I wrote my story in first person, present tense, and shared my experience as a teen ripped from their bed, taken to treatment, and left in the desert at a Troubled Teen Facility, expected not to return home until I was CHANGED.

I wrestled with how to share my story. Would I choose to bear it all and be brave? Or would I choose the path with less potential risk but potentially help fewer people? This book is not written for the faint of heart. From the first few pages, I write about deep traumas. It took me some time to trust my gut, be brave, and honestly tell my story of what it felt like to be a teen, woken up in the middle of the early morning and being physically transported and dropped off at a program.

Writing my story as a memoir would mean everyone will know who I am deeply, to my core, or at least who I was as a heartbroken teenager searching for love and validation. Nobody would know I was broken if I wrote it as a fictional story.

Writing my story cloaked as a work of fiction felt easier; it may help some people, but mostly, they will just read this story as a fable that could happen if a teen chooses to rebel instead of heal.

Please know that I am doing this scared…

As a therapist, I practice the narrative approach because I feel our stories, or at least the ones we tell ourselves, directly impact our view of the world.