to youth experiencing violence at home…

Whatever you’re experience is, it is real and it is valid. 

Try not to get stuck in the -

“it could be worse” 

“its not bad enough”  

Remember your experience is real and valid.
 
If youth are having to question if the violence is violence,  

we aren’t doing something right – and it’s also not going to be a one size fits all - my experience will not be the same as another’s.  

I think right now with systems designed and structured how they are,

it is too easy to dismiss the signs and experiences of violence in the home that are not explicitly “violence,”

and leave youth falling through the cracks. 
 
To think that at one point I had “what happens at home stays at home” ingrained in my brain and being.

What happens at home doesn’t just stay at home – we carry it with us. 
 
If we aren’t saying it, we’re storing it - and that gets heavy.  

It doesn’t and should not be this way for other youth. 
 
I didn’t have the words to say it then, so I used art. 

An image of two girls on either side of a wall - created using charcoal and ink. The girl below appears angry, while the girl above, sad. There are words and music notes - ripped, scattered and stained across the page.