Find Your Voice’s mission is to provide therapy resources for healing and for leaving relationships that are abusive when necessary. I invited Dawn Lanaville to be my guest co-blogger because of her expertise with forensics and family courts. She speaks about shifting the focus to perpetrators and providing answers to an survivors’ oft-asked question, “Why do they hurt us?” Lanaville is a clinical/forensic psychologist who primarily works in family courts in Intimate Partner

Couples in an abusive relationship often seek therapy for other issues and fail to mention abuse. A few of the reasons they don’t identify it: Victims are invested in the relationship and think couples therapy will convince the partner to change. The abusive partner threatens consequences for speaking about it. The abuser does not view their behavior as inappropriate and persuades their partner they are to blame. Neither one recognizes inappropriate or aggressive behavior. Re

As you can see, my sister and I were properly attired to resist sandstorms for our camel ride. Twenty-four hours of travel back to Merica (how Moraccans say it) did not tamp my enthusiasm for what I experienced. Morocco is a land of contrasts: Desert and camels, but also green mountains, busy ports, and car manufacturing for export. Riads (homes with courtyards) and alley-like souks (markets) but also busy cosmopolitan cities. A monarchy and a history of patriarchy, but the

Do not allow anxiety to interfere with gaining the support you need. The following gives guidance in how to tell someone about abuse. It also bolsters you in not taking personally anyone’s lack of support or disbelief if that occurs.