My Nonprofit Reviews

Courage. Community. Heart. - The bIRch House logo. And it sums up what this place is about. Having the courage to help yourself heal and be in community takes heart. At least that's what I feel. This space is precious and much needed. I've gone to and helped facilitate the drop-in groups as well as other workshops. Each time, I feel the love and support this community offers.

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Three years ago when I went to the Incest Resources monthly drop-in discussion group at the Women's Center, I was scared. Even if I didn't talk, just walking into a room that was only for female survivors of childhood sexual abuse was a huge step. I was declaring publicly that I had been sexually abused. Breaking the silence. Discussing the taboo. I couldn't believe I was going to do this. I felt like a freak. Like I didn't deserve to be there. But I went anyway. A room full of twenty women that society wouldn't expect to be together. Different educational and socio-economic backgrounds, ages, and beliefs. All of us sexually abused as children. But it was more than our traumas that connected us. It was a desire to heal. To help others. To break silence and speak truth. After being traumatized, abused and ignored for decades, I was finally seen and heard. It was the first time I felt my authentic self emerge from the ashes of my trauma. If that space hadn't been there, I wonder how much more time I would have lost in my healing.

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