My Stories
My blog, essays and articles feature stories on healing from trauma, coping with disorder and practicing mindfulness
Masking Who You Really Are When You’re Neurodivergent
I performed onstage for the first time when I was 15. I don’t remember the part I played, but I do remember the feeling of being onstage, of being accepted by the audience, of being understood, of being someone else. I continued performing onstage through high school and college, but what I didn’t realize until much later was that I spent my entire life performing offstage, as well. I am neurodiverse with sensory processing disorder (SPD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: Using the Xen Unit to Get Out of a Fight-or-Flight Response
A Little about Me Few things help pull me out of a fight-or-flight response. When I’m in it, it’s like I’m trapped in a different world. Cowering. Shaking. Afraid. Stuck in the underworld. Surrounded by darkness. With no light to [...]
CPTSD, Depression and Intergenerational Trauma: Pushing Through the Discomfort Until the Joy Returns
It's a few weeks into a new semester, and I can tell it’s going to be a tough one. Students were forced into online classes due to COVID, and I can tell it’s causing them stress. Through the emails I'm [...]
CPTSD, PTSD, Intergenerational Trauma and Black Lives Matter: A Story of Officers and Compassion
My husband was driving as we pulled into the parking lot of the dispensary where I purchase my medical marijuana. Since lockdown, I’ve been placing my orders online and using the curbside service to pick them up. But this time, [...]
Trauma, Empathy and Mindfulness: Creating and Holding Space and Boundaries
After suffering extreme loss of myself, Im learning to let go of the pain. To move all the pain and trauma out of my body to create space for love and joy. For regardless of what happened or what happens, [...]
OCD, PTSD, SPD and COVID: Masks, Panic Attacks and a Trip to Target
Right before COVID hit, I was just starting to break free from the stiff hold my rules have had on me for decades. The rules Id set in place to help myself survive were slowly lessening. Melting away as I [...]
CPTSD, PTSD, OCD and Intergenerational Trauma: The Danger of Controlling and the Joy of Letting Go
Learning to practice mindfulness has helped me understand what it means to let something go. Growing up with a whole host of issues, it was something that was said to me often: Just let it go. As if it was [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma: Living In a Fight-or-flight Response (+9 Ways to Get Out)
When you suffer CPTSD or PTSD long enough, you become wired for trauma, making even the slightest upset a potential trigger. Sending you into a tailspin. A downward spiral. A fight-or-flight response. And when you experience intergenerational trauma, trauma from [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma: We Are in This Together (And 8 Tips for Healing)
It’s been a tough few weeks, and I was at a loss for what to write about because I have been too depressed to feel creative. But then as I caught up on emails, I noticed how important it is [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma: Living In a Fight-or-flight Response and 9 Steps to Getting Out
When you suffer CPTSD or PTSD long enough, you become wired for trauma, making even the slightest upset a potential trigger. Sending you into a tailspin. A downward spiral. A fight-or-flight response...
CPTSD, PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma: How the Pandemic Became the Predator
I knew the pandemic was triggering for me. Bringing back old compulsions. Familiar fears. Making me feel stuck. Anxious. Ready to fight, flee or freeze. But I didnt quite understand why until speaking with my psychotherapist and learning that it [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: Now’s the Time to Understand Intergenerational Trauma
Intergenerational trauma refers to trauma that has been carried from one generation to another. The trauma rides along our genes like an anxious passenger. Wanting truths to be told. Wrongs to be righted. Justice to be served. It’s a heavy [...]
Pain, Trauma and Healing: 5 Steps for Creating a Self-care Routine to Regulate Your Nervous System
I had the joy of corresponding with someone new this week. He emailed me via my website and we discussed pain. Real pain. Reaches-into-your-core-and-lays-everything-out-on-the-table kind of pain. Pain that leaves you choosing which cards to pick up. And which to [...]
“Loved reading this Jenna, what a great explanation of how your OT helped you. I have taken a few tips for a client of mine I am treating at the moment! Great post. Cheers!”
JAYNE OT