Emily Jacob is pioneering a new way to help support survivors of rape go beyond mere surviving and to living a reconnected life again. Through curating the knowledge, techniques and tools that helped her in her own recovery, she now uses her skills as a coach and NLP master practitioner to guide survivors from a place of fear and anxiety, from living with shame & self-blame, from being disconnected from mind and body, from not knowing how to be in this world of ‘after’, to a life that is connected, that is empowered, that is free. So that rape isn’t a sentence for a half-life and the only scars are the memory, integrated into the past, with no impact on the present or future.

Emily achieves this for her clients through one-to-one coaching, and through a self-coaching programme of knowledge and empowerment, guiding survivors through the exercises that will transform their lives. She also provides daily support to survivors all over the world in the ReConnected Life Community.

Emily’s vision is for a world where the conversation has moved from blaming victims to condemning rapists. A world where survivors feel safe to report, knowing that courts will convict. A world where survivors are supported through all stages of physical, mental and spiritual recovery. And a world where rape becomes rare to non-existent, because rapists know that they will be found out and spend a long time behind bars. In order to facilitate this vision she will often be found either blogging for Metro, and Huffington Post, and any other outlet that will have her, or standing on a pulpit declaring her message of a kinder more compassionate world for survivors to anyone who will host her to speak.

More information can be found at www.reconnected.life.

I’ve always been a lover of stories. As a girl my go-to book was Matilda. In fact, Roald Dahl was always my author of choice during the long and lonely nights of childhood, when sleep often evaded me. Dahl’s outrageous plots and whimsical characters carried me through my insomnia, out of my story and into theirs. I learnt about kindness, compassion, revenge and that the world is a dichotomy of good and bad. I recognised elements of my own character in the fictional ones I read about and found excitement, inspiration and hope that justice would prevail.

Interestingly, during my years spent in the grip of anorexia, I stopped reading. Consumed by my illness, I wanted nothing more than to fade away and slip quietly into death. My narrative, fuelled by my shame about my childhood sexual abuse, was an unspeakable one; my anorexia a physical demonstration of a trauma I could not vocalise. I didn’t want to belong in my own story and so I withdrew from all stories and everything else that connected me to my humanity; food, love, family, friendships, community. I spent many years addicted to self-destructive habits, conflicted by a yearning to return to the pack, to belong, and my illness which wanted to separate me from all that I loved so that it could destroy me.

During the process of recovery (which for me is always on-going) I rediscovered my love of reading, reigniting my sense of belonging and purpose. Through stories, either fiction or non-fiction, we share empathetic connections, reaffirming our humanity and reminding us that we are part of a collective; we all experience fear, struggle, despair, passion, joy and hope. We find commonality with others in sharing our stories, lifting us out of our feelings of isolation. Stories help us to understand ourselves and each other; they connect us to universal truths about ourselves and our world.

Stories help us to understand other peoples’ perspective and experiences, transporting us into alternative realities by engaging our attention and triggering our imagination. Stories can be cautionary, endowing morals and principles, highlighting prejudices and prompting social change. Characters can provoke and inspire us.

Everyone has a story to tell. And yet, it seems the hardest thing to do at times; to give it voice, for fear of being judged, ashamed and embarrassed by our imperfections. In a society where we are encouraged to be anything and everything other than that which we are, it is easy to disguise ourselves, our lives becoming a staged play, lived behind masks and the facade of fake social media profiles.

We can change this.

In finally finding my voice and the courage to read aloud my own unread chapters, I very quickly found myself amongst a supportive community of people willing to do the same. A community of people willing to make themselves vulnerable and exposed, the truth of who they are out there for all the world to see. And through vulnerability comes an incredible amount of power and connection. This is a huge catalyst for healing, growth and change. In embarking on the journey to collate The Silent Scream anthology, I found healing through a shared vulnerability with a group of strangers that liberated me from my feelings of loneliness and unworthiness. In facing my fears I found connection without rules, outside the lines and in places where I thought I wouldn’t.

The Silent Scream: An Anthology of Despair, Struggle and Hope is a collection of raw and honest stories told in various forms by this very community of people to inform and inspire, to remind you that your sometimes destructive mind narrative is merely a sub-plot from the bigger story of your life. The Silent Scream anthology is a friend, a hold in the hand companion, a book to dip in and out of, ready to reassure you that normal does not exist. As collaborators we make our mess our message: you are not alone.

Together, let’s navigate the pages of our lives to become the authors of new chapters yet to be written.

Michelle was born in Peterborough, UK. After moving to Essex, South London, and then spending time travelling the world, she has now settled in Amersham where she lives with her husband, two children, and a mischievous cockapoo!

Michelle has always been a free-spirit, deep thinker, and an avid bookworm. She understands the transformational power of the written word so spends her time crafting poetry, writing her first in-progress fiction novel, and bringing other indie authors together to create compilations that challenge the status quo! She also helps indie authors fulfil their book dreams by offering writing retreats, book coaching via her Author Accelerator membership, plus book design and editorial services.

Michelle is obsessed with understanding human behaviour (and is currently undertaking a social science degree – just for fun!), watching psychological thrillers that challenge one's own morality, and hopes to share her warped mind via fiction very soon! She also loves campervans, avocados, and THAT smell after the rain!

Connect with Michelle:

Website: michelle@inkysoup.co.uk

Instagram: www.instagram.com/michelle_catanach