Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2740

Tonight's special guest is Teresa Syms from Woodstock, Ontario, a returning NAAACA family member. Teresa is a survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. She was the youngest child born with a physical disability that delayed her ability to walk and was raised on a tobacco farm by a hard-working alcoholic father and an unstable deaf mother neither who knew how to love or nurture their children. She recalls being forced "to kneel on beer bottle caps nailed to plywood in front of a full-length mirror” as a frequent punishment. As a teen, Teresa used alcohol and tranquilizers to numb emotional pain and once attempted vehicular suicide. In 2003, Teresa walked away from her lifetime of abuse, neglect and trauma, the domestic abuse from a marriage of 23 years and a life that was slowly killing her. Not long into her second marriage, a marriage of 'true love', she was in a severe auto accident resulting in chronic injuries for 9 years. Having faced death, she found courage to break the cycle of generations of abuse and began her healing process. She wrote the award-winning book 'A Century of Secrets', detailing her journey to uncover the lies and overcome the adversity. Today she is a multiply certified empowerment coach who founded Teresa Syms Coaching where she specializes in offering programs for personal and professional growth to survivors of trauma. She is also certified as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and in Neurolinguistic Programming. Teresa uses her story as living proof to other survivors that “through courage and determination you can give yourself a brilliant future.” We are so glad to have Teresa return!