THE COURAGE TO HEAL by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis
A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
$22.50
The Courage to Heal is an inspiring, comprehensive guide that offers hope and encouragement to every woman who was sexually abused as a child -- and those who care about her. Although the effects of child sexual abuse are long-term and severe, healing is possible. The authors weave personal experience with professional knowledge to show the reader how she can come to terms with her past while moving powerfully into the future. They provide clear explanations, practical suggestions, a map of the healing journey, and many moving first-person examples of the recovery process drawn from their interviews with hundreds of survivors.
Definitive in scope, The Courage to Heal speaks directly to the survivor in a warm and personal way:
TAKING STOCK --
addresses the question "Am I a Survivor?" and outlines the effects of
child sexual abuse and the ways women cope over time.
THE HEALING
PROCESS -- explores each stage from the decision to heal and remembering through
breaking silence, knowing it wasn't your fault, nurturing the inner child, and
grief and anger, to resolution and moving on.
CHANGING PATTERNS
-- offers in-depth guidance for shifting self-defeating patterns in specific
areas of one's present life, including self-esteem, feelings, intimacy,
sexuality, and dealing with families.
SUPPORTERS OF
SURVIVORS -- provides insight and strategies for partners of survivors, family
members, and counselors.
COURAGEOUS WOMEN
-- profiles survivors who share the challenges and triumphs of their own healing
journeys.
RESOURCE GUIDE --
fully updated for this edition -- informs readers about therapy, healing
activities, recommended reading, support groups, self-help programs, and
services and organizations.
Plus, all new for this edition:
HONORING THE TRUTH
-- a substantial new Afterword that refutes the "false memory"
argument and presents a thorough and enlightening response to the backlash.
Ellen Bass is a nationally recognized counselor, lecturer, and professional trainer who has been working with survivors of child sexual abuse for more than fifteen years. The coeditor of I Never Told Anyone and the author of several volumes of poetry, she lives in Santa Cruz, California.
Laura Davis is a nationally recognized workshop leader and expert on healing from child sexual abuse. She is the author of The Courage to Heal Workbook and Allies in Healing, and her short stories have appeared in a variety of anthologies. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.