Empowerment Project--An Offer of Support

Photo credit: Mike Stenhouse

I've been thinking about how to broaden this Empowerment Project.  I love posting artistic contributions, like the glowing examples in the EP archives, but submissions aren't always brimming in my inbox. :) There has to be something else I can offer.

After being lucky enough to meet with a couple of therapy groups for survivors, I've realized that one of the best things I can provide is hope. And I'm qualified to provide that for the simple reason that I'm an example of someone living a happy life after being raped.

There are few things that can make a person feel more alone than surviving rape. Whether or not you tell people it happened, it's lonely. Whether or not they support you, it's lonely. Your relationships change--they can't help but change.  And it's hard to see that the aftermath won't always be your whole life.

When the aftermath was my life, I didn't know anyone who had gone through the same thing. Nobody who talked about it, anyway. I had nobody to ask questions. No positive examples to look to for hope that there might still be happiness for me, someday. It  all felt so impossible, sometimes.

I don't want it to feel that way for anyone else, if I can help it.

I want every survivor to know that everything is possible for you. Yes, YOU. You can have, be and accomplish anything you dream of.

I believe in being honest and open about what happened to me. I didn't always make the best choices on my road to recovery, but I'm here in one piece, with a wonderful family and friends, and I'm proud of the good choices I did make. If you have questions for me, I'd love to answer them here on my website so others might read them as well.

Just email alinabklein@gmail.com if there's anything I can help with.**  I will keep all names anonymous, unless you request otherwise.

We'll play this by ear and see if this is a viable way to add depth and further support to the Empowerment Project. I'd love to hear what you think.

**Please note: responses will be based on personal experience. I am not a licensed therapist or anything close to one. Therapy can offer you something else entirely and I urge you to consider it if you haven't already. My job, as I see it, is simply to relate because I can. We're all different, yet so many things are universal. You aren't alone.