Blog
Healing After Child Sexual Abuse | 7 Choices That Help You Reclaim Your Life
“How easily we cling to—worship—the choice we think we could or should have made.” ~Edith Eva Eger, The Choice: Embrace the Impossible If you have experienced childhood sexual abuse, you may know exactly what it feels like to live with the endless “if onlys.” If only I had told someone. If only I had fought
The Story I Was Born to Write | A tale of sibling sexual trauma and abuse
For 50 years I always knew I would one day write my story—a tale of sibling sexual trauma and abuse. For over a decade this work-in-progress was titled Butterfly Dust. Because as a survivor of child sexual abuse (CSA), I felt like a butterfly that was wrongly and casually touched. As a child, I’d always
Sibling Sexual Abuse and Trauma—What are the risk factors?
In April of 2024, my second book launched. Everyone Was Silent: A memoir* tells the story of my experience with sibling sexual abuse. Soon after the book hit Amazon, the DMs started to flow in—individuals writing to say, “Me too.” It didn’t take me long to figure out these messages represented an opportunity to learn
Family Estrangement | What is it and how should you deal with it?
Question: Have you ever heard the term family estrangement? I ask because these days I hear the term a lot. So much so, I decided to take a deep dive into the topic. A natural place to start would probably be a definition, don’t you think? Exactly what is family estrangement? According to PsychologyToday.com, “Family
When the teacher is a female sex offender
When you hear the term, “sex offender,” who do you imagine? A leering man in a windowless van? An oddball uncle or a coach? Most people picture a creepy male sexual predator. However, when I visualize my abuser, I see a smiling female sex offender who was an elementary teacher, a pillar of the community.
Abusive Siblings: How to handle siblings fighting
Is this your world? Sisters fighting. Brothers battling. Teen siblings in conflict. Even toddlers showing sibling aggression. In your family, are the siblings fighting all the time? If so, is what you’re witnessing a sibling rivalry problem, or might the sibling aggression you’re seeing actually be sibling abuse? To figure out how to handle siblings
The Future of Child Abuse Prevention–from the 2024 Envision Conference
If you’re curious as to what the future of child abuse prevention looks like, allow me to offer some insight. From the 2024 Annual Envision Conference put on by Johns Hopkins University’s Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse out of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of the conference, titled,
Sibling Sexual Abuse: What Everyone Needs to Know
My new book, Everyone Was Silent, is now available! Purchase it here. Are you familiar with the phrase sibling sexual abuse? The term is sometimes referred to as SSA. Many people know of the issue thanks to the Amazon Prime original documentary, “Shiny Happy People,” featuring the Duggar family of “19 Children and Counting” fame.
Kids’ Online Safety: My 3 top tips
Are the kids you love safe online? When it comes to keeping children safe, lack of knowledge regarding kids’ online safety equals vulnerability, in my opinion. In case you’re a little behind on this topic, I’m going to review my top three child safety tips when it comes to your kids’ online activity. Stay informed Consider
What is a Child Advocacy Center?
Do you know what a child advocacy center is? Usually referred to as a “CAC?” Taylor Shultz, Director of Awareness and Development at the Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center, provided this guest post. What is a Child Advocacy Center (CAC)? The idea of a child advocacy center–aka CAC–was created to address the distressing and often
How to become a body safety educator
How to get started as a body safety educator A young woman contacted me recently saying, “I’m really interested in body safety practices for children so they can feel empowered in their bodies. Do you have any tips for getting started in this field?” As a professional who writes and speaks to children and adults
The (absolutely free)Child Safety Resource No One Is Talking About
Newsflash: There’s a 100% free child safety resource no one is talking about. Actually, some people are talking about it, but certainly not enough. Your child may not know about it. Heck, you may not know about it! So let’s correct this situation right now. You’ve heard me say a ton of times, when the
