Abuse Hides in the Dark. Turn on Your Light.

My Life After Abuse


  • What Does “Recovery From Abuse” Mean To You?

    What Does “Recovery From Abuse” Mean To You?

    Some people think “recovery from abuse” means you’re able to hold quality relationships with family, friends and a new partner. Others consider recovery to mean they’ve reclaimed themselves, feel strong, and have their life back. Is the process of recovering from child abuse different from recovering from domestic abuse? Do you think recovery has an

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  • How I Left An Abusive Relationship Interview

    How I Left An Abusive Relationship Interview

    How do you get out of an abusive relationship? You just leave. When the thought to leave strikes you, act on it, go. You deal with the emotions and hardships after you’ve left, one by one, just as you deal with all life challenges. Working out a safety plan in advance, just in case, doesn’t…

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  • Website Launch Press Release

    Website Launch Press Release

    A wife and mother of two struggles to break free from the clutches of verbal, emotional and mental abuse after discovering her 17 years of marriage problems were actually domestic abuse issues. Her website reveals the devastation of her experience and recent realization that she has been participating in her own abuse. She’s now deciding…

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  • What’s It Like to Live Life Without Abuse?

    Transcript Hi! This is Kellie Jo Holly. I write the Verbal Abuse In Relationships blog at healthyplace.com. I’ve been out of my abusive relationship for about two years. It hasn’t been a cakewalk, I won’t lie. The beginning was pretty difficult. But here I am, I’m sitting in my own peaceful kitchen surrounded by four

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  • About Kellie Jo Holly

    Kellie Jo Holly is recognized as an artist, writer, and advocate for survivors of domestic violence. She is known for her contributions to raising awareness about domestic abuse, particularly through her work in creating the “Verbal Abuse Journals” website. Kellie Jo Holly established the Verbal Abuse Journals website which served as a platform to share

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  • Inspiration to Leave Your Abusive Relationship: Liberty or Death?

    My Thanksgiving weekend would not be complete without remembering our great country and its roots in the ultimate desire for freedom. Of course, I am grateful that almost 240 years ago, brave men and women fought for America’s freedom from the abuse and oppression of the British crown; I am also grateful that I fought

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  • Shutting Up for Many Reasons: Some Valid, Some Not

    Shutting Up for Many Reasons: Some Valid, Some Not

    Last year, I tapered off from this blog because I was afraid of what would come of it in court. Nothing came of it in court. This blog was either irrelevant or the battle didn’t get nasty enough for his attorney to use it. Or maybe there was nothing to be said about it. Will’s

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  • I Appreciate You

    I Appreciate You

    Lately I’ve been thinking about you, the readers of this blog. You readers are my core; without you, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to continue the leaving process after it begun. Without you, I think I may have resigned myself to more years of abuse – maybe I would have stayed until I…

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  • You Can’t Make Your Abuser Abuse You

    You Can’t Make Your Abuser Abuse You

    You can’t make your abuser abuse you. The responsibility for abusing falls directly on the shoulders of the perpetrator, not the victim. Yet so many victims (me too!) want to somehow make the abuse “our fault”. I think that I wanted to accept responsibility for the abuse because if I caused it, then I could

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  • Depression After Leaving Abusive Relationship: Spiraling

    Depression After Leaving Abusive Relationship: Spiraling

    Depression today has the same purpose as it had during my abusive relationship: to dull the good, feel the bad, and then try to fix me. But I’m not broken. My brain chemistry is broken. Domestic violence and abuse broke my brain.

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