Yes, there are! And I strongly encourage you to call 911 or your National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 if you are ever in imminent danger or need emergency support! I have worked alongside many dedicated hotline and shelter volunteers and answered thousands of crisis calls myself. And while free non-profit and GROs (government run organizations) are a good resource, as with most public services, there are limitations and drawbacks. Hotline staff and volunteers have to juggle several callers and often put them on hold. Volunteers rarely prearrange a call or guarantee that they will be available to provide on-going support for the same client unless they are assisting them to emergency shelter services. Here's a little analogy. You’ve torn your ACL playing tennis. Do you wait for hours to be treated by the night shift staff at the local emergency room? Or, if you have the resources and access, do you immediately make an appointment and consult with the best board certified orthopedic surgical and physical therapy practice you can find? Of course the ER doctor and her staff are skilled and talented in their own right and provide a desperately needed service to anyone who can make it through their door. But are they best option to provide the reparative surgery, pain management and long-term physical therapy services that ensure a patient's long-term healing and eventual return to good health? No, they aren’t.

Abusers are brilliant at isolating you from your dearest friends and family. Most people, no matter how deep their love and how pure their intentions, simply aren’t prepared or have the training to remain calm, soothing, receptive and compassionately detached and objective when a friend or loved one is in a turbulent episodes. It may trigger their own fears and remind them too forcibly of their own brushes with violence or trauma. Often they may retreat and distance themselves out of a sense of self preservation, frustration and despair. Friends and family often don’t understand cycles violence and why survivors choose to stay in their abusive relationships, or why it takes so long for a victim to leave. Women often decide to stay for hundreds of reasons. Where your friends and family might see a victim who is “choosing to stay” I see a woman who is slowly and carefully deciding how, when and where she’ll eventually make an important life change. I understand why you are choosing to stay and I can offer unconditional support, ideas and guidance, and hold sacred space for you to connecting to Spirit and your intuition. Am most importantly, I provide truly non-judgmental, active listening while you chart a new course for yourself, either within or without your current relationship.

Again, these are great and I’ve facilitated open community support groups for years. Many survivors have very valid concerns over privacy that often override their need for ongoing support, validation and encouragement from a trained, experienced crisis counselor. There is also little opportunity or enough time to effectively connect a spiritual practice and incorporate mindfulness in most open community groups. And sadly, open non-profit or GRO run support groups may be required to admit participants who have superseding, often disruptive issues with *addiction and severe mental illness. And for the record, I understand and vigorously support their inclusion in free, open community support groups. Women who have severe mental illnesses, disabilities and substance abuse are often fall prey to the most dangerous and skillfully manipulative abusers.

Statistics show that the overwhelming majority of survivors of emotional, financial and spiritual abuse ARE NOT MENTALLY ILL. Women do not get trapped in abusive relationships because they are fundamentally broken or mentally unstable. This is a sad myth that is often used, quite cruelly, AGAINST the abuse survivor by both the abuser and even, at times, the survivor's friends and family.

No. And almost twenty years of crisis counseling has taught me is that most survivors, thankfully do not need a therapist to make informed, intelligent and spirit led change in their love relationships. Each survivor and her relationship is altogether unique. But the power and control tactics, dynamics and strategies used by her abuser are not. I am a highly skilled and experienced crisis counselor who is pretty brilliant at using the Tarot as modality to support and guide women as they walk their healing journey. I’m very proud of my alma mater (Dartmouth College, Class of ’94) and decades long professional experience with organizations like the Harvard School of Public Health, Planned Parenthood and other domestic violence, sexual assault prevention and youth empowerment programs. I am honored to offer all of this, as well as the richness of my Native and African American ancestral lineage and spiritual and intuitive gifts in service to the women that need them most. If you suspect that you or a loved one are stuck in an emotionally abusive relationship, allow me to share with you some empowering insights on what I absolutely know to be true about emotionally abusive relationships! Click here to have this info delivered directly to your inbox!

There are many talented, intelligent, financially independent and successful women who desire a level of confidential, private and holistic abuse support service that is individually focued and, quite frankly, a step above and beyond anonymous hotlines, community support groups and communal living residential shelter programs. If you are living with emotional and mental abuse, know that you deserve an experienced, dedicated counselor who prioritizes your needs and takes the time to get to know you and your survival story. You deserve to be supported spiritually and holistically, with kindness and patience each and every time you choose to reach out for support. You deserve a counselor who will take the time to hold sacred space and set focused intention on you and you alone. As your Tarot counselor, you can depend upon me to walk along side you, in the light and dark moments of your journey. The Queen’s Hand is a custom, bespoke personal service that offers warm, professional, experienced crisis counseling, consistent heartfelt support that is imbued with the power and energy of the Tarot and my own intuitive, empathic gifts. It’s an invaluable, one-of-a-kind service that I am proud and honored to offer.