The SNAP Experience

After posting the Angela Shelton trailer, I found out that she was a speaker at the SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) National Conference. You can download a copy of the SNAP 2009 Conference program through my Articles & Publications page. The program has notes on the speakers and includes some great resources.

I like to plug SNAP because I’ve received a lot of support from them. When my attorney, Joe George, and I decided to move forward with a press release, he hooked me up with David Clohessy, SNAP’s National Director. David is a PR wiz, and when I read his first draft for our press release I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. David calls a spade a spade and doesn’t pull any punches, and I love that! What he wrote provided me with a desperately needed reality check that helped me find my anger and keep fighting the good fight. I’ve received more validation and understanding from him than I have from anyone other than my subsequent therapists. David “gets” it. And when you’re dealing with a kind of abuse that almost no one is talking about, having someone “get it” is an amazing and wonderful thing.

David also came up with the plan for the media event we did in June. (See  Does Anyone Really Want to Know about Therapist Abuse – Part 1.) I am so grateful to the six wonderful SNAP volunteers who showed up in support, including Melanie and Cappy of Pokrov.org and Michele Betti of the Law Offices of Betti & Franks.

A few weeks after the event I went to a local SNAP support group meeting. It was a great experience and I felt comfortable with the people and grateful to be accepted into the community.

I’ve found a lot of similarities between clergy/spiritual abuse and therapist abuse, and I have gotten a lot out of the resources I’ve found on SNAP and on other spiritual abuse sites. I also enjoyed (okay, maybe enjoyed isn’t quite the right word)—I appreciated a couple of clergy abuse documentaries I watched: Deliver Us from Evil and Twist of Faith. Both are available through Netflix and online.

SNAP is doing some amazing work out there and many people have found incredible support through this organization. So here’s my shout-out to all you SNAP folks!

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Comments 5

  • Thank you, …and you are right about Clohessy, I would never make it without his media help. He does not get enough thank yous….

    SNAP is the best thing that ever came into my life.

    Thank you for this great article,

    Judy Jones, SNAP director Ohio Valley.
    http://www.steubenvilletruth.org/

  • I’ve read the comments of many people on many blogs and publications, concerning the sexual victimization of children, young people and vulnerable adults happening in many areas other than the Catholic Church, as though it were some sort of contest about who has sexually butchered the least number of victims. I always answer, “If you know that children are being victimized in schools, child care centers or by physicians or psychologists, then REPORT IT!! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!
    SNAP is the only place I know of where Survivors of Sexual Victimization (in all areas of life, or situation,no matter where or when it took place) can come together with other Victims for help and support. There are only two groups of people who know more about this topic of the physical, psychological and spiritual sexual butchery of children, young people and vulnerable adults:(1) The Victims; (2) The Perpetrators.

    • “There are only two groups of people who know more about this topic of the physical, psychological and spiritual sexual butchery of children, young people and vulnerable adults:(1) The Victims; (2) The Perpetrators.”..

      Wow, you are soooooooooo right. If the catholic church really wanted to protect kids with their so called “child protection decree” they should ask both victims and perpetrators to help them…

      They have the answers…. of course it may be hard to find a perpetrator who would tell the truth, but just maybe there is one or two..

      whew….

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