Introduction
to
"The Journey Home"
Hi!
My name is Pat Swinger and I'm very pleased that you have visited my website.
It doesn't matter to me if you're visiting me because you yourself were
sexually abused, or because someone you love was sexually abused, or if
you experienced some other trauma from which you seek healing. The only
thing that matters to me is that you find whatever knowledge, understanding
or fellowship you need to make that healing happen.
I'd like you to know a little bit about me, not because there's anything particularly interesting about my life story, but rather because there isn't. I am your average fifty-year-old Midwestern woman who has lived a relatively average life except that I've also done an inordinate amount of reading, studying and self-examination.
The youngest in a family of four girls, I did all the things kids do in small towns. In high school, I was a member of the National Honor Society, a cheerleader, and my high school's first Homecoming Queen. No one would ever have guessed my secret.
I married, started my family, and when my twin sons were only a year old, I went back to college and completed my degree. After six years of night classes, I graduated from Washington University with honors. In other words, I lived a perfectly "normal" life. Except for one thing.
I
had been sexually abused until the age of fifteen and, even into my thirties,
I still found myself being followed around by what I came to refer to
as "my gray cloud". Most of the time if you asked me how I was,
I'd smile and say "fine" and most of the time it was true. Other
times, when things didn't go well, when some disappointment or hurt came
my way, I found my spirit crushed way out of proportion to what was really
happening. Even when real tragedy hit as it did when my daughter died,
mixed in with all the grief, I asked myself what else I could have expected.
For the last twenty-five years, I have been on a journey of healing. Though
self-taught, I've learned a great deal about thought processes and belief
systems; I've used and facilitated change processes. I've discovered the
difference between what I refer to as secular healing and spiritual healing.
I have three basic messages for anyone who suffered through childhood
sexual abuse:
You are not alone.
Nothing you did made your abuse happen.
You
have everything you need to live with
more joy than you ever imagined.
Walk with me through My Journey Home.