Kandie Allen-kelly

Steel Magnolias Healing Journeys Kandie Allen-kelly

This book examines the construction of healing from childhood sexual assault from the perspective of adult women from Australia who were sexually abused in their childhood years. The study provided a space to hear the stories of rural women, and this forum allows those stories to be shared with a wider audience. The book focuses on the womens accounts of how their lives have been shaped by those childhood experiences, what transformation has occurred, what people and processes have helped or hindered their journey and how they construct healing. It develops an understanding of the notion of healing as reported by survivors themselves. The constructions of healing, which emerged from the sharing of stories, include healing as a non-linear process where individual strengths and transformation is acknowledged. Healing is shown to include all aspects of survivors lives and service provision to assist healing must focus on more than psychological and behavioural effects of childhood sexual assault. The critical post-modern framework and emancipatory methodology used in this study demonstrates the importance of research method in giving voice to marginalised groups.