Healing
Sexual violence is a traumatic violation of the body, mind, and spirit. It can profoundly impact a person’s health and well-being. Each person reacts differently to sexual violence and there is no right or wrong way to cope with or to feel about your experience.
Be Gentle with Yourself
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self preservation and that is an act of political warfare.”
– Audre Lorde, black, lesbian, feminist writer, scholar and activist
Self care is about taking care of ourselves – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is about (re)learning how to be gentle with ourselves and how to attend to our needs. Self care is crucial for our survival, wellbeing, and growth, especially after experiencing harm. You deserve radical care and love. Remember that, like healing, self care is a non-linear practice. What you need will change and grow at different times and in reaction to different things.
Access Support
“I am fighting for an interdependence that embraces need and tells the truth: no one does it on their own and the myth of independence is just that, a myth.”
– Mia Mingus, writer, educator and organizer working for disability justice and transformative justice responses to child sexual abuse
Talking with others can be an important step in healing. Connect with a counsellor, a support line, or a friend.
Contact the Laurier’s Gendered and Sexual Violence Prevention and Supports to find out about the many different support and counselling options available to you.
You are not alone. Reach out.
We are also happy to offer specialized on-campus counselling for survivors through our partnerships with the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region and the Sexual Assault Centre of Brant. To make an appointment, contact:
Waterloo
The Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region 24-hour support line: call 519.741.8633.
On-Campus Sexual Assault Support Centre Counselling: call 519.571.0121 or fill out their online intake form.
Brantford
The Sexual Assault Centre of Brant 24-hour crisis and support line: call 519.751.3471.
Need Help Right Now?
Gendered and Sexual Violence Prevention and Supports:
24 Hour Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Lines:
- Waterloo: 519.741.8633
- Brantford: 519.751.3471
Emergency:
- 911
Special Constable Services:
- 519.885.3333, or from an internal phone x3333.
Get Involved
For many, getting involved in creating change can be an empowering part of the healing process.
If you are interested in activism and advocacy working towards creating a culture of consent reach out to:
RESOURCES
You may be looking for resources to help you understand your experience and its impact on you. Some helpful resources are listed below.
- Healing, Pleasure, and Sex After Trauma Resource List
- Video: Fight of Freeze
- Consent is Golden
- The Affirmations Deck
- 11 Truths Every Survivor of Intimate Partner Violence Needs to Know
- Speak Up and Stay Safe(r): A Guide to Protecting Yourself from Online Harassment
- Out of the Shadows: A Project on Criminal Harassment in Canada
- Everything Is Awful and I’m Not Okay: questions to ask before giving up
- Self Care After Trauma
- Body-Based Emotional First Aid Tools
- Trans Lifeline: Peer support run by and for trans folks
- Invisible Men: Support for trans men and Non Binary transmasculine folks
- 2SLGBTQIA+ Youthline
- Five Fourteen - Support for queer and trans yourth connected to the foster system
- “Affirming Care For Transgender Older Adults” the Podcast
- “Self Help Guide for Trans Survivors of Violence”
- “You Are Not Alone”: A Printable Pride Colouring Book
- Safe Dating Tips for Two-Spirit, Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, and Non-Binary Folks
- Violence on the Land, Violence on Our Bodies
- Joyful Heart Foundation: Healing and Justice for African-American Survivors
- Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
- How To Talk to Your Latine Family About Sexual Violence
- Black Trauma + Mental Health Resources Round-Up
- Coping While Black: A Season Of Traumatic News Takes A Psychological Toll
Laurier’s Gendered and Sexual Violence Prevention and Supports operates on the sacred and traditional land of the Anishnawbe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.