During a therapy session, after a week of endless tantrums the
therapist looked at “R” and said “What do you think it is, that makes you get so
angry?” To which “R” replied “ I put up a wall”.
In my head I thought, “ I totally know what you mean” I have
been putting up walls my whole life and it took years to let people past the outer
shell. Breaking down my walls has taken a long time, and my story isn’t even half the
trauma she has been through.
Each pain, and each hurt has added bricks and height to my little
girls wall and she has enclosed herself in this world of pain, hurt and fear
and she can’t get out of it. Her past comes back to haunt her and she can’t find a
way to break through. The Reactive Attachment Disorder is the foundation for her
wall. The inability to allow others to have control, the lack of self
confidence, the fear of allowing anyone close so she uses tactics to keep them
at a distance. The fear of rejection, so I will reject you mentality is evident every day.
So,I thought about his wall that she metaphorically said she
has put up. I want to help her in any way I can. So I think... Ok, let’s put up a wall and on each brick write what
is keeping that wall up. On the other side of the brick, I will write what it
feels like to take that brick down and what the opposite of the brick is
saying. When Little “R” is struggling with a particular brick we can go to it
and look at the back. My hope is that eventually she will be able to start
peeling down the bricks. We talked about burning the bricks as she conquers them and she loves the idea.
Underneath the bricks is a big heart that "R" helped make. She chose what she thinks a heart should have in it and how much of it... She picked the following:
“R” was able to jump in with both feet on this project and
she was able to tell me lots of things that keep her wall up, which was hard work for her.
We then velco'd them to the board over the heart. All of these pains and hurts are keeping her from the peaceful heart she wants and we are going to work on breaking down this wall and getting rid of these bricks. If she is feeling any of these feelings she can take the brick off and look at the back and remind herself of the love we have for her. We eventually want to completely expose that heart for her.
It is now hanging in her bedroom.
I dug out “R” profile from our initial meeting and re-read it
with a fine tooth comb. I couldn’t believe the enormity of the pain she had
been through. They couldn’t write down everything on file, but what was there,
was clear that little R had suffered tremendous emotional pain. Things I missed when I first read the profile. I needed to
re-read that to remind myself that her anger and rage is a reaction to her trauma. I am going to do everything I can with God's help to give this girl a fighting chance to heal and help her tear down that wall she has put up!
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