Before becoming a mother, I learned to shift focus away from what was triggering me — take a walk, journal, call a friend, distract myself with busyness. Once a parent, I could no longer rely on old methods, no matter how effective they once were. I could no longer move away from, drown out, or excuse myself from the trigger. You can’t eliminate or avoid the trigger, when the trigger is your child.
Through sharing my experiences of motherhood, and listening and gathering the stories of other parenting survivors, I have learned that it isn't a matter of if a survivor mom or dad will be triggered by acts of parenting, but when.
The Saratoga County Citizen Committee for Mental Health is sponsoring a free viewing of the groundbreaking documentary Resiliency at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY on April 18th at 7pm. Following, I'll be delivering a talk on what it's like to parent after experiencing childhood abuse.
I share my story of having an ACE score of 9 and how that has effected me as a mother, because I can make sense of it now. I want other parenting survivors, and those that provide education and support services to them to be able to do the same.
I hope you will join us!
Check out the Resilience trailer!
To learn more about Dawn Daum, presenter and co-editor of Parenting with PTSD, visit www.parentingwithptsd.com
More details on this event can be found here.
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