This past week was a painful, triggering one for survivors of sexual assault. The news cycle has been on fire since the hearing in which Christine Blasey Ford appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh whom she says sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. After her vulnerable testimony, Kavanaugh responded by forcefully denying these allegations. After it was announced that republican Senator Jeff Flake voted in favor of Kavanaugh, two female survivors of sexual assault confronted him in an elevator as he tried to leave. They held the elevator doors open, gave emotional accounts of their own experiences as victims, and asked him how he could send the message that perpetrators still win in spite of their victim’s story. This incident prompted Flake to waver on his stance; he has since asked for a week long FBI investigation of the outstanding allegations against Kavanaugh before he guarantees his nomination.
To be clear, this post is not about politics. It is about human trauma and survivorship. The core issue here is about victims feeling brave enough, supported enough to speak their truth and come forward with it. Ford’s voice is one of a huge chorus of women - ultimately of people - bringing the issue of sexual assault to light. Her testimony, as well as the women who spoke to Senator Flake, highlights the importance of survivors telling their stories. It encourages a conversation about those who come forward to share their difficult experiences, and about the way others choose to respond to these stories.
Therapy was a key factor that helped Ford to vocalize what happened to her, and to eventually come forward. Many news articles covering the hearing pointed out that it was during a couples counseling session in 2012 that she was first able to voice her experience.
Therapy provides an empathic, supportive atmosphere to disclose personal experiences, trauma included. Narrative therapy is particularly curative when acknowledging and processing traumas. It empowers clients to be their own authors - to speak their stories, and even rewrite them.
If we are to help others transform victimhood into survivorship, we must support, listen, and acknowledge the reality of these painful stories.
“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you”
- Maya Angelou, author, poet, mother, sexual assault survivor