John-Michael discusses the challenges of finding the right type of therapy when dealing with trauma. He highlights that every survivor has their own unique journey and that a generalized approach may not work for everyone. He shares his personal experience of feeling defensive and unsafe during therapy sessions, especially since some of his traffickers were therapists themselves. He emphasizes that it is important to find a therapist who is trauma-informed and to speak up if therapy is not working for you. John-Michael also stresses the importance of getting to the core of the problem and not just skimming the surface, which may not be beneficial in the long run.
What happens when therapy isn't working or is not right for you I experienced this this was one of the situations that I faced uh because part of the traffickers that I was involved with were therapists and so I had to deal with that when I would go into a therapy session so I carried that that defensiveness with me all as soon as I walked into their office and I never felt safe I always felt that there was gonna it was going to turn into something else that had happened when I was going through the trafficking issues and so I think what we need to recognize is that each Survivor has their own unique way of healing and and their journey is based on their own needs and I really get um upset when people tell me that there is a a generalized fix for all because it can't be because we all have got to find our way and we all have got to find what works for us and so in my case I would go in and I would deal with the therapist and if I got past that initial defensiveness I would start figuring out one or two things they were either just skimming the top of the surface and they weren't willing to go deeper in to find out what was causing the issue and I didn't want to be there so I tried to get out of it but any way I could the other way is that I started to learn what they wanted me to say and how they wanted me to say it and I became very good at it so that I would go in and I would just blurt out exactly what they wanted so that I could get out of the room as quickly as and as efficiently as I could it never worked for me because we never got to the core of what was the problem and I think that's something we need to work on and a lot of time I think a lot of therapists and and it's getting so much better today are not trauma informed so sometimes going into a therapist the way they ask questions and the way they presented can be re-victimizing for the Survivor so we need to be able to listen to that I feel that if you I I think all therapy is beneficial to whatever extent that you need it to be but go in and if you feel uncomfortable or if you feel that you're not getting your money's worth it's time to address the issue because maybe that therapist is not right for you and then you need to find another one or find another procedure that works for you
