Speaking your truth

A JAN JUC mum and advocate has penned a memoir offering a glimpse into her journey of healing and self-discovery.

Kath Essing published The Courage to Speak Your Truth earlier this year, written to shift the narrative on childhood sexual abuse and inspired by her own experience of remembering, recovering and reporting her own abuse.

The idea for the memoir started in 2021 when Ms Essing took her two children to a justice march at Cosy Corner, wanting her son to have a voice and to be supportive while showing her daughter if she was ever in a situation where she needed to speak out, she would be heard.

“It was that day that it dawned on me that I hadn’t done this for myself,” she said.

“Twenty-three years before that, I’d remembered my abuse from my childhood, from a person known to my parents, and it really just felt like that day was the day to do something about it.”

The realization took Ms Essing into the Torquay Police Station, where she made her statement and started the process.

While her case never proceeded to trial, Ms Essing said for her, it was an opportunity to tell her whole story, reclaim her story and with the help of police, confront her abuser.

“That was really healing for me and has allowed me to really write this book because I have got really clear on what parts of me needed healing and what parts needed to speak up,” she said.

 

The book only took around a month to write, the easy part of the process Ms Essing said, finding the thought a stranger would read her story to be the most challenging aspect.

Now that her story is out there, the author has received some incredible feedback from readers, with many treating it as a resource.

“It’s become a really lovely bridge between survivors and those who are wanting to support them through this process,” she said.

“I’m really proud of it and I’m really proud that it’s already creating a ripple of change in how parents are talking to their children.

“That’s why I’ve done this and it makes me really grateful that it’s having the impact that I was hoping it would.”

Writing the book has also helped Ms Essing heal from her abuse, becoming aligned with what her internal voice is saying and expressing to the world, while pushing through the boundaries society is telling her she should or could be.

The Courage to Speak Your Truth is available now from the Torquay Bookshop, Gypsy and Co and through bespeak.au

If you or someone you know needs family or domestic violence support, head to safvcentre.org.au or phone the 24/7 hotline on 1800 015 188 or the sexual assault crisis hotline on 1800 806 292. If you are in immediate danger, phone police on 000.