Your 12-Steps to Recover
Aftereffects of Sexual Exploitation
Post Tramatic Stress Disorder
Healing from Exploitation
Recovery of Sexual Exploitation
Affirmation for Sexual Exploitation Survivors
Your Sexual Bill of Rights
 
 
 

When we are sexually abused, a fragmenting occurs. We split off, disassociate from our inner, authentic core of personal integrity. We call this “The Split.” Our program uses the symbol of “The Silver Braid,” to describe the healing techniques and inner work we do to heal this split.

To get a sense of what the image of the braid implies on a personal level, imagine a silver braid that connects your inner experience to your outer experience. The strength of your “Silver Braid,” is equivalent to the strength of your “core personal integrity.”

In a normal childhood setting, we, over time experience a correlation between our inner experience and the outer results. In other words, we learn that there is congruence between our thoughts and words and the resulting actions. We call this congruence our core personal integrity. In the process of learning about our “core personal integrity,” we begin to also build upon, and strengthen both the personal, and the collective “silver braid.”

 
Each survivor’s story and experience represents a strand in the braid, and the more of us that come forward to tell our truths, the stronger our braid will become.
 
  1. Identify the aftereffects by going through the two checklists entitled, “Aftereffects Checklist for Sexual Abuse Survivors In Recovery,” and “Sexual and/or Relationship Issues Aftereffects Checklist.”
  2. Create a special Recovery Notebook. You might want to personalize this notebook. Use this notebook to collect your notes and recovery materials.
  3. In your Recovery Notebook, create a section for Inventory of Aftereffects.
  4. Using the text material provided from the Checklist(s), write about how each aftereffect has changed the way you respond to your world.
  5. Recognize how these aftereffects, or symptoms, contributed to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.
  6. Embrace all of who we are, recognizing that during the abuse, these “symptoms” were necessary for our very survival.
  7. We have developed therefore, a disease, a group of symptoms that has impaired our ability to experience the fullness of life. These symptoms are similar to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
  8. Keep a journal. Write poetry. Make to-do lists. Set goals. Begin to watch and experience the connection between your words and your experiences. This will get you in touch with your “core of personal integrity.”
  9. Meditate, contemplate and reflect on the concept of the Silver Braid. How does your personal journey contribute to the Silver Braid?
 
  Now that we know we are survivors, suffering from common symptoms, or aftereffects, we can begin to look at these symptoms, or character defects in a new way. Our program concentrates on uncovering, discovering, and discarding aftereffects that no longer serve us. When we are able to act from this place of recognition and understanding, we begin to experience personal freedom.
 
 

 

   You DO Make a Difference!