Watch the new version of Searching for Angela Shelton for FREE!

You can now watch the new version of Searching for Angela Shelton and embed it in your own website or blog!

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/searching_for_angela_shelton/

Love Box

I just got a great email from a survivor I met at the last college I spoke at. Here's what she said:

OH and I took your advice about loving yourself more. I made a shoebox and decorated it, it is now the LOVE box. It sounds silly but every day or multiple times a day I write a little note about something I did that was fun, or something i liked about myself. Just today I wrote down something I said that was witty.

Now that is cool! I love the LOVE BOX! Make one for yourself.

Healing Sex Gives Survivors the Confidence to Open Up

A great deal of survivors tend to have a difficult time with closeness with another person, finding themselves having to teach themselves boundaries and when any of us run into a little trouble and need help, there are shelves full of psychological insight, self help books, audio books, films and so on at our disposal. Healing Sex is a DVD that at first glance, you would think is just like the rest of the “self help” market, but once you watch it, it has the potential to really change your life and the way you look at intimacy.

Staci Haines has vast experience as a workshop leader and somatic practitioner and presents hands on exercises for you to practice either alone or with your partner for battling a lot of hurdles that survivors deal with when it comes to intimacy, such as disassociating during sex which I, as well as a great deal of survivors I speak with now have had problems with in our adult lives. Haines welcomes you into her workshops and one-on-one sessions and works with people to help them set boundaries in relationships and intimacy and teaches them how to express their desires, likes and dislikes. She gives us so much knowledge and draws upon her extensive experience to present educational and often triggering material in a comfortable and accessible way that will make you actually want to open up to your partner, now that you know how.

This DVD did wonders for me. I absolutely loved the way in which the material was presented and I especially loved that Haines doesn’t think, act or teach with the sense of false hope that she is a miracle worker. Healing from any kind of trauma takes a long time and a great deal of dedicated, hard work and the effects of childhood sexual assault have a tendency to follow survivors throughout their entire lives. This film shows you realistic ways to cope with your past and your present in terms of intimacy and overall relationships.

January 5-11 is Women's Self-Empowerment Week!

Self-empowerment is one of the most important as well as most difficult things to implement into our everyday lives, especially in people who have been through abuse and trauma. During traumatic events we are stripped of our self esteem and our self respect and during the healing process we have to learn to re-teach ourselves our own self worth, which begins with embracing self care. Who knew that something as simple as taking care of ourselves, physically as well as emotionally, could be so hard; but it is for many people and while giving ourselves the respect, courtesy and empowerment that we need in our everyday lives may be difficult and in some cases may even seem impossible, what we gain from that self care far exceeds anything else that we can do for ourselves.

Like I said, empowerment and self care are incredibly difficult at times to implement into our everyday lives so this week is the perfect time to focus on how you can easily add a little self empowerment into your life. This week is all about the women and taking care of ourselves, giving ourselves the nurture that we need and not being afraid to spend a little time on ourselves. Sure, while Women’s Self-Empowerment Week will (publicly) end on January 11, do not stop there! I know just as well as everyone else that life sometimes gets in the way and we may go days without giving ourselves a few moments to reflect on who we are and why we’re amazing. I try to give myself a good hour of “happy time,” I call it, a day. One hour that is completely mine, shared with no one, to do what I wish and I highly suggest that you all do the same; it can do wonders for your mind because being stressed about work or home or children or whatever it is that you find yourself stressed out about all the time, is not good for your mind or your body.

This week is also the time to let all of the amazing women in your lives know how you feel about them. Let them know how much they mean to you and why they are amazing women.

How will you celebrate Women’s Self-Empowerment Week?