The Survivor Manual

Tori Amos: How Her Music Has Inspired Survivors Around The World

Natasha Hagan — Sun, 05 May 2013 06:01:37 +0000

Many people assume that celebrities don’t know what it is like to go through tragic ordeals, but what some people don’t realize is that they, in fact, do deal with painful life events just like the rest of us. Because a celebrity’s life is examined under a microscope by the media on a daily [...]

Laurie Halse Anderson: Found A Voice For Survivors Through ‘Speak’

Natasha Hagan — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:02:10 +0000

Finding your voice after being sexually assaulted is not easy. Many survivors struggle to come to terms with the traumatic effects of their sexual assault and feel as if others will not believe their story if they speak up. It is especially difficult for those survivors who have no support from friends or loved [...]

Kimleigh Smith: From TOTALLY To Survivor Superhero

Natasha Hagan — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 01:31:46 +0000

Expressing yourself through theatrical performing arts can help you, as a sexual assault survivor, heal in all kinds of colorful ways. Not only can it give you personal empowerment and growth, but it can also help carry a powerful voice. Many survivors lose their voice, so being able to project it into a dramatic, [...]

Marnie Goodfriend: Hero To Survivors Around The World‏‏

Natasha Hagan — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 10:56:31 +0000

Living each day as a sexual assault survivor can be an intense, healing journey and for some individuals it can lead to daily emotional struggles to overcome. The constant thoughts of feeling alone, shame, and guilt can often feel overwhelming to any person, however for a survivor, those feelings never seem to go away. Having [...]

Music as Mantra’s-Finding healing through songs.

Adrienne Trier-Bieniek — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:38:17 +0000

Listening to Tori Amos’s music probably saved my identity. I don’t want to say “saved my life” because I am not sure if my life was ever in jeopardy. But, my identity was and I think that, on some level, losing one’s identity (or never finding it in the first place) is a horrifying thought. [...]

TeamStrick Online Awareness Day – On April 20, 2013

Natasha Hagan — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:46:01 +0000

“Breaking the Silence Together!” April 20′s TeamStrick Online Awareness Day is the day where all of us sexual assault advocates from different groups, foundations, advocacy organizations and as individuals, come together to spread hope to other survivors through online campaigns of our own. “Our movement group ‘TeamStrick’ was started as a way for us supporters [...]

Trafficking Survivor’s Film Launches UK Campaign

Outspiral — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:00:23 +0000

In a world where the trafficking of humans has become the second-largest criminal industry after drug dealing, a child-trafficking survivor launches a campaign for social change, with the screening of her powerfully moving, autobiographical film on 9 April in London. Hooray for Hollywood, a film for adult audiences, written and directed by Raven Kaliana, artist, [...]

Creating Awareness about Male Child Sexual Abuse through Film

Big Voice Pictures — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:54:56 +0000

“Men want to tell their stories, they just need the space to tell them“, says Antonio in Big Voice Pictures’ documentary, Boys and Men Healing from childhood sexual abuse. The sexual abuse of boys is an epidemic, and the impact of the trauma of sexual abuse on an individual and society is devastating. As advocacy [...]

Child Sexual Abuse Causes Seizures

John Dougherty — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:04:59 +0000

Understanding Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES) When children are sexually abused they can have seizures. These seizures are a defense mechanism, protecting them from terrible pain and what they perceive as certain death. The mind/body instinctively knows how to dissociate from the trauma and does so using the seizure. When the chronic abuse that the child [...]