Survivor Support

Join us on Valentine’s Day for a candid discussion about finding and cultivating healthy relationships after trauma. Speakers include PAVE Ambassadors Antuan “Magic” Raimone (Author, TedX Speaker & Hamilton cast member), Shannon Bobo (Actor & Comedian), and Erin Merryn (Author, Erin’s Law, Glamour Mag Woman of the Year)
More info - ShatteringTheSilence.org

Are you interested in learning how to better support college student survivors with disabilities? Join us TODAY at 12 PM Eastern/ 9 AM Pacific for a Lunch & Learn with the National Council on Disability! Click the link below or DM us to register!
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvcOGvqj8tG9OhbK1Bcgoiuf58hQYfc2MV/success?user_id=3OTEvhbqRauQ6LDEz6qZSQ&timezone_id=America/Chicago

What is the National Council on Disability? NCD is an independent federal agency charged with advising the President, Congress, and other federal agencies regarding policies, programs, practices, and procedures that affect people with disabilities.

Survivor Collaboration 🙂

*TRIGGER WARNING*
*SEASONS OF HEALING*
Written April 2018 (Revised February 2021)
By Melanie Sachs
Survivor (More Than Her Story)
Advocate, Blogger, Speaker Writer, Poet. PAVE Survivor Support and Social Media Assistant.
“Sometimes, it comes back.
It’s Vivid Like Yesterday’s Sun.
But in reality – it’s DARKER,
DARKER than storm clouds on a rainy day.
It BURNS hotter than a summer sun.
It HURTS more than falling hail hitting your skin like bullets.
And at times, it is so much LOUDER than the CRACK of a tree branch, or the RUMBLE of thunder, or the BURSTING or fireworks.
IT IS MY TRUTH.
But, I can’t let it define me. I WON’T.
I survived. I am strong. I am a voice for others.
It’s been over 17 years.
Time passes as slow as leaves falling from a tree during the fall, but as fast as lightning strikes during an unexpected storm at the same time.
2002 I was 9 or 10 years old, no timeline.
Their hands touched me like fire more than once. BURNING HOT. Unwanted.
2004. I WAS 12 YEARS OLD. I remember everything.
It was a warm spring day, but a COLD reality.
His hands touched me like fire. BURNING HOT. Unwanted. Fingers and Tounge; Inside me , all over me. His body, 5 years older than mine; overpowering.
THE TREES ABOVE WERE MY SOLACE. I SURVIVED IN THE MIDST OF THEIR LEAVES, TRUNKS, AND BRANCHES.
2006: Speak justice into healing. A small conviction but my voice and my God was louder and healed me more than any sentence.
Waves of healing - peaks and valleys ; but hope lingers no matter what.
Don't let your dreams be just dreams, or gone with the wind, I didn't. Trust.
2021, the sun shines so often now.
I cannot get lost among the clouds and storms.
So much has changed – like the seasons.
The seasons of healing.
Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall”.

Image by Jason (Survivor Support Committee). 🌳 ✍🏻

Are you a survivor of sexual violence? Would you like to participate in a research project that is being conducted on the effectiveness of a single-session psychotherapy, Rapid Resolution Therapy® (RRT)?

Rapid Resolution Therapy is a revolutionary therapy that is fast and painless. As a survivor of sexual violence, it can be scary to seek help. However, with RRT's gentle process seeking treatment no longer needs to be avoided. Seeking help can actually even be fun and lead to lasting improvements often in a little as one powerful session.

For further details about being a part of this wonderful opportunity to bring a cutting edge treatment to more survivors, visit: https://rapidresolutiontherapy.com/research

Available only to the residents of Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Washington, Vermont, and Wyoming.
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Hi Survivors! It has been awhile since I last posted on here but wanted to share this with all of you. My name is Melanie and I am on the Survivor Support Committee for PAVE.

Many of you know I’m a survivor and this pandemic has been really triggering and isolating in many ways. I wanted to share with you all about this new virtual support group and film series for survivors called UNLEASH. Its an 8 week e-course created by survivors and trauma experts. And there are support groups for women and for men. It looks so good and I’m already signed up! There are 13 spots for women and 6 spots for men left for the Feb groups. More groups will launch later in the spring too!! It’s going to be exactly what so many of us need for our healing in 2021. Here’s the link: iamonevoice.org/unleash Join me and sign up! And share with as many survivors as you can!

Unleash | OneVOICE UNLEASH is an 8 week survivor-led course featuring film, storytelling, personal contemplation exercises and ther**eitic support group services for the healing journey from sexual abuse.

“Survivors, alone in the darkness, can be often unaware of their own beauty as human beings.

A lotus is a flower that grows from muddy, mucky swamp water. Each day as the sun rises they emerge to blossom. I've heard a Buddhist proverb about how the deeper and muddier the water, the more beautiful and strong the bloom.

A lot of us - me included - feel ashamed of all the "muck" we have carried as r**e survivors - shame, harmful words, vivid memories of trauma, the taboo of speaking about the unspeakable - but if you really look at the situation, its not really our "muck" to carry, is it?

We're blossoms in the dark.

These glowing lights are isolated and alone in a vast darkness, but together, they for, a starfield of light.”
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Lotuses in Starlight was created by one of PAVE's Survivor Support Committee members. These are his beautifully written words on his piece. To all survivors, please know that you are not alone! 💜
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