Helping Buddy Home

The Heart of Bella’s Story

Understanding Bella’s Journey with CPTSD

Bella (a pseudonym used to protect her identity) is a registered nurse who has spent nearly a decade on the frontlines, including an exhausting year serving in COVID-19 wards. While she has dedicated her career to saving others, her own journey has been a testament to resilience following severe childhood trauma.

Medical Support for Autism, OSDD, and ADHD

After years of misdiagnoses, Bella finally receives accurate clinical support for several complex, intersecting conditions: CPTSDComplex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Resulting from prolonged trauma, this causes debilitating flashbacks triggered by everyday events. Buddy is being trained to neutralize these flashbacks and provide immediate grounding., AutismAutism Spectrum Disorder: This impacts her sensory processing and social navigation, often making the world feel overwhelming and overstimulating. Buddy will offer sensory regulation and deep pressure therapy to reduce overload., OSDDOtherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder: These are conditions where a person’s identity and memory fragment (as personalities called alters) as a subconscious defense mechanism to survive extreme trauma. Buddy provides a consistent grounding presence during dissociation., and ADHDAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Which further complicates her cognitive processing and daily structure. Buddy helps by enhancing structure and providing a calming influence that improves focus.. Her daily reality involves managing intense sensory overwhelm and dissociative triggers. As she describes it:

“It’s like being on a bus, and the driver changes while the others watch from their seats.”

Read her full, detailed story here...