When Corporate Harassment Reawakens Old Trauma

🧠 The Email That Brought It All Back

Most people wouldn’t imagine that an email from a corporate attorney — polite, professional, full of “availability to talk” — could trigger PTSD.

But when you’ve been through what I’ve been through, the surface politeness doesn’t matter.

When he pressed me again and again — even after I asked him to stop — it threw me straight back into the vulnerable place I fought so hard to climb out of.

I was back in that powerless state — like when I was alone in a clinic with someone physically bigger than me, unable to make it stop.

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

And when I did sleep, I had nightmares for the first time in months.

That’s what re-traumatization looks like.

You can be moving forward, doing better, feeling stronger — and then one “harmless” email can drag you back into the old cycle.

⚖️ The Irony That Can’t Be Ignored

Here’s the part that still shocks me:

This wasn’t just any attorney.

He represents Sun Life — the very company I went to in my time of need.

Sun Life is supposed to be there for people in their most vulnerable moments.

That’s their slogan.

That’s their brand.

But instead of supporting recovery, they became part of the trauma.

Delays. Denials.

Blocked communication.

Pressure tactics that only deepened the harm.

This isn’t just my story.

And it isn’t just about one claim.

It’s about how corporate systems — insurers and their attorneys — can take a person already in crisis and make them worse.

Every delay has a cost.

Every ignored message compounds harm.

Every aggressive email risks reopening wounds.

💪🏽 What Trauma Survivors Know

But here’s what trauma survivors know: we adapt.

We build ways to fight back against the spiral.

For me, that meant refusing to engage further.

If he has something to say, let him file a motion.

And then I went back to my best tools —

creativity and humor.

🎭 Welcome Back, Cowboy Bill

So, Cowboy Bill. Ghost Lawyer Bill. Clown Attorney Bill.

Welcome back to my cartoon series.

Welcome back to my writing.

Welcome back to my posts.

Just like the first time — when I wrote my way out of the worst of my PTSD —

I’ll keep creating until the spiral breaks.

Every time they try to silence me, I’ll make something louder.

Every time they try to shrink me, I’ll draw something bigger.

And yes — Bill will be memorialized.

Not just in cartoons, but in the show I’m writing:

🎬 “Silly Hoes of Ministry.”

🔥 This Time, I’m Unbreakable

Because what almost crushed me once

will never crush me again.

And because no worker — physician, teacher, nurse, or anyone else — should ever have to fight this hard just to be treated with basic dignity.

✊🏾 Join the Phoenix Advocacy Network

📣 Follow PAN to support healthcare workers and professionals standing up to retaliation and systemic abuse.

💬 Share your story — every voice chips away at silence.

🕊️ Stand with survivors who are turning pain into power.

Every time they try to break me, I create something they can’t destroy.