A. Young
Course Syllabus
Trauma Community and Technical College Spring 2020
Unpacking What Happened – The Subconscious
UWH 101 Section C2A6
COURSE IDENTIFICATION
Course Description: The emphasis of UWH 101 is understanding he hurt you; providing advanced remembrance of the situation you faced; and how to handle the new, brewing emotions. The course offers practice in working through panic attacks, thinking logically, responding to body cues, addressing internal turmoil, and learning it’s okay to ask for help. NOTES: (a) Credit is unavailable by bottling up your emotions; (b) UWH 101 and UWH 102 may not be taken concurrently.
Prerequisites: Your experience
Credit Hours: 3
INSTRUCTOR
Instructor: yourself and if you’re willing, a therapist
TCTC e-mail: memyselfandi@tctc.edu (Please note: E-mails are checked daily and generally returned within 48 hours)
Office: Amygdala Hall
Office Hours: 24/7 but can (and will be) shut down frequently due to unexpected hurdles in your path
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Textbook: None. You are not required to buy a textbook for this course. You paid the fee and have survived what happened; now it is time to focus on you.
Supplies: A readily available support line is recommended. A journal or writing source use is recommended. Students must be able to process their experiences healthily.
Hardware/Software: When you enrolled in this course, you were given access to emotions you did not know you could feel. You will go to PTG (Post-Traumatic Growth) to access your current progress. If you do not already have an account, you will need to set up a PTG account using your TCTC e-mail address. The course requires access to complex feelings or else you may have to delay completion. Reliable internet service for late-night searches on if you’re at fault, access to the national suicide hotline, and a person to confide in are highly recommended. It is your responsibility to ensure that you’re ready to process this to support the PTG platform. If you experience problems related to PTG, you MUST contact the Help Desk at: https://tctcforce.com/PTG/s/ or by phone at 1-800-123-4567. You may be expected to provide an account of his appearance and any information you may deem helpful to provide justice and improve your mental status. Most of the time it helps to talk, so please contact the help desk and ask for someone to listen to you as soon as possible.
Active TCTC E-mail Account: The primary means of communication between students and the brain is through the TCTC e-mail account. Students should check this e-mail account at least three times per week and remember it’s okay to dissect what happened.
All students must communicate with the instructor exclusively through an official TCTC e-mail account, so they will need to keep this account properly functioning, or it will not accept messages. Please note that without internal communication, this course may not commence.
Course Technology Expectations: Students are expected to have access to the following:
• Emergency help services
• Internet connection (high speed preferred)
• PTG-supported thought process
COURSE COMPETENCIES
Students are expected to learn how to:
• Avoid self-blaming
• Update their prior misconceptions about sexual assault
• Send/receive e-mails
• Upload attachments as memories, to be worked through
• Access and complete a healthy path to processing trauma
• Be confident in oneself
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Confidently state they are not at fault
- Understand processing can be a long or short course depending on the person
- Know they are not alone in this situation
- Find what brings them peace of mind
COURSE TOPICS OUTLINE: this is topical, not necessarily chronological
• Bed rotting
• Confusion
• Unpacking
• Evidence
• Understanding
• Grief
• Emotional Breakdowns
• Panic Attacks
• Chronic Anxiety
• Handling fears in places that remind you of him
• Understanding not every red truck is his
• Picking up new hobbies
• The day after
• During
• The three Fs (Flight, Fight, and Freeze)
• Affirmations
• Self-Love
• Self-Hate
• Closure
• Opening up
• Surviving
• Thriving
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance: Students must attend when they feel ready.
Grading Criteria: You must try.
Major Assignments:
Journal Entry One: First Day: 50
Scribbles and Torn Pages: 50
Screaming, Crying, and Emptiness: 50
Evaluating the Damage: 100
Asking for Help (on an as-needed basis): 100
Late Night Searches and Messages Asking for Clarity: 50
An Essay of Choice, Such as This, to Close Your Experience: 200
Note: Grades will not be rounded as they are participative. The due dates are available in the course modules tab online.
