How to Recognize an Abused Child

Lisa Gray is a licensed mental health counselor, minister, author, and speaker. She travels extensively speaking at women's conferences, jails, and seminars to bring awareness to the complex and emotional topic of sexual abuse.

"They Don't Tell - Child Abuse:  A Mother's Perspective" is her powerful book especially for mothers who have to deal with the pain, hurt, shame, and guilt that comes with discovering that their child had been sexually abused.

"Mom, if I had something to tell you, would you be a mom or would you be a friend?" Those words are forever etched into Lisa's mind when her 16-year-old daughter finally told Lisa that her stepfather had been sexually abusing her since she was in the third grade.

This is the day Lisa's life changed forever and began a process of dealing with the shock, pain, guilt and shame surrounding the abuse.  She is passionate about bringing this awareness to parents, teachers, counselors, and anyone who works with children whose innocence was stolen.  She is an advocate for these women and to help bring the abusers to justice.

I Deserved the Abuse.....And Other Lies

Roxanne Fawley went from longing for death to loving life, from debilitating depression to being extremely happy.  

In Roxanne's memoir But I Like It...And Other Lies, she shares her experience as a victim of physical, mental, and sexual abuse.  She wrote the book because she knows she is not the only one who believed the insidious lie that a woman likes or wants or even caused her own sexual abuse.

She shows us how she has been completely restored to health and freedom that comes from knowing the truth and rejecting all the lies that may hold us captive and hopeless because of abuse.

Were You Part of A Drug Company's Dirty Little Secret?

Shirley Ledlie wrote her memoir, Naked in the Wind -Chemo, Hair loss, and Deceit as a result of an unexpected battle she had to fight.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer at 47 and won the battle against the disease. BUT, after her treatment ended Shirley found herself in another seven-year battle with doctors and a drug company.

Shirley Ledlie had an unstoppable determination to win her conflict as she uncovered the truth about a little-known side-effect of a cancer treatment drug, Taxotere.

Love and Redemption: Overcoming Guilt and Moving On

Maggie C. Romero, M.A., taught English as a Second Language in northern Virginia for seventeen years. She and her partner retired from full-time teaching and moved to New Mexico where they have lived since 2009. Maggie is a member of SouthWest Writers, Story Circle Network, based in Austin, Texas, and National Association of Memoir Writers.

Maggie knows the pain of addiction and in this interview will bring awareness to a subject many don't want to discuss.  Yet, it is around us wherever we look.  It can affect any one of us.  Rich or poor, educated or not, it can strike anywhere.

Maggie shares her daughter's story. Before addiction, Angie was a world-class gymnast, a gifted artist and graduated from university with a B.A. in Journalism. But at 21, it all fell apart.

Maggie's purpose in writing her story was to heal from losing her daughter, Angie, to the Living Death of Heroin Addiction. She was determined to save her child from addiction and bankrupted herself in the effort to do so, had a breakdown and was forced into early retirement.