"Reaching Out: America"
Monument as Social Action

Contribute a HandPrint to Dr. Irving's
"Reaching Out: America" Vision

"Reaching Out: America" is a community social action project. It recognizes the adversity which those victimized by child abuse have survived and validates their heroic resilience to the abuse they suffered. "Reaching Out: America" is modeled on Dr. Irving's experience of creating the Child Abuse Survivor Monument Project in Canada for 1995 through 2008.

As a memorial, as well as a monument, "Reaching Out: America" gives a place of remembrance and acknowledgement to the nearly four American children killed everyday in child abuse -- more than 1300 a year.

"Reaching Out: America" has a goal of having a positive impact in helping the larger society to move through the shock and wounds of child abuse. Individuals and society can change through the transformative and healing power of art.

Employing the healing power of art
survivors are the ones most affected by abuse, and are the ones who have the stories and truth gained from direct experience.

"Reaching Out: America" seeks the contribution of child abuse survivors because of a belief that the true power and value of the work in transforming society can be greatly assisted through the empowerment of those who have been most directly wounded. As one survivor/artist commented from the Child Abuse Survivor Monument Project,

“The workshops reaffirmed the power of every survivor in the forms of courage, creativity, compassion and friendship found in our quilt squares. It is a substance that the abuse did not quell. The monument and all it stands for is a healing place. It is a place to rework personal trauma into a totally hopeful outcome.”

The Reaching Out: America brings together professional artists and a unique community of survivor/artists to employ the power of art to unite and transform people.

My little brother always liked christmas trees. Now he's buried by one!

Julie Atwood
Archive

Freedom

Freedom lost
innocence broken
dark holes linger past
empty dreams
forgotten hope

In change
pain travels through
finger tips
touch hurts
in the struggle

life began
in the dark somewhere
tiny sparkles of light
reaching
a lost hope

Climbing past
dark holes
finding lost dreams
tiny fingers of innocence
a gentle touch

light moves me slowly
forward to a child
stars in her eyes
reaching for me
old freedom found.

D.

Original wax sculpture.

How can I help you ?

I sit here in wonderment
At the stories people tell.
Of their sad and lonely voyage
Through their own private hell.

I try to share their feelings
Of the battles they have known.
But someone on the outside
Can't feel it in their bones.

All I truly have to offer
Is one sympathetic ear.
I trust it will be helpful
As they overcome their fear.

I will try to be here for them,
Try to help them on their way.
May I always show compassion
‘Til they find their freedom day.

Wallace Clint'

Visit the

Quilt Square
Meditation Pools

Goodbye

Touching my hand
Wondering Why?
The Beast didn’t kill us, we all survived
The past month we said Hello
To our pain deep inside
Scared to share and tell and bring our truth Outside
To our Rainbow and Clouds in the sky we did fly
With our guardian Angel to help us tell not to hide still inside
Our tears are overflowing as we try to say Goodbye
To our Monument we’ve kept so close to our side
Its tears are full of Sadness, Pain, Loss,
Hopelessness and even hate for the Beast
Who caused all these tears of misery pain
Our square we’re so proud of what we did to tell and share
We’ll take it deepest inside of us with all we hold so dear
Touching my hand, saying Goodbye
no longer do I need to wonder why.

Gloria

Personal and Social Wound
The community of survivors and the larger society is wounded by the legacy of childhood abuse. There is the obvious wound of the silent walking injured who carry the personal burden of child abuse as they move through society. Also there is the shock and vicarious trauma that society suffers as a result of learning about so many children being tragically betrayed and abused.

Everyone Knows a Victim of Abuse
Child abuse has been swept aside as nobody’s business or “their” problem; in particular the sexual abuse of children has been historically hidden. In a very short period of time it has come out into the open and its malignancy reaches further than anyone could have imagined.

Society at large is grappling with the social trauma of discovering that friends, family, neighbors, colleagues and societal heroes have been victims and perpetrators of child abuse and child sexual abuse.

Everyone knows someone who was abused. It is a shadow that is unavoidable in the network of relationships. Individuals and society desire and need healing from this shared wound of abuse.

Need for an Informed Perspective
Most people hear only peripheral comments about someone having been abused or are confronted over and over again with the stories of abuse presented through the media.

There is generally a lack of in-depth understanding surrounding the context or issues of abuse — just the news of one more victim. Survivors, as part of recovery, often read books and talk with a knowledgeable professional helper. They may even participate in a supportive group.

These experiences provide processing of the trauma and provide understanding of the larger face of abuse and perspective on its impact on society.  The general public however is repeatedly confronted with reports of child abuse without the benefit of an informed perspective.

Denial and Distancing are Symptoms of Shock
For society, the lack of understanding of abuse issues creates a need for distancing from and denial of the concerns and realities of survivors of abuse.

The persistent presence in the media of organized denial movements, sometimes led by individuals who also promote pedophilia, is a symptom of the unresolved societal conflict surrounding child abuse. To move beyond the denial stage of shock, the community at large needs help with confronting the tragic reality.

