Tag Archives: mental health

Patrick Kennedy delivers raw, revealing speech to mental health advocates

May 13, 2014 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Child trauma, Chronic disease Tags: , , 2 Comments

Just before former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy delivered the closing speech to attendees of the National Council for Behavioral Health conference, my daughter and I had a warm, light-hearted conversation with him outside the hall about my daughter’s work in peer services in Texas, about her anticipated motherhood, his young children, and about a Texas ranch he visited once that is bigger than the entire state Rhode Island. We stuck around to hear him talk, even though we thought we could probably miss it since it was part of the send-off for attendees going on visits to Capitol Hill and we weren’t going. We were grateful we stayed; here’s why.Image

Kennedy gave a raw and revealing talk about his mental illness, addiction, and the “God-sized” hole in his soul before his recovery. He said his illness is “bio/psycho/social”, but added that it is also “spiritual.” After achieving successes in his political career—election to the Rhode Island state legislature at 21, Member of Congress at 27, master fundraiser for Democrats—you “would have thought that would have filled the hole in my soul but it didn’t.”

After being arrested “on the high seas, in airports, and by traffic cops,” and being in rehab over and over again, he felt that as long as he was re-elected, he was managing. He was, after all,  meeting the family’s definition of success by winning elective office and serving the public.

“Would I have freely chosen to bring such disregard, such disdain, and antipathy for me and bring shame on my family, like I woke up one day and said this is how I want to be perceived — as an alcoholic, drug addict who can’t get his life together? That’s not what I want for my life. And yet it was the inevitable result of me living in my illness and not knowing there was a solution. And of course I was given solutions and pointed to rehab over and over again. You would have thought I would have gotten it through my thick head that I had a problem. But my real problem was denial, thinking that if I could just continue to function and manage—continue to get re-elected­—then I must be okay.”

Then three years ago, after crashing into a barrier at the U.S. Capitol, he waited for the “final jackpot.” He woke up, not remembering what had happened the night before. Did he have a Chappaquiddick of his own (a referral to an accident that involved his father, Sen. Edward Kennedy)? Fortunately, the event took place at 3:00 a.m., when the streets and sidewalks, were empty and no one was hurt.

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Georgia juvenile court judge galvanizes statewide child trauma initiatives

January 24, 2014 By in ACE Study, Adverse childhood experiences, Child abuse, Child trauma, Solutions, Trauma Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 10 Comments
Judge

Douglas County (GA) Juvenile Court Judge Peggy Walker and “Dalton”

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Douglas County Juvenile Court Judge Peggy Walker is an activist judge for the children of Georgia – the children she loves who do not get what they need for healthy, successful lives.  She’s seen how the children are failed when they come back to court again and again. Now she’s doing something about it.  When she takes over later this year as the president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, she’ll have a national platform to promote changes in polices and practices to prevent and treat childhood trauma.  For now, she is spreading the word around the state of Georgia through conferences in four different regions, with the first one held January 10 at the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Woven into Judge Walker’s Georgia Summit on Complex Trauma keynote address to more than 400 participants —  including judges, their staffs, child and family services professionals, and advocates — was a description of a painful case from her work as a judge.  She began her presentation on what science tells us to do for children who have experienced complex trauma with a photo of herself (shown above) holding “Dalton.” He was the first drug-free child in the court’s family drug treatment program; his mother “Tonya” was a participant (both names are pseudonyms).

During the 10 years that “Tonya” had been in and out of her court, Judge Walker did not know her story. When she found out, she learned that  “Tonya’s” mother was alcoholic, emotionally abusive, and manipulative.  At age seven, “Tonya” was raped by a 50-year-old neighbor who was later incarcerated but freed after three years.  She tried drug treatment in

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