About
The purpose of this website is not to present a load of technical jargon / data, but moreover to shine a light on how early life trauma leaves so many behind in the journey of life, imprisoned by fear, mistrust and shame, and thus unable to be the person they were born to be… and what needs to be done to eliminate the moral crime of ignoring the issue ad infinitum…
Background
My name is Robert Driscoll, I live in Vancouver BC Canada and am the father of a wonderful 15 year old daughter who is with me Monday through Friday. I have complex PTSD as a result of severe childhood trauma and was unaware I suffered from it until later in life when it was discussed in the media. Up until then I had seen different therapists over the years but not one of them ever mentioned PTSD or significantly helped me in a lasting way.
I am a designer / maker of artisanal craft furniture (a store of value) and was told at age 14 I had enough musical talent to “sleep walk through Juliard”, one of the best music schools in the world. Most recently I was part of a wood working co-op for about four years – Wood Arts on Parker – located in Vancouver BC.
Why did I create Children of Trauma Society?
For three reasons primarily…
1) I created the society in order to lobby governments to include trauma therapy for people of all ages / races (under medicare) so that those individuals suffering from the sometimes completely debilitating / incapacitating life-long effects of childhood trauma in particular, which occurred as no fault of their own but by others who for one reason or another failed to love, care and protect that child, don’t have to go through life crippled by untreated PTSD like I did.
Many of the people who die from a fentanyl overdose are in fact committing suicide, but the official – media / government – narrative is “death by bad drugs”. Bottom line? It’s cheaper to say they died because of “bad drugs” than to confront the reality of the situation… Many people who self medicate with tobacco, alcohol and drugs are in fact afflicted with untreated PTSD as a result of childhood trauma and quite frankly, are not able to cope with life as your average undamaged human being is able to. My friend Frank Williams was able to cope with life to a degree, that being the degree to which he was crippled and broken as a young boy in the Aboriginal Residential School System. And who in the end (after years of self medicating with alcohol), according to his brother Dance Williams, willfully went to the Vancouver Downtown Lower East Side one day to: “buy drugs to end his life.”
And why do some overdose victims show up at hospital emergency wards several times a day on the brink of death only to be revived each time if they are lucky (CBC News reports / Vancouver General Hospital)? The sad truth is, the majority of these overdose victims suffer from childhood related complex PTSD, have never been treated and are unable to adequately cope with life anymore on account of the emotional pain they carry inside. Or put another way… the next world can’t be anymore hurtful than this one has been to many of them. And so in this state of hopeless internal brokenness, the only way they see to end their suffering, is by leaving this world.
Furthermore, why has very little been done to end the epidemic of drug overdose deaths / suicides in Canada and elsewhere with BC on track this year (2022) to exceed the 2021 death toll of 2,224? Why? Anecdotally, an elderly doctor near retirement once shared with me: “I have connections in Ottawa and they have told me, ‘There are those higher up in Ottawa whose attitude is… these people need to be culled’”. In other words, those among us (brothers, sisters, parents, children etc) who take drugs to: ameliorate physical pain resulting from an injury – and accidentally od on fentanyl – or, to self medicate the emotional pain of childhood trauma are considered by some politicians to be “not worth saving”, and as such are privately classified as… “worthless, throw away, people”.
By way of analogy, the fundamental attitude / lack of understanding of some people about the effects of childhood trauma and the ensuing PTSD (possible) goes something like this: imagine someone comes upon a pedestrian hit by a car, they stop their car not to help the injured victim but to get out and berate them for delaying their trip, and then demand that the victim haul them self off the road… unassisted.
And if the preceding anecdote sounds a bit “over the top” then think on this: “How often have I said to you, when looking for the truth if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
And so is it possible that provincial / federal government leaders are “completely unaware” that nearly 2,224 souls / 6 people per day perished in BC alone in 2021 from self medicating the effects of childhood trauma with street drugs, or used street drugs because they no longer had access to prescription pain killers and died accidentally?
No it is not possible that they are unaware of the situation.
And so if it’s impossible that politicians are unaware of the continuing and ever escalating death toll… why is little being done to change this crime against those crippled by childhood trauma?
The only logical conclusion is… because some of those same leaders are completely lacking in compassion / empathy, or could care less or both.
To be fair, some provincial governments have enacted various initiatives ostensibly to “curb” the death toll but the net effect is (to reiterate)… last year in British Columbia alone (2021), 2,224 people died from overdose and the province is on track to exceed that many deaths this year (2022).
If it’s helping… why are more people dying each year?
Again, some might say: it is unbelievable that our political leaders could act in such a compassionless and inhuman way.
“It is the small secrets that need to be protected. The big ones are kept secret by public incredulity.” – Marshal McCluhan
2) The second reason / purpose is this: do talented people / would be successful entrepreneurs with PTSD as a result of childhood trauma deserve an opportunity to contribute to society and be a part of the economy? If the answer is yes, then how can they be a part of the economy if governments and financial institutions won’t fund them by way of loans / grants, thus effectively ignoring an invisible minority?
And so Children of Trauma Society will lobby governments and financial institutions to enact inclusive funding legislation to ensure that talented would be entrepreneurs with PTSD have the opportunity to get the same funding others get to start a business and be a part of the economy. To not fund such talented people is moral crime.
3) Additionally, and of equal importance to items 1 / 2 (and as funds permit), COTS will pay for traditional talk therapy and where indicated, psychedelic assisted therapy for those diagnosed with and suffering from “treatment resistant PTSD”. And so if conventional therapy has been ineffective in treating a person with PTSD and the subject is assessed to more than likely benefit from psychedelic assisted therapy, that person will have the opportunity to take part in state of the art psychedelic assisted psychotherapy as being developed by private sector wellness corporations like Numinus (in conjunction with Health Canada) who are headquartered inVancouver, and who are now licensed – for example – to treat people suffering from depression with Ketamine.
Donations and a proposed business run by Children of Trauma Society will generate those funds.
In addition (following successful trial studies in conjunction with Heath Canada / soon to be completed), Numinus will also be treating people with: substance abuse disorder (psilocybin assisted therapy), treatment resistant PTSD (MDMA assisted therapy) and depression (Ketamine assisted therapy).
