From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankarvedanthem. This is my unsung hero,

stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

My Unsung Hero is my therapist.

I said, it's okay.

I still love you.

You're still my friend. So if she she hears this I just want to say thank you.

Today's story comes from La Quista Arena.

A few years ago La Quista Arena. A few years ago, La Quista's six-year-old son Jackson was diagnosed with autism.

This wasn't a surprise.

Ever since he was a baby, she had noticed he was overly sensitive to everyday things,

textures in his clothes, light touches, loud sounds.

Haircuts were the worst.

He'd get so anxious that he'd start kicking and screaming. It was really

hard for Laquista to watch, so she decided to stop taking him.

This is so traumatic for my son.

Why am I continuing to put him through this?

And so we went almost two years with no haircuts, people making comments. You need to get his hair cut, why your hair looks like, you know, people just say all kind of rude things.

Eventually, La Quista found a barber named Re. For the past past few years, Rie has been able to take things slow with Jackson and learned how to stave off his meltdowns.

Until one day, in early 2022, when things went wrong.

We were running late, we got caught in traffic, he left his headphones, we hadn't had lunch,

it was just like a series of unfortunate events.

And he's like, no, I don't want to go.

...