First Post

Hi,

This is where I hope to be able to give you a taste of what it is like to serve victims of sexual and domestic violence. It's a rewarding trip that will take you from nightmarish depths to fairy tale endings. I invite you to share with me as we embark on this journey together.

First, let me begin by telling you a little about myself.

My name is Gayle. I'm the founder and unpaid (as of this date) Executive Director for Hope for Healing.org. We've been online since 1996 and officially incorporated & received our 501c3 in 2002.

When not online or working with someone part of my time is taken up with fundraising. This is the bane of any ED's existence. It's not what we want to be doing but somehow the phone bill must be paid.

Fortunately, I have a wonderfully supportive husband and 2 daughters who help a lot and an amazing group of volunteers. Without them, Hope for Healing.org would be impossible! But it is possible and rewarding and sometimes even fun! I'd be completely lost without them.

Two others make our family complete. I'd be remiss (and in lot of trouble with my daughters) if I didn't mention our dogs. They stand ferocious guard over our lives and keep us safe from birds, rabbits and butterflies. The rest of the time, they tolerate our presence and allow us to pet them - which they both feel needs to be done constantly and to which we happily oblige.

Something else that I've done is conceive and mandate usage of the term "trigger warning" (TW for short) in all of my associated groups and chats since 1997. If you've been in the r--e recovery / survivors groups on Yahoo or the R--e Recovery Forum on Delphi, then you've seen it in use. I came up with it as a way for survivors to keep each other safe. We didn't have any other place to process. You may see it scattered throughout this blog as well.

Through the blog, I hope not to bore you with dribble about my family but to share with you the ups and downs of serving others whether they be friends, family or survivors.

I look forward to traveling with you on the journey.