Late/Make-up Work Policy: Late work is not possible. Work cannot be late since you process what happened to you at your own pace and in your own way. There is no dirt path to follow; just cross through the complex woods and hope to make it out the other side with minimal scars.
Peer Edits Policy: Do not always listen to your peers. They are not you, they may not understand, and that’s ok.
TECHNICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFICULTIES
If the course management system becomes inoperable, student and faculty communication will be temporarily paused. Enjoy your break and pick back up when you feel a calling to heal.
In the event of any thoughts of harming yourself or others, please contact a support line as soon as possible. You are loved. Healing is a process.
DROP/WITHDRAWAL
Students cannot officially withdraw after starting this course; however, it can be placed on hold for an indefinite amount of time.
SYLLABUS ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Please sign below after enrolling.
I,_______________________________, understand that I have started this course, and I am welcome to complete it in my time frame and must understand any unhealthy behavior may result in setbacks, and that eventually, it will all be okay.
Course Schedule
UNIT ONE: INNER BLAME
WEEK 1
T: The feelings come rushing in after feeling numb for so long after. It’s ok. This is a normal reaction. Assess your state of mind and seek help if needed. If not, find an outlet. Write.
R: Write your first poem, hate it. Rip it apart, crumble it, burn it, scribble all over it, cry over it until it is soggy. Just, get rid of it.
WEEK 2
T: Regret what happened last week. Consider trying again, but don’t, just keep telling yourself you will. Scrub yourself extra hard in the shower tonight. Feel dirty even though his actions did not make you dirty. Don’t sleep tonight. You will struggle to wake again with another nightmare holding you hostage in bed.
R: Look in the mirror. Question your appearance and ask if anyone else could love you after this. Question if you can love you after this. Note your curly hair becoming a tangled ball of yarn not yet ready to be unraveled and woven into something beautiful.
WEEK 3
T: Try to hide your feelings from your friends. They notice you are off, different. Think about how his reckless actions have affected you in every way. You’re failing your classes, your eyes are empty, and your brain is devoid of any thoughts except replays, your typically bright smile has faded away, and you feel hopeless. You try to keep up the facade of being happy and being normal, but people have caught on.
R: Your parents are called. That’s okay, you can lie and say it’s a rumor; they never believed what you say anyway, you know how this will end. You are called an extensive list of offensive vocabulary. You are blamed. You understand though. You blame yourself too. Even in the future, you will whisper these words over and over to yourself in the mirror.
WEEK 4
T: Field trip to Unity Psychiatric Care. Take notes so you don’t go back. The socks are uncomfortable and so are the curtainless showers. Eyes are always on you here.
R: Continue the visit, one more day until you return to your normal life experience. Three-day stays aren’t that bad after all.
WEEK 6
T: A new feeling comes through you today: anger. You feel yourself about to take a dark turn.
R: You go to the Music City Raceway, everyone eyes you like a hawk, and you feel uncomfortable. Your brother won’t look at you. He knows what he did.
UNIT TWO: OUTWARD ACTIONS, SPIRALING
WEEK 7
T: This is your first time trying to date since what happened. Even then, is it dating when he told you that you would be his girlfriend? You’re a freshman, he’s a junior. He knows more about this dating thing than you. You’re turning down a dark avenue.
R: Today you smoked for the first time. When you’re high the thoughts aren’t as bad, you sleep better, even if you forget what happened the night before. No more waking up screaming. It feels better.
WEEK 8
T: You lock up the past. You want to feel happier, and whole. You’re popular, a party girl. You’re not a prude, you give the people what they want, and you exploit yourself. Wants aren’t always what you receive.
R: He takes you to a party, you get drunk, and in between the black ink splotches of your memory you can see the process repeat. Multiple people leave you bruised, battered, and emptier than before.
