It’s a harrowing reality that Australia has a shameful epidemic of sexual, domestic, and physical violence. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one million women and 412,000 men have experienced child sexual assault in their lifetime, and 8 million Australians have experienced violence of some kind since the age of 15 (ABS, 2023). Whilst sobering, these statistics highlight the overwhelming levels of trauma within our communities, and the ongoing need to support survivors to speak up and break the silence around what they have experienced.

As both a survivor and educator with over 13 years’ experience working alongside/advocating for survivors of trauma, Jas Rawlinson has discovered that for many of these individuals, talk therapy alone (while an important piece of the healing process), does not go deep enough when it comes to supporting survivors to break through shame and find their voice. The missing piece in this equation? Personal Narrative – or more specifically (as voiced by hundreds of survivors who have engaged with Jas), ‘the chance to tell my story in my own words.’

Through a powerful blend of personal lived-experience and research, this presentation explores:

-- Jas Rawlinson’s personal experiences with domestic and sexual violence – including spending time in a safe house as a teenager and running through the bush to escape her father – and how she transformed pain into purpose and became a global advocate for survivors

-- The science and lived-experience research into why personal storytelling – particularly, memoir writing – is the catalyst for transforming shame into strength

-- Insights gleaned from a decade of supporting sexual violence/trauma survivors, including survivors of human trafficking

-- And why our stories are our superpower and the key to breaking through Australia’s culture of victim-blaming