Marjorie's Bio

When I was in incest recovery, living in a women's shelter, married to my third abuser, suicidal, fumbling my way in the dark, I thought, 'If only I had a Lamplighter, someone who would show me the way'.

The dream of the Lamplighters was born.

Excerpt from my book

REPAIR Your Life: A Program for Recovery
from Incest & Childhood Sexual Abuse

My program, REPAIR, is the result of several years of note-taking, journalizing, meditation, and piecing together parts of my own life, as well as conversations with other incest survivors across the country. As I worked my way through recovery, I kept notes in anticipation that someday what I was learning might help others. When I began this book, I re-read my own first-person account, Let Me Hurt You and Don't Cry Out, to re-walk the path I had taken. I never realized at the time how blessed I was, for that path, although rugged, was straight, and in retrospect provided me with invaluable help to create this program.

I met many incest survivors during my years of recovery, both locally and in traveling to other states. Every place I went, I talked about what I was going through. It proved to be a catharsis. Initially, people were shocked that I spoke of what had happened so openly and as if it were not my fault. My comment, "It wasn't," at first proved startling. Little by little, I noticed that others came forward with their stories. Sometimes they spoke in hushed whispers, giving furtive looks as if they might be punished. Other times, they spoke boldly, trying to escape from a prison. When I asked questions and responded with sympathy, they became more daring, now giving details, now talking of feelings, often sharing about others they knew who had also survived. I tracked coincidences, made notes on their needs and their pain, and asked questions about resources available in their areas and what it might take to make them whole again. 

When I began the outline for the program, I knew that it cried out for a title that aptly described what needed to be done. Repair was the first word that came to my mind. It literally means to restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken; to restore to a sound or healthy state. What better word describes our goal in the case of childhood sexual abuse?   

To order your copy of REPAIR, CLICK HERE

• An incest survivor (by her father who admitted to it when she was in her mid-thirties, saying, "I want to talk to you about the incest relationship I had with you when you were a young girl." When he saw the look on her face he added, "A lot of fathers and daughters have this kind of relationship. It's really quite common. They do it in the Appalachian district all the time.")
• The survivor of a long trail of domestic violence
• The survivor of numerous suicide attempts
• The survivor of two nervous breakdowns and time spent in psychiatric wards
• The mother of three childhood sexual abuse victims, two sexually molested by an ex-husband at the ages of four and five (to which he admitted shortly before his death, saying it was their fault) , one raped at gunpoint while she worked at a fast food
• Spent time in a women's shelter in the Los Angeles area as a sexually, physically, mentally and emotionally battered wife
• Spent four and a half years in recovery, during which time she wrote about her experience and developed and utilized innovative techniques to help her on her journey
• Spent three years attending weekly meetings of Alternatives to Domestic Violence in the Los Angeles area
• Worked a rigorous and honest Twelve Step Program utilizing both Incest Survivors Anonymous and Co-Dependents Anonymous
• Spent five years developing and researching REPAIR: A Program for Recovery from Incest & Childhood Sexual Abuse, including interviewing other victims across the country
• Taught REPAIR seminars in the Los Angeles area
• An interview on her experience was taped for a national television network and aired in December of 1998
• Author of twelve books, five of them on the subject of childhood sexual abuse. 
• Is currently speaking nationwide on both domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse
• Founded The Lamplighters, a movement for victims of childhood sexual abuse
• Author of illustrated children's version of REPAIR
• Sold both children's and adult's version of REPAIR to Loving Healing Press. The adult version was released in April of 2008 and can be purchased through barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com or any other major book distributor. The new title is REPAIR Your Life: A Program for Recovery from Incest & Childhood Sexual Abuse. It can also still be purchased from this website.
• The children's version of REPAIR was released by Loving Healing Press on June 20, 2008 and is also available on all major book distributor websites, this website or the website of Loving Healing Press.
• Is a member of the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Is a member of the Verde Valley Domestic Violence Task Force