On Listening to Victims/Survivors of Violence and Violation

The heart of our work lies mainly in listening to victims/survivors of violence and violation — regardless of whether they have any interest in ever meeting and talking with the offenders in their cases. Our primary objective is to help such survivors feel heard. If you are a survivor (direct or indirect) and you feel an inclination to have some thoughts or feelings posted here, we invite you to submit them for consideration. You may be assured that your anonymity will be respected.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Listening to Survivors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “On Listening to Victims/Survivors of Violence and Violation”

  1. Jon W Says:

    January 10th, 2010 at 10:46 am

    Survivors report that the most powerful aspect of feeling “fully heard” lies in not being “judged,” even subtly, about what they say, or tell. As listeners, the very best we can offer is to listen without judgment and, particularly, without inclination to try and “fix” anything. Fully and truly listening to them as they find words for their experiences is all they ask, and all they really need. When we listen to survivors this fully and unselfishly, they actually begin to hear themselves in new ways, and we can give no greater gift to another than this.

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