A Client Becomes a Liberated Woman 10/20/15

      It was twenty-two minutes past the time of our session.

      Calling her, I discovered she had no means of driving over.  Her husband gave her car to a Russian friend. He moved today
thirty miles away. To San Jose. We settled on having a telephone session.

     We were into an intense conversation when he burst into their room.  Yelling. Screaming between them raged for more than seven minutes.  By ear, I witnessed it.  Hearing enough, 911 was called.

      The police were reached.  I expressed immediate concerns and recent experi-ence with this man.  A few months back, this six foot, two inch, two hundred and fifty pound man blocked the doorway to their apartment. He prevented her from leaving.  He prohibited her from attending a session.

      She called the police, using her cell phone.  That time, the officers rushed to her apartment, telling the husband to release my client.  If he did this again, they warned him, he would be arrested for false imprisonment. This fellow hates me. The client for the first time has her voice.

         Now, she disagrees with him, after more than thirty years tolerating emotional, physical, verbal and other abuse.

      This afternoon, the police arrived at the apartment complex, stand-ing outside their unit, listening to the commotion. Then they took ac-tion. My client was quizzed by the female officer while her husband had his hands tied behind his back with plastic restraints. This officer, Carrie, let my client know there are resources.  The policewoman re-vealed she had twenty-three years experience as an officer dealing with family matters.

       What she heard outside the window and saw in the behavior of her husband was a clear case of abuse, she said.  "This is California, we will take care of you."

       Order was restored.  My client had a revelation. How her husband treated her today was how he has treated her every day of their mar-riage of more than three decades. Today, from those who assess behavior---police officers----she learned it was unacceptable mistreat-ment, abuse.

      Later, when her husband returned from an errand, he was quiet.  He treated her kindly, as if nothing happened.  In fact, he was more concerned about who called the police than his behavior. He didn't do anything wrong, he told her.  But something did transpire.

      My client spoke to him as a liberated woman. "I want a divorce," she told him.  And in saying this she found an emotional release she never knew before.