My name is Craig J. Phillips and I am a traumatic brain injury survivor. My brain injury occurred when I was 10 years old in 1967. I sustained an open skull fracture, with right frontal lobe damage, a severe brain bruise with brain stem involvement. I remained in a coma for 3 weeks and in traction for 7-8 weeks to set my left femur that was fractured when I sustained my brain injury. Upon finishing traction, I was later placed in a full body cast and transferred to another hospital to have brain surgery.
Once my external wounds healed and I was able to teach myself – with the encouragement of family members, hard work, determination, persistence and most of all the grace of God — how to walk, talk, read, write and speak in complete sentences, I was mainstreamed back into elementary school. From that point in time, the invisible nature of my disability was never factored in to the difficulties that I experienced socially — which led to my being vulnerable to bullying. As I look back upon those years, I remember being very gullible and way too trusting.
Although I was not expected to be able to succeed beyond high school, I went on to obtain my undergraduate degree — in 10 years and 4 different majors — and my graduate degree — in 5 years and 2 different graduate schools. I possess a Masters degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.
In my experience, growing up with an invisible disability made me different. What made me different also made me an easy target to be bullied in grade school, junior high, high school and beyond. On February 6, 2007, I created a web log to share my experience, strength and hope on how I stopped being bullied and how I began to heal from the affects of being bullied. On July 29, 2011, I created a You Tube channel to share my articles through a video format. The articles that I write for Second Chance to Live and the Video Presentations that I create for my You Tube channel are each designed to inform and empower individuals — who like myself — have experienced being bullied during their lifetimes.
I believe in The Power of Identification.
Each of the articles that I write and the video presentations that I create are constructed from the power of identification to encourage, motivate, empower and instill hope. To date, I have written a total of 814 articles for Second Chance to Live. These articles are listed with in my Site Map for my Articles. To date, I have created a total of 27 video presentations for my Second Chance to Live 2dogbull channel. These video presentations are listed with in my Site Map for my You Tube Video Presentations.
I believe that both my articles and my you tube video presentations would be an excellent resource for individuals who are or have experienced being bullied. Please consider using both the articles and video presentations from Second Chance to Live as a resource on your web site.Thank you.
Note: I am not seeking personal gain through my articles, or from my You Tube video presentations. My motivation instead is to serve. As you read my articles and watch my You Tube video presentations and questions arise, please do no hesitate to ask. All questions are good questions.
Thank you for your time and have a rewarding day.
Craig
Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA
Second Chance to Live
www.secondchancetolive.wordpress.com
Our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but to build us up.
If you have any questions or would like to make a comment please use my Contact Information Page.
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