Episode 157- Interview with Abigail Vondal, Certified Sexual Assault Advocate
Many aren’t aware that April each year is “Sexual Assault Awareness Month”.
My guest this week is an amazingly strong, resilient, and committed lady who has endured much pain and suffering.
She’s the mother of five beautiful daughters and recently celebrated three years of sobriety. Her heavy drinking began after being sexually assaulted by many assailants.
After reporting the attacks, she was re-victimized by law enforcement, where she was treated more like the criminal than a survivor.
The combination of these events has moved her to create a movement to spread awareness about the trauma of sexual assault and the aftermath of the healing.
Abigail was a heavy drinker, and wine was her drink of choice. She crashed her car into two trees, a year to the date after the sexual attack.
Reports show that she was going 80 to 90 miles per hour, and it was a miracle she survived, after breaking several bones and recovering by spending one week in the hospital. It was during that hospital stay that she decided she’d “had enough”.
Her father walked into the hospital room and saw her condition, it was then that Abigail realized she owed it to her daughters to stop drinking and to stop using the sexual assaults as an excuse for her drinking.
She has created a movement titled, “No More Silent Sisters”, establishing private support groups locally and on Facebook.
She’s on the journey with 70 of her closest loved ones and is passionate about getting her story out to expand awareness. Her purpose statement is powerful, “Perhaps through my suffering, I can help someone else”.
acourageousrecovery.com