Diary of Heart & Soul

A poem by Terri Collins I wrote this poem in 2001, in honor of sexual abuse and sexual assault survivors, while I was the manager of our local rape crisis center. This poem, "Survivors," was published in "Food for Thought, Recipes from the Heart," a cookbook that I and my advisory committee published in honor of survivors & those who serve them.  The poem was also published in the state solicitor's program brochures during victim awareness months 2001-2005, Georgia Military College's student handbook in 2004, and in the Valdosta Daily Times in 2001. The poem is one that came from my heart and soul. It was inspired by survivors who attended my survivor support groups and how I could relate to them as a survivor myself. "Survivors" One by one they come in pain, peace and re fuge the y hope to gain, Oh how familiar are their stor ies to me and all my past worries. Tears and regr ets, guilt and shame , we've a...

A Short Story by Terri Collins There are a lot of people who either do not believe this is true or who cannot wrap their mind around this concept enough to actually change their thought process and change their life.  In my years of working with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault the understanding of,  "you become what you think about,"  is one valuable self-help tool that I used to help victims transition to survivors. While there were always a few who could not, or would not gain this understanding, there were those who were able to change their negative thought process and change their negative self-talk. Therefore, able to greatly improve their lives.  Every survivor who I have worked with, through the outreach programs of the local battered women's shelter, had come to believe that they were shameful, damaged, and that somehow they brought the abuse on themselves. They believed that they were worthless and that they did not deserve to be in a ...