VOICES of Acadiana

I am strong. I am innocent. I am a survivor. I am a warrior! do·mes·tic vi·o·lence noun violent or aggressive behavior within the home, typically involving the violent abuse of a spouse or partner. My name is Chelsea and I am 26 years old. Here you will not find your typical survivor story because I am not the typical survivor of domestic violence. I am the innocent survivor. I am the daughter. I am the observer.  I recently discovered my story started long before the divorce. My hope for this story is not to upset anyone, especially my parents. My hope for this story is to help parents realize what their actions do to someone that looks up to them.      Many of my memories don’t have a time stamp on them. Some of them I can’t even guess an age. My way of coping was to push everything back and move on. Most memories feel like dreams to me. The very first memory I can recall is when my grandfather told us that we could no longer live on the family pr...

To my abuser,  I guess what made me an easy target for you was my kindness. You used it as a weapon against me. You saw my ability to forgive you as a motive to keep terrorizing, abusing, and manipulating me. But now you can’t get remotely close to seeing all the characteristics that make me a wonderful, beautiful, strong, and decent human being. I finally had the courage to leave you, unfortunately much later than I should have. But this is what I have to say to you now that I can finally think with a clear mind. I went against everything I stood for, everything I believed in; just to try to justify your verbal, psychological, and physical abuse. I used to question my every move. Am I saying the right thing? Should I tell you that? I can't say that or you might get angry and who knows what horrible words you'd say to me. I used to cry myself to sleep at night with pain in my chest. Sure, your words stabbed me like knives but maybe I was just being too sensitive or weak....

Before Jesus left his “tribe” behind on earth, they were scared to be here without Him… so He left a part of himself behind for them,  “peace I leave you, MY peace I give to you… not as the world gives… is what I give you.  Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid.” ALERT! If you are currently pissed off at God, or maybe you don’t even believe this invisible person exists… please don’t stop reading yet. Yes, this is a blog post written by a survivor with a faith-based perspective, but I promise you’ll be glad that you kept reading. You see, the concept of peace is not centralized to a faith-based lifestyle. It is a global concept. Everyone wants it. The question is, what are we willing to do to get it and what are we willing to do to keep it? And how does this relate to domestic violence? Personal experience has taught me that peace is a concept that can keep victims trapped in their abusive relationships. While still victims, we will do most anything “just to ke...

You may have seen us on Facebook. You may have read our first blog post… but you still may be asking, “Who are the VOICES of Acadiana REALLY?” This is a Great Question that deserves an answer. We are single. We are married. We are college students. We are professionals. We are educators. We are business owners. We are mamas. We are sisters. We are daughters. We are friends. We have suffered abuse as children. We have suffered abuse in teenage dating relationships. We have suffered abuse in adult dating relationships. We have suffered abuse in long-term marriages. We have suffered emotional abuse. Physical abuse. Spiritual abuse. Verbal abuse. Financial abuse. Sexual abuse. Psychological abuse. We’ve been stalked. Isolated. Gaslighted. Intimidated. Threatened. Hit. Cut. Violated. Controlled. The beauty of having a group of ten women volunteering their time in a united way to bring domestic violence to the forefront, while giving women a safe place to use their voice and break...