You can help. Isn’t that the best title?
Today is the day Rebecca Street’s book got launched out into the world. It’s a guide book for friends and family of survivors of sexual assault and abuse.
Whaoo… Congrats to her for being so bold, hopeful and ambitious. Rebecca is a survivor who is passionate about helping people. Not only does she care about other survivors but she cares for the people who love us as well. She felt there was a gap in the literature. What if people want to help survivors more and they just don’t know how. Here she explains why she wrote the book.
“The catalyst for You Can Help was a conversation I had with a close friend while still living in Los Angeles. My friend came to me one afternoon for guidance because she wanted to help someone dear to her recover from the ravages of sexual abuse. There was something redemptive in that exchange as I realized that I could transform the suffering from my own abuse into an instrument of healing. At the time, I found it surprising that there were no books addressing this need and realized then (and even more so now) that such a resource would help countless people and fill a big hole in the existing literature on sexual trauma.”
When I first heard about Rebecca’s book idea I doubted she would have many readers. I was pretty positive that the general public doesn’t give a crap about survivors at all.
I mean, many survivors of abuse and assault are hurt and betrayed by family, dates, teachers, coaches, priests and then betrayed again by communities that blame victims, protect abusers and minimize the impact.
That seems incompatible with caring a whole lot to me.
As Kathryn Harrison said on the Dear Sugar podcast about unspeakable family secrets:
“It became increasingly clear that the incest taboo is not quite as strong as the taboo against talking about it..”
Cheryl Strayed replied:
“That’s right. I always say that. I say that nothing that is so common is taboo. What is taboo is to talk about it. Honestly, people like you are breaking that taboo.”
And so people like Rebecca are trailblazers. For more on the author and the book and the contributors go here.
To read more about my blog post about being involved with this book, go here.
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