SPEAKER
Patricia speaks as an advocate for prevention opportunities around sexual abuse and as an advocate for healthy emotional and cultural change. She has been the keynote speaker for a non-profit that provides individual and community services for those who have experienced sexual abuse or assault. Since May of 2019 she has been a frequent speaker about her memoir and her experience with sexual abuse at bookstores, libraries, with book groups, to health care professionals, at retreat centers, to church groups, and in radio and podcast interviews. She has spoken about her personal MeToo experience and emcee’d for three years at her local women’s march program. She has led presentations on the craft of memoir, on the value of journaling as a method to understand self and others, and on the necessity of sensitivity in educational curriculum writing, all at national conventions. As a Life-Cycle Celebrant®, she has officiated numerous ceremonies of all sizes––wedding, memorial, retirement––for a decade.
I wrote my memoir primarily to free my voice, to quit hiding. The weight of secrets, silence and shame felt like an anchor in my life. The shush of shutting up and shutting down was gagging me. Silence is complicity: we can’t change what we refuse to speak about or learn about or listen to. Finding my voice, speaking my truth and now sharing what I’m learning about sexual abuse and assault are hopefully contributing toward changing these pervasive and destructive patterns in our cultures."