8 love letters to survivors of sexual violence. The one from the dad made me cry.

Dear You, If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual violence, know that it was not your fault and you are loved. Love, MeTRIGGER WARNING: There are no descriptions of sexual violence in the following letters, but they certainly allude to traumas and may be triggering.

Two female activists have started a revolution of healing. It began Valentine’s Day 2014 (that’s Feb. 14, for those of you who don’t observe the “holiday”). They created #SurvivorLoveLetter on Twitter for survivors of sexual violence to reclaim a potentially painful day and turn it into a love fest … for themselves! Brilliant.

There is also a Tumblr page where people are posting creative photos of their letters. Full disclosure: As an art therapist, this project is pretty much what I live for. People healing through creative expression is stunning to witness. Read a few of the moving letters below.


This one pretty much bursts my heart wide open:

Culture

Mom explains the eye-opening reason people stop to thank her for having eight children

Culture

In 1887, a photographer captured America’s stunning Western frontier and Native Americans

Nature

Florida dumped half a million oyster shells into the Gulf of Mexico. No one expected the results to be this good.

Culture

1989 ‘Donahue’ interview with female cast of ‘Steel Magnolias’ shows how far we’ve come