I have presented this at conferences, which is my personal story. Here is an overview:
A Girl Named Sue: A Child’s Journey From Complex Trauma to Hope, Healing and Recovery
Alarming numbers of children are experiencing multiple instances of trauma all across the country. In Kentucky alone, the Commonwealth had nearly 22,410 child abuse victims in 2017 giving Kentucky the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of child abuse in the nation. Many children who experience complex trauma have poor coping skills, difficulty trusting others, distorted thinking, manipulative and maladaptive behaviors, have difficulty believing that life can be better and are often “waiting for the other shoe to drop” in many situations. In this session, participants will be able to follow one child’s journey through physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, abandonment, and neglect. Despite multiple instances of trauma across many settings, this child also had exposure to positive, corrective relationships with multiple adults, learned to turn negative situations into positive ones, learned she possessed many strengths and positive coping skills and that where we comes from has everything to do with where we are at but that is doesn’t dictate where we are going.