My Shadow

Dr John Flynn

Christian
I am sitting waiting on my doctors appointment and I am reminded why I am here again. A young girl who looks to be younger than Mia walks out of the doctors office and the woman with her kisses dr Flynn and I am reminded of the family photos, but I never saw this young girl in them. He tells me to come in his office. I ask him if that was his wife and daughter?

Dr Flynn
That's my wife, but that's our foster child that we took in to raise. She's been having a few issues. We just got her from another foster family who couldn't deal with her and returned her. Like she was a purchase or something that was defective. Anyway have you tried practicing your touch sensitivity and how has it gone?

Christian
I did and Mia thought I was crazy, but mom said it was something so that I could be touched without the pain and my attacking the person touching me. I was able to have Mia touch my back and chest for five minutes each. I then had my mom try and I used my mind to travel to another place while holding her hands on my body. She cried when she realized I was allowing her touch. At first it was painful, but I stop thinking of anything but my happy places.

Dr. Flynn
Okay I want to test my theory out. Unbutton your shirt I want to test your touch issues. Don't hit me please. I have him meet me halfway and I have him place my hand on his chest very slowly. He places it on his no go area and winces and finally looks me in the eyes and tears are falling. I start to move my hand but he chooses to hold it there for ten minutes. I take my hand off the child's chest and tell him to button up. I tell him he has done very good and he needs to continue this until he can be touched without pain or hurting others. We have appointments three times a week and his fighting has stopped. He's been getting better and he's realized that he has to work on the psychological part that sends signals to his body where he was abused. We have made some progress but

Grace
Christian came home and tried to hug me and he said he needed me to stand still and let him. He pulled my arms around him and at first he winced but then relaxed. He said he needed to get the pain out of his head. After five minutes he still had me hold him and then after another five minutes we stopped and I got hand handkerchiefs. He said Dr Flynn has been helping a great deal. The pain from being touched is mostly PTSD related and he has to go to another place in his mind. A place he has happy thoughts about. I am glad we found Dr Flynn. Carrick was right in everything he said about getting him to see a trained psychiatrist for his fighting. Of course Carrick has seen teens fighting end up behind bars and he knew that Christian was only reacting to being bullied by kids who knew about his touch issues. Manual labor wasn't going to solve his touch issues. We grounded him though.

Carrick
I come home and put my briefcase in my office and head to wash up for supper and change clothes. Apparently the last three months have been crazy in this neighborhood, but I was glad I stood my ground on Christian's behalf and getting him psychiatric help. I couldn't see where having him do manual labor was going to help him with anything. His grades would have slipped. He could have ended up in Elena's classroom of BDSM tortures. Richard was not aware of her activities but his private investigators were very thorough. Apparently Elena had photos of our children in swim suits. I was notified by a friend of mine, he said that they weren't her only targets though. They were able to identify most of her victims though, the ones she found since she moved into our neighborhood. They questioned her husband and he had no clue until he hired the private detective to investigate her activities. He only had the information that the detective gave him and he gave the police permission to go into the home when one of the boys arrived and that was how they found her. A lot of evidence came from that search.

Grace
I guess I look through glasses with a rose tint, Carrick doesn't have those. I was thinking things through and after this I will use my gut instincts like I do at work and be suspicious about people's motives. I have to use them when dealing with small patients and I am very rarely wrong about my instincts about children being abused. Carrick told that I had to have something nagging me about it in the back of my mind otherwise I wouldn't have asked him what he thought of it as a punishment. He said that manual labor is what must have prevented me from agreeing to it. Because I could have him do manual labor here in my garden but I just didn't think he would learn anything good from it. So we decided to solve the fighting problem with mental health help. It all stemmed from being abused as a tiny boy. After months of intense therapy he has stopped his fighting and has allowed himself to be touched by us, his doctors and they will have group therapy sessions with others with similar issues and touch in a non sexual manner on the places that they were scarred by the abuse. Of course not in private parts. Just like men touching mens chest. Then arms, legs and they do hug therapy. It can be traumatic but it's supposed to help with eventual recovery and future intimacy with their mates. The group is made up of minors only. There are three doctors overseeing the group and ready to sedate the patients if needed. Of course parents are welcome to view the group sessions. This is done with all patients and their parents permission. A lot don't agree to it.