I am sure that I am not the only one that has thought this after they have seen Angela Shelton in action. I often reflect on that moment as a reminder that I am having a greater impact on change and giving others the courage to speak out about the unspeakable things that were done to them, when I do so myself. Not to mean that you have to take it to the media or create a blog but the power of sharing with another person is profound.
I was nursing my infant son watching Oprah when Angela appeared. I could not believe my eyes and ears at first, and then I grabbed my son, ran downstairs to the kitchen where my husband was making dinner and turned on the TV, “you have to see this”. I felt a huge surge of energy go through me as something got unleashed inside of me as I watched…I was crying, and thinking THANK YOU!! Thank you for giving me permission to speak openly about what happened to me!
I was very excited. I was also very proud of Angela. Her courage, her calm, matter of fact disclosure of events and direct approach to Oprah’s questions. After the show I turned to my husband and said” if she can do it, so can I”.
I did not know at the time what that would look like for me but the intention had been set in my mind. I was no expert, did not have a documentary or a book to use as way to talk about what had happened in my family from as young as I can remember. A few months later I came across an ad in a magazine from Darkness to Light that brought me to their web site. If you are not familiar with Darkness to Light I invite you to visit them www.darkness2light.org
After downloading the 7 steps http://darkness2light.org/7steps/ to protecting our children, from darkness to light web site, I knew that I had found what I was looking for. A tool I could use to break the silence about the issue of Child Sexual Abuse and most importantly the steps adults can take to prevent it.
Since then, thanks to Angela, I co-founded a non-profit in Iceland, 2004, with my twin sister to educate Icelanders about the issue and we started our project by sending the Darkness to Light 7 steps to protecting our children to every home in the country. I also became a facilitator for the Darkness to Light Stewards of Children training in 2004. I now provide this training and train facilitators in CA and travel to Iceland regularly to train facilitator in Iceland. If you are looking for a way to provide prevention education in your community and empower people around the issue of CSA and prevention, please send me a note and I would be happy to share what is possible.
If I can do it – so can you! Paying it forward… Thank you Angela!
To learn more about prevention efforts in CA, please visit www.taalk.org
To learn more about the non-profit in Iceland visit www.blattafram.is English
To visit my blog speak4change.com
Svava Brooks
