Year of Self-Care: Faith

Can you think of a time in your life when you didn't have any guarantee of the outcome and yet you took a leap of faith anyway and were so glad you did?

For a looooooooong time, I was paralyzed in lots of areas of my life, because I was risk adverse due to trauma and I wanted absolute assurance that things were going to go my way.

I've learned how to release my attachments to control over the years, and as a result have experiences and relationships that I never could have imagined as possible.

What leap of faith will you take today?

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/xNivPb35Wpk

Continue the conversation! Join us in the Healing from Sexual Abuse group on Facebook, a safe space for survivors to come together to receive support and guidance. bit.ly/healingfromsexualabuse

#coachrachelsays #mondaymini #yearofselfcare #beyourtrueself #beyondsurviving #faith #releasecontrol #leapoffaith #healingisajourney #ptsd #metoo #childhoodtrauma #beyonder #encouragement

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Discover the 3 Stages of Recovery from Childhood Abuse

The road to recovery is much easier when you know what stage you're in and what to do next. Find out exactly where you are in your healing journey and what kind of support you need right now. 

This FREE 9-page guide will give you the answers you've been seeking.

Please Send My Copy Now

Johanna: Why My Parents’ Sh** Is Also My Sh**

            

In this episode, I speak with Johanna Lynn, about the impact that unresolved aspects within the family system have on the challenges they are seeking to resolve today.

Science of epigenetics tells us our biography becomes our biology; what we struggle with most inside our relationships, health challenges, habitual patterns or our success often lives in our family's experiences. Your family lives on within you. Think of it as your emotional inheritance and these imprints continue to influence you. 

Stress that affected one generation will be played out in the next generation. We all have aspects of our parents, grandparents – even great grandparents history that we haven't considered affecting us today.

Yet, there are ways to break free from the emotional patterns we all inherit from our families. Tune in to learn how!

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/g2XCHyYJhTc

#beyondsurviving #metoo #breakthesilence #yourstorymatters  #generationaltrauma #breakthecycle #relationship #emotionalinheritance #familyties #itendswithme #healing #metoo #childhoodtraum #sexualabuse #epigenetic #dna #naturenurture #wisdom #breakfree

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Discover the 3 Stages of Recovery from Childhood Abuse

The road to recovery is much easier when you know what stage you're in and what to do next. Find out exactly where you are in your healing journey and what kind of support you need right now. 

This FREE 9-page guide will give you the answers you've been seeking.

Please Send My Copy Now

Year of Self-Care: Choice

Oooooooooo...this is a big one. Trauma teaches us that we have no choice. So reclaiming choice, noticing where we are choosing from, and giving yourself permission to change your mind are all HUGE when it come to healing and self-care.

Have fun this week tapping into choice!

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/afOoedy1Hqo

Continue the conversation! Join us in the Healing from Sexual Abuse group on Facebook, a safe space for survivors to come together to receive support and guidance. bit.ly/healingfromsexualabuse

#coachrachelsays #mondaymini #yearofselfcare #beyondsurviving #choice #fear #obligation #empowered #healing #metoo #ptsd #trustyourintuition #childhoodtrauma #changeyourmind

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Discover the 3 Stages of Recovery from Childhood Abuse

The road to recovery is much easier when you know what stage you're in and what to do next. Find out exactly where you are in your healing journey and what kind of support you need right now. 

This FREE 9-page guide will give you the answers you've been seeking.

Please Send My Copy Now

Year of Self-Care: Release

Are you ready to have a good cry this week? I know, I know ... that may seem like an odd way to practice self-care, but in truth being able to tap into our feelings and express them without suppression so that the energy does not get trapped in our body is key to being able to set boundaries, attune to ourselves, communicate our needs, and heal (and keep healthy) the nervous system. Here's to feeling ALL your feelings! 😭🤯🤣🤪😤🤬😏😊

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/2Ox0xrfY-ek

Continue the conversation! Join us in the Healing from Sexual Abuse group on Facebook, a safe space for survivors to come together to receive support and guidance. bit.ly/healingfromsexualabuse

#coachrachelsays #mondaymini #yearofselfcare #beyondsurviving #feelings #haveagoodcry #nervoussytem #boundaries #expressyourself #feelyourfeelings #hope #healing #selfsoothe #empowered

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Discover the 3 Stages of Recovery from Childhood Abuse

The road to recovery is much easier when you know what stage you're in and what to do next. Find out exactly where you are in your healing journey and what kind of support you need right now. 

