In spite of the horror, in spite of the tragedy, in spite of the weeks of sleepless nights, I'm finally alive. I'm not pretending. I feel real. I'm not playing charades anymore. I wouldn't go back to the way I was for anything. I'm really like a different person. I'm where I am, and I'm making the most of it. I know I'm courageous now. I found out I had it in me to face this. — Barbara

~ Ellen Bass

Ellen Bass Abuse Survivors Authentic Self Charades Child Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Survivors Deciding To Change Face Your Fears Feel Alive Gave Your Fears Choice Healing Healing Abuse Healing From Abuse Healing Journey Hope Hope And Disappointment New Me Real Self Recovery Recovery From Abuse Survivors True Self

I was used, fucked, broken, toyed with and violated from the age of six.

~ James Rhodes

James Rhodes Child Abuse Survivor Rape Reality Violence

As I faced each tragedy in my life, I learned to reach into the depth of my soul for strength and determination. Through this healing process, I discovered perseverance and resilience. I could not go into the past and use White-Out to erase any events; instead, I had to find a way to use my pain to help me heal and grow. I had to stare darkness in the face and accept that I could not change the past, but I could build a better future.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Child Abuse Survivor Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Future Grow Hope Inspiration Pain Past Rape Trigger

When I felt as though I had reached land, it was like I was on a deserted sandy beach, feeling isolated and afraid to share with anyone the memories that haunted me.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Child Abuse Child Abuse Survivor Depression Erin Merryn Isolation Self Harm Sexual Abuse Survivor Trigger Trigger Warning

In order to survive our youth, many of us became sensitized to which conditions we had to play to, to receive attention. No wonder we mistook this attention for love. We thought love came in finite quantities—it had to be competed for among siblings, or it had to be paid for with exacting dues.

~ Maureen Brady

Maureen Brady Child Abuse Child Abuse Survivor Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Competitiveness Conditional Love Emotional Abuse Emotional Neglect Healing Healing Insights Parental Neglect Survival Mechanism Survivor Unloved

I felt like I needed to comfort both the little girl inside me and my mother, assuring them that neither of them could have prevented the rape. I didn't want my mother to blame herself and I didn't want to blame the little girl inside of me for not speaking up at the age of six.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Awareness Blame Child Abuse Survivor Child Molestation Erin Merryn Guilt Parenting Parents Rape Survivor Shame Speaking Out Trigger Trigger Warning

I lived through this horror, and no one can tell me I have to stay quiet.I have been silenced long enough, and I will not allow that family to silence me again. I will continue to speak out and make sure my voice is heard.

~ Erin Merryn

Erin Merryn Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Survivor Empowerment Inspirational Rape Rape Culture Speak Out Trigger

The fear of abandonment forced me to comply as a child, but I’m not forced to comply anymore. The key people in my life did reject me for telling the truth about my abuse, but I’m not alone. Even if the consequence for telling the truth is rejection from everyone I know, that’s not the same death threat that it was when I was a child. I’m a self-sufficient adult and abandonment no longer means the end of my life.

~ Christina Enevoldsen

Christina Enevoldsen Abandonment Abandonment Issues Abuse Deniers Abused Child Abusive Family Abusive Parents Accepting The Past Child Abuse Child Abuse Survivor Child Abuse Survivors Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Childhood Abuse Childhood Sexual Abuse Consequences Of Cruelty Controlling Parents Disclosing Abuse Dysfunctional Families Dysfunctional Family Escaping Abuse Family Abuse Fear Of Abandonment Fear Of Death Fear Of Rejection Incest Just Tell Moving On Revealing The Truth Self Sufficiency Survivors Telling Your Story Truth About Abuse

You may experience waves of disbelief after each memory you retrieve. Whether as a phase or waves, the disbelief is usually accompanied by massive self-hate and guilt. ‘How can I even think such a thing? I must really be warped,’ you tell yourself.

~ Renee Fredrickson

Renee Fredrickson Child Abuse Child Abuse Survivor Child Sexual Abuse Disbelief Dissociated Dissociation Dissociative Amnesia Incest Recovered Memories Repressed Memories Self Doubt Trauma Memory

I was becoming a product of society, a hardened juvenile! Now I was becoming rebellious and hateful.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

No matter what tight corner I was in, I was capable of getting myself out of it … not God!

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

Just as much as the media portray child sexual exploitation as being a 'hidden' crime, then that is no less of a case with child physical abuse.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

A lot of attention has been given over to the Catholic Churches sexual abuse of children in their care, but this attention seems to have been hijacked by the media and has overshadowed the many thousands of victims that endured physical abuse.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

You might think the Bangkok Hilton (the nickname of a fictional prison in Bangkok) was tough, well that was paradise compared to this place!

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

From a young boy’s viewpoint this could not get any worse, especially when you were told that you belonged to the devil, and this bullying of me went on for a long time.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

I have beaten people into the ground and the more they cry the more of a beating I gave them. If they don’t cry, I come off, if they cry then I will beat them and beat them and beat them.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

From spending ten years in hell and coming to this regime of kindness was a shock. It was so much of a shock, it was unbelievable. I was like an untamed animal, I couldn’t accept it and I just wouldn’t accept it.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

I dived out of the office and I was gone … hitting these fields like a mad March hare. This wasn’t Born Free, it was RUN FREE!

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

All these do-gooders make it sound like you just have to repent and off you go to heaven, but what about all the atrocities the Catholic religion did to us? Who pays for that! They just took over our lives!!

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

Religion to me was only something to be used and abused, as it had done nothing for me other than give me pain. Religion for me was a method used to gain an extra bottle of wine or a nice meal.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

With regards pedophilia I have always looked on it as that … pedophilia. I thought that one religion is no different to the other and I am now truthfully beginning to think that.

~ Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards Catholic Child Abuse Child Abuse Child Abuse Deniers Child Abuse Survivor Child Abusers Child Sexual Abuse Survivor