ESPY Awards Bring Light To A Dark Issue: Sexual Abuse

sexual abuse

By Jackie Pilossoph, Creator and Editor-in-chief, Divorced Girl Smiling site, podcast and app, Love Essentially columnist and author

In this week’s Love Essentially, I interview therapist, Dr. John Gobby on the topic of sexual abuse, specifically the therapy process, how it can help, and why there is hope for survivors.

Sexual Abuse Survivors at ESPY awards Offer Hope

by Jackie Pilossoph for Chicago Tribune Media Group

Watching the 141 women gather on stage to accept the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at this year’s ESPY Awards, I kept thinking about how incredibly emotional and validated these brave survivors of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal must have felt.

“To all the survivors out there, don’t let anyone rewrite your story. Your truth does matter. You matter. And, you are not alone,” said gymnast and Olympic gold medalist, Aly Raisman, as part of the group’s acceptance speech.

“As a survivor, I’m here to say, if we can just give one person the courage to use their voice, this is worth it,” said Sarah Klein, the gymnast who has said she was Nassar’s first victim 30 years ago. “If one more victim of sexual abuse feels less alone tonight, then our suffering has meaning.”

The survivors’ speeches got me thinking about the countless victims of sexual abuse who might have been watching the ESPYs, and the comfort it might have given, especially to those who have stayed silent.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in three women and one in six men experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime, and 81 percent of women (and 35 percent of men) report significant short or long-term impacts, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr. John Gobby is a licensed clinical psychologist and staff psychologist at the La Rabida Chicago Child Trauma Center, where he sees victims of trauma, which includes sexual abuse.

Gobby said…(Click here to read the rest of the article, published in the Chicago Tribune Pioneer Press and several other publications across the U.S.)

 

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    Editor-in-chief: Jackie Pilossoph

    Divorced Girl Smiling is here to empower, connect and inspire you. Jackie Pilossoph is the creator and Editor-In-Chief of Divorced Girl Smiling, the site, the podcast and the app. A former television journalist and newspaper features reporter, Pilossoph is also the author of four novels and the writer of her weekly relationship column, Love Essentially. Pilossoph holds a Masters degree in journalism and lives in Chicago with her two teenagers. The author of the novels, Divorced Girl Smiling and Free Gift With Purchase, Pilossoph also writes the weekly dating and relationships advice column, “Love Essentially”, published in the Chicago Tribune Pioneer Press and the Chicago Tribune online. Additionally, she is a Huffington Post contributor. Pilossoph holds a Masters degree in journalism from Boston University.

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