It wasn't just that Dave Pelzer's mother abused him. It wasn't just that she called him a bad boy. She also forced young Dave to say it out loud: "I'm a bad boy." He piled up a lot of trauma in his formative years, and his journey to shed the pile has guided his writing of several books and the sharing of his story, in an effort to help other people put their early-life traumas behind them.
Dave Pelzer is the guest in the latest edition of our Mental Health Matters podcast, our joint venture with the the National Alliance on Mental Illness Southern Oregon. Andra Hollenbeck from NAMI-SO returns to interview Dave Pelzer, about getting the life you want instead of the one you once seemed destined for.