Yvonne Rousseau considers herself a warrior.  Sexually abused as a child, she turned a trauma that would have flattened the strongest of us into a one-woman mission to help other victims.  Her recently released book, Beyond Myself: Reclaiming Your Life After Sexual Abuse, helps readers understand what a victim experiences, what the aftermath may look like, and what they can do to support and assist in a victim’s recovery process.  “We all have things we go through that hopefully we’re going to be warriors for later in life.”

In our video interview, Yvonne describes:

• The one man in her life who has never brought her shame or pain.
• Why you should never force your children to sit on Uncle Bob’s lap.
• How to develop boundaries if you’ve never had a good model to emulate.
• Why one piece of bread split five ways isn’t going to work.
• Why we must learn to speak up, and to trust ourselves.
• The myth of the Functional Family.

We also talked about Barbara Stanwyck of The Big Valley, learning to play the piano at three years old, faith, honoring her passions, and the picture she carries as a reminder in her wallet.   “Having the ability to step outside and see ourselves as individuals as if we were hearing someone else’s story and be compassionate towards ourselves is a great source of healing.”

If you’d like to hear our interview with Yvonne, head on over to the resources page and check out our Starting Over Interview series.  You won’t be sorry.