Thank you Kim for your kind heart and soul, and for creating strengthtoheal.org
I just couldn’t write any more articles for strengthtoheal.org website without thanking Kim Kubal for her heartfelt support. I have known Kim many years now. Even though we’ve never met in person, and even though years may go by without our communicating, I know for sure that her wonderful website will be there when I need it.
Eleven years ago I wrote an essay to be included in her book at the time. Kim complimented me on my writing style. Unfortunately I was stubborn about not compromising on the editing process and withdrew my chapter. Instead of being upset with me, she had the grace to post the original version of my article on her site for many many months.
Four years ago I contacted Kim to tell her I was finally writing a memoir about my childhood abuse. I received nothing but praise from her. She mentioned that she was going to college to become a therapist. What a perfect occupation for such a caring soul, and what commitment to a long journey. I admired her so much. I promised I’d write an article about how animals helped me heal. However I couldn’t come through at the time due to my grief over losing my precious pet. I know Kim understood because she is an animal lover too.
Fast forward to 2018 when I was recently having a challenging time and feeling somewhat isolated. I had done so much healing work with both good and not so good counselors, and through various twelve step programs. Now I needed support geared more specifically to sex abuse support. It had been twenty years since there were any local ISA meetings, and I wasn’t a fan of on-line meetings. Despite living near a large city I was unable to find any ritual abuse support groups. It had been over fifteen years since I’d had a friend who was a ritual abuse survivor and who understood trauma healing. Also, I was frustrated with my very nice therapist because I had to constantly educate her about cult abuse.
I just needed the experience of connecting with someone or some people who actually personally understood the horrendous experience of ritual abuse. Whether with a friend, a counselor, a group, or an organization. Through my research I noticed there seemed to be lots of support for cult survivors in other countries and knew there had to be something similar in the United States. I was disappointed after reaching out to a reputable healing organization in my own state. I felt shunned, tried not to take it personally, and was determined to not give up.
I’ve always loved Kim’s site with its beautiful graphic artistry, where it feels like I’m entering into a peaceful sanctuary. Many times I have read informative articles written by experienced professionals. Even though I didn’t want to bother Kim I decided to email her. Surprisingly she emailed back the very next day despite her busy professional life, and probably personal life as she’s also a survivor of ritual abuse. Kim is now a psychotherapist and writing her thesis for her Ph.D. What amazing dedication, and very inspiring for those who know her.
Kim and I have communicated back and forth for the last week while I’m in the process of writing a few articles for her site. She has answered questions I’ve asked about my healing process, and gently offered suggestions without telling me exactly what to do. She has respected my own path, though somewhat different from her own. She has been kind, informative, open minded, authentic, and complimentary of my own strengths.
Kim always expresses gratitude and signs her emails with “Many Blessings.” What a gift she and her website strengthtoheal.org are to me, and to so many others suffering from the painful after-effects of sexual and/or ritual abuse.
Thank you Kim for your compassion, and for your empathetic support.
Margie 2018