Copyright Notice
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Dear Readers,
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 Recently, I had the honor of facilitating the authors' talk at the Bookshop Santa Cruz with Ellen Bass and Laura Davis, who are the co-authors of The Courage to Heal. The room was full of people gathered to celebrate the release of the 20 Year Anniversary edition. Ellen is the Founding Board President of Kidpower and led our Board for our first 16 years. Her daughter was one of the girls with me in the incident that brought me into this work in 1985, when I protected a group of young children, including my own two, from a man who was threatening to kidnap them.
Twenty years ago, The Courage to Heal was the first book of its kind - a comprehensive book written about healing from childhood sexual abuse from the point of view of survivors in accessible terms that offered resources and described what the healing process was like with powerful messages of compassion and hope:
You are not alone.
What happened was not your fault.
You can heal.
Here are some resources that can help.
The Courage to Heal has now sold over 1.5 million copies and been translated into nine languages. This 20 Year Anniversary Edition has now been updated with new research on trauma and many new insights that Ellen and Laura have gained over the past two decades. A dramatic success story from a teen Kidpower student is in there, telling how she protected herself from a man who was trying to rape her, and we are included in the resource section.
In explaining how this book came to be, Ellen explained that she had not known anything about child sexual abuse until women in her "Writing About Our Lives" workshops started writing about terrible experiences they had had as children. With other authors, she published an anthology called I Never Told Anyone and started leading writing workshops specifically for incest survivors. Laura described how she was dealing with abuse from her grandfather and how, when she saw the lack of resources for women such as herself, she felt compelled to gather stories and share ideas. Knowing Ellen's work, Laura hounded her until Ellen agreed to write this book together.
Laura shared her own healing journey from the perspective of 25 years of personal work. When faced with breast cancer a couple of years ago, Laura found that the tools she had developed to heal from the trauma of having been abused as a child have helped her to cope with the challenges of being treated for cancer. She is now healthy and well.
Both Ellen and Laura said that they feel a lot of joy in the fact that their book has helped so many people - and a lot of sadness that, 20 years later, their book is needed for a new generation of survivors because child sexual abuse is still with us.
Anyway, it's a great book. I am proud that Kidpower is a small part of it - and that what we teach is helping create the kinds of social change that will someday finally make The Courage to Heal obsolete.
Wishing safety and joy to each of you and your loved ones,
Irene van der Zande
Kidpower Executive Director/Founder
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Kidpower Answers for Parents of Small Children
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 Here at Kidpower, we believe that babies are learning about "People Safety" even before they are born. However, as babies, toddlers, and preschoolers start to become more independent and move on their own out in the world, parents often have many questions about how to support their children in being safe as they start to meet new people and interact with other children and adults.
Some parents worry because their children are "too shy" and will get anxious and withdrawn around people they don't know well. Other parents worry because their children have no discretion and will treat everyone as their new best friend. Some parents worry that their children will be so eager to please that they might be dominated by others. Other parents worry that their children will push against the boundaries of both peers and adults.
Here are some Kidpower answers for the concerns that we hear from many parents and other caring adults with small children in their lives.
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Read more online
View printable version [PDF]
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Kidpower Safety Comics for Adults with Younger Children
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This newly published edition has a color cover, extensive black-and-white cartoons, and includes: - Directions for adults on how to introduce personal safety to children ages 3 to 10.
- Social stories to discuss with children.
- Basic "People Safety" skills for protecting emotional and physical well-being.
- Solutions to potential problems such as bullying and stranger safety.
 The tools in this comic book are most appropriate for parents, teachers, and other caregivers introducing "People Safety" to children ages 3 to 10 who are usually with adults who can help them. However, the skills are important for people of any age - adults too! Older children often learn by reading and practicing with younger children. NEW! To view sample pages, click here. To order, click here. |
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WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT!
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 MANY THANKS to our hundreds of donors and volunteers. Your generosity is making a big difference in our ability to help others.
MANY
THANKS to the Corporate, Foundation, Service Club, and Government
Partners of our Central Office: Albany Lions, Allstate Foundation,
Applied Materials, Atkinson Foundation, Bank of the West, Bay Federal Savings, Bayer
Foundation, Big Sky Creative, Blue Shield of California Foundation,
California Casualty, California Endowment, Canadian International Development Agency, Castro
Valley Rotary, Center for Spiritual Living, Citigroup Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation, Santa Cruz Commission for the Prevention of Violence
Against Women, Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, Community Printers of Santa Cruz, David and
Lucile Packard Foundation, DeAnza Lions, Deluxe Corporation Foundation,
Driscoll's Charitable Fund, East Bay Community Foundation, Ecolab,
Ephraim Foundation, Finish Line Youth Foundation,the June and Julian Foss Foundation, Freedom Rotary, Fremont Bank, Gayle's Bakery and
Rosticerria, Giant Steps Foundation, Google, the Health Trust, Hitachi America, Ltd., Hitachi
Data Systems, Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Hitachi
Foundation, Insurance Industry Charitable
Foundation, In-N-Out Burger Foundation, JM Long Foundation, Kaiser Permanente,
Jean and Ed Kelly Foundation, The Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation, Los Altos Rotary, Lowell Berry Foundation, Lucile Packard
Foundation for Children's Health, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Mechanics Bank,
Mervyn's, Office Depot Foundation, Omega Nu, Palo Alto Community Fund, Pantheon, Peninsula Community Foundation, Plantronics, Porter
Sesnon Foundation, Arnie Kamrin of PPi Technologies Global, Radio
Shack, Rite Aid Foundation, Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation, Russell
Investment Group, Safeway, San Lorenzo Valley Rotary, San Francisco Foundation,
Santa Cruz Medical Clinic, Scotts Valley Lions, Scotts Valley Rotary,
Seagate, Sharpdots.com, Silicon Valley Community
Foundation, SmithMicro, Sonora Area Foundation, Staples
Foundation for Learning, Special Hope Foundation, Target Stores, Tides Foundation, Tuolumne
County First 5 Commission, TRIO Foundation, Union Bank of California, Union City Lions,
Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation, Verizon, Vodafone, Wal-Mart, Waste
Management, Wells Fargo Foundation, West Marine, Western Digital, and the Y. & H.
Soda Foundation.
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