Girls reach out and write to Dr. Patti from all over the world.
They want to know about life after sexual abuse - “Will I heal” “Will I be happy” “Will I thrive and love”
The answer is YES ! YES! YES!
Here are some excerpts from our 3rd edition - to answer some of your questions
Dr. Patti's take on Pandora's Box
I Welcome Pandora...Pandora held a beautiful box that she had been ordered not to open.
A smart and energetic woman, in defiance of the patriarchy, she opened the box.
Out spilled all the great misfortunes of the world, including the pain of all the girls and women who had ever been sexually abused….
Pandora knew that when you keep a box closed you also close off hope. She knew that hope lies in opening the box, in revealing the truth, in releasing the trauma.
She was not afraid. She knew that girls and women are healed every time women’s sexual trauma is let out of it’s box and released into the world.
Invisible Girls and Girlthrive invite you to join us in opening Pandora’s box.
Please note: The photos of teen girls and young women on this site are stock photos with identified sources and photographers. Unlike the girl's photos on the Girlthrive brochure
who are all sexual abuse survivors who have donated their photos because of how proud they are of what they have overcome.
Free stock image, photographer unknown
Girls ask the truth about sexual abuse and the healing
The Rape Culture
“It took me a long time to recognize what happened to me was rape. The culture told me it was just a bad date.”
by an 19-year-old rape survivor
What is sexual abuse?
“My lover says 'it’s awfully crowded in here, that’s because I carry my father with me”
by a 17-year-old incest survivor
What are triggers?
"It feels like I try to calm the anger that erupts inside like a volcano, as my mind blows like a hurricane.”
by a 19-year-old incest survivor
Incest the Most Kept Secret
“the little girl in me died… the moment he forced himself inside”
by an 18-year-old incest survivor
Release the Secrets
“All at once the ghosts come back… slip-sliding at a pace unlike any other…”
by a 22-year-old survivor
How to Survive
“my fantasy world saved me. I was the angel keeping myself alive”
by an 18-year-old incest survivor
Invisible Girls: Speaking The Truth About Sexual Abuse
newly updated and revised 3rd edition
A book about healing, a book about hope! A book about the truth about sexual abuse and how to get past it to live a righteous beautiful life!
Invisible Girls is first book to address sexual abuse from the perspective of teen girls and young women from every ethnic and socioeconomic background, taking you into the worlds of survivors of all types of sexual abuse. You will learn how girls emerge and thrive after sexual abuse, and you will see these girls as survivors with agency and strength not victims!
Dr. Patti has personally done deep psychotherapy work with all the teen girls and young women who have participated in this extraordinary 10 year project. Invisible Girls weaves together powerful first-person narratives with gentle guidance and seasoned insights to help girls through their healing.
The first edition in 2005 broke ground, the second edition in 2009 added more girls and young women and included emails from girls sharing their healing after reading our first edition.
Now with the #MeToo movement there is a third edition of Invisible Girls. This edition is the most powerful, bringing together the history and where we are today with this new opportunity to have open conversations about sex abuse and how to change the misogynistic culture by speaking out. Invisible Girls : Speaking the Truth About Sexual Abuse to be released December 2018- is updated and expanded with more stories and deep healing after your #MeToo moment or if you have not had a #MeToo moment. Invisible Girls is your path to understanding and healing and thriving after sexual abuse. Join us in the sisterhood of strength and recovery from sexual abuse.
There are different paths to healing.
Girls all over the world survive and thrive
After reading Invisible Girls, girls from all over the world reach out to Dr. Patti with their stories. If you have survived rape, or incest, or any sexual violation, you may feel isolated in your feelings. The story section of our site is here to help you know that you are not alone. Girls survive and thrive after sexual abuse and you can too! You can also write to Dr. Patti directly.
Click the interactive map below to read their stories.
Girlthrive Community
Girlthrive is the only organization out there
that supports us and encourages us for being survivors of incest and sexual abuse.
