My Healing Journey- Chris Cook

I wanted to present my story and my healing with my trauma! As I walk you through this, I pray this inspires someone to heal within their journey!

First off, thank you all for your support of BeGreat. Hello, my name is Chris Cook, and this is my healing journey!

I remember K-12. I was in IEP classes. Let me break this down for you! IEP is a program to help kids with their learning needs. I always wondered why I went to a different classroom than other kids.

I never actually knew what program I was in until kids would tease me and make fun of me because I had to go to a classroom called “the trailer.” They called me the special ed kid.

The trailer was a classroom that wasn’t attached to the school. I used to try to skip class because I was embarrassed to go to the room they called “the trailer.”

When I took my first ACT, I got a 15. I kept telling myself I wanted to feel normal and take it with the other kids. It crushed me because I was like, wow, I am not worthy and intelligent enough to even go to college and get my degree.

I was sitting in one of my IEP meetings with my parents, and the lady looked at my parents and me and said, “Chris, you won’t ever go to college, and if you did, you’d need help through it.” So I kept telling myself every day I would succeed and BeGreat. So did I prove myself right I now have two degrees and graduated cum laude.

But, as I look back over my journey through IEP, I am forever grateful for it. After all, my parents did what was best for my learning needs! I am forever thankful for everything IEP did for my life!

Don’t ever let someone determine the course of your life! Your greatness is within you.

Don’t wait to BeGreat.