#11: Amy is an alchemist working to transform her traumatic childhood experiences into a life of her own choosing. Two years ago, Amy changed her life when she reached out for help from an amazing psychotherapist. Through the healing process, Amy discovered a passion to provide a voice for the voiceless through documenting her journey on Instagram.

Amy now uses art as a creative process for coping with trauma. In her spare time, she balances her work as the Operations Manager for an online public school with managing a degenerative skeletal-muscular disease (Klippel-Feil Syndrome) and most importantly, finding time to cuddle up to Netflix with a phenomenally kind, patient, and loving husband. She's one hell of a woman!

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Show Notes:

3:35 - Amy starts discussing her background and childhood

7:35 - The sexual assault: beginnings and what it turned into

8:45 - The start of being sex trafficked

10:38 - How Amy figured out what it was called/what sex trafficking actually looks like locally

16:10 - Becoming the “sacrificial lamb” of the family

21:02 - The first time she was raped + dissociating

22:50 - Being waterboarded at age 9

26:27 - Assaulted at age 17

31:38 - Using substances to cope

36:27 - Making the decision to seek out therapy

41:15 - Adding EMDR to her therapy and treatment plan

43:28 - Discussing her therapy assignments and the high value of therapy

47:30 - College and choosing an education for herself

51:56 - Discussing her recovery from trauma

53:38 - Getting re-triggered by trauma as an adult, and how she was able to work through the incident by creating her Instagram account @cptsdchronicles

1:00:15 - Hearing from others who were trafficked

The Courage to Change: A Recovery Podcast would like to thank our sponsor, Lionrock Recovery, for their support. Lionrock Recovery is an online substance abuse counseling program where you can get help for drinking or drug use from the privacy of your own home. For more information, visit http://www.lionrockrecovery.com.