Sharing such secrets, once an impossibility, has become a therapy of sorts. I know why I'm here. I mean I know why I'm in this room. I don't mean the universe. Teri Perkins, the center's prevention specialist, had asked the three to speak at an orientation meeting for new volunteers.
Most volunteers arrive with good intentions.
Few understand how white-hot the rage burns within abuse survivors. When Allen walked in with her daughter, Amanda, the green volunteers began to hear the blood-red stuff of nightmares. Joy spoke first. She was poor growing up, and she was sexually and emotionally abused. She wanted to get out of the house, so she had me with my father.