In her monologue, Lisa tells how two teachers were able to help her find a way out of this situation

At six, the future preschool teacher, Lisa Godwin, seemed like a sweet girl with a wonderful, quiet life. But she was already a victim of sexual harassment. In her monologue, Lisa tells how two teachers were able to help her find a way out of this situation and why it is important to pay attention to each student in the class.

Each of us has a story. There are many chapters in it that made us what we are now. And sometimes it is the earliest chapters of our lives that affect the present most.
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The Centers for Disease Control says about half of children in the United States have at least one or two childhood injuries. Some may have long-term effects. When I had the opportunity to speak, defending the interests of teachers and students, I found myself in a unique position: I could talk about childhood injuries. But I had to decide what exactly I was ready to tell. To share only vivid stories from life, such that turn our accounts on social networks into pages of a successful person? Or should I become an open book, and openness will be followed by vulnerability.

This choice was simple for me. To help change the lives of children for the better, I myself had to become absolutely honest. I chose the path of telling the real story, without embellishment. There are many wonderful people in it who loved me and cared for me, raised them, helping to overcome a lot. Now it's my turn to help.

When I went to school, I seemed like a model of "normality." A well-dressed girl from a good family, always smiling, well prepared for school.
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Moreover, in my life there was nothing normal. I was already a victim of sexual harassment

I saw school only as a refuge from what was happening, which, of course, inspired me. Imagine my horror when I met one of my teachers, Mr. Randolph. No, he was not my offender, but it seemed that everything that frightened me was embodied in him. I began to include all the protective techniques I knew then, preparing for the fact that I could be left alone with a man. I was terrified of going to his classroom every day. But you know what? It was this man who became my main protector.

For starters, I let him know that I did not like him. I was extremely unyielding. She became a child who is as distant as possible. For my parents, this was also a problem. I did not want to go to school, so every morning began with a struggle. At night, because of great anxiety, I could not sleep. I drove my whole class to exhaustion, because the tormented children are capricious, it is very difficult to teach and teach something.
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Mr. Randolph could have done what teachers most often do with these children: just forget about me, start ignoring me. But no, he treated me with compassion and maximum flexibility. He saw in me a tormented six-year-old child. He let me skip those days when I didn’t have the strength to go to school. He sat down at the same table with his students during lunch, and did not leave at his own. He spoke with us. Now, looking back, I understand that he did everything possible to understand what was happening.

He managed to find an approach to me, slowly but surely destroying dozens of walls that I erected around me, he helped to believe that no one was threatening me

But he understood that he could not cope, so he received permission from my mother to talk with the school counselor, Mrs. MacFadyen. I walked for two years once or twice a week.

For all this time, I never once told her about harassment - this was my secret. But she found an approach to me, and everything she did gave me the opportunity to gain strength and voice. She taught me how to use mental images to overcome fear. She taught breathing techniques that helped to cope with anxiety attacks. She made me learn to protect myself.
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The day came when I found the strength to tell the whole truth. I did this in the room where my rapist was sitting among others. He immediately began to deny everything, and another adult could not believe the horror of what had happened. The word adult versus the word child. It ended up being demanded that I never again talk about it.

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It had a devastating effect on me, as if I had done everything wrong again. But the result was still. My abuser realized that I would no longer be silent. He lost power over me, harassment stopped. But the shame and fear of repetition remained with me for many years.

Mr. Randolph and Mrs. MacFadyen helped me gain a voice and go out into the world, but not all children are so lucky. And they can be in your classes now. That is why this conversation is so important to me - you too can help, pay attention to your pupils and students, start asking questions that you need to ask.