At fourteen years of age, the last thing Sonya wanted to do was live for four more years under the direct line-of-sight supervision of her mother. Since Sonya was nine years old, her mother would not let her ride her bike or learn any sport. She was allowed outside after school and on weekends, but only if her mother could directly supervise her.
Five years previous, Sonya’s mom, Tamara was told by her doctors that Sonya had in inoperable brain tumor and that it was possible that a blow to her head could be fatal. What loving mother wouldn’t want to wrap her daughter in plastic bubble wrap at that point? But Sonya was suffocating in that loving wrap and soon was referred to therapy for her rage and her frequent bouts of refusing to speak.
Carson’s In Home Therapy started slowly, with Sonya refusing to talk and Tamara nervously describing what their lives are like and what she hoped they could be like. Eventually, Sonya agreed to meet alone with her therapist, as long as they could go outside and walk, maybe even throw a ball around.
The steps were slow over the course of two years. A helmet was bought, Tamara shed many tears facing her fears at her—and every parent’s—ultimate inability to protect her children from the world’s hard surfaces and sharp edges. But she also saw her child was longing to grow and her anger grew with the size of her longing. Tamara cried when she realized she couldn’t remember the sound of Sonya’s laughter. And so she unwrapped her.
Sonya now rides her bike right out of her mother’s sight. She rides down the street as her home becomes smaller and smaller behind her and her horizon grows bigger. Then she turns around in time to be home for dinner, helmet on.
Sonya just tried out for the track team. Yet the most significant change her mother and her Carson IHT notice is how she speaks up for herself in school. Sonya questions all uses of authority by her teachers; it’s not really an effective approach to achieving success in school, but it is an important step in her growth and healing. Her constant challenging of every rule and limitation certainly annoys her teachers but they all know how important it is for Sonya to insist that she know why it is exactly she can’t do a thing because Sonya is becoming a young woman who can, with a mother and an IHT who supports her.
By JAC Patrissi
