Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 3018

Tonight's special guest is Carol C. Boyce from Sacramento, California, a child abuse survivor and an accomplished author, child advocate, and speaker. Her passions for child abuse prevention. Carol's book is, 'First, I Believe You; A True Story of Healing from Hidden Memories'. She has written about her resiliency and courageous battle to learn the truth of her past, ending her traumatic amnesia and family secrets. Carol says, "'First, I Believe You' walks the reader through my recovery from Complex PTSD and shows my healing from this horrible diagnosis. My trauma also occurred over a long period of time and is the devastating result of childhood sexual abuse." She explains, "We were the best family on the block as many saw it. But something was very wrong, something that I couldn't identify." Carol says, "In my thirties, with two young children, my life began dissolving." With nightmares and increasing moments of sheer terror and panic attacks, I knew I was losing my grip. But I had children to raise. I had vowed early on that my children would be raised in an emotionally healthy home as if my life depended on it." She searched for help from endless and clueless psychotherapists, but no one had any idea of what was causing her problems. As the terror continued and the eating addiction grew, she was finally able to put all of the pieces together. "I had been molested by my father and had had absolutely no memory of it until I was thirty-six. Upon that horrifying realization, the terror I'd lived through as a child began to pour out of me." She goes on, "Though my father denied all he'd done, labeling me a liar, and my siblings have refused to believe or support me, my own family thrived."