ββApril is behind us β and I am sitting here trying to find the right words for what this month meant.
Iβll start with the facts. Because of you β your donations, your shares, your forwards, your introductions, your kind words β SSTA AWARE raised $12,150 this spring. We did not get here through a big campaign budget or a marketing team. We got here because people who know me, love me, and believe in this work said yes.
That is not something I take lightly. Not for one second.
Some of you gave financially. Some of you shared a post at 11pm because it felt important. Some of you forwarded my letter to exactly the right person. Some of you simply reached out to say β I see what you are building, and I am rooting for you.
Every single one of those things mattered.
Here is what this funding makes possible. We are now moving forward on two things I have been working toward since the day I founded this organization. First β a professional e-course for clinicians, social workers, advocates, and parents that gives them the tools to recognize, assess, and respond to sibling sexual abuse. The kind of training that child advocacy professionals told me β over and over at the Chadwick Conference β that they desperately need. Second β a coalition to work directly with organizations to embed sibling-specific language into their prevention materials and policies. Because the #OneWord Initiative only works if we have the people power to make it real.
Your dollars are doing that work.
This summer I am heading to New York for the Sibling Sexual Trauma & Abuse Conference: Breaking the Silence β where I will be speaking on two panels. And then to Washington D.C. for the National Childrenβs Alliance Leadership Conference β where I will share the #OneWord Initiative with child protection leaders from across the country. I will be thinking of this circle every step of the way.
I want you to know something before I close. Starting a grassroots organization means waking up every single day and choosing to believe that what you are doing will make a difference. Some days that is easy. Some days it is not. But this April β because of you β it was easy every single day.
Sibling sexual trauma and abuse is 100% preventable. That is not a hope. That is a plan. And you are part of it.
From the bottom of my heart β thank you for showing up. Thank you for believing in something before the rest of the world catches up. And thank you for trusting me to build something worthy of that belief.
This is not the end. It is the beginning of everything.
With gratitude and hope,
Colleen Mullowney
Founder, SSTA AWARE
www.sstaaware.org
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