Holly Sowels-Jenkins, keynote speaker at the Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse forum Monday, delivered a challenging message full of hope, healing and inspiration.

Jenkins, now a nationally-known speaker, author and playwright, was once a victim of sexual abuse. From the age of five until she was 12 years old, Jenkins was sexually abused by her father.

As she shared her story, Jenkins identified four stages experienced by victims of sexual abuse. The first is 'unquestioning loyalty and trust.' Jenkins explained that as a child she 'didn't know that there was anything to tell.'

This was followed by the second stage: suspicion. As Jenkins explained it, 'something was not right.' The second stage ushered in the third stage: fear. This is a fear stemming from the threat and use of physical violence against the victim to silence him or her.

The fourth stage, Jenkins said, is shame and guilt that is a result of the abuse. As a young woman, Jenkins struggled with her painful past and tried to act 'normal.' She finally reached a point when she wanted something different.

'I wanted to be awesome,' Jenkins said.

A major incentive for her to embark on a journey of healing was her daughters.

'An unhealthy parent can't raise a healthy child,' she explained.

In order to heal, Jenkins said she had to look at each phase of her abuse and look past her father in order to see herself.

'Everyone must find their own path to healing,' she said.

Jenkins discovered that her path to healing was writing. She wrote a series of letters to her father, now compiled in the book 'Daddy Don't: Letters to My Father, A Story of Incest,' to help her release her pain.

Today, Jenkins describes herself as 'fantastic,' 'wonderful' and 'awesome,' and challenged the audience to think of themselves in the same way

'Live in your awesomeness,' Jenkins said.

Jenkins offered encouragement for members of the audience who had suffered child sexual abuse. Her message was for the not-quite survivors, those who were thriving, and those who were not as healthy as they could be.

Jenkins announced that audience members who had come to hear statistics and all around bad news were in the wrong place. Her message was not one of gloom and doom, but one of empowerment.

'You've got to decide that you want to be healthy,' Jenkins said.

Once that decision has been made, she said, the next course of action would be 'simple, not easy.'

Woven into the presentation was the musical reflection of Jayne Sachs. Sachs opened the program with 'Twisted Ballerina,' a song about a young girl sexually abused by her uncle. She closed with 'Celebrate Yourself,' a song that expressed embracing all experiences, good or bad, that make a person unique.

The Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse program was attended by both students and members of the general public.

Nora Jennings, sophomore early childhood education major, shared after the program that she wanted to be awesome and inspire her future students to do the same.

Junior electrical engineer Sam Bogdan, admitted the presentation 'was hard to listen to,' but that the speaker's progression was interesting and so was learning that victims can move on. Patrick DeSimio, a junior English major, was happy to learn of the resources available to sexual abuse victims.

A woman expressed her opinion that the baby boom generation was not educated about sexual abuse. Children who reported sexual abuse were censored because 'adults were always right.'