Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2346

Tonight's special guest is Travis Tillery from Jersey City, New Jersey, a survivor of child abuse who's first abuse happened when his father left his mother two weeks before Travis was born, which was identified years later by a therapist who explained this 'neglect' was a form of abuse. Travis relates, “My mother never re-married or had a boyfriend, so it was just me and her (no siblings). My first beating came at the age of 4. That was my first memory of anything. The physical abuse continued from there until I graduated high school (17). But it wasn’t just physical, there was verbal and psychological abuse too. That lasted into my adult years.” The abuse affected the way Travis would interact with other people. He could tell that he was mistreating other people from a young age. As he got older, it affected friendships and pretty much every aspect of his life. Travis continues, “I didn’t seek therapy until after I turned 30, and only went to a few sessions. I knew that wouldn’t be enough to heal the decades of trauma and negative emotions I was carrying with me. So recently I took a trip to Peru to participate in a 3-day Ayahuasca ceremony, in an effort to heal my wounds. I even shot a documentary about it, which I will be talking about in my guest appearance on the SCAN radio show. Because of this trip, I have a more stable relationship with my mother, coming from a place of understanding, knowing that we all have difficulties in our lives. It also helps that my mother has mellowed out tremendously since my youth.”