She has written a memoir, Unscathed Beauty, about her recovery. Kelly Humphries, a 37-year-old Queensland senior police constable, went to the police about her uncle’s sexual abuse when she was 19, but she didn’t speak publicly about it till her 30s. To adult survivors, don’t let the fuckers who stole your joy keep stealing it even one more day.” I want to take the power away from my abusers and the only power they have over me is my silence and shame. “They were too scared to share it openly.
“What broke my heart was it was all in private messages,” she says. Many people have since shared their own secrets of abuse with Delaney.
“One of my old school friends had cancer a few years ago and everyone offered to help, while my emotional injuries are a source of shame and isolation.” “That pushed me back into my shell for years,” she says.ĭelaney, who suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder, says society treats different medical conditions unequally. The psychiatric registrar told her to do it properly next time. She first told her story to the daughter of a Christian family she was staying with as a teen and was reprimanded. She attributes internalised self-blame, hurtful reactions and dehumanising labels from professionals for why she kept silent so long. Her decision to post her story was inspired by a Guardian article about the widespread misdiagnosis of trauma survivors and her desire to educate people about trauma. “I want to hear my real voice because it’s been silenced for 36 years.” “I began to doubt myself and believe no one would be interested, that someone might use it against me somehow.”ĭelaney had always felt like she had two different selves: her secret, real self and a superficial, public persona cultivated to blend in. “I knew it would impact how people thought about me and I was terrified,” she admits. Wondering if she’d lose all her friends once they “knew the truth”, the usually articulate and witty writer withdrew. You grow up hating yourself and thinking you caused it and you deserve it.” I never felt safe and I never felt grounded. “It was,” the 36-year-old Sydneysider says now, “a challenging journey through life.
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