When the volcano erupted and I learned that something sexual happened to my children I was overwhelmed by their behaviors and the authorities including detectives and child protective service agencies. I was greatly disturbed how a mother facing the things I was facing was allowed to just spin in circles alone while carrying such extreme pain of her own and her children’s while still needing to work, provide food, shelter, and all the responsibilities of a normal day.

When we became healthier we started Coffee & Cocoa and story after story was similar to what I experienced from friends, family, and authorities. Cocoa and I are no longer shocked by the different ways that survivors are left to walk alone or the horrific things that are said to them by family, friends, and authorities. They all walk away and continue life, while we as survivors are left carrying more than we can handle.

I became so passionate about changing the ways that survivors are left to deal with the pain that was caused by another, by the way that many abusers are allowed to continue to perpetrate abuse while authorities know that they are guilty, and about the ways our communities refuse to acknowledge or talk about a pandemic that has been around for thousands of years. Our child survivors grow up and try to survive through adulthood and yet they never received healing.

Coffee & Cocoa continues to educate around the world and encourage others to find their voice. Now the TWC Clubhouse takes it steps further to healing individuals and communities in all areas of trauma because we all have pains that we need to walk through even if we are not a survivor of child sexual abuse.