Sexual violence

Being sexually assaulted by a partner or someone you were in a relationship with

Sexual contact that was forced, coerced, or happened when you could not consent, within a romantic or sexual relationship. Including marriages. Including long-term partnerships. Including situations where you did not have the language for what it was at the time.

If some version of this is part of your story, you already know that the hardest part is rarely the memory itself. It is carrying it in a world that mostly does not want to hear about it. This fellowship exists so you do not have to carry it alone, and so you never have to explain it to someone who has no idea what it means.

What can follow an experience like this

No two people carry the same experience the same way. These are some of the effects that people with this experience often describe. Having some of them, all of them, or none of them says nothing about how real what happened to you was.

Complex or ongoing trauma and its effects When trauma happened repeatedly, over a long time, or at the hands of people who were supposed to care for you, the effects go deeper than a single event. Dissociation or feeling detached from yourself Dissociation is what the nervous system does when what is happening is too much to stay present for. Ending up in the same harmful situations again The relationship that looks different at the start but ends up in the same place. Emotions that feel out of control Reactions that feel disproportionate to the situation. Fear of being abandoned Not just not wanting people to leave. Thoughts about not wanting to be here Thoughts about not existing anymore. Conflict feeling like a physical threat For many survivors conflict is not just uncomfortable. Clinging or shutting down in relationships Attachment is the system that governs how we connect with other people, how close we let them get, how we respond when they pull away, how we handle being needed.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.

You do not have to carry this alone.

Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.

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