Additional information
by Roxanne Whatley (Author)
Roxanne Whatley was in an abusive marriage so devastating she only escaped death because she has an odd anomaly from birth, otherwise her skull would have cracked open when her husband threw her out of their speeding car. Determined to become a survivor, and not stay a victim, she sought answers to the questions that plague us all when it comes to domestic violence and spousal abuse. Her research took her into psychology, biology, philosophy and anthropology - the varied studies of us as human beings. Then she began working with other women and men who were trying to break free from their own abusive relationships. Her work has encompassed the last twenty years, helping hundreds of women and families find their healthy, and find their safety, from domestic violence. She healed herself along the way, and calls the process "learning to live in shadow and light." Domestic violence needs the silence and darkness to thrive, it feeds on secrecy. In the light of day it is diminished. Those who have been abused need the shadow of their safety, the skill of being invisible, after coming through the depths of the trauma that is domestic violence. To be healthy, survivors also need to learn to live in the light with everyone else. This book takes the reader through domestic violence from inside relationships, including potent and overwhelming honesty about what Roxanne went through in her own relationship and life. The stories are heart rending. The wisdom she shares is full and beneficial. The suggestions to interrupt the patterns of violence - practical and reasonable. She invites, urges, and supports better questions so we can discover better answers. The truth of domestic violence is that right now your mother, your sister, your daughter, or your friend is being abused. They just can't tell you, they can't tell anyone. This book helps her help herself, but helps all of us who love that woman to be there for her. Together we can interrupt and solve domestic violence. This book is a great place to start.
Author Biography
Roxanne Whatley is an award winning advocate for effective domestic violence solutions, best selling author, docudrama film producer, companion animal rescue promoter, as well as todays leading expert in the field of mind root behavior psychology. She's known as "the guru of why we do what we do." Born into the world of film & television in Studio City, California to a man who was a grip at Paramount Studios and his struggling screenwriter wife, Roxanne lived the duality of upbeat outside appearances and the darkness behind closed doors. Her father - an alcoholic; her mother - suffering from narcissistic personality disorder; her childhood - filled with abuse, neglect, illness and trauma. Displaying what she would later understand to be a level of intuitive accuracy usually found in life threatening war zones, she set out to discover what this faculty was, how it worked, why it was so feared and derided in society, and why everyone didn't naturally have the skill. She also wanted desperately to understand what love was, how relationships worked, to fix them, heal them and support them. Out of her self questioning difficult childhood she battled bulimia/anorexia, depression and a deep belief that she was worthless founding herself as an adult in a series of escalating abusive relationships, one so severe she was being shoved from a speeding car into heavy oncoming traffic, with emergency room specialists reading her CAT scan astounded she survived the multiple fractures of her skull. The immediate aftermath plunged her into overwhelming legal, financial and further life threatening trauma. While still struggling with her own emotional and physical issues, she found herself homeless and destitute. Pulling herself out by research, counseling others and herself, she spent the last 20 years behind the scenes helping other victims & families of domestic violence learn to be survivors. Her #1 best selling book, Living in Shadow and Light, is being developed into a docudrama by her production company Vanadis Films. She was given the prestigious "Hathor Award" for her tireless work to help those women and children come through domestic violence to heal from battered woman syndrome and PTSD. She is a consultant in the field of human interaction & communication; an advisor to first responders confronting abuse; she works with animal rescues to help them be more self sustaining. She can be found living in her shadow and light, and at RoxanneWhatley.com
