About half the population will experience a traumatic event in at some point in their lives; some will develop PTSD as a result, most won’t.  But for those who do, life is different.  Trauma hides or changes the original self, and their behaviors or issues come to define who they are.  And for those who grow up in traumatic homes, it is almost impossible to differentiate between the trauma and the true self.  Life is very, very hard.

Growing up in a domestically violent home changed Gail William’s original self.  Gail believed the bad behaviors and negative attitudes she presented for all of her adult life was who she was, who God meant her to be.   In February 2018, Gail began working with a therapist doing a technique called EMDR, that is successfully “unpacking” the trauma, and she has and continues to experience life altering results.  She now knows the behaviors and attitudes were the trauma, not who she really is.

Gail is 54 and has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work.  She has worked for Chemung County for almost 15 years, spending 9 years in Child Protective Services, and the last 6 as a Case Manager for the Department of Aging.  She is committed to educating people about trauma and bringing awareness to PTSD and how it controls a person, but most importantly, to spreading a message of hope that healing is possible.