Time to Break Free: Meditations for the First 100 Days After Leaving an Abusive Relationship - Softcover

Smith, Judith R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568383207 ISBN 13: 9781568383200

Publisher: Hazelden, 1999

Synopsis

These meditations provide support for the first 100 days after a woman leaves or begins the process of leaving an abusive relationship. Clients learn to find in themselves the courage and strength needed to overcome the lies, threats, and manipulations abusers use to coax women into returning to them. Messages provide the support, knowledge, and compassion that abused women need to shore up their resolve to stay free of abuse and continue healing.

About this title

About the Author

From the age of sixteen, Judith Smith experienced one abusive relationship after another and, at the age of thirty-nine, found herself in the most violent and terrifying relationship of her life. She endured the abuse and emotional turmoil for three years before deciding to break free. Once Smith emerged from the insanity of that relationship, she realized that she wanted to change her life. She wanted to understand why she had felt so emotionally chained to her abuser, and why she had never been able to enjoy a loving and fulfilling relationship. She joined a support group that offered education for battered women and attended every week, oftentimes more, for over nine months. She went to counseling and obtained counseling for her children with an agency specializing in domestic violence and abuse. She then attended a training program to become a domestic violence counselor. It is from her personal experience as a battered woman that Smith understands how emotionally overwhelmed and vulnerable people feel in the beginning stages of leaving an abusive relationship. Time to Break Free is designed to be short, and easy to understand. It is written for the first one hundred days after a person leaves an abuser. This is a most difficult time, as many people, unaware of their options or lacking education on the subject of abuse, return to their abusers or find similar relationships. One of the most common statements among newly aware abused women is, "I just didn't know." It is with this in mind, and with love, compassion, and hope, that Smith has written this book for women who are ready to take back their lives and begin the process of breaking free. Smith currently resides in Roseville, California and is a single mother of two young children. She has extensive experience as an educator, artist, publisher, graphic designer, and creative advertising specialist.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hazelden
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1568383207
• ISBN 13: 9781568383200
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 110