"Although the world is full of
suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."
- Helen Keller, American writer and advocate
for the deaf and blind who was deaf and blind herself.
This Page deals with all kinds of different ways to help you in your recovery from child abuse.
Shelters provide a good
starting
place for people making the journey of child abuse victim to child
abuse
survivor. See: Local Services on this website.
There are many childhood sexual abuse survivors who have turned to Drugs and Alcohol to hide the pain of their victimization. I myself am one of those. Without help in my drug and alcohol recovery I would not be here.
Alaskan Meeting Directory for Alcoholics Anonymous
Recovery
is like peeling an onion. There are many layers to it and there
are many tools you can put in your toolbox. Below are some of the
tools I have used along my recovery road. Don't expect recovery
to be easy or short. For every year of abuse you suffered you
spend a year in healing from the abuse.
My own journey really got a solid start when I started attending Al-Anon meetings. I grew up in a house where there was no alcohol and alcohol was not part of my life. So why did this help me? It turns out that anyone who grows up in a home where child abuse takes place shares a lot of same characteristics with folks who live with an alcoholic. In Al-Anon I found people who were trying to put their world back to rights just like I was - it provided me with a great support system for the first part of my healing journey. (Alaska AlAnon/AlaTeen information)
Journaling was/is another powerful tool in my road to recovery. When I journal I can often work out a problem on paper I can not verbalize. Often it is in a journal that I can make connections between what is going on in my everyday life and the inner me. Also, journaling used alone or in connection with something you are reading can show you parts of yourself you have forgotten or never knew about yourself. I found this combination the most powerful tool to recovery for myself! Don't know where to start but want to give it a try? Try this book - Journal To The Self - Twenty-Two Paths To Personal Growth by Kathleen Adams, M.A. For more about this book go to our books link.
Books dealing with recovery from abuse are very helpful. You begin to see that you are not the only one dealing with these problems and life can get better. It takes lots of work but is worth it! Below I'm going to list some books on recovery - for more on each book or other titles go to our books link.