully of Alcoholics Anonymous. Her approach flips the script on what too often becomes performative in church: the polished faces, the tidy testimonies, the collective pretending that everyone’s fine and faith is easy. Walker doesn’t play that game. She creates soft spaces in hard places, where grief, doubt, and suffering are not obstacles to spirituality—they're the doorways into it.
There’s a beautiful section in the book about checking in—about texting someone, stopping by, simply showing up for people in grief. Coming from a faith tradition where visiting others is also a practice, I was struck by how Walker’s version felt more human, more tender. Less about assignment, more about presence. It wasn’t institutional—it was incarnational. She doesn’t just talk about compassion; she lives it, fiercely and humbly.
Walker also names a tension many of us feel in organized religion: how easily doctrine and institutional structures can crowd out the very purpose they were meant to serve—unconditional love. Her work is a call to return to that root, and her life is a kind of living sermon on what that looks like.
One honest reflection I’ll offer: the book engages deeply with race and the Black experience in America—something I appreciated, though parts of it were harder for me to personally relate to. That said, Walker’s voice is never alienating. Even when writing from her own context, she does so with grace, not accusation. Her stories invited me in rather than shutting me out, which made them even more powerful.
In the end, we need more Liz Walkers in the world. Her example shows that real faith isn’t about certainty or performance—it’s about presence, community, and fierce compassion. Anyone could benefit from this book, especially those who are longing to see how faith and vulnerability can meet in healing, transformational ways.
May 10, 2025
⭐️ 1/5 Stars (Not for me)
I picked up No One Left Alone expecting a spiritual and faith-centered exploration of healing, grief, and community, as it was advertised as a religious or spiritual book. Unfortunately, that is not what I got. Instead, the book felt like an extended political commentary wrapped in the language of ministry.
While Liz Walker’s background is impressive and the stories she shares from Roxbury are undeniably important, the book is overwhelmed by the author’s political views. Rather than offering meaningful spiritual insights or grounding the work in scripture or religious tradition, Walker uses the platform to advance her ideological perspective, often at the expense of broader spiritual reflection.
For readers like me, who were hoping for a book that focused on faith, prayer, and the sacred aspects of healing, this was a complete letdown. I found myself frustrated by the lack of balance, and ultimately, I walked away feeling alienated rather than inspired. This one did not resonate with me at all, and I cannot recommend it to those looking for a truly spiritual or religious read. #netgalley #nooneleftalone #booked_this_weekend
I picked up No One Left Alone expecting a spiritual and faith-centered exploration of healing, grief, and community, as it was advertised as a religious or spiritual book. Unfortunately, that is not what I got. Instead, the book felt like an extended political commentary wrapped in the language of ministry.
While Liz Walker’s background is impressive and the stories she shares from Roxbury are undeniably important, the book is overwhelmed by the author’s political views. Rather than offering meaningful spiritual insights or grounding the work in scripture or religious tradition, Walker uses the platform to advance her ideological perspective, often at the expense of broader spiritual reflection.
For readers like me, who were hoping for a book that focused on faith, prayer, and the sacred aspects of healing, this was a complete letdown. I found myself frustrated by the lack of balance, and ultimately, I walked away feeling alienated rather than inspired. This one did not resonate with me at all, and I cannot recommend it to those looking for a truly spiritual or religious read. #netgalley #nooneleftalone #booked_this_weekend
April 23, 2025
This is an exceptional novel about community, healing, and spirituality.
The research and first-hand accounts were very well-sourced and well-writen, respectively. It was such an unflinching account of both the triumphs and mistakes of the Can We Talk program. Reading about the healing from all sorts of trauma was moving me to tears and Liz Walker's calls for compassion and active listening were spot on. As a Christian I feel determined to buy this for every pastor I know, but I believe everyone regardless of their faith can benefit from the knowledge and groundwork laid here.
The research and first-hand accounts were very well-sourced and well-writen, respectively. It was such an unflinching account of both the triumphs and mistakes of the Can We Talk program. Reading about the healing from all sorts of trauma was moving me to tears and Liz Walker's calls for compassion and active listening were spot on. As a Christian I feel determined to buy this for every pastor I know, but I believe everyone regardless of their faith can benefit from the knowledge and groundwork laid here.
September 4, 2025
Thank you @netgalley for the audiobook version of No One Left Alone by Liz Walker. Liz Walker is a minister and journalist who has done some groundbreaking work in Boston and the world. This is a memoir and the story of how tragedy led to healing, and the tools and groups she developed. She gives tools and ideas that others can use in their lives.
April 21, 2025
Liz Walker knows the power of being seen and being heard. She knows, too, the pain and loss of silence and invisibility. As a newscaster, minister and now author, she has proven her ability, again and again, to tell the stories that lift up those who suffer from trauma and grief. Locally, communally, across the world and one by one, Liz answers the call and takes action. She transforms those who come into her world, and gives them courage.
Now in her book, No One Left Alone, she beautifully and powerfully weaves a family’s story in her church community with her personal story and our society. It is both particular and universal, and will not only touch all who read it, but provide a path forward at a time when healing is deeply needed in our world, even when there are no clear answers.
Now in her book, No One Left Alone, she beautifully and powerfully weaves a family’s story in her church community with her personal story and our society. It is both particular and universal, and will not only touch all who read it, but provide a path forward at a time when healing is deeply needed in our world, even when there are no clear answers.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews