| Acknowledgments | p. x |
| Dedications | p. xii |
| Special Pages | p. xiv |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| About Language | |
| Where Am I Right Now? | |
| What It Will Feel Like to Use This Book | |
| About the Exercises in this Book | p. 9 |
| Writing as a Healing Tool | |
| About Freewriting | |
| Art as a Healing Tool | |
| About Making Collages | |
| Survival Skills for Healing | p. 15 |
| Creating Safety | p. 19 |
| The Five Building Blocks of Safety | |
| Create Ground Rules | |
| Build a Container | |
| Find a Safe Spot | |
| Establish Your Privacy | |
| Establish a Protective Ritual | |
| Building Your Support System | p. 35 |
| Creating a Support System | |
| Helps and Hindrances to Healing | |
| Therapists and Therapy | |
| Dealing With Crisis | p. 64 |
| When I'm Lost and Scared | |
| Phone List for Hard Times | |
| When I Start to Panic | |
| Things I Can Do When I'm Overwhelmed | |
| Dealing with Suicidal Feelings | |
| My Suicide Prevention Plan | |
| The Emergency Stage | |
| Simplify Your Life | |
| Ask for Help | |
| Create a Light at the End of the Tunnel | |
| Nurturing Yourself | p. 89 |
| Learning to Nurture Yourself | |
| Marking the Way | p. 98 |
| Marking the Way: A Writing Exercise | |
| What Have I Already Accomplished? | |
| Celebrating Your Accomplishments | |
| Taking Stock | p. 111 |
| Where did I Come From? | |
| When I Was Growing Up | |
| Name the Abuser | |
| The Effects: How did it Change My Life? | p. 123 |
| Assessing the Damage | |
| Identifying My Strengths | |
| Activity: Picturing the Effects | |
| Putting the Abuse in Perspective | |
| Coping: How did I Survive? | p. 144 |
| Identifying Coping Mechanisms | |
| Forgiving Yourself | |
| The Pros and Cons of Coping Behaviors | |
| Developing Healthier Ways of Coping | |
| Aspects of Healing | p. 165 |
| The Decision to Heal | p. 169 |
| Preparing for Change | |
| Facing an Uncertain Future | |
| Willingness | |
| About Courage | |
| Activity: Designing a Warrior Mask | |
| Expanding Your Capacity for Hope | |
| Putting Hope Aside: A Writing Exercise | |
| My Hopes Today | |
| Making Hopes Come True | |
| Remembering | p. 204 |
| What Is a Memory? | |
| Piecing Together the Puzzle | |
| If You Don't Remember | |
| What Am I Afraid Of? | |
| Activity: Picturing | |
| Believing it Happened | p. 224 |
| I Don't Want to Believe It | |
| Research Your Childhood | |
| Breaking Silence | p. 234 |
| Why Tell? | |
| Simple Telling or Confrontation? | |
| Childhood Lessons: Silence | |
| If You Told | |
| A Few Choice Words on Telling the Truth | |
| Guidelines for Telling | |
| Understanding that it Wasn't Your Fault | p. 256 |
| Letting Go of Shame | |
| Identifying Hidden Shame | |
| Replacing Shame with Reality | |
| Observing Children | |
| Evidence of Childhood | |
| The Child Within | |
| Activity: Picturing the Child Within | |
| Letter to an Abused Child: A Writing Exercise | |
| Learning to Trust Yourself | p. 274 |
| Being Present | |
| Internalized Messages | |
| The Inner Voice | |
| Learning to Say No | |
| Saying No: A Writing Exercise | |
| Grieving and Mourning | p. 302 |
| Naming Your Losses: A Writing Exercise | |
| Activity: Creating a Grieving Ritual | |
| Anger | p. 315 |
| Anger Inventory | |
| Fear of Anger | |
| Letters to an Abuser: A Pair of Writing Exercises | |
| Anger into Action | |
| Activity: The Banner Project | |
| Forgiveness? | |
| Confrontations | p. 340 |
| What Have I Done Already? | |
| Should I Confront? | |
| Vanquishing Secret Hopes | |
| Making a Confrontation Plan | |
| After the Confrontation | |
| The Other Eulogy: A Writing Exercise | |
| Dealing with Your Family Now | p. 367 |
| What Is a Family? | |
| Evaluating My Family of Origin | |
| Redefining Family | |
| Looking at Individual Relationships | |
| Setting the Ground Rules | |
| Planning for Family Contact | |
| Developing Realistic Expectations | |
| Giving Up the Fantasy: A Writing Exercise | |
| Letting Go: An Activity | |
| Enjoying Your New Family: A Writing Exercise | |
| Resolution and Moving on | p. 415 |
| How Far Have I Come? A Writing Exercise | |
| Why Has It Been Worth It? | |
| Tooting Your Own Horn | |
| Things I Like About Myself | |
| Things I've Dreamed of Doing and Becoming | |
| Activity: Creating a Celebration Ritual | |
| Guidelines for Healing Sexually | p. 428 |
| For Whom Am I Doing This? | |
| What Is Sex? | |
| What Is Sex? (Part II) | |
| Sexual Ground Rules | |
| Safe Sex Guidelines | |
| Activity: Massaging Hands | |
| Sexual Hopes: A Writing Exercise | |
| Resources | p. 453 |
| Organizations | |
| Healing Books | |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