This FREE 9-page guide will give you the answers you've been seeking.

Please Send My Copy Now

4 Helpful Ways Focused Breathing Changes the Brain

Did you know that there are four important and useful ways that focused breathing changes the brain? Today we explore how using breath to change the brain can help you "reduce and better manage post-trauma symptoms, including arousal and reactivity, trauma re-experiencing, and negative alterations in cognition and mood symptoms." (excerpt from Trauma Treatment Toolbox)

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/Q-4l0o-P6gE

Continue the conversation! Join us in the Healing from Sexual Abuse group on Facebook, a safe space for survivors to come together to receive support and guidance. bit.ly/healingfromsexualabuse

#coachrachelsays #beyondsurviving #neuroscienceoftrauma #ptsd #nervoussystem #vagusnerve #amygdala #prefrontalcortex #healing #metoo #childhoodtrauma #healingisajourney #retrainthebrain #mindsetshift #choice #youarepowerful #breathing #selfhealingtools

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Discover the 3 Stages of Recovery from Childhood Abuse

The road to recovery is much easier when you know what stage you're in and what to do next. Find out exactly where you are in your healing journey and what kind of support you need right now. 

This FREE 9-page guide will give you the answers you've been seeking.

Please Send My Copy Now

The day my abuser died...while I was at summer camp...

The camp counselor tapped me on the shoulder, drawing my attention from the dream catcher that I was busily crafting and said, "Rachel, honey, let's go for a walk."

I hopped up from the table right away! The dream catcher reduced to a pile of popsicle sticks and blue and green yarn, no longer a potential vessel for driving away the nightmares.

I was excited that my camp counselor wanted to spend some time with me. I had been at camp for about a week, and already I was so enamored with this young woman, who really was probably only 19 or 20, but to my young pre-teen self, she was cool, and confident, and so much of what I wished I was but surely had no grasp on at all.

We set out down the winding path, walking out into the field blooming with summertime weeds and flowers. The air was so warm and light. We chatted about the upcoming evening's festivities - the talent show. I was super thrilled about this because my friends and I had choreographed a dance to The Jackson 5's Rockin' Robin. I remember pausing in the field and busting a move right there (a little preview), sure I was the next Janet Jackson :)

We giggled and kept walking for a bit.

Then, she got very quiet. The air around me began to sizzle. Something was wrong.

I immediately felt insecure and worried that I'd just embarrassed myself, maybe she was laughing at me and not with me, what an idiot, why do I always make people uncomfortable (and other thoughts began rapidly shooting through my brain). 

Looking back at that moment now, of course I see the trauma response: shame, self-blame, insecurity, lack of confidence. But at that time, all I wanted to do was melt under the summer sun and become a part of the landscape.

She paused our walk and turned to face me. Every muscle in my body tensed, ready for whatever scolding words would soon land on my sunburnt skin.

Instead, she placed a tender hand on my shoulder, and said, "Rachel. Your grandfather has died. And I wanted to know if you'd like to leave and go home for his funeral?"

My body immediately went all soft and jello-like, relieved that these were the words spoken rather than all of those I'd been anticipating. 

Without a beat, I said, "No. I want to stay here."

To her credit, she didn't try to cajole me, or convince me otherwise, she simply hugged me, said that was okay, and we continued our walk.

This memory came to mind recently as I was preparing for the upcoming training I'm doing with Toby Stark on child abuse prevention, response, and awareness.

I began to wonder, "Had my mom told this counselor about what happened? Did she know going in that she was about to deliver the news that someone who had abused me was dead? Did she know that this was the man who had made my home a scary place, made me feel dirty and ashamed and scared so it was likely I would care less if he was dead?"

