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TW: SA‼️
Hello, My name is Caterina! Please take a couple of minutes to read this. Few years ago I was Sexually Assaulted, I was in huge denial for a long time, I didn’t know where all my pain was coming from and I didn’t speak with anyone about it.. Thankfully through therapy, I was able to fully identify what had happened to me, which helped to push me to confront what had occurred and go through the pain. Dealing with this and being able to look back, I learned that the more I ignored it, the more I pushed it aside like it never happened, the more pain I felt internally.. So I had to go through that pain, I had to stop ignoring it. I’m not going to sit here and lie saying that it was easy, it wasn’t. I never experienced such a great amount of suffering, I honestly thought I could not survive it, but I did. You guys are probably asking what is the point of this is, well I have been feeling better, I’m starting to live again and I really want to thank ERCC for the help provided, this charity is amazing and they truly care about survivors. One of the hardest feeling was the loneliness, when I finally opened up with the trusted people around me I still felt so alone in my pain, like nobody could understand it. ERCC helped me to feel less lonely, to understand that I am not alone and that there is community there for me. I also attended some group sessions and they truly helped me feeling more comfortable with myself and owning my experience, they gave me their time and attention to allow me to open up more and feel more confident again in myself. Another terrible feeling after being SA is the guilt and shame, I felt so dirty that I had a period where I would keep washing my body, my face, my hands trying to get the shame and the “dirt” out of my body. Society doesn’t help, there is so much victim blaming and that’s why we really need to value charities like this one. As a thank you I decided to create this fund raiser. Finally, a message to anyone out there who has went through a similar experience as myself and survived: IT’S NEVER YOUR FAULT, you can heal, you are so brave and most importantly you are NEVER alone. ❤️ ❤️

I decided to make this fund raise in memory of my amazing Nonna Antioca who sadly passed away in 2018 . My mum left when I was 2 and my Nonna and my Dad raised me, she was like a mother to me. I know that she would be proud of me for speaking up and doing this, she is the one that still today gives me so much strength. Ti amo Nonna💙

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