Janie was only 7 years old when her uncle began using her to make pornographic videos that he sold on the internet. He made Janie promise not to tell anyone but when he set his sights on her younger sister, Janie could no longer keep this horrible secret. Ultimately, her uncle was arrested and sentenced to prison.

But that wasn't the end of her suffering.

Two years later, Janie still suffered the effects of the abuse. She had chronic thoughts of self-harm.  She often wet her bed, resisted bathing, and acted out when challenged by her mom or teacher. Fortunately, Janie and her mom were connected to Corbett Trauma Center.

Janie developed a good rapport with her therapist, and was able to talk about school issues, friends, and family. She moved quickly through exercises about identifying feelings and the behaviors associated with them. She was ready to begin a final step in her therapy, the development of her trauma narrative, in which she would write out her story. But it was difficult for her to understand the value of telling her story.

Janie's therapist provided her with a metaphor to help her through the process. She told her to imagine her trauma as a large piece of ugly, dry clay. She told her, "We are going to chip away at this clay until all that remains is dust and pieces. When you stumble upon a piece of the clay, it won't upset you to pick it up and throw it away."

It took weeks, but Janie and her therapist worked line by line on her narrative. When the day came for Janie to tell her story, she read it to her mom and therapist with courage and conviction.  She expressed that she was no longer worried that her abuser would escape from prison and come after her, and that she was proud she had saved her sister from him.

At the time of her discharge, Janie had completely stopped having violent thoughts.  Her behavior at home and in school had improved greatly. Several sessions included her mother, and they practiced appropriate communication. They discussed the lump of clay, and the traumatic event she had successfully processed. She told her mom, "I smashed that lump of clay to smithereens!"