I'll never know.

But my parent's decision to make it MY decision and that counselor's response in that moment to respect without question my choice was empowering. 

As I think about what I want parents, guardians, and caregivers to know when it comes to navigating sexual trauma, this is central -- empowering the child is essential.

Today, I hope wherever that camp counselor is, that she will feel a little ping of energy and remembrance of the little redhead girl who broke out in dance in that field on that hot summer day and with her simple act of hearing me and respecting me, helped me feel a little less helpless.

That said, when I got back home from camp, it was if the door had closed on the abuse - buried in the casket with my grandfather. I certainly wasn't going to bring it up. And I believe my parents just didn't have the wisdom or resources to know how to support me in an ongoing way. So rather than talk about the abuse, our home became a war zone where which I screamed and raged about everything BUT the abuse. 

My parents continued to try to get me support and resources once I reached a level of "out of control" that I think, quite honestly, scared them. I know it was scary for me. I so wish they had had a resource like The Empowered Parent to help them understand how to respond. I know it would have made a huge difference, and I am so excited to be connecting on April 16th with parents, caregivers, and guardians who want to empower themselves so they can in turn empower their little ones. 

We can change the world, one child at a time!

To hearing our children's' voices,

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Watch my interview with Marilyn!



Can you think of someone in your own life's journey who helped you feel empowered instead of helpless?

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BOOK OF THE MONTH

In this award winning book, former Miss America, Marilyn Van Derbur, describes, in detail, her healing process after 13 years of incest. "I wrote the book, not because I want someone to learn more about me but so readers can learn more about themselves. And so that loved ones can better understand the brutal recovery process and never again say, "just get over it." The pain ends, I promise . . . IF you do the 'work' of healing.

"Her whole being is about prevention, shedding the shame and blame of abuse, and showing people they can be a survivor of child sexual abuse and live a full and happy life." ~Toby Stark

READ MORE HERE!
(If purchased through smile.amazon.com, recommend choosing https://www.indianaprevention.org/ to benefit from your purchase)

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UPCOMING EVENTS



NOW ENROLLING
ONLY 4 SPOTS REMAINING!



Join Toby Stark & Rachel Grant for this LIVE training on April 16 and let us help you turn your intention into prevention!

Do you worry if it’s really possible to protect
your child from s*xual abuse?

Are you hyper-vigilant and aren’t sure how to strike a healthy balance between protection and freedom?

Are you worried about how to talk to children about body safety without scaring them?

If these questions are on your mind, then you don’t want to miss this live training in which Toby & I will be guiding you through the 3 Pillars of Being an Empowered Parent: Awareness, Response, & Prevention.


Registration closes 4/15

Learn More & Register Here

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APRIL 11th

Hope for the Future


As survivors going through the healing process, it’s beyond difficult at times to have hope. We may not even want to hope because we don’t feel able to withstand any more hurts and disappointments. And yet hope is what keeps us from death and pulls us toward life. Without hope, we can’t heal.

Learn More & Register Here

Year of Self-Care: Blessings

It isn't very often that you'll hear me encourage you to get into comparison, but when it comes to counting your blessings, this is one area where it can be so so helpful to gain perspective and grounding.

I also talk about how our mindset when "tasking", taking care of our day to day, can either create frustration or help us tap into our blessings.

Check it out!

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/T1b9wqEUEOM

Continue the conversation! Join us in the Healing from Sexual Abuse group on Facebook, a safe space for survivors to come together to receive support and guidance. bit.ly/healingfromsexualabuse

#coachrachelsays #mondaymini #yearofselfcare #beyondsurviving #healing #blessings #joy #prosperity #mindsetshift #presence #everydayliving #wrappedinblessings #love #countyourblessings

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Discover the 3 Stages of Recovery from Childhood Abuse

The road to recovery is much easier when you know what stage you're in and what to do next. Find out exactly where you are in your healing journey and what kind of support you need right now. 

This FREE 9-page guide will give you the answers you've been seeking.

Please Send My Copy Now