…and Other Stuff I Learned from Breast Cancer
March is Women’s History Month, and I’m celebrating being alive and being a woman. For the past several months, I’ve battled an aggressive type of ductal breast cancer — with good results. And the past year rolled in packing more than one unexpected challenge. Last March, my husband experienced a stroke but beat all the odds, for which I am eternally grateful. He emerged from acute rehab walking, talking, playing piano, climbing up and downstairs with no problem, which was nothing short of miraculous considering the type of stroke and the area of the brain where it occurred.
healing trauma
10, Mar, 2020
Healthcare is a Human Right and 3 More Things I Learned from Breast Cancer
14, Feb, 2018
Why Doing Something Nice for Someone Grumpy Pays Off
February 16th is National Do a Grouch a Favor Day, a call to kindness in the name of a grouch. You can celebrate this occasion in a variety of ways — and whether you are the “grouch-er” or the “grouch-ee” doesn’t matter, your kind act will benefit you either way. We’ve all been ill-tempered, irritable, or complained too much, and we all know somebody who engages in those behaviors. There’s no shame in being a grouch: comedian Lewis Black built a very successful and celebrated career on grumpy rants.
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11, Jan, 2018
Survivor Resilience: Trauma Resolution, Empowerment, and Recovery (Part Two)
Often when I speak as an anti-trafficking advocate, people ask me, “How can we stop this terrible crime?” Or they exclaim, “We’ve got to arrest all the traffickers! Locking them up will solve this problem right away.” Law enforcement is key, but law enforcement alone is not the answer. When we look at the global crime of human trafficking, we realize that it is one of the most important human rights issues of our time. But we cannot examine this problem as separate from other factors.
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Survivor Resilience: Overcoming Human Trafficking, Trauma, and Addiction (Part One)
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
Human trafficking is a complicated and potentially overwhelming issue. It is not for the faint of heart. The global struggle can appear impossible to win. But it is not impossible to create positive change. I’ve seen this firsthand, as a survivor, advocate, clinician, and leader. As a survivor, I am often asked, “How did this terrible thing happen to you?” Here, in the first of two consecutive blog posts, I will recount my personal story of surviving trafficking and intimate partner violence, listing the vulnerabilities to my being trafficked.