*Warning: This story contains details of a sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing or triggering.

By Dana Rosenwasser

Anne is a filmmaker and producer who feels like the #MeToo movement is long overdue.

Anne’s films highlight violence against women, including one based on her sister’s experience as a human trafficking survivor titled ‘What About Her?’. Despite her films’ subject matter, Anne says she has experienced sexual harassment on her very own sets.

Today, she joins a slew of survivors in the entertainment industry, including Gabrielle Union, Alyssa Milano, and Terry Crews, who speak out about their experiences rape with sexual assault.

Making the Choice to Heal

Anne had been raped twice before deciding to seek help. “I knew that I didn’t want to go through it alone, because I did that the first time and all it did was leave me confused,” Anne explains.

For survivors of traumatic experiences, such as rape or sexual assault, deciding when or if to ask for help is a complex, personal choice. Safe Horizon offers non-judgmental support and services for survivors whenever they are ready.

Anne found Safe Horizon’s Rape and Sexual Assault Hotline (212-227-3000) online, which is staffed by compassionate advocates who provide survivors with 24-hour support and connections to services. The advocate matched Anne with Katie, a trauma therapist at our Counseling Center.

The Counseling Center is the only New York State licensed mental health clinic that focuses solely on trauma-focused treatment for survivors of crime and abuse of all ages.

Understanding and Overcoming Trauma from Rape

“When I first spoke with Katie, I was really nervous because I didn’t know what to expect,” Anne recalls. “But when I finally met her, she instantly made me feel safe.”

Anne and Katie met once a week over the course of several months to talk about the traumatic experiences Anne had gone through. Katie taught Anne some tools she could use to help her manage the sometimes debilitating feelings of fear and grief.

Katie explained how trauma affects our brains and bodies. Traumatic experiences overwhelm a person’s capacity to cope and process the situation. Triggers are experiences that remind survivors of the traumatic event in some way, and cause survivors to react as though they are facing a threat, including feeling, thinking, or reacting in ways that feel out of their control.

Katie taught her about “grounding” techniques that could help her overcome these triggers. Grounding helps survivors of abuse and violence feel that they are safe and no longer threatened, even when their body’s fight, flight, or freeze response is triggered. Grounding helps us connect to the physical body and stay in the present moment.

“These grounding tools were so helpful. I was 110% committed to my therapy because I knew how important it was.” Anne says.

Combining Filmmaking with Social Activism

After therapy, Anne was invited to join our survivor-lead advocacy and support group, the Speaker’s Bureau. She volunteered to speak at Denim Day, an event to raise awareness of the myth that rape and sexual assault survivors made themselves targets because of the clothing they wore at the time of the assault.

“Speaking out loud at Denim Day was such a momentous moment for me because it was the first time I was going to say in front of people ‘I was raped’. But afterward, I realized that saying those words meant I was saying it for others as well.”

Although the journey to healing has been hard, Anne credits her empowering relationship with Katie as a continuing source of inspiration. “Katie helped make me the outspoken person that I am now,” Anne says.

Today, Anne continues to use her passion for filmmaking to bring awareness to the issues of human trafficking and sexual assault.