I am a one-percenter. No, not that one percent. This one: one percent of children who were trafficked for sex survive to adulthood.

Even fewer of us thrive through the briars of the trauma to be able to have lives that aren’t consumed by unhealthy coping—drugs, alcohol, cutting, eating disorders….

Behind me is a strewn range of mountains with my claw marks on their cliffs, where, in pain and in agony, I fought to lacerate my binds and begin to rise. REALLY rise without the eating disorder or the cutting to numb my soul. I know what it is like to be completely alone in the darkness as others stand and stare through me, past me. Not wanting to see. Unwilling to get involved.

I also know what it is like to have a team of people kneel to my level and look me in the eyes, cradling my soul and telling me I can make it. We can rise together.

Through my healing, I founded the nonprofit Kick at Darkness. One of the things we provide to survivors are Warrior Kits. They are PTSD survival kits filled with grounding and sensory items to help survivors expand their ideas of what can work for them.

VICTORY IN THEIR EYES

This last weekend, I was at an event filled with survivors I have never met before. When I introduced myself, I heard gasps from around the room. All day long, women came up to me with tears and with items they were clutching in sweetest hope. One had a scarf from our Warrior Kits. She held it to her chest like a life vest, her fingers white with strength.

“I go nowhere without this. Because of it, I know I am believed. I am not alone. I have hope. Thank you. THANK YOU.”

She shook as she cried, trying to look into my face. I waited, giving her the eye contact she absolutely deserved. And I told her it was because of you. You support. You help. You sponsor.

Another woman brought my personal favorite—the marble in the sleeve (a fidget item that is easy to carry around). She said she has it with her always. The day was filled with women leaning gratitude toward me, and the waves of emotion hit me, because most of them I had never met before. Because of the work we are doing at Kick at Darkness, we are reaching so many more than ever we could personally reach.

This is why I do what I do. I am deeply involved in the lives of changing the future for survivors. Like everyone, I have also been trying to cover my own bills at the same time (everything I do for survivors is volunteer since we do not have enough funding). And I am spread thin and beyond weary.

HOPE. JOIN ME?

Every time I speak, I am asked where people could hear me or get the stories I’m talking about. They ask for tools, training, information.

Now I have found a way to merge the need for community to come alongside me and to give back something that is phenomenally needed.

PATREON

Please take a moment to look at this amazing site. See what could bless you as you join me and stand in this battle to make sure I stay on the front lines. Make sure I can remain where change is being made. Where doors are opening. Where HUGE things are happening in Arizona. In the nation. In our world.

Let’s do this. Are you ready to roar together? Visit Patreon.com/BilliJoy and become part of the Badass Army.

#KickAtDarkness #RiseUp #SupportSurvivors #LetsMakeADifference #YOUMakeADifference #ThankYou #BadassArmy