WEEK 9
T: Chewing pills like candy doesn’t sound too awful, so you try it. You wake up again in the morning, feeling defeated. $18.17 wasted on medicine. Pain reliever doesn’t heal.
R: The bend in your arm becomes bruised as you find a new solution to the pain you’ve been feeling. You feel warmer, fuzzier, and happier.
EXTENDED FALL BREAK
UNIT THREE: SOBER
WEEK 10
T: You recall your fall break within the course, rehab treated you roughly. You itch for more, yet you endure. You left the man who introduced you into this life. You are a phoenix, reborn.
R: You cut off the dead ends of your hair, despite your father’s disapproval. Your body is yours and yours only.
WEEK 11
T: You begin to write and write beautifully. You join groups and write anonymously online about your experiences. Maybe one day you’ll even be an accomplished and well-known author.
R: Your mother finds your journal of poetry. You beg her to not throw it away, yet she does. You’re punished for your outlet, punished for writing about the truth and not lies.
WEEK 12
T: You only write digitally now, hiding your work in documents no one would dare to glance at. Hiding it under a multitude of names such as “To-Do List”.
R: You’re doing so much better in school, be proud of yourself. A 3.84 GPA isn’t easy to achieve. You’ve picked up old hobbies, you brought back the band program to your school, you are strong.
WEEK 13
T: A nightmare strikes you in the middle of the night. You wake up shaking and crying. You want to pick up old habits. You drink a bottle of water and go back to bed.
R: You’ve grown so much since Week 1.
CAMPUS CLOSING DUE TO MAINTENANCE OF AMYGDALA HALL
WEEK 14
T: You’re a senior now. You feel whole. You haven’t seen your brother since the racetrack, not on purpose, at least.
R: In three more years, your body will be full of new cells, cells he has not touched.
WEEK 15
T: You’ve applied to another college; transferring from here won’t be easy. You can’t keep the credits you’ve earned, only the experiences.
R: You were accepted into the college, an honors student as well! Are you ready to start a new path?
WEEK 16
T: You graduated from high school today, 4th in class, on your way to a new world. You’ve decided to become a teacher, to help influence others and guide them along their route to the future.
R: Today you forgot to think of him. Any of the hims who hurt you. You are not broken, simply rewired. You are not completely healed, but you are on a healthier path. You’re so proud of you.
FINAL EXAM: Write something, something like this, and find closure. Live happily. Live for you.
Craft Essay
When writing “Unpacking What Happened: A Course Syllabus,” I never imagined how much the process would transform me. Initially intended for my professor and classmates, the piece gradually evolved into something far more personal—an outlet to confront my experience as a survivor and my journey toward breaking trauma’s hold. What started as an assignment became a dialogue with myself, a way to process emotions I hadn’t fully unpacked.
One of the most significant components of my writing process was using printed drafts. I printed out the piece repeatedly, annotating and reworking sections with a pen in hand. Seeing my words on paper gave me a different perspective, allowing me to analyze structure, tone, and emotional depth more critically. Each annotation helped me push through moments of hesitation, refining the essay into a clearer reflection of both my story and my voice.
Another essential component was changing my writing environment. I deliberately wrote in different spaces—my bedroom, the library, outside with friends, or with music playing in the background. Each setting influenced my mood and, in turn, the tone of the piece. Writing outdoors with friends nearby gave me a sense of connection and lightness, while quiet moments in the library helped me explore the heavier, more introspective parts of the essay. By avoiding the monotony of the same four dorm walls, I also sidestepped writer’s block, letting the fluidity of my environment inspire me to keep moving forward.
Ultimately, this process taught me the importance of balance in writing. While I began by catering heavily to an audience, I realized that focusing too much on others’ expectations was silencing my voice. The small comments I wrote to myself within the draft—a reminder to breathe, to take my time, to acknowledge the difficulty—became a lifeline. They allowed me to reconnect with the essay as a space for healing rather than just a product for others. While this piece may never feel “complete,” it is a milestone in my growth as a survivor and a writer.
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