I believe there are hundreds of thousands of adults suffering in silence, but their silence is chosen because they believe staying quiet is for the best. For 36 years I didn’t speak, and I chose that. As a nine-year-old I knew it was wrong, I knew I couldn’t talk about it, no-one said ‘don’t talk about it’, I just knew I shouldn’t. And for many years I didn’t fully understand why I didn’t speak. Recently I gained another layer of understanding about my own experience as I sat in circle with six courageous, powerful and beautiful women at the inaugural ‘Speaking From The Scar’ women’s retreat weekend. An offering I have created to support women that have also experienced sexual abuse in childhood.

It’s a question I’ve been asked several times in recent weeks as the publishing date of my book Speaking From The Scar draws closer. It’s a tricky question for me to answer because I want to explain so much in my response – what it’s about, what it isn’t about, and why I came to write it – too many things to fit in a single sentence. So, here’s a deeper dive into the ‘whys’ of my book.