Speaking Out

In 1997 I attended a conference in Atlanta for mental health professionals and survivors of Ritual Abuse and Mind Control. It was an intense three days of presentations from a variety of well-known individuals in the field, such as James Randall Noblitt, who is the author of Cult and Ritual Abuse, Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America (co-written by Pamela Sue Perskin). What I took from this conference was that there isn't much literature out on the subjects of ritual abuse and mind control. They encouraged all the survivors and mental health professionals who treated survivors to write about it. To tell their stories. To speak out whenever possible.

That was a turning point in my life. I'd been in recovery since 1988, but hadn't written my story. I'd spoken about it many times, even promised my therapist that I would write it. But for me, I thought writing about it would make it more real. Like many other important things in my life, I'd put it off. That year I wrote and published Diary of a Survivor in Art and Poetry. The book was featured on FoxTV 13 News in Tampa, Florida with Kathy Fountain where I participated in a call-in show on my book, ritual abuse and MPD. Surprisingly, these were topics that many people in the area were interested in discussing.

Prior to this call-in program, I presented my story and my book at the S.M.A.R.T. Conference in Hartford, CT. This conference focuses on exposing Cults and Mind Control, and helping survivors have a voice. For four years I presented at the S.M.A.R.T. Conference where I also learned that I wasn't alone...I wasn't the only person who had been attacked so viciously and regularly by people who should have loved and protected me from danger.

That year I also began presenting my story to students in the Criminal Justice Department at Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana. Dr. Harold Pepinsky, JD, attended the S.M.A.R.T. Conference and he asked me to present to his classes of undergraduates (200-300) and as a smaller post-grad seminar (25-35). His classes are on peacemaking in the criminal justice system. Students are exposed to topics they would never encounter in any other classes. For many of them it seemed impossible to make any sense of the cruelty and sadistic abuse perpetrated on me and other presenters. I have done this for almost ten (10) years in the fall and spring semesters. I'm so grateful for Hal and his students who were so attuned and willing to have conversations with me in a bold way.

Please click on my ABOUT page to see the various speaking engagements I've had in the last ten years. From 1997-2000, I was published in Womyn's Words a monthly magazine with my feature article called In Her Own Voice. Also from 1997 to 2000 I wrote articles for The TASDD Newsletter, a newsletter for Multiples and Ritual Trauma Survivors, published in Tanzania, Australia.

I FOUND MY VOICE. Speaking out about the abuse was the most life altering experience I could have. I'm grateful that these opportunities came in my life while I was multiple and continued as I became a "onesie". I knew that the Spirit of the Universe was putting these people and organizations in my life for a reason.

Today I have a Blog, dedicated to both survivors, those who love them and mental health professionals who treat them. Together we will bring a higher consciousness to our discussions about MPD, Ritual Abuse, Mind Control and other issues that are important to us. Please feel free to share what is in your minds and hearts, for that is how we will help each other in the years to come.

More later,
deJoly