I’m excited to have a second opportunity to guest blog for my friend Amy today!
Amy has asked me to tell you about my book, A Journey to Healing After Emotional Abuse, which has just been published. This is my second book about emotional abuse. I wrote my first book, A Journey through Emotional Abuse: from Bondage to Freedom in 2013 to help women* understand emotional abuse, stand up against it, and decide if they would be safer staying in their relationships or leaving them. During the writing of that book, I trained to be a domestic violence advocate, and began helping domestic violence victims through my website and Facebook page. The more women I helped, the more I realized many survivors were struggling to heal from their emotional abuse, just as I was. These survivors have escaped from their abusers, yet they are still shackled by the pain of their abuse in many ways. They have:
- Feelings of grief, shame, betrayal and unworthiness
- Depression, PTSD, physical ailments
- The need to fight for custody of their kids
- Strained relationships with friends, family and God
- Fears about moving forward with their life.
Click image to be taken tho the site to view/order book
I had and sometimes still do have similar needs. I wanted to explore ways to get past the pain in my own life, and to share what I learned with my readers.
As I wrote the book, I drew on some of my personal experiences as I went through my healing process. But, I also realized I had a long way to go in my own journey to healing. I love to read and research. Writing this book gave me the opportunity to do both. I read books by many great counselors, abuse survivors and theologians. I gathered together the best books I could find on many topics, such as:
- Learning how to set boundaries
- Practicing self-care
- Healing from childhood abuse, (if any)
- Seeking counseling
- Seeking healing and custody for your children
- Moving forward with dating and marriage if/when ready.
In addition to my study, I asked Amy Craig, M.A., L.P.C to help me edit the book. Amy has worked with many abuse survivors and their children. She helped me make sure I was giving sound counseling advice.
Writing the book definitely helped me further my own journey to healing. I believe none of us will ever be completely healed in this lifetime. However, I also firmly believe we can live happy, productive, fulfilled lives after abuse. We don’t need to forever be victims. No, we are SURVIVORS. We have survived more than most people will ever have to face, and we are still here. We can use our experiences to realize our strengths; to help ourselves, our children, other survivors, and to help the world become a better place.
If you have experienced an emotionally abusive relationship, I invite you to read A Journey to Healing After Emotional Abuse. Healing from abuse may take longer than you would like, and it requires hard work, but it is definitely possible, and so worth the effort.
May God bless you.
Caroline Abbott
*In this blog, I use “he” for the abuser, and “she” for the victim, the same points apply if the victim is male and the abuser female, or the victim and abuser are the same sex.
A Journey to Healing After Emotional Abuse
A Journey to Healing After Emotional Abuse is a holistic journey of healing of the mind, body and soul for women who have previously suffered emotional abuse. The book helps the reader set healthy boundaries with her former abuser, and learn to take care of herself. It helps her examine any abuse from her childhood, and, if necessary, assists her in seeking counseling. It gives her pointers for winning custody of her children in family court, then it gently walks with her as she strengthens her relationship with God, while helping her on her path to forgiveness. Finally, the book helps the reader explore whether she is ready for a new relationship and marriage.
About Caroline Abbott
Click image to visit Caroline’s website
Caroline Abbott was in an emotionally abusive marriage for twenty years. When the marriage began to be physically abusive, she asked her church for help. Her pastors were untrained in domestic violence, and were not able to give her the help she needed. When the abuse escalated, she got a restraining order, and had her husband removed from her home. They fought a contentious divorce and custody battle. After her divorce, she trained to be a domestic violence advocate and began writing A Journey through Emotional Abuse.
A few years after her divorce, she met and married her second husband who also had several children. They work together to overcome the issues of blending a large family. Caroline works as the domestic violence advocate for her church, and helps victims and survivors through her Facebook page and website. She has just finished writing her second book, A Journey to Healing After Emotional Abuse.
Caroline is passionate about helping former abuse victims fight for their children in custody court, as well as educating the Christian church about domestic violence. She writes about those and many other domestic violence topics in her blog www.carolineabbott.com. Caroline was named a Champion by the Childhood Domestic Violence Association and featured in their book, Invincible: The 10 Lies You Learn Growing Up With Domestic Violence and the Truths That Set You Free.
How to Connect with Caroline
Her website www.carolineabbott.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/caroline.abbott.773
https://www.facebook.com/a.journey.through.emotional.abuse/
https://www.facebook.com/A.Journey.to.Healing.After.Emotional.Abuse/
Twitter – @Caroline_Abbott
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/abbott2023/
Picking Up the Pieces 
Thanks again for this opportunity Amy! Bless you!