So do I.
Sexual abuse is a horrible thing AT ANY age. But when it’s done to children, I find it particularly despicable.
As an MD in my native country, I saw many cases of child sexual abuse. I used to work at a third level hospital and what I saw broke my heart. Some children even needed extensive reconstructive surgery. I vowed to some day do something about it. And while I know that support for victims and their families is extremely valuable, I’m more interested in prevention.
The opportunity finally came in September 2010 when I saw a tweet from @VoiceFound on the #Ottawa feed inviting people to attend a workshop on Childhood Sexual Abuse Prevention!
I did a little research, concluded the thing was legit, and signed up for the workshop.

Me, at the first Voice Found Stewards Of Children Childhood Sexual Abuse Workshop. Wow, that’s a mouthful.
That’s how I met the wonderful Cynthia Bland who is a childhood sexual abuse survivor and the founder of Voice Found. She had a dream and was willing to do whatever it took to make it come true. And I was more than willing to help her achieve that.
Shortly after, I became part of the Voice Found executive. Shortly after, Voice Found became incorporated as a non-profit and we’re now waiting for our charitable status. Lot of good things are happening and the wheels are in motion. I’m not of much use for all the corporate red tape babble so other than helping with the fundraiser efforts, the past year has been mostly Cynthia and Alex’s work.
But now this is my chance to step up. And I need your help for that.
Remember how I’m mostly interested in prevention? Well, the best way to prevent childhood sexual abuse is by educating those who are in charge of children. That’s why the Stewards of Children program was created. Problem is, the ONLY person in Ottawa that is certified to offer those workshop is Cynthia and she’s getting more strecthed than Bilbo Baggins after carrying the ring for so many years.

I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.
As you can see, Voice Found is in great need of certified facilitators.
I wanna become one of them facilitators but it’s a bit tricky. All positions at Voice Found are volunteer positions. And facilitators must come up with the money to pay for their training. Which is not terribly expensive but it’s not cheap either. In other words, I don’t have the money.
But! YOU CAN HELP ME
How, you ask? why, how nice of you! This is what you can do:
1. Reblog the crap out of this post so we get the message amplified.
2. Tweet, Facebook like, pin my gofundme campaign. Help me get the word out
3. Donate to my gofundme campaign if you can afford it.
4. Help me think of other ways to get the word out

I wanna be a… facilitator!
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your help. I heart you guys!
Great post! I’m retweeting this!
Thank you so much!
no worries!
Tweeted it!
Many thanks!
I will spread this all over the place, like herpes on a horny teenager.
Also, have you considered Kickstarter?
Or Fiverr?
Done and done.
Thanks a ton!
No, I never heard or either. I shall look into it
Also, ChipIn is another great service that allows people to add funds for a cause. Please let me know if you do something set something up, I’d love to contribute! I know a few sexual abuse survivors, so this is a cause I know is worthy of attention.
Tweeting now!
Ah, just saw you had a GoFundMe campaign. Great :)
Reblogged this on Laments and Lullabies and commented:
Help Summer Solstice Girl prevent childhood sexual abuse by reading this short post and passing the info around. Thanks, all.
Reblogged this on Meizac's Blog and commented:
Please help spread the word to help SummerSolsticeGirl prevent childhood sexual abuse.
Reblogged this on A Clown On Fire and commented:
Read and Support my fellow blogger and friend with her childhood sexual abuse prevention campaign. Like, now…
Merci Le Clown
No. Thank you, Claudia.
Le Clown
Reblogged this on Fredian Slips and commented:
Reblogged for obvious reasons.
Brava.
Grazie!
Reblogged this on Anansi the Poet and commented:
Get the word out. And in support of Summer Solstice Girl, I’m tossing down a poem I did a while back for a “House of Ruth” Fundraiser.
Many thanks, ye of the cool name. Where can I find the poem?
on Ye olde Website: marchsteinman.wordpress.com. Thanks for reading (in advance of course, unless you’re a precog)!
Found it. Read it. Cried
I am humbled. Thank you. Keep up your work against domestic violence and I’ll keep up mine.
Reblogged this on TheBiPolarized.com and commented:
It happened to me, could have happened to you, and maybe our children are next. Act, reblog, and donate if you can.
Thank you so much Aimer. You are very brave. I promise I’ll do the best I can to make a difference
No problem. And… about that… if you don’t mind, please email me at mysticshama@gmail.com coz I need to discuss a relevant matter with you.
Reblogged this on Living with Bipolar and commented:
I tried to help a victim of childhood sexual abuse as a foster parent. It is totally devastating in ways the child can’t understand.
Thank you! Yes, it is absolutely devastating. It breaks my heart. What ever happened to that child?
The reply was long, so I made it a blog post.
http://bpder.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/whatever-happened-to-jake/
We couldn’t care for Jake, so we had to put him back up for adoption.
Ah, that’s too bad :(
Reblogged this on MothCaterpillar.
Thank you!
This is the lest I/we can do!
I sincerely wish your project all success in the world!
Thanks! I promise to work very hard at making a difference
Reblogged this on mywaykeatslover.
Thanks a ton!
Reblogged this on Sips of Jen and Tonic and commented:
Spreading this information is the first step in making a difference. Tweet, Facebook, donate, pin…whatever you can do!
I’m very grateful. Thank you
Tweeted and donated! I’ll also pass this along to some of my contacts at PPO and other parts of the sexual health community. This looks like great work and who knows, maybe a few others will be interested in volunteering as well.
Thank you SO much!
And yes! we do need more volunteers. All the help we can get is greatly appreciated
Reblogged this on While you were sleeping .
Much appreciated :)
Reblogged this on Rainey Daze and Crazy Nights.
Thanks a bunch!
Tweeted ! Xx
awesome, thanks!
I tweeted it. Thank you for using your voice to help bring awareness to childhood sexual abuse. I am a Survivor on a healing journey and I am determined to no longer remain silent.
Much appreciated!
And thank you for sharing a bit of your story. Our motto at Voice Found is “No longer Silent”.
I wish you the best in your journey of healing. Big hug!
Great post at Do You Hate Childhood Sexual Abuse? Summer Solstice Musings. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed! Extremely useful info particularly the last part :) I care for such information much. I was looking for this particular information for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.