“16. Unprofessional” from The House That Trauma Built by Li Jean-Luc Harris. Released: 2026. Track 16.
Lyrics:
(Verse 1)
They tell me my story holds power in its bones
A tale of the seeds that have grown from the stones
They put me on stages, they applaud and they cheer
For the journey I walked through the doubt and the fear
But back in these walls, with a kid on the edge
My story’s a breach of a professional pledge
A rule in a handbook, a line in the sand
A truth I’m forbidden to lend them a hand.
(Chorus)
And they call my story powerful, a light in the dark
But tell me to hide every scar, every mark
They say it’s “unprofessional,” a line I can’t cross
But a shared piece of truth could have salvaged the loss
I just wanted to know I wasn’t alone
In a future that felt like a world unknown
So if this survival has something to teach
Then why is my story kept out of their reach?
(Verse 2)
I see the same panic I knew in their eyes
The hurricane building, the silent goodbyes
They’re searching for proof that the darkness can end
And I have to pretend I’m just a professional ‘friend’
I could tell them of homelessness, cold in the rain
Of addiction’s cruel comfort, the shape of the pain
And how you can build from the rubble and dust
But the silence is policy, so in silence I must… trust?
(Chorus)
They call my story powerful, a light in the dark
But tell me to hide every scar, every mark
They say it’s “unprofessional,” a line I can’t cross
But a shared piece of truth could have salvaged the loss
I just wanted to know I wasn’t alone
In a future that felt like a world unknown
So if this survival has something to teach
Then why is my story kept out of their reach?
(Bridge)
If only my key worker, all those years ago
Had let just a sliver of their own story show
Not a clinical lecture, no pity, no script
Just the truth from their heart, that had passed through their lips
Knowing that they pushed through, that they’d also been scared
Would have been all the proof that somebody cared
That if they could make it, then I could too…
There’s nothing more powerful than a story that’s true.
(Outro)
If your own child asked you, you’d show them your life
The struggle, the triumph, the joy and the strife
You’d tell them your story, you’ve nothing to hide…
So why is my story… the one they deny?
Why is my story… the one we must hide?