The Illness That Healed Me - surviving sexual abuse and the journey into healing

The Illness That Healed Me is hot off the press this week. It took 20+ years to write. It is meant to assist those who have been sexually abused which stats indicate is 1 in 3 girls by the age of 18 and 1 in 6 boys. I was abused myself as a child by a family member for several years, then by a lifeguard when I was 12 and he was 18. I worked at a local resort and I was abused the entire summer. Then two years later, when I confided the abuse to my seminary teacher, he also abused me. There was also an incident when I was walking home from school when I was in first grade. Two additional more minor assaults occurred when I was an older teenager.

Those who have not been abused have a difficult time understanding why it occurs. When your free agency is taken from you as a child, "no" is never an option. But as adults, no matter what has happened to us, we are responsible for taking charge of our lives and deciding to heal and to forgive. Forgiveness is a must or it keeps us tied to the past and to the perpetrator. The good news is that we can heal (which is a journey not a one-time occurrence).

I will be blogging a lot about abuse in the future.

I will be at UCLA Book Fair on April 24-25 featuring my book. I may also be reached at an email address I set up just for those who have been abused to contact me: puggie37@yahoo.com. I also have a website: www.janiceweinheimer.com.

I have studied and read a vast amount of information. My third therapist told me I had the equivalent of a PH.D in counseling, I just didn't have the pigskin. But he said I had something better - the experience.

I have been a published author in the past and have traveled the western US and Canada as a keynote speaker at many seminars and conferences.

I plan to answer all emails. I am dedicated to assisting the abused to heal and major in that healing is trusting and moving out of feeling shame.