The Courage to Heal Workbook: A Guide for Women and Men Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

This workbook is not easy to work through, it takes time patience and more importantly compassion with yourself. I really struggled to work through this one but it has really been foundational in confronting and addressing how many of the issues in my current life were connected to circumstances that happened early on in my life. Of course it is always a process but I really have found a lot of healing through this workbook, especially if you have not told anyone about these events and are working on it on your own. Thank you to Laura Davis for this book!

Thank goddess for this workbook. I thought it was super cheesy at first glance. I was wrong. I spent all summer doing yoga, and working thru this workbook. I have transformed myself as the second step of recovering from sexual assault. My first step was to have a deep listener listen via writing about my story, and stories. I felt heard, and this helped me transcend and grow further, releasing further stigma, and helping me find a voice and a purpose and way to channel anger, how to reframe self-blame, releasing the silence and the shame. There is also a whole section to figure out whether you wish to confront your abusers. I cannot recommend this workbook enough.

After so many years of depression, despair, and groping for help, I found three things to be critical life-changers for my depression and post-traumatic stress related to sexual abuse:1) This break-through book and the regular Courage to Heal Book, also sold on Amazon (hand-in-hand),2) Bellruth Naparstek's CD's with guided imagery and affirmations for Depression (also sold on Amazon--the reviews tell the story of this wonderful tool), and3) EMDR therapy, which is a form of therapy that has recently been proven in clinical studies to help substantially with PTSD (you can read about it on WebMD and other sites); it's a pretty amazing process.I clung to my Courage to Heal book and workbook during the most difficult years of healing, and it lit my path. During times when I felt I was staring down a bottomless pit of despair, these books gave me hope. It helped so much to hear choruses of voices of other survivors, who almost became like friends. And it helped me understand my trauma in larger social and political contexts. I wasn't alone. The book and workbook helped me start writing, thinking, feeling, and creatively working my way through events that had scarred me well into my 40's.Now I buy these books and Bellruth Naparstek's CD's for my students who have gone through this trauma. As the author says, it's often important for survivors of child sexual abuse to get therapy as well, and I found that was necessary. Therapists range widely in their talents and abilities to deal with this issue. Often, this book was much better than the quality of therapy I could get. At the same time, an outstanding therapist could take me light years forward, and of course EMDR therapy has recently come along as a powerful tool if you can afford it. Through it all, these books have been my soul's companion. None of this is easy, thanks to the brutality of people who do unthinkable things at the batting of an eye that can devastate a young soul for a lifetime, but we can rebuild our lives and get free of the power they have over us.

This is in no way shape or form a replacement for professional therapy. I used this as a tool with my therapist and it helped/worked like a bit if a journal/work book. Sometimes it makes you think sometimes it works as an outlet for your thoughts and feelings without filter/thinking but be prepared. Depending on you it can get heavy. Your experience with this workbook depends completely on you.

This seems to be an excellent workbook from what I’ve read so far. I just wish the cover were more inconspicuous. I might like to use it went outside or at a park or something. Also in my house, I don’t want visitors or family members to see this. It was a simple solution to cover it with stickers, and I wanted to leave a picture here to show you. I’m sure many of you are at the stage where it doesn’t bother you, but I’m just now starting to deal with what happened to me and this is my very first step into that. I’ve never seen a therapist. I’ve never read a book or anything this is my first thing, and it just feels so blaring. I hope that makes sense.

If you are considering buying this book, either you or someone you care about has gone through some serious bad stuff in life, and a breezy product review isn't what you need. What brought you to buying this book s%cks, working through this book is often painful, and healing takes courage and a lot of work.You can do this.

For anyone going through something as tough as surviving abuse this book really helps. And I am not the type that typically feeds into self help books. But this one helps you always assess where you are at, where you want to be, helps you exercise and process what you are feeling in a safe manner. Because it put you back in charge! It puts you in charge of when you write in it, what activities that you do and most importantly who reads it. All your private thoughts can stay private.

I purchased this book a while back. I was asked to do a review at that time, but I like to actually use a book like this one before telling other people to use or not use it. This book is really deep.It brings you up close and personal with yourself and your emotions and memories. I would say if you can't be honest with yourself with in the pages of this book in your home or with your counseler, then perhaps you won't have the courage to heal. I think this book is wonderful. If nothing else it provided me insight into why people do the things they do and once something has happened that there is a chance of recovery and ability to led a normal life. This workbook will help you whether your abuse was sexual or mental, or physical as you deal with the anger and the pain of your experiences.

Great product I purchased for a friend

In this book the author describes the step by step process of healing like breaking the silence,emergency stage,confrontation with the perpetrator and lot ....this book shows the most difficult journey an abuse survivor faces in the process of healing

I read the Courage to Heal about 25 years ago and it remains as useful and relevant as then. A friend is finding it useful, and uses not just the space provided but writes and draws in any space on the page. Struggling to find a counselor this book is holding her and she takes it everywhere. Not alone springs to mind

wirklich tolles Arbeitsbuch, nicht wie manche, wo man am Ende nur Theorie liest.

一部分が日本語訳されたものが出版されているが、やはり原本は非常に良い。ほかの方も書かれているが、自己カウンセリングに最適である。特に、未だ日本で性被害を専門とするカウンセラーの存在が希少であり、また高額な費用がかかることを考えると、この本の存在は貴重である。”Courage to heal”の姉妹書であるが、この本だけでも十分取り組める。バックグランドを知りたければ、"Courage to heal”を読まれるといいと思う。英語のレベルとしては、やはり実力としては英検準一級程度が挫折せずに進めるためにはほしいところだろうか。ただ、ゆっくりと取り組むのであれば、高校程度の英語レベルでも取り組めると思う。これをやる間に、「こんなことは書けない」と思うことも出てくるかもしれない（自分は出てきた）。しかし、また時間を置いて、繰り返し読み、取り組んでみるとよいと思う。元気になれるときもあるし、読んでも救われないと思うこともあるだろう。けれども、本のなかに書き込まれた自分の言葉は真実であり、人に見せるものではないので安心して書き込める。この本の最初に書かれていた言葉として、「癒しとは、一時痛みを和らげることではない。癒しは、私の残りの人生を掛けて続くのである」がある。しかし、それがあまり苦しくないように、この本を用いることによって貴方自身がことを成し遂げていくことは可能になると思う。