You know that thinking about what happened will re-open the wounds. You’ll feel afraid again, horrified again, ashamed, angry, helpless or confused again… you feel like you’ll get lost in it all again. You feel like you might die.
Josephine believes that, despite the pain, realising that you have been badly hurt and that you, too, need some fixing is an important step towards recovery. “You have to have sympathy for yourself,” she says. “It’s a long process… but it’s the start of a new journey,”
However, once you’re aware of how much you’ve been hurt, what do you do with that? What can you do to stop yourself from being swamped by the memories and the feelings? How can you find a little mental space - a little peace of mind - to let you start picking up the pieces of your life again?