Janet's Advocacy for Authentic Dialogue and Healing

My name is Janet, and the last name has been changed for many reasons. As I speak and have an open discussion, many will understand my opening statement, and for those who do not, it will be made clear. I was raised in Detroit, Michigan and lived in a multigenerational home and in that home, there were many gifts given to me. My grandmother was the Matriarch of the family. We lived with our aunties, uncles, cousins and anyone who needed a place to sleep.

I was raised knowing most of my adolescent years that my uncle was gay. He sat the children down and explained to us what homosexuality meant and why he had so many challenges in the neighborhood. However, for us as children, we heard him and went outside to play because the information he had just shared with us did not change who he was to us. He was actually the person in the home who taught most of us how to be ladies (including girls in the neighborhood). He would give us tips on how a lady should sit and how she should present herself in public. He did all of this as an active alcoholic. As I got older, I realized that I was living in a home of addicts and alcoholics—adults who had experienced some horrific trauma!

However, they managed to provide their own kind of love. We grew up on a street called “Mark Twain” that looked out for all of the children in the neighborhood. I do not believe anyone went hungry. We grew up in a home where homophobia was not considered a word. I did not know the meaning of such a word until I was an adult.

I became an alcoholic and have at least 25 years of sober time, this includes the break I took for the horrible relapse. However, I continue to honor my years of sobriety. I continue to talk about my lived experience and want to share it with you all and have open dialog or speak only, whichever is best for your environment. I am very familiar with being able to pivot.

I have worked for the homeless, substitute teaching, child-welfare, and domestic violence. My biography is not cookie-cutter, it is real, honest, authentic and safe!

I am a high school dropout, I am a woman with three college degrees (may I add that my major education came from my lived experiences), and am a woman who was a teenage mother. I am a woman here to bring us to a higher vibration concerning the below-mentioned subjects and more!

1. Trauma Informed Care
2. Domestic Violence
3. Generational habits
4. Different ways of healing
5. Culturally Specific Matters, “Strong Black Woman”, and “I don’t need a man” just to name a few (the list is long)
6. Parenting adult children and making amends for raising our children based on our trauma reactions
7. How to deal with being hurt by people and systems that may have hurt you when you went for safety
8. Toxic work/romantic environment (understanding you’re okay, to not be okay)
9. Black men, we have not forgotten about you!
10. LGBTQ+