SURVIVING ABUSE FEELING EMPOWERED

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Born in Devon and raised on a farm in my early years may sound idyllic but my childhood, like many, was, for the most part, not a positive experience. However, it shaped the person I have become and the career I have subsequently followed. 

It begs the question can abusive experiences take you down roads you would otherwise have not taken and ultimately to a destination you would now no longer swap for the world? It's a tricky and controversial question. 

The abuse I endured undoubtedly led me to become a therapist and work with victims of domestic violence which in turn has helped me become more empowered and insightful, but that's not to excuse the suffering inflicted upon me as a child. It may have 'made' me but perhaps or, is it likely, I would have been that kind of person anyway whereas for others such experiences may break them.

Without a doubt, the positive outcome I am able to share today would not have been possible without the support of my long term partner, my family and close friends over the years. Having these significant people alongside me and drawing on my own mum’s strength who had suffered abuse throughout much of her life, it inspired me to want to make positive changes for other women who were living with domestic abuse. 

I believe, this combined with my own adverse childhood experiences shaped my approach to motherhood. I could not be prouder of my two boys, their love and support and the impressive, caring and sensitive young men they have become illustrates how patterns of abuse can be broken.

Shaping and guiding me through the years, I reflect on the strong, inspirational women who have positively influenced me throughout my life with their wealth of knowledge and expertise and liken myself to female family members who have gone on to take great, aspirational journeys in life and upstanding positions in their own communities.

Feeling positivity and strength and with the focus on healing and recovery, I started to put my thoughts to paper and here was borne my absolute passion for writing. Creating my poetry and visualisations would take me away to a different, calm, tranquil and safe place and somewhere I could just be ‘in the here and now’.

With this in mind, I believed that I could support others through healing trauma on their journey of recovery from abuse to empowerment and probably for the first time ever in their lives for their voices to be heard.

That's not to dress up abuse as somehow always having a silver lining, but recognising that every one of us can move beyond the abuse, we shouldn’t let it define us and we can absolutely write our own definition and my goal is to continue to support victims and to help them to rewrite their own life stories from surviving abuse to feeling empowered..

www.youcanchange.uk

High Wycombe, United Kingdom

Mobile: 07742 211440 Email: info@youcanchange.uk