My life is full of miracles and sometimes I don’t even notice them. But this week I did. Somehow, when we were teaching in Dallas, I started telling Judy’s story.

Judy was an abuse survivor who used her talent as a sculptress both to heal herself and to argue passionately for the protection of children in dangerous situations. Judy died 6 years ago and I still miss her. I worked with her for many years and she had a huge impact on my life.

During the conversation in Dallas I, mentioned that a videotape existed of Judy describing her artwork. The recording was made 13 years ago. Two people asked for copies of it.

I discovered only one copy in my files. The phone number for the business that owned the master tape did not work.

I found the original owner in the phone book. He had closed his business 7 years ago, and was about 3 days away from disposing of all the remaining masters.

The next day this kind man, George Kinzer, delivered the master tape to my door.

OK, that’s a minor miracle. The real miracle was the work that went into producing the recording. It starts with Judy’s survival and sanity. It continues with Continue reading »

written by Laurie Weiss

Several years ago one of my clients, Judy O, was featured on television news story about the incredible resilience of the human spirit. Judy made the courageous decision to show the statues she created as part of her recovery from extreme physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, because she “doesn’t want her abuse to be wasted.”

Judy, who has since died, was committed to helping stop child abuse by letting people know what it feels like to be an abused child — and she was successful.

Most people who have the courage to Continue reading »

written by Laurie Weiss

Do the emotional “scars” of sexual abuse ever really heal? Are some of them so deep that a person does not even know they are there? Violation of sexual boundaries between adults and children is so uncomfortable even to think about that we try to pretend it doesn’t exist.

More and more people recovering from addictions and compulsive behavior are beginning to uncover evidence of childhood sexual abuse. Experiencing these memories can be devastating.

Sexual abuse, like other emotional and physical abuse in childhood, can be Continue reading »

written by Laurie Weiss