5 Years Ago

Five years ago Keepers and their then current therapist decided they had to report their previous therapist to the State Board. In just a few months of therapy with this new therapist it was becoming obvious that she did not agree with the treatment Keepers had received or it's far reaching effects into how Keepers were functioning, or not functioning.

After 17 years with the previous therapist there was an awful lot of barriers to be broken down, because after 17 years he had firmly entrenched his "truths" and "methods" into keepers everyday life style. We began in earnest to read how others had been treated, what worked and didn't work for them. Granted, the therapist who helped Keepers see how horribly wrong the former therapist's treatment was had a short tenure as Keeper's new therapist, yet what she did and offered was huge. She was not familiar with MPD but she did one thing the former had not...she asked other therapists what they knew of it, how it s/b treated, etc. She and Keepers came to the realization that he was in fact harming patients, not only MPD patients but possibly others with his unacceptable treatments and behaviors. What was odd was this therapist had seen the former therapist as part of a couple for sessions on couple's therapy and decided he was sociopathic in his behaviors.

Yesterday the culmination of these five years of waiting came to fruition as the hearing, thrice receiving continuances in the last several months, finally came to be. As we arrived at the hearing room, in our state capital, Keepers were obviously nervous. We had been told he was not going to appear, that his two lawyers he had engaged to defend him had advised him he had no chance to win this decision, but still, what if he was just pulling another of his maneuvers, another trick, what then? As we sat outside the hearing room, the state's expert witness, a psychologist with 30 years of experience in treating multiples and dissociatives came up to keepers and said "this must be horribly difficult for you" and right then I think both Keepers and I knew they would see it through even if the former therapist showed up.

Here was the state's expert, who continued talking to Keepers for 10 or 15 more minutes, saying he understood, he had already read the written documents, he had already decided how he would testify, and he was recognizing how difficult this would be for Keepers, to go before authority figures, a judge, lawyers, investigators in a legal setting and testify about the their former therapist, his treatment, his behaviors, and the effects it had on keepers and those around them. Here was someone to validate what they had come to discover, that they were hurt by his treatments, that they were the victims.

When Keepers were called to the witness stand they bravely went up there, they answered the questions put forth by the attorney, for over an hour they testified. They were strong, they shed some tears, they persevered. They made it through the testimony. They walked back to me and we sat down and I put my arms around their shoulder and held them, telling them how wonderful they did. The tears welled up in their eyes, this had been a tremendously difficult 5 years, that finally came to an end. No decision about discipline of the therapist has been made yet, that will come several months down the road. But, keepers did all that they had set out to do, with grace and dignity, they has testified, they has stood up for themselves, for others he might otherwise have treated in the future and possibly others he has treated in the past. Littles saw the adults and teens stand up for all keepers from baby on up, to tell publicly in a legal setting, what they had endured. Over fifty years ago and onward, no one listened to keepers, so the abuse continued into the bodies adult life, for therapists can be as abusive as childhood perpetrators.

As keepers regained their composure the expert witness took the stand and we listened as he testified that the therapy was incompetent, it was neglectful, it was unprofessional, that he displayed seductive and sensual overtones in his writing to keepers; I could go on but I think you get the gist of where I am going. He was a bad therapist, not only in treatment but in ethics and it has been corroborated.

When the hearing was over, the lawyers, the executive in charge of the state board, the expert witness all came to keepers and thanked them for their testimony, for bringing this to their attention, for being brave over the last five years, for coming to the hearing and then telling them how well they did in their testimony.

They were proud of keepers, for enduring, for riding the storm out.

I cannot tell you how proud I am of them.

I know they hold their heads a little higher today and they should, they deserve to, they earned the right to.


john michael