By As Shannon DeGrooms often shares, she needed a gun to her head to try cannabis for Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), often referred to as childhood post-traumatic stress disorder. . But her story really started with a traumatic lineage. DeGrooms eventually healed herself with plants and now helps others heal.
In her later years, at the age of 27, she came out to her mother and stepfather at a Chinese restaurant.
“It was our tradition to read our fortunes out loud at the end of the meal. ’ she shared. “I’ve dated guys, but I’ve never really felt safe with them. I’ve always been in love with my girlfriend. Is that what it says on your fortune cookie?!”
Founded by DeGrooms Jane project To help other women who may be in the same situation as her, trauma survivors, women across the female spectrum have helped emotionally and physically, provided emotional support and provided cannabis to those in need. provide a compassionate care program that provides an access point for
“After helping me with this plant, I realized that there must be other people who need to know as much as I do,” says DeGrooms. “I needed to challenge the stigma against women and non-binary women taking cannabis. It has a wide range of potential applications, and it makes sense.”
correct a mistake
DeGroom’s own CPTSD began as a result of childhood sexual abuse by a close family member.
“The person who sexually abused me smoked weed every day,” she said. “My abusers told me that they did these things to me because they were on drugs.
Born in South Carolina, her mother moved her and her siblings to New Jersey when she was 14. That same year she tried smoking cannabis, but she didn’t enjoy it much.
“I felt uncomfortable, but at the time I didn’t understand what anxiety was,” she said. “I started clubbing in New York when I was 17. I found solace in underground nightclubs. Now I realize that I was hurting myself again by dancing promiscuously and professionally.” She was picked up on the street and handed a modeling contract, but chose drugs instead.
Her clubbing life lasted 10 years until she was 27. She took ketamine and ecstasy daily, which only numbed the pain and did nothing to alleviate the pain or deal with the trauma.
“Everyone tried to help me, from school counselors to therapists, but I thought maybe I was too smart,” she laughs. “I was prone to fights and depression, and the medication didn’t help much, but it did help mask everything.”
She says Narcotics Anonymous (NA) has helped her tap into her inner power and get off drugs.
“I went clean in rehab and stayed clean for 10 years,” she said. Being was my life, my identity.”
Then in 2016, everything changed when she was hit by a car while walking down the street where she lived in Oakland, California.
“I had several surgeries for various reasons,” she explained. I was forced to have nasal problems, a missing nasal septum, I couldn’t recognize myself and couldn’t leave the house for seven months. I did.”
The assailant took her to the middle of the road with a Glock pistol behind her head.
“He took my wallet and my car,” she said. “The car was found a few days later, but the immense trauma that ensued caused everything I had been unable to deal with in the past.”
Adding to her trauma, the thief, who still had her keys and address, returned to her house and unsuccessfully tried to rob her of a second car, destroying it instead. became.
“In 48 hours I moved to Los Angeles,” she said. “I was distressed when a friend suggested I try cannabis for PTSD from the incident. I will never do drugs again! But when I did, a whole new world opened up.”
Eventually, she made it to Northern California’s Humboldt County, the cannabis capital of the world, where her friend Dave Stanley, who grew cannabis, taught her about plants and being a farmer.
“Since then I’ve been up a few times helping with the crops,” she added. “The variety Sunset Sherbert changed me. It woke me up, I felt productive, and it motivated me to create The This is Jane Project.”
cannabis in recovery
Her suspicions, on the other hand, told her that NA people who had supported her over the years would think she was crazy for adding cannabis to her recovery program. Her plants helped her a lot, but she lost many of her NA friends because of this.
“I need to stigmatize plants not only for the greater good of so many suffering, but also to show recovering people that plants may be the right choice for them too. did.
The main terpenes in Sunset Sherbert are caryophyllene, limonene and humulene. It’s important to look at the terpene profile rather than jumping into the uplifting Sativa or subdued Indica myth.
Caryophene has the unique ability to bind to the CB2 receptors and reduce anxiety. Limonene is also found in citrus fruits and is said to reduce stress and improve mood. Humulene is also found in hops, the raw material in beer, and has a relaxing effect. It is also said to enhance creativity and calm the mind.
Beneficial plants have a scent. We are drawn to the plants that keep us healthy and happy and that are needed to create body homeostasis, or a place where disease cannot live.
Revolution is Trauma Informed
The project started as a social media photo and messaging campaign. Documenting the women and their stories, she captured them in stunning black and white. This shows that there are no gray areas in this conversation.
Home Gathering will take place in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn, New York, with more cities planned as donations come in. Art therapy among other healing modes.
Lifelong traumatized women and non-binary people have come forward, some of whom have experienced intimate partner violence and others who have experienced sexual trauma. A woman who was stabbed 20 times held up her shirt at a rally to show she was alive and how grateful she was for Janes.
“Survivors seemed to get a lot out of gatherings and having portraits shared with their stories, but then had little support other than friendship and connection. COVID lockdown We paused just before and decided it clearly needed something more than a social media campaign.
After being reorganized into a non-profit organization, they added compassionate care and the company donated products provided through a program called “Survivors Without Access.”
“We also have a monthly free healing happy hour on the 4th Wednesday of each month, with Janes from all over the country joining us on Zoom,” she said. She wrote, “Nurse Heather Manus, herself a trauma survivor, also helped me with cannabis and talked about post-traumatic growth. I did mindful movement yoga. Seche, talk about overcoming imposter syndrome and plan more.
“This project helped a lot of people, but it helped me too,” she speculated. “I now stand up for myself and trust myself enough to attract the right people into my life. We cannot silence the voices and truths of .In that regard, we are all Jane, and we can move forward and heal together.”
For more information on This is Jane Project, visit https://thisisjaneproject.com/
Follow @thisisjaneproject on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
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