Child abuse exists, and society needs to come to terms with its issues. There needs to be an understanding of the impact of child abuse on society as a whole. We have come to understand that the long term shadow of child abuse casts a dark influence on many forms of later adult social problems and expressions of violence.

Individuals and society need a social response for healing of the legacy of child abuse. As was seen with the impact of the Vietnam War Memorial, memorials, in telling the story, have the power to effect a large scale influence on society.

Providing a Healing Symbol
The Monument is a restorative icon for both personal and social healing. A quilt square artist claims,

“ I feel by making a Monument to heal, that child abuse can no longer be hidden — be secret. And those who still keep it secret will be freed by those who have participated in this Monument. And those who know nothing about abusing children will help us stop it. And those who are child abusers will be forced to stop — in time.”

The Monument provides a symbol and message for those who have been overwhelmed directly or vicariously by the tragedy of child abuse. It must also make inroads into those who are at risk of hurting children. As Jerry asserts,

“I want the Monument Project to make others aware of the effects of sexual abuse. To support other men to recognize the places [inside] where they are hurt and behave badly as a result of it.”

Dissolving Debilitating Shame
Survivors of childhood abuse form a community because of the shared adversities, which have molded their perceptions and relationships to the world around them. Unfortunately, the halter of shame and, all too often, the muzzle of threats have kept survivors hidden and in a vacuum of alienation. A loss of personal power and a vulnerability to revictimization are unfortunate consequences of child abuse.

The Monument and the process of creating it through supportive workshops give an empowered voice to the previous silence of abuse. One survivor in the Child Abuse Survivor Monument Project relates,

“I feel the workshop is a vindication for me. By participating I am saying publicly, ‘It happened to me’. It has given me a voice. I have always had a voice except in my family. This voice that I have been given by the workshops is bigger than the silence in my family.”

Turning around the qualities of victimization are important elements to breaking the cycle of violence for individuals and society.

Having an impact on society and other survivors is a goal of participation for many involved in creating the Monument. Another quilt square artist from the Child Abuse Survivor Monument Project affirmed,

“If my participation and quilt can help one person only, I will be very happy and satisfied.”

Survivor participation in the Reaching Out: America quilt square workshops assists those who have been abused to heal from the tragedy they have endured.

Healing comes from expression and “the telling” and very importantly healing comes from the altruistic act of making a difference for others. Derek the Child Abuse Survivor Monument Project commented,

“Doing something for child abuse was very rewarding; giving something back that is good replaces the bad for a moment.”

Involvement in the art and writing workshops and in the Project’s development and activities helps to remove personal and social shame and isolation for survivors.

There is the sense that the benefit will be carried on. Derek further said,

“I feel a lot stronger being able to express my feelings on child abuse. It brought out the goodness inside myself that I always knew I had. It has definitely affected my way of thinking. I always know, two weeks after I leave, the workshop will be there to express my thoughts and be able to be something good to replace the horrible crime committed long ago.”

The social action and proactive nature of participation in the overall project helps to move a sense of social disenfranchisement and vulnerability into a new reality of empowerment.

A Supportive Community

Efforts are being initiated to create a network and supportive community that will see to the success of creating the Reaching Out: America child abuse monument. Upon the monument's completion the team can leverage the potential of the Reaching Out: America monument to bring about healing and change for child abuse survivors and child abuse prevention in America.

Art workshops are designed so that there can be much support and collaboration in the art sessions. Survivor/ artists may pair up with each other for phone support and meetings to sculpt and share over the weeks between sculpting sessions. One survivor/artist in the Child Abuse Survivor Monument Project related,

“The sense of ‘belonging’ within the ‘Project’ is enormous. I have never felt so accepted and true to myself.”

The workshops will have various forms of support networks for the participating survivor/artists.

Communicating Difficult
Material With Art
Child abuse and child sexual abuse is difficult to talk about. The years of secrecy surrounding most survivors’ abuse experiences mean that it is not internally processed with verbal language. The experience and pain of abuse is even difficult to conceptually comprehend. The expression of the issues and concerns surrounding child abuse can, however, be very effectively processed and communicated through art.

It is also difficult for the general society to accept, acknowledge and comprehend child abuse, particularly to the degree in which it is being reported. There is a great need to come to terms with this tragedy.

Artistic expression in the public domain is likely going to be integral in assisting the community at large to come to terms with the abuse of children and move beyond this malignancy. Society can take advantage of the cross-cultural and historical phenomena of groups of people healing and transforming through the creative acts of art.

Transformation Through Projective Identification
Projective identification is the act of placing your thoughts and emotions in something outside yourself.

The creative expressive nature of the Reaching Out: America quilts and educational exhibitions provides a valuable means for understanding and assisting with the necessary transformation.

The creative work of artists provides a vessel within which individuals in the group place their conflicts. This "projective identification" allows the observer of art to participate in the transformative properties of the deep expressive process of survivor/artists.

It is this personal and social healing power of art that Reaching Out: America offers individuals and a society struggling to come to terms with child abuse.