The Gifted Warrior - Trauma Training

I am a Social Worker. That means that I am an advocate. 

My life’s work is to help people who are being abused, exploited, used and confused. My preference is to be proactive and to prevent wrecks from happening but way too often I have had to put forth every effort in my being to do crisis intervention and then clean up the wreckage. The resolution step is to build a network of safety and prevention measures, with continual maintenance, to prevent future disasters. This involves ethical, open and honest constant contact.  

The reason I have to begin with crisis intervention is because people often do not seek help or assistance until after the crash has happened. Well, the crash has happened on a macro level and pretty much everyone in this country is scrambling around wondering what are we going to do now? 

Some people are throwing in the towel. Some people are trying to organize groups and boycotts. Some people are sticking their head in the sand. Some people are promoting meditation, self-care and love. There are a plethora of ideas and advice from people on how to manage the fight, flight or freeze responses that all seem to be experiencing.

Think about the many, many days of COVID. The entire world was frantic, traumatized and grossly unorganized. Well, here we are again with the same captain at the helm.

Hopefully, many of us are better at staying informed, avoiding overload, not taking the bait and learning how to pick the battles that we are gifted to fight. Hopefully, we are learning to find the good warrior within ourselves. This would be a positive indicator of trauma growth. Make your trauma become your strength for good.  

Working and specializing in field of trauma has called me, trained me and given me purpose. The first third of my career was being a therapist for children who had been physically abused and neglected. I was recruited by two of the best mentors a young therapist could hope for to become a sexual abuse expert and found myself testifying as an expert witness on a much too often basis. 

I continued to work with children but later developed a housecall practice to work with the aging and disabled who were homebound and could not get to an office. There is a history of trauma of one degree or another in all of us. Numerous admirable clients showed me that trauma can become your strength. 

This may be the first time you have experienced malignant narcissistic abuse. It is brutal, cruel and the perpetrator has no stops. The feelings of hopelessness become overwhelming. This is when some will identify, side with, the aggressor. Your natural instincts to fight, flight or freeze go into overdrive.

Those people that are determined to survive the abuse can often find they are thriving in the post abuse time frame. They find the ways and means to make trauma their strength. You can do this too. And hopefully, you will never forget and go forward doing what you can to make sure that you and the ones you love never have to go through the abuse you experienced.

We are currently in the war and having to choose our battles. It is not the time for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) strategies. That will come later. 

Think about what our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents did during the call to action during World War II. Ask them or their families, read or watch videos on what people in America did to be of service in some way to support the troops overseas and fuel the “Arsenal of Democracy”. 

We are all individuals, and we can only be of service within our capacity. I am getting old but there is a lot of fight, love and compassion for myself, others and our country stirring in my bones and soul. So, I will share what I am doing and encourage anyone reading this to share ways that you are finding to help and be of service. (By the way, people in recovery, especially addicts, will tell you that being of service is one of the best parts of true recovery.)

This is what I am able to do:

This situation is way over my micro/mezzo head, but on a macro level, I can ask that all politicians call a screeching halt to anything and everything that is not directly related to crisis intervention on this destructive disaster and start the cleanup. And I do mean Clean Up!  

I decided to send faxes to my Representative and Senators. I was concerned about getting through on a call, whether it would be documented and was concerned that most people will send emails that might get ignored. This was the first time in years that I was glad that I had fax equipment. That old fashioned fax just might get noticed. I will give an update on the results at a later time. 

At this point I am trying to get correct information. That became difficult as of January 21, 2025, when all communication to mental healthcare providers, medical healthcare providers, hospitals, health agencies and the public were abruptly halted. I cannot get information on any critical health information such as food contamination, recalls, disease or virus outbreaks, etc. It is additionally difficult because the news media has become unreliable.

Putting together credible information is extremely difficult right now. Word of mouth from those on the ground and as much common-sense discernment as one can muster from varied reliable media sources is what I am reduced to. It is like putting a trillion-piece jig saw puzzle together, but I am finding ways to do it.

I can continue to be of service to my clients, be available to my friends and neighbors and talk to those I can trust. 

Every day I can brush my teeth twice a day, clean my body, make my bed, keep my living and working space as clean and organized as I am able, eat as healthy as possible, manage my spending and money, walk and do yoga when able, try to keep a regular sleep schedule, rest when I feel overwhelmed, look where I am going and “give myself a break”. 

I can exercise my First Amendment rights.  

What Happened?

We are not living in a reality show. January 20, 2025, was the first day of flooding the American people and other countries with chaos.  The takeover of how we get paid, whether or not our bank accounts are secure, whether or not we can get healthcare services, and all of our private information has been breached, frozen or in the process of being frozen.  This is trauma. 

We are in a real world with real world consequences. The consequences are being heavily felt and are being caused by a handful of individuals who do not seem to have a care or concept of people other than themselves and their wealth. They want their way only. 

What can we do?

Number One: Gather true and real information. The official government agencies are not allowed to communicate with us, but we can still try. 

Build a trusted network of real and true information by gathering and documenting everything. Write about it. Document, document, document your story and experiences.

Check up on each other and your neighbors. Do they need anything?  How are they doing? Build family and neighborhood helping networks.

Please stay informed with “real” information. Intentional ignorance, avoidance and falling for deliberate misinformation is what got us here. 

Number Two: Incessantly call and write your Congress Representatives and Senators and tell them your story.  Demand that all government agencies resume notifications and contact with the professional community and public, especially information about your payment systems and health organizations. Demand that they get to work, stop all foolishness of politics and clean up the wreck. Also, demand that they keep the country running safely again. 

Contact your local media stations and tell them your stories of what is happening to you, your family and your neighbors. Contact people you know and trust who are in the world of the helpers to offer support and ask for ways you can help. Document, document, document.

We can start with these two actions and then we can collectively work on a plan of action for making sure that we have sane, mentally stable and honest people working for us. We are the customer; the leader of our home and we can start going forward with cleaning up the mess of this wreck and asking for resignations of those who are causing wrecks to happen.  

Finally, for now, use Common Sense. Inexperienced reality show celebrity people and billionaires may not be the best people to run government organizations and government. Your existence and those you love depends on competence and hopefully good, honest people. Trust your gut and not your fantasies. 

Please keep emotional outbursts and bad manners in check. They generally get you unheard and nowhere. However, tenacity and constant contact has traction.

Write down what you want to say. Tell your story. Be firm, calm and don’t get baited into an argument by being patronized or dismissed. Your information is important, and you are important. You can do this. We can do this. 

Links that I have found Credible:

https://www.house.gov/representatives

https://www.congress.gov/contact-us

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid Information: 

https://www.youtube.com/@MyGovExpert

Up to Date Reliable News by a Credible Journalist, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson

https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson8891

Up to Date Civil Rights Legal Information

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL36GQAccexbzeCLQusnecQAquydGw8kBC

Narcissistic Abuse

https://www.youtube.com/doctorramani

Mental Health Hotline

https://988lifeline.org/