When was your first sexual experience? Was it kind, gentle and consensual? For so many, including myself, this was not the case. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This is a hard month for so many suffering in silence. Reliving the nightmare, the feelings, the emotions of what was taken from us. For me, as someone who has been assaulted numerous times every week for over 39 years, starting with my mother and her satanic obsession with my body, led to her sending a variety of men into...

Recently while out with my daughter celebrating her birthday we decided to stop and grab dinner before going home. While we were waiting for our food she was visiting with a previous teacher and overheard part of a conversation that her grandmother came up and had with me. This resulted in my daughter shutting down and not wanting to celebrate. After we left and got home, she would barely eat and when going to bed asked me, “If the celebration for her birthday with friends on Saturday would...

They say humans have a deeply rooted need for connection in our biology, that we are inherently social creatures. For the longest time I had a hard time with this concept, and to be honest more days than not still struggle with this. You see that was the furthest thing I ever wanted or knew I would end up needing the most. Growing up I could not think of a single person who did not want something from me or to use my body. I learned from a very young age that it was me against the world and...