Orlando Sexual Abuse & Marriage Counselor Dana West, LCSW answers question | Do Most Sexual Abuse Survivors Lose their Childhood | Amanda Perry, Michelle Knight, & Gina DeJesus | Dana West, LCSW | Orlando Based Sexual Abuse Experts provide Counseling from Total Life Counseling Trauma Expert with offices in Lake Mary, Southwest Orlando, East Orlando, Winter Park & Clermont Florida.
“Darkness into Light”
Fleeing from the pits of darkness, Amanda Perry, 27, escaped from being held hostage for over a decade. She called 911 at a neighbor’s house and found freedom after 10 years being held hostage. She wasn’t the only one, Georgina “Gina” DeJesus, 23, and Michele Knight, 32, were found alive Monday night after they vanished a decade ago near their Cleveland homes. Ariel Castro, the accused abductor, is a school bus driver who was in a musical band in the community where the teenagers were abducted.
As a nation, we are heartbroken, devastated, furious, and have great empathy for these three innocent beautiful girls. We find ourselves asking several questions like how could this happen again in our nation? Jaycee Dugard in 2009 was found and freed from 18 years of captivity where she suffered long hours of loneliness and horrific sexual, physical and emotional abuse. How could no one see the signs in the neighborhood of this sick and twisted man? Unfortunately this is how it usually works for perpetrators of such violent and sexual crimes because they blend so well into our society, communities, and even our own families.
We may find ourselves asking the question how these three young women will find healing from this long, traumatic and horrific experience that cost them to lose their childhood. We can learn and find strength from Jaycee Dugard. In a statement she released earlier yesterday, Dugard said the Ohio women found after apparently being held captives for a decade “need the opportunity to heal and connect back into the world.” Dugard also stated that the suspected abduction and imprisonment of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight “isn’t who they are. It is only what happened to them.” She further states, “The human spirit is incredibly resilient. More than ever this reaffirms we should never give up hope.”

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