[Janice Lara-Hewey]

Question 1
How sad and familiar Anna’a story is. I have seen changes over the years but it has been a agonizingly slow process. It is still common for professionals to look for the “easy” stuff that may respond to a relatively quick fix. There are reasons people are who they are and do what they do. Are professionals trying to heal the injuries or simply numb things?

Question 2
Yelling when bothered/upset about something. This behavior could be the result of childhood trauma where the individual was ignored/ neglected. His needs were not tended to any adults around him and people would only listen to him when he yelled loud enough to get their attention. So to be noticed, he had to yell. Carried into adulthood, the person may continue to yell in order to be heard.

Question 3
In the agency I work for, we work to create a safe, respectful environment that respects and promotes individual choice. I think to become a more trauma informed agency, I think more training/ education about trauma and it’s long term impacts (not just diagnosis information) would help spread information across the agency to other programs which don’t necessarily provide counseling services.

[Janice Lara-Hewey]

Hi Everyone. I am a counselor at a substance use disorder program. I provide outpatient services and assist with running some groups in the residential treatment program run by the agency I work for.

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