"My vision is to build a global network of women helping other women go from being a victim to a survivor to a phenomenal woman!"

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My Story

 

Connie Sloane had an epiphany while watching her child playing in the children's nursery.  She realized that at that very moment, she was in the same boat as every other woman there. Maybe she didn't have the visible bruises and scars that some of the other women had, but on the inside she felt empty.  Just a few hours earlier, she sought refuge with her two small children and wheelchair bound mother when her children's father threatened to kill her while aiming at her with a wooden stool with her three-year old son in her arms.  She would have never in a million years imagined she would ever end up going into a shelter for battered women, in spite of the fact he had left fingerprint marks around her neck several years earlier. Like many women, this was just not someplace she thought she would ever go to.  There were just those occasional isolated instances and then everything would be back to normal.   But what she came to realize was that when a woman experiences abuse in any form, and in any stage, regardless of how frequent or infrequent, there is no going back to normal. She looses pieces of herself little by little until eventually she has lost herself beyond her own recognition. She becomes codependent and is out of touch with her own authenticity, value and purpose. Her mind, body and spirit is weakened to a point where she begins to feel trapped and that she has no choice but to accept the abuse as a part of her life. 

 

Connie realized that she had relinquished the control of her own life to someone else and she had two choices.  She could return to the situation which caused her to end up there, or regain control of her life and her circumstances by rediscovering herself and rebuilding the life she wanted for herself and her children. Six weeks later Connie returned to that very shelter and began teaching her self developed  "Life Enhancement Course,"  A Reconditioning of the Mind, Body & Spirit.  Connie recognized that if a woman doesn't work on what is inside of herself, she will continue to let what is outside of herself control every aspect of her life.  Connie taught the Life Enhancement Course through the YWCA's Women in Crises and Women in Recovery programs for nearly a decade.  The Life Enhancement course continues to be an integral part of these programs, and has been utilized as a supplemental tool in other programs that provide supportive services to women across the country, including Health and Human Service agencies.

 

Reclaiming Your Power

 

Abuse is about power and control.  An abusive partner will use whatever means to dominate and control their partner, including physical violence. In order to help someone recover from being abused, we must address the total person, mind, body and spirit.  Strengthening the mind through education and philosophical teachings; the body through wellness and nourishment and the spirit through prayer and devotion, meditation, and other practices that unite all three, i.e., yoga and tai chi.  As a Revitalization Coach, Connie began integrating these practices into support group meetings and at battered women shelters.  She realized that when the women were out of the abusive relationships and expected to continue to live a normal life on their own, without continued guidance, support and spiritual work, they become discouraged and begin to feel that returning to their abuser becomes their only option; if not the same abusive relationship, they fall prey to another.  This is why it became her mission to help women to reclaim their own power.

 

Statistics show that the average victim returns to an abusive relationship seven times.  Connie observed the transformation of countless women who had taken her Life Enhancement Course in the Battered Women shelters.  These women had made extroadinary strides in their lives. Upon completion of the course, they exuded confidence, were self-reliant and today they are living healthy and happy lives. Connie knew that if the women who may never go to a shelter had access to the teachings of this course along with other forms of support and guidance, the statistics would drastically decrease. Instead of a woman going from victim to survivor and then back to victim, she could go from victim, to survivor to a phenomenal woman.  This was her inspiration to start The S.O.D.A. Foundation, an organization built on the strengths and talents of women around the world to reach out, lift up and coach women survivors of domestic abuse on their journey as they rebuild, renew and revitalize their lives by strengthening the total person, which would ultimately return her to wholeness.