 Baby it's Cold Outside!
Stay Warm with our EmpowerSurvivors Gear Order a super cozy and cute sweatshirt and/or hat to support a great cause!! The store will close on 12/31 so order soon by clicking the link below https://empowersurvivors.itemorder.com/shop/home/ Your purchase supports the EmpowerSurvivors nonprofit and survivors of childhood sexual abuse! Visit our store page!
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The Power of YOU is a collection of written stories by survivors of childhood sexual abuse. EmpowerSurvivors believes that by sharing our stories of childhood sexual abuse and recovery we begin to lose the grip shame can have on us. It is also a way to reach other survivors who may be living in silence and have never heard someone else's story of abuse, healing, and wellness. Share your story by submitting up to a one-page entry ( 500 words) that includes an overview of your experience of childhood sexual abuse, the recovery process, and healing. Entries can remain anonymous. Entries can be emailed to Elizabeth Sullivan at EmpowerSurvivors@gmail.com EmpowerSurvivors ( www.EmpowerSurvivors.net ) will not alter your story in any way and will publish it exactly as you submitted it.  For me, it was my stepfather. He had lived with us since I was two years old. I grew up with physical, emotional/mental, and sexual abuse from the age of 7 or 8. Some memories are still surfacing. My stepfather was a raging alcoholic. A Jekyll and Hyde type of guy. I walked on eggshells my whole life. He started molesting me after my brother went into the Navy. He knew I had no one to protect me anymore. I never told anyone about the molestation because they wouldn’t do anything about it. I knew this because even though they knew about the physical abuse, they didn’t do anything about that either. No one called the police or reported it in any way. Ever.
He continued until I was 18 and went to college. I went as far away as I could, which was only a couple of hours away, but it was far enough. I then turned to alcohol, drugs, and sex but didn’t know why. I would get so angry when I got drunk that I would want to fight. I was raped while in college and it was one of those nights, so I blamed myself. I lost friends but those who stuck by me are still in my life today. I realized that I was suppressing a lifetime of hurt and abuse and that was the only coping mechanism I knew. I eventually met a good man and settled down, stopped drinking and drugs, got married, and had two boys. The best thing that happened to me was meeting my husband. I am so grateful for him and my two boys. They are the reason I live. I fought the healing process every day until I got so bad with depression that I found myself on my knees praying for God to do something, anything to stop the pain. I prayed for him to take me. That was the moment I decided I needed to start therapy. I started going and found a great therapist, but she wasn’t equipped to deal with trauma, so she referred me to a colleague of hers. This was the best move I ever made. I have come so far in my healing, one, because I found a great trauma therapist, and two, because I allowed myself to start feeling and letting people in. That vulnerability is something I still work on today. I have had some bad downs, but I have always found my way back up with the support of a select few, my therapist and this group. This group has been a lifeline and helped me grow not just in the support of others but with the education that is shared here as well. I am so grateful for all the positives in my life and for the path that has brought me here. I used to worry that I didn’t have a purpose here on earth, but I think mine is the journey. All the hard work is worth it. And it is hard, but if you keep with it and really practice your tools, you can move through the healing process and one day see just how far you have come.  Sunday is Funday!!!!!!
Join us at Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse in Hudson, WI on June 11, 2023, from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM Money from this event will go to support the EmpowerSurvivors nonprofit and survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Music by the Whiskey Ticks, buffet, 50/50/ raffles, silent auction, and more!!!! We hope to see you there!!!!  A Very Big Thank you!!!
Thank you Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse for a great night, all our volunteers, friends, family and community for coming out and supporting EmpowerSurvivors !!!!!! Thanks to all of you, we were able to raise $1,642.00!!!!! We look forward to seeing everyone back at Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse Sunday, June 11,2023 for our big fundraiser featuring music by the Whiskey Ticks, buffet, 50/50 raffle, silent auction, raffles and more!!! **** TRIGGER WARNING****
In this first week of the Artist Way, we discuss the impacts of childhood sexual abuse and some of our experiences navigating the ability to consistently feel safe inside. Learn more about the EmpowerSurvivors nonprofit: https://www.empowersurvivors.net/  As May comes to a close and you start making plans for June, we hope those plans include joining us at our upcoming fundraiser on June 11th and meat raffle on June 2nd!
Don’t miss out on live music performed by the Whiskey Ticks, awesome prizes, delicious food, and more on the 11th at Big Guys BBQ! If you would like to support our fundraiser by either sponsoring the auction/raffle or volunteering at either event; please contact Gabbie Vogel through Facebook or by emailing her at gabbie.vogel@gmail.com. Words can’t express our gratitude to those that have already committed to sponsoring our event. This event couldn’t be possible without the support from these generous businesses: All Excavating - Somerset, WI EagleView Wealth Management Group - RBC Stillwater, MN The Lumberjack / Madcapper - Stillwater, MN Subway - New Richmond, WI Green Bay Packers #packersgiveback Hudson Ford Mark Kranz, AWM, Senior VP / Financial Advisor - RBC Stillwater, MN Angel’s Pet World - Hudson, WI Anez Party Rentals - Somerset, WI Carbones - Hudson, WI Healing Within Acupuncture & Wellness Relief - Stillwater, MN Darn Knit Anyway - Stillwater, MN Stillwater Escape Company - Stillwater, MN Devil’s Advocate - Stillwater, MN First State Bank & Trust - Stillwater, MN Anytime Fitness - New Richmond, WI My Happy Place - Somerset, WI Culver’s - Hudson, WI Gareis Welding - Somerset, WI Celia Gear The Belisle Family Today we want to thank all of you that continue to support our mission of supporting those that have been victims of childhood abuse! EmpowerSurvivors was created in 2014 by Stillwater, MN resident Elizabeth Sullivan. What started out as a peer support group meeting in a local library quickly morphed into a 501c3 nonprofit that is now able to reach survivors worldwide! Since 2014 we have visited and spoken with thousands of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, 250 prisoners of the Lino Lake Prison system, local colleges, Universities, local Rotary Clubs, businesses leaders, numerous podcasts, nonprofit organizations, MN House and Senate committees, survivor groups, survivor families, and Take Back The Night Events, and more!!! We could not do this work without all of you. Thank you to all of the members that bravely walk this healing journey with us, all of you who have " Liked" our page, our donors, fellow businesses, and past and present board members. We truly appreciate each and every one of you!!! More about the EmpowerSurvivors Organization: https://www.empowersurvivors.net/  EmpowerSurvivors program, Conversations with Elizabeth Previously recorded on 4/24/2023 A very big thank you to Stacy Coulter for being our guest on the EmpowerSurvivors program, Conversations with Elizabeth! Join us as we discuss being a mother of a survivor with the author of the book, "Blindfolds and Pitchforks: Don't Be a Child Molester's Flying Monkey" and the mother of a sexually abused child, Stacy Coulter. As a parent, finding out that one of our children is the victim of childhood sexual abuse is horrifying. Something we may think will never happen to one of our own children. Join us for this Zoom program as Stacy brings us through her story of being a mother of a child who disclosed childhood sexual abuse at the hands of their stepfather. Find Stacy's book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blindfolds.../dp/1521801592 EmpowerSuvivors is a survivor-led nonprofit organization incorporating the peer support model. EmpowerSurvivors aids in reducing the silence and stigma of childhood sexual abuse. We offer individualized mentorship programs, peer-support groups, classes, and individual mentorship. These programs help assist in the survivor recovery process, reduce isolation, provide skills to help manage lives in the community and promote health and well-being. Find out more at: www.empowersurvivors.net/ Find Us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EmpowerSurvivors  The Power of YOU is a series of survivors stories of childhood sexual abuse, healing and resilience. The school year that changed my life started off strangely. My best friend had just moved over 300 miles away, and I missed her. It was the first time I went to school without her. All of the upper elementary teachers were new to the school, so I had no idea what to expect from my new teacher. She looked kind of like a linebacker, and the entire class exploded with whispered speculations. I was a bit afraid of her and started feeling more anxious. She fixated on me instantly, and the other children noticed. She immediately began touching my body: resting her hand on mine, touching my cheek, and more. She called me her little girl, her little sweetheart, her baby girl, etc. She used attachment techniques to form a bond. Her grooming escalated, and within a few weeks she’d shattered my innocence and forever changed my brain, body, DNA, and life. She molested me hundreds of times over the course of the school year, keeping me in when she could from recesses, lunch, specials, etc. She told everyone I was her “teacher’s assistant” and she was mentoring me because I wanted to be a teacher. The next school year, I realized she could be hurting another little girl, so I told on her. The police callously and erroneously told me a woman wouldn’t molest a girl. They chose not to ask the questions they would have if she had been a man or do the investigation they would have if she had been a man. My parents and extended family believed and supported me, and my parents put me in therapy. When the abuser got away with the sexual and other abuse, she and her enablers retaliated against me until I moved over 1,000 miles away after my first year in college. Although I participated in therapy after I told, therapy for sexual abuse survivors was still rather new. There was a lot the psychologist did that she should not have and did not do that she should have. I buried the worst memories, then buried other memories, and I felt silenced again. For the next several decades, I rarely shared that I was molested. My abuser died. Almost nine months ago, she started appearing in my dreams and apologizing for abusing me. I realized then that I had more healing to do. I’m on the healing journey, and I’m making great progress. I have a ways to go still. It’s like assembling a puzzle when a hundred puzzles are mixed together, and the one I’m assembling has half a picture, damaged pieces, and missing pieces. I will persevere, and I will move from survivor to thriver. The Power of YOU is a collection of written stories by survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
EmpowerSurvivors believes that by sharing our stories of childhood sexual abuse and recovery we begin to lose the grip shame can have on us. It is also a way to reach other survivors who may be living in silence and have never heard someone else's story of abuse, healing, and wellness. share your story by submitting up to a one-page entry ( 500 words) that includes an overview of your experience of childhood sexual abuse, the recovery process, and healing. Entries can remain anonymous. Entries can be emailed to Elizabeth Sullivan at EmpowerSurvivors@gmail.com EmpowerSurvivors will not alter your story in any way and will publish it exactly as you submitted it. |
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Call us today to inquire about the many services we provide for survivors of childhood sexual abuse:
Survivor led support groups & classes - Individual peer support - Conferences - Retreats
651-323-4721
815 Oak Street West
Stillwater, MN 55082
EmpowerSurvivors is a 501(C)(3). All Rights Reserved. © 2022
Survivor led support groups & classes - Individual peer support - Conferences - Retreats
651-323-4721
815 Oak Street West
Stillwater, MN 55082
EmpowerSurvivors is a 501(C)(3). All Rights Reserved. © 2022