Stage three
Rise
There is a life on the other side of this, and it belongs to you.
What waits on the other side of this is an ordinary life, and ordinary is the thing that has been missing. Mornings that start without bracing yourself. A home where nobody has to be managed. The freedom to make a plan, take a call, spend your own money and say what you think without calculating the cost.
Starting over asks something of you, and there will be days it feels like too much. There will also be an evening you notice you have been happy for hours without realizing it. Peace, safety, joy and a future worth anticipating are the whole purpose of this. You deserve every one of them, and they are worth every hard day between here and there.
What helps
Counseling that understands this
- Most local domestic violence programs offer free counseling, including after you've left
- Trauma-informed therapy is different from general talk therapy
- Support groups with people who have been through it
- Counseling for children who witnessed it
Rebuilding the practical
- Credit repair and financial counseling, often free through local programs
- Job training and employment support
- Legal help with divorce, custody and debt
- Transitional housing programs
Rebuilding yourself
- Reconnecting with the people you lost along the way
- Relearning your own preferences after years of managing someone else's
- Letting joy back in without feeling you have to earn it
- Going at your own pace, including backwards sometimes
You are allowed to want a life that is more than safe.
Rise with us
Recognize to Rise is building a community for people at every stage of this: still figuring it out, in the middle of it, or years past it and wanting to help someone else. The newsletter is private. There's no public membership list and nothing that identifies you to anyone.
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