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Adults

Trudi- A main alter in the Collective. Trudi makes the rules and decisions based on the needs of the Collective. She is the one who will always remind the Collective “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.” In other words, the Collectives’ needs as a whole are more important than the individual members.

An emotionless alter, she rarely comes out to interact with ‘outsiders’ any longer, and prefers to communicate with David via letters.

Demise– (Pronounced as ‘Denise’.) Demise is the enforcer. She used to be pure violence and repeatedly threatened to ‘take them all out’ (commit suicide/kill the body/Jo). In the past, she has caused physical injury to outsiders that she felt were threatening the Collective.

With therapy she has become less violent and less focused on destroying the Collective. Now, Trudi and Demise usually work in tandem - when Trudi needs to address the Collective, Demise will be with her, to ensure everyone stays in line.

Presently she rarely emerges out front, but, much to Dr David’s chagrin, she continues to threaten and cause physical harm to members of the Collective and Jo.

Sam–Sam is a protector. A strong alter, her aggressive language and attitude meant that most outsiders didn’t know how to cope with her and so would beat a hasty retreat or try and steer clear of her - which was ultimately what she wanted.

Sam is a staunch feminist, and hates men with a passion. She used to often talk of cutting off certain male ‘appendages’ to make the world a better place (which Dr David handled with remarkable calm). To her, the best way to protect the Collective is to isolate them.

Toni– The other alter primarily responsible for keeping up the pretence we are ‘Jo’. Toni is fairly emotionless, and is known to be the practical one. She helps keep the Collective on track, doing what needs to be done to make sure they get through the day. She doesn’t create waves, preferring to just go along with the flow, as long as the daily tasks are being performed and outsiders are not aware the Collective exists.

Toni would say she doesn’t have any hobbies as such and merely does whatever needs to be done - although she does seem to enjoy watching foreign movies and documentaries or reading when she has some spare time.

Linda– Linda is one of the main members that is out front when outsiders think they are talking to Jo. She has more emotions than the majority of the Collective, which serves a valuable purpose when interacting with outsiders, yet it can cause her some difficulties at times.

Linda craves knowledge and education. She is keen on being healthy and is the driving force behind the Collective looking after themselves physically.

Linda loves to cook and is a keen crafter. Linda’s perfect day is sipping on a freshly brewed cup of tea whilst cooking or knitting.

Jordan– Jordan is a protector and is the final member who is out front a great deal of the time. She is known as a straight talker and doesn’t believe in holding back or pulling any punches. Her being out front has resulted in many outsider’s confusion, as she forgets (or perhaps merely doesn’t want) to keep up the pretence she is ‘Jo’.

She is one who self-injures (cutting or ‘slashing’ as it is commonly called) and this is an urge she continues to fight.

Jordan’s perfect day is sitting with a cup of herbal tea and watching a classic horror movie – as she says “the cheesier, the better”.

Jordan is firmly planted on the ‘all men are bastards’ camp, which has created quite a lot of issues in the past (especially when Jo was married).

Dianne– Dianne’s main function out front is to deal with Jo’s mother. She does not like the mother at all, so stands her ground with her – which has resulted in some serious conflicts.

She comes to the fore when interaction with the mother is needed, but if she does have any spare time she will have her nose in a book. Her time within is occupied by caring for the teens and littles.

Catherine– Catherine is a newer member. She is a confident, warm alter, who is happy to just exist. She has a special bond with Jo, and is a firm advocate in supporting her in a way the rest of the Collective does not.

She is a proficient pianist and whenever she has the opportunity, she will be practising for as long as possible. She is also an avid writer and likes to write young adult novels which she hopes to get published.

Kat– Kat is another new member, and not a lot is known about her at this stage although it is hoped with time, this will change. She has a great deal of difficulty with physical contact and cannot stand to be touched when she is out front.

Jo - Jo is the one born into the body, the original. Although the Collective does not see her as a member of the Collective, she is of course an important part of how we function so we felt it necessary to include her. She/the body is 46 years old. She was married, which unfortunately resulted in more trauma and abuse, but she has now been divorced for many years.

She also has an adult son, although she was not the one responsible for the majority of his upbringing (an alter had the sole task of raising Jo’s son).

Jo does not spend a great deal of time out front, as her severe and oftentimes crippling depression means she is not able to function very well and is also a high suicidal risk. It was primarily due to this that the Collective was admitted to psychiatric hospitals many times in Jo’s late teens/20s.

As hard as it may be for outsiders to comprehend, Jo does not believe in the existence of the Collective and says she has made ‘it’ all up.

Teens

Jodie– Jodie is 14. She is probably the happiest of the teens, and enjoys talking with ‘Dr David’. She is fairly free of the trauma and pain that most of the teens endure, although she still hears ‘the voices’ inside that can become distressing.

She loves to watch movies and eat junk food – much to the annoyance of Linda, who tries to keep the Collective on a healthy eating plan.

Josephine– Josephine is also 14. She primarily exists to try and please the mother (Jo’s mother). She firmly believes she is a bad daughter and has let the mother down and constantly strives to gain some sort of love or affection from the mother – to no avail.

Josephine and Jodie are best friends. Often the two of them ‘get up to mischief’, according to the adults.

Danielle– Dani is about 13. She carries a lot of trauma and a great deal of the pain, and is haunted by memories of ‘the-man-with-the-red-shirt’.

Rachel– Rachel is a 13 year old who seems to have a lot of anger. She also carries a lot of trauma. She is the main teen that injures the body, specifically cutting.

Nicole– Nicole is also 13 and carries trauma. She is very scared most of the time, and has been known to take off running, trying to flee from the voices or the-man-with-the-red-shirt. Nicole also self-injures, specifically burning.

For a time, Rachel and Nicole were merged together and faded more into the background, preferring to stay within. However, recent upheaval in the Collective meant they returned as individuals and started to take control of the body once more.

Rose– Rose is 12. Although she is not technically a teen yet, she is much older than the littles so is accepted into the teens ‘camp’. She has a lot of fear, and seems to get upset or frightened easily, especially when the other teens are struggling. She is one who is finding the notion that she is in an “old” body difficult to cope with as she “just wants to fall in love, get married and have a family”.