50-year-old Naomi* came to House of Ruth’s Domestic Violence Support Center (DVSC) for help related to her abusive marriage. Naomi was a mother of three adolescent children, and had been married to a highly verbally abusive and controlling man for her entire adult life. While she had been seen by a number of therapists over the years and regarded them as helpful, she described those experiences as being conducted under the influence of her husband, who she says often attended her sessions and consulted with her therapists without her consent.
In counseling at the DVSC, Naomi stated that for the first time, she began to experience her own voice, to improve her self-esteem, and feel more empowered about her life. Over the course of the year-long therapy, she hired an attorney and divorced her husband, moved out on her own for the first time in her life, and landed her dream job at a university.
At the end of nearly every session she would express gratitude for the therapy, emphasizing frequently that “therapy has just been so grounding for me…it soothes me.”
*Name has been changed.