Other Resources

The following is a sampling of resources for women survivors of childhood incest or abuse that I have come across and found interesting, empowering and/or helpful to the path of healing. I would love to hear any suggestions from you about resources that you’ve found supportive on your journey. Please check back from time to time as new links will be added.

Books

The Courage to Heal 
by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis 

Father-Daughter Incest 
by Dr. Judith Lewis Herman,
especially the Afterword 2000

Memory Slips: A Memoir of Music and Healing by Linda K. Cutting

What Lies Within 
by Libby Atwater (This is not a book about incest but one about childhood trauma.)

The Vagina Monologues, the play by Eve Ensler

The River of Forgetting: A Memoir of Healing from Sexual Abuse by Jane Rowan

Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women by E. Sue Bloom
​
Finding Fish: A Memoir by Antwone Q. Fisher
This was also made into the major motion picture Antwone Fisher. I used to watch this periodically in the earlier days of my healing journey to help me reach my deepest feelings that were often blocked.

Organizations:

TrainED: This is a law firm specializing in issues pertaining to Title IX and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). These folks train college administrators on:
1. how to follow up after an incident is reported
2. how to interview the victim
3. how to report the incident to authorities

​One Billion Rising, Eve Ensler

National Organization for Women (NOW)

National Alliance on Mental Illness

The Women in Public Service Project

Five College Women's Studies Research Center at Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and Amherst Colleges, and at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Blogs

Incest Survivors
Survivors to Thrivers

Women's Centers in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts (where I live)

The Women's Center at MCSM, formerly the Turners Falls Women’s Resource Center
The Salasin Center, Greenfield Women’s Resource Center
Safe Passage in Northampton, MA

Resources for those who struggles with drug or alcohol addiction

It has been suggested to me to include here a resource list for those who are struggling with addiction. I know very well that when one has endured childhood incest or abuse, one of the coping mechanisms is to turn to drugs. 

Healing the root of the problem is always best, along with turning to help for this pervasive and oh, so destructive form of self-abuse. There was a time when I struggled with alcohol addiction during one of my most abusive relationships, and my own niece is a recovering heroine addict. The Blooming of the Lotus: a spiritual journey from trauma into light can be the first step in helping with this, to know you are not alone and that it IS possible to heal. It is the first step to feeling you are not bad or worthless and that it just might be possible to risk telling another, thus beginning the road to coming out of isolation and getting help.

 Detox Local

DetoxLocal.com, built and run by recovered alcoholics, helps alcoholics and addicts educate themselves about addiction and connect them with the resources to recover. Our main purpose is to spread awareness of the addiction epidemic and offer free resources to those in need.