Product Description
From the Author
Author comments on her continuing growth ten years later.
It has been about ten years since I began exploring the impact of years of childhood sexual abuse on my life as an adult. Therapy was the most difficult work I've ever done, but also the most profoundly rewarding. In the time since, there has been continuing healing in my relationships with my daughters, who are now moving into the world as beautiful, confident, young women. I broke the family chain of unhealthy relationships, and have been able to support them in becoming healthy and independent. I returned to school and finished a master's degree in social work, and am now working as a child and family therapist, specializing in child sexual abuse. I hear painful stories every day, but don't experience any "triggering" of my own flashbacks, because my trauma has been healed. My experience allows me to be fully present to other victims in the midst of their pain, because I know I am privileged to witness their courageous struggle to break free of the garbage, and develop into their truest selves. I am honored to be so trusted. My own life isn't perfect, but facing my past taught me to deal with problems as they arise. It's far more effective to clear away the trash daily, rather than to hide it and hope no one knows about what used to cause me so much shame. In the process, I've reclaimed joy in my life, and can share it with those close to me. People have asked me how I managed to publish so personal a story, and how allowing others to know my history might impact my interaction with others as a professional therapist today. I guess it comes down to my conviction that the events I described are reflective of the experiences of thousands, or even millions, of women. My responses, however apparently dysfunctional, were normal, often creative adaptations to trauma. If anyone should be embarrassed about such things, it is those who perpetrate such crimes on children. We the survivors are innocent. If you are a survivor, I congratulate you on making it thus far. A beautiful future awaits you, if you are willing to look honestly at the past, and, in time, let it go as you move forward. I welcome your e-mailed comments. God bless.
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