Intermountain Moment: Camden’s Story

Ten-year-old “Camden’s” mom was highly abused throughout her life. In fact, horrific abuse goes back three or four generations in their family. Camden’s mom is both hyper-protective and terrified of her children’s emotions. Camden and his mother needed help to keep their small family together. Intermountain’s Community-based Services provided that help.

Camden has a “light up the world” smile, according to his Intermountain therapist. When he first came into therapy, he had one emotion that he was willing to express: happy. As he progressed in treatment though, he became willing to express other big emotions. He learned to do this by hiding under his therapist’s desk and building a fort of pillows around himself. His therapist would try to guess his big emotion that day. When the therapist got it right, Camden would burst out of his fort, sending the pillows flying.

At the same time that Camden was learning how to safely express emotions other than happy, his mom was doing the same. She was taking Intermountain’s Circle of Security parenting class, learning to be “Bigger, Stronger, Wiser, and Kind” for her kids. In the past, her immediate reaction to her kids’ strong feelings was anger. She’s now learned how to talk to her kids instead of yell and scream. In a recent joint therapy session, Camden was able to sit in his mom’s lap and just “be sad.” It was a breakthrough for them both.

While it used to take almost an hour for Camden’s therapist to get him to express his emotions, it now only takes a few minutes. At home things are better too. Camden’s mom is continuing to improve the way she reacts to her kids’ strong emotions. She now has a steady job. She’s determined to break the cycle of generations of abuse in her family, and Intermountain’s determined to help her succeed.

When you support Intermountain, you are helping hundreds of children like Camden, and you help families be more successful. For more information or to support Intermountain, call 406-457-4804.

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