Following his arrest in 2008 on child abuse charges, Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life imprisonment in just over half an hour after he fathered a child with a 15 year old girl and abused a 12 year old. Whether any further charges are laid against him in future remains to be seen, but right now he will serve 35 years before being eligible for parole.
The BBC summary is here.
– CBG
“We’ve known for a long time that only a relatively small number of abuse cases come to the attention of the authorities, but this report by the Children’s Commissioner for England is a comprehensive attempt to measure and understand abuse that is hidden from view. Its conclusion that only one child in every eight facing…
This is also a really important way to look at healing from abuse. Baby steps. For all the same reasons given in the quote, and the article below, we need those constant reminders that we are moving forward. “This is when we can turn to baby-steps to build self-esteem. When we measure our progress in…
“There’s this notion in the public’s mind that physical or sexual abuse is somehow more harmful than verbal abuse or other types of trauma,” he says. “The scientific evidence does not support that. I think parsing out the impacts of different types of trauma leads to a kind of reductionism that may be neither necessary…
I will admit, in healthcare, these two types of narrative incoherence could cause a problem. How would a medical professional move forward with a diagnosis when our response to the first question is to dump an overwhelming amount of possibly relevant, possibly not, information, or to dismiss any symptoms? It really would be difficult to know. We know that the folks who get to the quickest, and best, healthcare are the ones who come in with details like what is wrong, how long it’s been going on, what happened previously to an illness or injury, etc. Trauma survivors typically struggle with exactly that.
This is only one way where not being able to tell a story in a coherent, effective, way hurts survivors. It blocks us from legal proceedings, as I said before, and it blocks us from being understood by those closest to us quite often. So, if you really want to connect with others, and maybe get better healthcare, learn to tell stories. That’s how the world communicates. But, if you’re confronted with someone who is struggling to tell a coherent story, consider what kind of trauma they may be dealing with, and have a little patience.
“1. Talk to Children Make sure that the children in your life always know that they have the right to be safe, and that it is not their fault if they find themselves in abusive situations. When children know that they have rights, they are more apt to report abuse.” I love that this is…
Forgiveness Versus Letting Go tags: CA Male Childhood Sexual Abuse: Suffering in Silence tags: CA Understanding Depression Led to Facing Sexual Abuse tags: CA How To Talk To Your Child About Sexual Abuse tags: CA Project Unbreakable Gives Sexual Abuse Victims a Voice in Pictures tags: CA Family Support Line Launches New Website tags: CA…
