Personal Narrative: My Experience With Trauma In My Childhood

In my childhood, I experienced trauma that had occurred multiple times. I was sexually abused by an older boy in my neighborhood. At the time, I was about nine years old and he was around four to five years older than me. He was supposed to be the one watching all of us younger kids when we were out playing in the neighborhood, the moms trusted him. Behind our houses, there was what we called “the woods”, basically it was just a large patch of trees with a little creek running through it. All the neighborhood kids, including myself and my younger brother, would play there any chance we could get. Our imagines ran wild as we played out different scenarios until we were all called in for the night. I feel that I have repressed a good amount

It occurred to me, that I was almost like his trial phase and he later moved onto more abusive acts. It terrifies me that he is still out in society after doing this to how many children throughout his life. Thankfully, I had moved away from that neighborhood and will probably never encounter him again. It was just in this past year, that I finally gained the strength to tell my mother what had happened to me. Up until that point, I had only told boyfriends and therapists that I have had. It was very encouraging to almost have justice for me he did to me and to know that I did not have to hide it anymore. I do not believe this incident will impact my social work practice in a negative way. I believe that the abuse I endeared has pushed me to want to help children who have also experienced sexual abuse. I have had years of therapy to where I believe that working with this population will affect me negatively. Granted anything could trigger that trauma that I experienced, but I believe that the tools I was given in therapy can help me overcome any negative emotions or actions. My goal is to provide justice and the tools to heal to children who have experienced the

During my undergraduate studies, my social work professors would always tell me that I needed to come up with a self care plan. My problem is that I always have a to do list and when I have accomplished everything on that list, I feel like there is still something else I can be doing. I have realized that this semester is going to be tiring because I have school, work and an internship. I know that I must come up with at least a few self care activities to help myself destress and relax. I have decided to create a self care plan that is not only realistic, but includes activities I will enjoy. I plan to pick a show on Netflix and binge watch a few episodes on my day off just to relax and take my mind off the stress of all my time commitments. I usually get antsy watching tv for more than thirty minutes, but I will tell myself to just relax and that this quiet time is good for me. In addition, I plan to start exercising in my free time. I do not plan on making this an everyday thing that adds another time commitment to my schedule, but instead make this an activity I do when I have some free time. Exercising will allow me to burn off some steam as well as help with my mental health. I already spend a lot of my time with my family and best friend, but I will start making it more of a priority because they help me destress quite a bit. Typically, we spend nights at home watching movies or going out shopping