Lessons From David Kaczynski on Recovery From Trauma

I’ve posted the video of the third Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community (CRAIC) group meeting (held on November 3) on my website. I hope you’ll take time to view the video (it’s about an hour); feedback from participants suggests that this was the best CRAIC meeting we’ve yet had. I agree — David Kaczynski’s story is remarkable, not only for its courageousness, but also because of how he’s emerged from a highly traumatic experience with the commitment to help people who have also experienced trauma as a result of violence, illness or other circumstances.

David, as you may know, is the brother of Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber. As part of his healing process, David not only reached out to Ted’s victims to apologize for Ted’s actions, but also began to write poetry. He has recently published a book of these remarkable poems, A Dream Named You. During the Nov. 3 webinar, David and I spoke about his story and how creative expression is vital in coming to accept your altered life when it changes in terrible, unexpected ways, whether that is because of violence, chronic illness, death, or other situations.

Rather than telling you about the webinar myself, I’d like to share the message that photographer Ann Fantauzzi, who was one of our guests during our first webinar, sent me after the meeting. She captured this remarkable meeting extremely well.

“The discussion touched me personally as I felt my season of trauma and loss with losing not only my brother, but of the finality of family and being a mid-life orphan. Yet I was to enter the ultimate period of creativity, risk taking, and ambiguity. David said he felt he was the only one going through the feelings he had and I did too — even to this day sometimes.

“I listened to the webinar a second time and found I was emotionally drawn in and tearful as he spoke, and the discussion wound through ideas of recreating yourself. David’s struggle was personal in a way I can’t describe. I will probably listen to it at least one more time as I feel this was the best webinar yet dealing with the subject. I am really understanding all the concepts more fully and personally now and how they pertain to me. I think it is a struggle I am deeply involved in and his session and words brought it home to me clearly.”

I hope that you’ll also take the time to view the webinar because I think you’ll also gain tremendous insight from David’s story that you can bring to your own life. And please let me know how this affects you, either in the comments below, or by e-mailing me privately.

Adolescents with Autism: The Difficult Transition to Adulthood

At the time children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) reach their early teens, most families have stabilized. They have educational plans in place, have a good understanding of what the child and family needs, and recognize how to navigate educational, social, and medical systems when situations change.

However, as the child approaches legal adulthood at age 18, many families are thrown back into a crisis phase as they try to plan ahead for the child’s independence, further education, career, etc. This transition to adulthood can be difficult for the most resilient, experienced families, and most need assistance to successfully navigate this period.

This is the topic of a talk Dr. Fred Coulter and I are giving at the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) conference this Friday, Nov. 17, from 4:30–5:45 p.m. See conference.ocali.org/ for more information about this meeting.

We gave a similar talk last year at the Autism Society of America’s July 2009 conference, along with our colleague Dr. Sue Ann Hochberg. You can see our slides and handouts from that meeting at these links: Slides | Handouts

David Kaczynski’s Blog, Poetry Book

My friend David Kaczynski wrote a really nice blog for the Albany Times Union about our webinar on Oct. 3. You can read it here: http://blog.timesunion.com/kaczynski/trauma-and-creativity/226.

Also, he has just published a lovely book of his poetry, A Dream Named You. Learn more about the book, and his work on promoting community initiatives that address the root causes of violence and that provide meaningful assistance to those directly affected by violence. on his website, davidkaczynski.com

Creativity Group, Nov. 3, To Feature David Kaczynski

The third Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community (CRAIC) web-based meeting, November 3rd at 11 a.m. Eastern, will feature a very exciting guest: David Kaczynski. I’ve had the opportunity to present with David at numerous meetings and events and I’m very pleased that he’s agreed to participate in my next webinar and share his story and his experience with you.

Through his life and his work, David has sought solutions to human problems through understanding and compassion as opposed to violence and coercion. His story touches on the things we must learn and the balances we must achieve to develop meaning out of trauma and suffering, and to keep our sense of humanity alive through adversity and crisis.

In 1996, David, a social worker living in Schenectady, N.Y., had no idea the Unabomber could be the brother with whom he shared a bedroom growing up in Chicago. But when newspapers printed the Unabomber’s “manifesto,” David and his wife, Linda Patrik, recognized similarities to Ted’s ideas. David faced an almost unimaginable dilemma – he could turn in his brother knowing that he might be executed, or he could do nothing, knowing more innocent people could be harmed.

David chose the path of life by taking steps to stop the violence. His actions led FBI agents to the cabin in the Montana woods where Ted had been building bombs. Despite Ted’s history of mental illness, federal prosecutors sought the death penalty. It was only through the work of highly-skilled lawyers – an advantage often denied others facing capital prosecutions – that Ted was allowed to plead guilty and is now serving a life sentence in a federal penitentiary in Colorado.

After helping turning in his brother in 1996, David sought healing from his experiences by reaching out to Ted’s victims to apologize for his brother’s actions. He also began writing poetry as a creative outlet for his grief. During the webinar, he will discuss how creativity has played an important role in his recovery from trauma and loss and his decision to use his experiences to help others.

The CRAIC group meets periodically as a safe environment for sharing and getting feedback on artistic expression, and for learning to use creativity to develop a healthy response to chronic illness. There is no charge for participating, but you must register in advance.

Video From Second Creativity Group Posted

I’ve posted the video of the second Creativity, Resolution, Art, Illness & Community (CRAIC) group meeting (held on August 25) on my website. I hope you’ll take time to view the video (it’s a little less than an hour), as well as the video from our first meeting, and let me know what you think.

Some of the things that happened during the webinar include:

• Musicians Scott Petito and Beth Reineke offered great feedback on how they use innovation and improvisation in their art. You can also listen to their music on the same webpage where we posted the video from the August 25 meeting.
• We had a great talk about the five capacities of improvisation — 1. Tolerate ambiguity, 2. Take risks, 3. Become curious, 4. Improvise, and 5. Innovate. We asked participants what they thought were their strengths and weaknesses among these capacities and got some really interesting responses. None of the participants thought they were very good at tolerating ambiguity, so it was logical that most people thought that’s the area where they needed the most help.
• We also had a lot of questions about the difficulty of judging your own work and about sharing your work with others. Some people felt that the idea of “art for art’s sake” — doing something creative that you like, regardless of what other’s might think — is sufficient.
• Scott and Beth offered a lot of insight on the topics of ambiguity, getting started on a project and the benefit of sharing your work with others.

We intend to hold CRAIC meetings every other month and will soon announce a date for the next event. To receive notification about the next CRAIC meeting, join our e-mail list by contacting us — please note in the comments box that you would like to be added to the CRAIC e-mail list. We’ll also post the next date on the Events page on our website.