YOUR STORIES

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's Day

There’s something about how we talk about our experiences, or don’t talk about our experiences, there’s something about secrecy and silence, the suppression of the narrative, which leaves people with emotionally charged fragments of memory that are hard to process

But the problem lies not only in talking – but also in listening, and society’s willingness to engage with someone who’s breaking the silence.

To process difficult and traumatic experiences, it is essential to find the words and the courage to speak out. But also to be met with something other than silence. Because silence can invalidate; it can result in assumptions about negative judgment; it can confirm what we already believe about ourselves – that we are mad or bad or to blame in some way.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we put together a collection of personal accounts by women who have found both the words and the courage to speak out about a number of traumatic life experiences. Women who we have worked with in therapy, as experts and as colleagues; women we have engaged with and tried, as best we can, to recognise the strength and bravery in their stories, to validate and fully listen to the stories they’ve told.

Click on the links below to open