I know for myself and most of us who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, this can be wrapped up in a lot of emotions, and the epidemic being secret, the power is in the secrecy. Within that secrecy is fear, power of the abuser, anger, pain, denial, and shame, feeling alone, and feeling blame. When I was experiencing this myself growing up, and you finally felt the courage to go forward and trust someone that I could tell that this was happening too, and sadly I was believed and then I was blamed. Since I already felt that I was to blame for the problems in the family in the first place, this just added to it, and it helped me to launch out of the home. I left. I attempted to leave once. That did not go well. So the next time I left, I left in secret.

Once I walked out that door, my view was, “I’m moving on. I’m not going to live in my past. I’m not going to make an excuse for how I live my life going forward.” What I did not know is that my past is on the heels of my future. So while I was busy getting educated in early childhood education, and then when I was starting a family, I was looking for a community that could assist me in having a different experience for my family. I was determined that through my family I would be able to eradicate this memory of my own, and create a new experience that my children would not have to know the life where I come from, that I could create a new pattern for our family.

So through all of this education, what I did discover is that I was not alone. I would like to make you aware, if you don’t already know, the statistics around this childhood sexual abuse. For example, did you know that one in three girls and one in six boys are sexually assaulted by the age of 18? Did you know that 90% of child sexual assault is committed by someone the child knows and trusts? Did you know that most sexual assault happens in homes, youth organizations, schools, and places of faith. Did you know that 30% to 50% of the assaults is committed by another youth? Pretty staggering, isn’t it? However, this also is an opportunity to recognize the importance in being proactive in our approach to this.

So when we come back from the break, we are going to go into how we can be proactive for ourselves and for our children, as well as the children of the earth. If you would like to set an appointment with me, you can find me at artofsoulfulparenting.com. That takes you to my show page. It also allows you to sign up for my show, so that you are notified when the shows come out, and you can set an appointment with me if you would like to talk with me further in private. You can also email me. I do read my emails. My address is [email protected], so write me. So when we come back, we’re going to talk about the proactive approach that is also healing. So hang with me, be right back.