This Thursday 6/6 at 6pm pst Join Us for #DadChat! Topic: #sexualabuse

Rachel Thompson

Author • Poet • Advocate

JOIN RACHEL'S MAILING LIST

This Thursday 6/6 at 6pm pst Join Us for #DadChat! Topic: #sexualabuse

by 31 Comments

There are a lot of chats on Twitter, which is great. We can join the one that most fits our interests, whether it’s about martinis (#MartiniChat, Fridays 5pm pst), cats, writing, book clubs — practically anything! Chats are great because you extend your reach outside your comfort zone (i.e., writers with other writers) and discuss topics that are meaningful to you. vectorstock_1361

I recently struck up a conversation with Bruce Sallan, founder of #DadChat, a weekly (Thursdays, 6pm pst/ 9pm est) chat that’s been going on now for a few years. We discussed my latest release, Broken Pieces, which deals with, among other topics, the sexual abuse I experienced as a child. I offered to discuss the topic and the book if he was at all interested and he said YES! Not only that, but I’m giving away three copies of the book to three chat participants!

So this coming Thursday, June 6, at 6pm pst, I’ll be cohosting Bruce’s #DadChat! I’m pretty open (finally) about what happened and as a parent, it’s good to discuss these issues to keep our kids safe. Anyone is welcome to attend the chat — even if you’re not a dad (*raises hand*) or even a parent.

If you’ve never done a chat before, it’s SO easy. People say they don’t understand what hashtags are for — well, here’s one use. You can do chats a few ways:

  • Type in the hashtagged term #DadChat in Twitter Search. Any and all tweets with that hashtag will show up. Join in when the chat starts at 6pm — though most people show up a few minutes early. If you do the chat from Twitter, you must remember to add the hashatg to every tweet or you’ll just be talking to yourself.
  • An easier option is to go to a site like Twubs.com and authorize your Twitter account. Then type in the hashtag ONCE. Twubs then automatically add the hashtag to each tweet. This is how I do chats. So much easier than bothering with Twitter and trying to remember to add the hashtag.

Keeping our kids safe is of the utmost importance to me as a both a parent and a survivor. Discussing sexual abuse is critical to making parents aware of the signs a child has been abused as well as the means to which pedophiles will go to engage with our kids. Talking about what happened is, for me, an important part of my personal recovery. I’ve found that many people will discuss similar situations when given ‘permission,’ and that, above all, is my goal. To give people a safe place to talk about their issues.

We mustn’t live in fear. We must live in awareness.

 

Got questions? I’ve got answers!

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to my blog and you’ll never miss my weekly posts! Just enter your email address over on the right hand side of this page >>>>. It’s easy, and I won’t share your email address with anyone. Redhead’s honor. 

Need personalized help? Check out my BadRedheadMedia.com services page.

*New feature: ads! No more than 8-10 per month on each of my blogs. See Advertising  for details!*

 

 

Related articles

Comments

  12. I’m sorry. I put my comment in the wrong box and don’t know how to delete it. I said: Good for you. Thank you for speaking up. It’s difficult.

    Love,
    Janie

    Reply

  17. Oh, Rachel, that is so great! I am familiar with Bruce and that’s kind of awesome, eh? I need to formulate another piece for you that would fit in very well with the subject matter and topics you’ve been focusing on with Broken Pieces. It’s another one of those things I haven’t made public and haven’t addressed in the blogging world and you should really feel honored that I would want to share about it exclusively on your blog first. I trust you and your audience with my deepest vulnerabilities and that says a lot. Be on the lookout for a guest post submission from me in the near future. 🙂 Lotsa love and continued successes to you, Rachel!

    Reply

    • thanks honey! I’d LOVE another post from you. I do have a wonderful audience and they’re so supportive of all my guests. It would be great…whenever you’re ready.

      xx

      Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *