5 comments about A Survivor's Closet.

1. Impressive website! Sounds like you really have everything going for you...Is this the way you imagined it? You've put a lot of hard work into this. I sometimes wonder where all of your energy comes from.



2. Dear Debra, I just finished your book. You are a very strong woman.

   Lisa




3. I met you at the Mind, Body Expo & bought your book. (Thank you for sharing your story. It touched my heart).

   Valerie




4. I am also a survivor and would like to get together with you sometime. Please add me to your mailing list to receive routine updates on future writings!

   Kim




5. Thanks Debra for a heart felt story of transformation. You are a true inspiration for all souls that have been tried by the fires of personal loss and abuse. A must reading for all child abuse victims and families.

No comments about Responding To Physical And Sexual Abuse In Women With Alcohol And Other Drug and Mental Disorders: Program Building.

1 comments about I'm Not Waving... I'm Drowning: Help for Those Who Need Hope and Healing.

1. The majority of those who have lost all hope have been abused - physically, sexually, spritually, verbally, and, or course, emotionally. This book looks at the horror of abuse that leads to hopelessness and helpnessness. But the main focus is on hope and healing, forgiving and living a fufilled life of peace and joy. This book will put a plan in place so that anyone will be able to come back from adversity. "Coming back" is a decision only you can make and it is my heartfelt prayer that as you read my story, and the stories of so many others who have been abused, you will be encouraged and comforted. Reaching out and reading this book is the first step toward your own healing journey or, perhaps equipping yourself to aid in the healing of a loved one.
   --- from book's back cover

5 comments about FIRE OF THE FIVE HEARTS: A Memoir of Treating Incest.

1. This book, while worthwhile to some, is not autobiographical, and should not be advertised as such. It is a compilation of one person's experiences in "treating" those who have experienced incest. I do not recommend it.



2. "Fire of the Five Hearts" is an excellent memoir that tells of the tragic life lived with incest. I rate the book highly with that of "Nightmares Echo", it is excellent and shows the journey to heal.



3. I think that this book was a great book and that holly smith should get an award for best book ever.you see this bookhelped me to understand wat abuse really is and how it can be treated. This author really did put out a message in her book and it is that everyone should be treated with respect and even if they are being abused they have many diffrent options to do so. I think that Holly smith is a very hard worker and an amazing mother of her three wonderful children,who from her have started to love writing. I would for sure recomend this book and congrads to holly smith on writing my favorit book ever!



4. This book is amazing and heartbreaking. Holly Smith's writing is impeccable. She brings you into the abyss and just when you feel there is no light, she comes back with a remarkable survival anecdote. Her experiences as a caseworker and supervisor with the most unspeakable sexual abuse cases are riveting. Holly has been there to pick up the falling children before they drop deep into the open dark cracks of the system and literally die. She picks them up and then they learn to put one foot in front of the other and walk, often times leaving Holly paralyzed with emotion. These children prove that there is hope and courage that we can never imagine. And Holly proves that as individuals we are all capable of moving through what we never expected we could. Fire of Five Hearts is a breathtaking glimpse into the worlds of children who survive the unspeakable and a glimpse into the world of one of their caretakers. Thank you Holly for your brilliance, gifts, honesty and stamina



5. This book is interesting enough to keep the readers attention. i liked, not loved it.

1 comments about Sweetie How Much Should You Give Up to Keep That Relationship, I Can Answer That!.

1. It shocked me at how many people in an abusive relationship respond the same way. You know they are suffering. They know the relationship is toxic and still go back again and again.

   
   When I read this book, I finally understood these victims.

   If a person reads this book before they start to date, they will never find themselves trapped in an abusive relationship, because they will recognize what kind of relationship they are in before their partner thinks of them as property and get out in time.

   If a person reads this book while in the middle of a relationship, they will know just why they keep going back and going back and going back, and will feel so much comfort in the whole process of leaving. They will know what was going to happen from one minute to the next during the break up and when it happens instead of being terrified they will be reassured that they were right where they should be at that time and if they stayed the course they will be free.

   If a person has left and was being stalked, they can continue on their quest to stay away from their abusive partner and find comfort in all the feelings that were previously scaring them to death. Some of those feelings are the feelings of missing their abusive partner feeling lonely and thinking that maybe if they went back things would turn out differently. They will be confident too that they will never find themselves in that situation again with someone else either, because they will finally understand the whole abusive situation start to finish.

   This book can help the forgotten victims too, meaning the people who feel powerless and have lost loved ones, because their loved ones were now trapped in isolation, with their abusers. They could get their power back and their loved ones by getting this book to them. Even if they have to get it to some secret spot that that their loved ones were still allowed to go. They would at least know that once they read this book, they would be getting their loved ones back.

   This book is sure to change the climate of abusive relationships forever.

1 comments about In Search of My Heart: A True, Hope-Filled Story of One Person's Heroic Triumph over the Effects of Childhood Abuse.

1. A story that for some might be hard to believe but for others, who have suffered at the hands of an abuser very believable! This book offers incredible hope, would make an awesome movie! Some love 'dirty laundry' others have lived like lives. Would be a great match to a nineties Daddy dearest...in this world where we life every day hearing stories of things that happen to 'other peoples kids' well what would it be like to be the 'other person's kid?' Man, what a thought, did anyone ever take the time to think what that would be like? Maybe it's because of stories like these that our jails are so full, or perhaps could be empty? What a concept, to let abusers read this, survivors... perhaps it would make that difference, lower that jail supporting almighty tax dollar perhaps? Heavy story really heavy but encouraging too! a must read, a must give to friend and foe alike! written by a survivor, transcender...

No comments about Honeymoon Mania: The Male Abuser's Best Weapon.

2 comments about When Child Abuse Comes to Church: Recognizing Its Occurrence and What to Do About It.

1. This is an excellent resource for anyone working with children in a church setting. It very simply, yet thoroughly outlines the dangers, the outcomes, and the steps to take to prevent abuse in the church. It also includes a very helpful section on dealing with the media.



2. This book outlines the nuts and bolts of making your church safer. You will benefit from the lessons he had to learn the hard way through dealing with an unsafe volunteer in the church. The church can either learn the hard way or learn from someone else's experience. This man wrote the book at least a decade ago. If the church listenened then, look at the suffering that would have been avoided. We better to take this mans advice.

No comments about Families in Recovery: Working Together to Heal the Damage of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

1 comments about A Clear Day.

1. A master writer and communicator, Ms. Doss has perfectly captured the essence of what abuse is, and clearly shows the abused individual how it is possible to completely accept their condition and deal with it to the point of healing in a natural and "user-friendly" manner that anyone can grasp and employ. To "know" that there is an easy layman's methodology to deal with and overcome the effects and results from one's abusive past is akin to wakening up in a new and bright world, clean and fresh, "Cleansed at last!" This easy to read and understand book is literally a lifesaving must for any abused and suffering person. There is nothing better-written and more usable that I have ever read than "A Clear Day". No intelligent or needing human being can put this book down until it has been read cover-to-cover. I know, because I "was" an abuse victim until I became healed with the help of this wondeful book. Now, I am at last comfortable in my own skin. Buy this unique and wonderfully powerful book -- you'll never regret it!