Surviving Sexual Violence


Book Description

Victims of sexual assault experience their trauma in different ways, and often one path to recovery and healing is right for one person, but not right for another. While there are some general mental health effects of sexual violence, this book outlines and describes the impact of particular types of sexual violation. Whether the survivor has experienced childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault during adulthood, marital rape, sexual harassment, sex trafficking, or sexual violence within the military, they will find aspects of her experience in these pages. Once survivors understand the ways in which they have been affected, they are introduced to various pathways to surviving sexual violence and moving forward. The chapters provide case examples and specific activities which give a fuller description of the ways survivors can make use of the particular approaches, which include mind-body practices, counseling, group therapies, self-defense training, and others. Anyone who has been a victim of sexual violence, or knows and cares about someone who has, will find relief in these pages, which offer practical approaches to finding balance and healing.




Awakening Blackout Girl


Book Description

In this honest and practical guide, rape survivor and victim advocate Jennifer Storm shares the information, tools, and resources she has gained from more than twenty years of personal and professional experience to help fellow survivors recover from co-occurring sexual trauma and substance use. In recent years, the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have exposed the truth that many already knew: sexual violence, victimization, and rape culture are real, pervasive, and causing widespread trauma for millions of survivors. This newfound visibility is also shedding light on the lack of resources available for victims to cope and heal from their pain. Perhaps it’s not surprising that many turn to whatever coping mechanisms are close by, which often include alcohol, other drugs, and unhealthy behaviors. How can people in recovery from both sexual trauma and substance use heal in a place where victim-blaming and addiction stigma collide? Jennifer Storm is living proof that there is hope. In her memoir Blackout Girl, she shared her story and showed survivors that they are not alone. In Awakening Blackout Girl, Jennifer goes further by providing the road map she used to wake herself up from the drug-fueled numbness that was killing her and to achieve a fulfilling life of recovery and advocacy. With more than twenty years of experience helping other victims through the criminal justice system, Jennifer knows what survivors face. In this guide, she provides the exercises, tools, and wisdom they need to heal. While covering crucial subjects ranging from shame and self-harm to sex and relationships, Jennifer’s message is this: Neither your pain, nor your offender, nor anyone else who doubts your strength gets to finish your story. You have the power to write your ending. You can survive, you can heal, and you can thrive.




How We Heal


Book Description

How We Heal is a book of meditations for survivors of addiction and sexual trauma, written by survivors of addiction and sexual trauma. Through writing and reading, sharing our experiences, and building our community, we can learn to reclaim our voices and heal ourselves. Millions of people have been victims of sexual trauma. And millions of those people turn to drugs and alcohol to numb their pain. We all can be survivors. But how can we not only survive, but thrive? Through post-traumatic growth. In How We Heal, we can see how post-traumatic growth comes from learning how our trauma affects us every day, particularly if we have a substance use disorder, and that we can heal the trauma to grow past the addiction. We can reach out for help. We can find treatment programs. We can seek help as survivors. And we survivors can find each other and help each other. Through How We Heal, we can come to realize we are not alone. Through the multitude of these voices, we can understand better how trauma affects addiction and how addiction affects trauma. These meditations offer little glimpses into the world of survivors and, whether in this survivor and recovery community or near it, as a friend or loved one, we learn that greater empathy for each other is paramount. Hazelden Publishing’s Meditation Series is a long-standing source for people to find healing and hope. Each meditation shares a way to see things from the perspective of someone who’s been there, whether a challenge, a victory...or somewhere in between. Because someone has been there before, we see that what is being asked in recovery is possible. It’s comforting. It’s empowering. It’s recovery.




Things We Haven't Said


Book Description

Things We Haven’t Said is a powerful collection of poems, essays, letters, vignettes and interviews written by a diverse group of impressive adults who survived sexual violence as children and adolescents. Structured to incorporate creative writing to engage the reader and informative interviews to dig for context, this anthology is a valuable resource of hope, grit and honest conversation that will help teens tackle the topic of sexual violence, upend stigma and maintain hope for a better future. "There are days when I am less stardust than sawdust, less survivor than victim, but that does not mean that the reclamation of my own body is any less eternal.”–Jane Cochrane “How to describe the feeling of not being believed? It is the feeling of disappearing.”–Stephanie Oakes “I used to want to hurt you, to break you, to give you the sort of nightmares I still have so many years later.”–Melissa Marr “It’s so easy to say you’ll fight when it’s not happening to you. But then it was happening to me. And I locked up. My bones had all linked together and I was still.”–Bryson McCron




From Victim to Survivor


Book Description

This vulnerable and intensely honest book is an account of a life full of traumas and struggles, such as sexual abuse, mental illness, substance abuse and a eating disorder. But with every dark turn, Nicole finds a profound way to use difficulty to better understand her true sense of being and purpose. She learns how to forgive herself and others and that instead of being a victim to others actions and her circumstances, she can take back the power over her life and continue on as a survivor. The story of Nicoles journey out of darkness is unique yet familiar, tragic yet triumphant, heartbreaking yet heartwarming. Despite my decades of experience with these illnesses, I found my eyes brimming with tears as I pored over her words. Her recovery is compelling, not just because she is stunningly authentic and honest, but also because her experiences ring true for so many individuals struggling against these pernicious, life-threatening mental illnesses. Dr. Kenneth Weiner, CEO of ERC




