Judy and I on Dissociative Identities

Judy and I on Dissociative Identities

This program comes out of seeing one more untrained therapist postulate that folks with dissociative identities (formerly known as multiple personalities) are rare and dysfunctional or simply do not exist.   Judy and I are here to push back against this assumption that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  If you are a woman in Canada and haven’t heard of Judy Rebick, you haven’t been paying attention.  Judy is a Canadian writer, journalist, political activist, and is considered one of Canada’s leading feminists.  She was the former president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) and held the Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy.  She rubbed elbows and engaged with politicians in intense discussions.  She has been the TV host for CBC programs and was the founder and publisher for rabble.ca.  Judy is known as a vocal spokesperson to legalize abortion and taking on a protestor with a pair of garden shears pointed at Dr. Morgentaler.  She is the author of Heroes in My Head (2018) which outlines not just her political life but that of her personalities. 

And while my audience has come to know me over the years, for the purpose of this program it is important that I fill you in a bit more.  I am a graduate of Emily Carr University and an established visual artist, curator, and instructor.  I worked as a film production manager before becoming a peer support worker and consultant for those with childhood trauma and dissociative identities.  For 30 years, I have been an award-winning mental health advocate and am the host of this program which is Canada’s longest-running syndicated show on mental health where we disregard colonial-based ideas about mental health and the DSM.  I am a survivor of human trafficking and spent years speaking out against organized crime.  I currently provide peer support through TELL the Therapy Exploitation Link Line to survivors of therapy abuse and exploitation.  I am a public speaker providing workshops on TAE and facilitating peer support groups for fellow survivors.  And I have, like Judy, authored a memoir, Coming to Voice, which chronicles surviving an abuse therapist and the role my dissociative identities played in saving my life.

So to dispel the myth that folks with DI are fragile and dysfunctional, Judy and I are here to answer the questions sent into ReThreading Madness listeners of what DI is from our lived experience.