May.2.2010

Amy Barth has heart. Founder of Safe Girls, Strong Girls a local nonprof assisting teen girls who have suffered from CSA (childhood sexual abuse) and ED (eating disorders), Amy is one of those women you would be lucky to have in your life. Originally from up north, Amy is now working on her doctorate and working her hand to the bone to get this year’s camp for Safe Girls, Strong Girls up and running. Each year, during the week of 4th of July, girls come from all over the country to be supported by women who know exactly what they’ve been through. And you know what sucks about this program? It’s the only one of its kind in the US. With 1 in 3 girls suffering from CSA, you’d think these camps would be popping up all over the place. “I get calls from Hawaii, from all over, every single week,” Amy says.

Amy is also an author. Annabelle’s Secret, 101 Tips For Survivors of Sexual Abuse, 101 Tips For Recovering From Eating Disorders are among her widely reviewed published works. Anabelle’s Secret is told from the point of view of a teenage girl using her voice to tell her story. Every 1 in 3 girls has a story like this to tell. Yet many of them are silenced by fear, guilt and shame and even when they do tell their story the friends, family members and lovers (for women who never tell their story until late in their life) don’t respond the way they should. They dismiss the story as fiction, or somehow insinuate that the girl brought it upon herself. So these girls, who remain STRONGless, seek out that one person who will make everything okay. Who will tell them that it wasn’t their fault, that they’re not crazy and it really did happen to them. Many girls and women never find this person to tell their story to. Their voices are silent.

That’s why Amy launched Safe Girls, Strong Girls. To give girls a space to use their voice, to tell their story, and, ultimately, to know for themselves (and not look for outward approval) that they are not crazy, that it wasn’t their fault, that it really did happen and that recovery, strength even, is possible, if not inevitable.


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