Research Anthology on Child and Domestic Abuse and Its Prevention


Book Description

Every day, both adults and children are victimized in unhealthy relationships. Domestic and child abuse have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as potential escapes from abuse at home were stripped away. Abuse is a raging global issue; however, with enough research, policy, and social activism, society can aid in the prevention of child and domestic abuse. The Research Anthology on Child and Domestic Abuse and Its Prevention discusses the prevalence of domestic abuse as well as the exploitation of children both at home and beyond. It further presents emerging practices in technology, social work, and criminology to prevent the further exploitation and victimization of adults and children in abusive situations. Covering topics such as foster children, gender-based violence, and trauma analysis, this major reference work is an indispensable resource for social workers, lawmakers, government organizations, non-profit organizations, psychologists, therapists, sociologists, libraries, students and educators of higher education, criminologists, leaders in law enforcement, researchers, and academicians.




Dear Sister


Book Description

Dear Sister, It wasn't your fault; it was never your fault. You did nothing wrong. Hold this tight to your heart: it wasn't your fault. At night when you lay there and your mind fills with images and you wonder if only, if you had . . . if you hadn't . . . . Remember: it wasn't your fault. Dear Sister highlights the lessons, memories, and vision of over forty artists, activists, mothers, writers, and students who share a common bond: they are survivors of sexual violence. Written in an epistolary format, this multi-generational, multi-ethnic collection of letters and essays is a moving journey into the hearts and minds of the survivors of rape, incest, and other forms of sexual violence, written directly to and for other survivors. Dear Sister goes far beyond traditional books about healing, which often use "experts" to explain the experience of survivors for the rest of the world. Where other books about rape weave the voices of feminists and activists together and imagine what a world without violence might look like, Dear Sister describes the reality of what the world looks like through the eyes of a survivor. From a professor in the Midwest to a poet in Belgium, an escapee from a child prostitution ring, a survivor advocate in the Congo, and a sex worker in San Francisco, Dear Sister touches on issues of feminism, love, disability, gender, justice, identity, and spirituality. Lisa Factora-Borchers is a Filipina writer and editor whose work has been published in make/shift, Bitch, Left Turn, and Critical Moment. Contributors: Aaminah Shakur, Adrienne Maree Brown, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Allison McCarthy, Amita Y. Swadhin, Amy Ernst, Ana Heaton, Andrea Harris, Angel Propps, anna Saini, Anne Averyt, annu Saini, Ashley Burczak, brownfemipower, Brooke Benoit, Denise Santomauro, Desire Vincent, Dorla Harris, "Harriet J.", Indira Allegra, Isabella Gitana-Woolf, Joan Chen, Judith Stevenson, Juliet November, Kathleen Ahern, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Marianne Kirby, Maroula Blades, Mary Zelinka, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Melissa Dey Hasbrook, Melissa G., Mia Mingus, Michelle Ovalle, Premala Matthen, Rebecca Echeverria, Renee Martin, River Willow Fagan, Sara Durnan, Sarah M. Cash, Shala Bennett, Shanna Katz, Sofia Rose Smith, Sumayyah Talibah, Sydette Harry, Birdy, Viannah E. Duncan, and Zöe Flowers.




Beyond the Tears


Book Description

A true story, Beyond the Tears begins with the suicide attempt of an abused and addicted twenty-five-year-old woman. In the aftermath, she commits to counseling to recover from anxiety and depression associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. The author engages the reader in therapy sessions where the young woman reveals dysfunctional family relationships, including domestic violence, sexual abuse, and mental illness. Due to the therapeutic process, the woman discovers a path to love and the value of life, and she ultimately achieves a life that reflects health and happiness. In sharing this inspirational journey, the author provides a message of hope. Sexual assault, addiction, and suicide are unsolved social problems that carry stigmas. The stigmas cast a code of silence that do not solve problems. The result from not speaking about the crime of sexual assault is too often tragic. Thus, there is a need for real stories of recovery. By bringing my dark secrets to light, it is my hope that others who have had similar events will know that they are not alone. Readers may explore their own emotions to open lines of communication, eliminate shame, and experience healing. I also hope that my book promotes understanding of the issues that cause individual suffering and plague our society.




Queering Sexual Violence


Book Description

Often pushed to the margins, queer, transgender and gender non-conforming survivors have been organizing in anti-violence work since the birth of the movement. Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti-Violence Movement locates them at the center of the anti-violence movement and creates a space for their voices to be heard. Moving beyond dominant narratives and the traditional “violence against women” framework, the book is multi-gendered, multi-racial and multi-layered. This thirty-seven piece collection disrupts the mainstream conversations about sexual violence and connects them to disability justice, sex worker rights, healing justice, racial justice, gender self-determination, queer & trans liberation and prison industrial complex abolition through reflections, personal narrative, and strategies for resistance and healing. Where systems, institutions, families, communities and partners have failed them, this collection lifts them up, honors a multitude of lived experiences and shares the radical work that is being done outside mainstream anti-violence and the non-profit industrial complex.