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FEATURE,/TRAUMA DlsoRDERs
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EMERGING from a
**tT
Traumatic Past BY LIZ SPIKOL
A I-SS-{G -J*URNNY
*F
FiNAL!hIG
LilA*S T* ACTIVISM
There were three of them, and they took turns sexually assauLting her for hours
ancy Minadeo Flanigan was a fresh-faced zz-year-oLd when she
"lwas terrified that lwas going
Left Pennsylvania in 1964 to join the
Peace Corps. Her hometown newspaper ran an article
-
"Erie Woman
Monday for Malaysia"
-
to Leave
her famity,
my life," she recalls.
along with
The men attempted to smother her
with a pillow so she went Limp to make them think she was dead Then they Left.
shirt and a wide, warm grin A graduate of an aLL-girls Catholic
Nancy was taken to the viLlage clinic.
high school and a Catholic women's college, Nancy didn't know much
"l
was in a Lot of mental and physical
pain,' she recaLLs 'l couLd
about the world beyond her cloistered
hardLy walk
wanted to do some good. The Peace
because of the violence I had never had any sexualexperience - | was so
Cnrnc coornod tho irjoal nath
sheltered
experience She just knew that she
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who'd majored in speech pathology
-
found the experience fascinating "l
was assrgned to a verY remote
-
it was awfuL,"
To make matters worse, Nancy soon
At the beginning, the novice teacher
-
to represent
to be murdered, and that this was the last thing I was going to experience in
a photo of her in a white high-collar
vvl
Nancy wears her people pin
weeks Later, a doctor told her:
"WeLL
Nancy this is the best way this could have ended. You never have to think
about it again Don't talk about it just go on with your [ife." Nancy didlust that
-
she got
married, had chiLdren, and got a master's
Learned she was pregnant. The Peace
degree in social work. But she struggLed
Corps told her she could only finish out
with depression, flashbacks, and triggerinduced breakdowns. When her sons were 6 and B, her husband told her he couLdn't deaL with her post-traumatic
her second year if she got an abortion
something she felt she couldn't bring
fishing viLlage on the South China Sea
-
and it was so beautiful there," she says "l taught hearing-impaired kids in an
herself to do. "lt had to do with not wanting to
eLementary schooL, in their language,
add violence to something that was so violent," she says, "l Loved being
symptoms and wanted a divorce "He said, 'lt's been 10 Years and You should be over this by now" she reca[[s.
alive. I Love seeing flowers and snow,
Her husband also told her sons
and I taught EngLish to neighborhood kids, and that was really fun. I was invited to weddings and cultural events. I was
and lwanted to give this child that
what happened to their mother, and that
realLy a part of the communitY."
opportunity"
"your mom has mental Problems." The boys were too young to
But it was not to be The babY
But Less than a year after she arrived, a girl
hand on her shoulder and men's voices.
devastated. At a postnatal checkup
4 heal.
Sh*ppard Prati ileai.th Sy*t*r"n
-
-
was stillborn, and NancY was
Nancy was awakened one night bY a
understand. but not too young to retain the information The effect of
FEATU RE,/TRAU MA DISORDERS
their father's words wouLd reverberate
concern for each individuaL. They worked
throughout their
wonderfully as a team, and they're
Lives.
just, they're
Nancy was in and out of a
a[L
mensches. They never
There is hope. There is a road ahead. In fact, Nancy was so moved by
her care at Sheppard Pratt that when
psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh for
made us feel Less-than, or ashamed of
she created a memorial in honor of her
years, but the treatment never helped.
ourseLves."
Late daughter to benefit an inner-city Catholic school in Baltimore, she paid
This was certain[y true when
There was no discussion of her traumatic past. lnstead, her symptoms were
Nancy unexpectedLy found herself back
attributed to her divorce and Living in poverty. The staffwas unkind, and she found the whole exoerience of
at Sheppard Pratt a
hospitaLization "damag ng." i
Littl"e
more than a
year after she finished her five weeks at The Trauma Disorders Program "The following faLL, lwas stitl
tribute to the people working at The Trauma Disorders Program. "l've contributed 323 new books to the school," she says. "One of them is in
honor of the staff here at Sheppard Pratt"
having troubLe, and the triggering
That book is an alphabet book with each
on the road to recovery, first with a
factors always blindside me, which is
supportive and trauma-informed
why they are [triggersl," she says. "l was
letter in a different quitt pattern. "l chose a quilt because quilts cover you and
theraoist, and then with a five-week
having a hard time again, so I came back
protect you and give you warmth and
stay in the inpatient unit of The Trauma
in lto The Trauma Disorders Programl."
security, and that's what these people [in
Disorders Program at Sheppard Pratt
It
It
wasn't until zoo3 that she started
in zoo8, which she credits with providing
was hard for Nancy to come back; "l
she felt ashamed, somehow.
her with insight into what was happening
was so upset that I came back in. I said, 'l failed,'
to her, and with the tools to handle
and they said, 'No, no, you're just in for
it.
"lt's an amazing, caring,
The Trauma Disorders Programl did."
Nancy is proud that, along with
the books, she continues to raise funds to support the schoolas well - which to her activism around the
a tune-up."'That way of contextuaLizing
is in addition
compassionate, nurturing, safe
the experience was very helpfuL, 'A
Long-term, intergenerationaL impact
environment," she says. "One of the
tune-up, I Liked that, lt's a very different
of trauma.
things I do a lot that I Learned at
way of saying, 'There's nothing wrong
Sheppard Pratt is I ground myself. I say,
with you. lt's not you. This is a
men conquered my body, but not
'Okay, I'm here. lt's Monday. lt's U.N Day.
normal thing
my spirit," she says. "My baby's Life is
"'
Nancy found much solace in
"l can say now, those three
I'm in Baltimore l'm safe" But as she points out, such
working with Patti Prugh the senior
mindfulness tools could, in theory, be
art theraoist for The Trauma Disorders
and that's anotherway I'm taking control. It's part of my heaLing journey, and
picked up elsewhere The enormous
Program. She kept
I Love
impact of Sheppard Pratt was a result of
created through art therapy and stiL[
the artwork she
Looks at it for inspiration. "lt's
the employees, she says. "lt's their attitude and the boundaries
they set for a safe environment that's a
tremendous part of the healing
aLL
-
their
touching the Lives of lother] famiLies,
it.'*
just colored
tissue paper," she says marveling at how such simple art material could be transformed into a powerfuL reminder:
sheppardpratt.org heat. 5
