Survivors

Ellen 

Ellen (b. 1964) is an award winning writer and illustrator of children’s books. She often incorporates themes of positive body imagery and therapeutic child psychology in her work. She engages in extensive volunteer work for food service programs and pediatric healthcare and child advocacy organizations. All personal profits from her latest book were donted to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Ellen was born in Western Canada to socially liberal parents. Her father was a postal worker and her mother operated a communal grocery store. Customers were encouraged to trade goods and services rather than buy products. The store was never financially successful and her mother was forced to close it when the family’s economic situation deteriorated.

At age 7 Ellen’s parents divorced and she moved with her mother and two brothers from Canada to the United States. At her new school her natural talents brought her to the attention of an art teacher who encouraged her to study art and art history. The social influence of her family and especially her mother made it easy for her to accept the expressionistic nature of representative artforms. At an age when most children would giggle at paintings of nude persons Ellen was examining the intricacies of the art and its subtext.

Period of abuse

At age 9 she won a local art contest and began to study art under the man who would eventually become her abuser. He helped her talents develop from childish cartoons to artistic interpretations of life around her, but while doing so he persuaded her to pose nude for his own artistic ambitions. He was respected in the local artistic community and Ellen’s appreciation for art and her communal background suppressed any natural instinct that might otherwise have told her that a child modeling nude for an adult could be inappropriate. He convinced her to keep secret from her mother the details of their lessons, specifically the nude modeling. He rationalized this deception by convincing Ellen that her mother would not understand since she was not herself an artist.

By age 10 the nude modeling had transformed to inappropriate physical contact and eventually led to sexual activities. The sexual abuse continued for a period of 18 months.

At age 12 another student of her abuser had notified authorities of her own sexual abuse. An initial police investigation revealed that the teacher was having or had previously inappropriate sexual relations with no less than eight former and current students, all under the age of 14. The teacher was successfully prosecuted and was ordered to serve 10 years in a state penal institution. While the teacher was incarcerated federal attorneys successfully prosecuted him on the legal grounds that some of his minor students lived across the state border in New Jersey. He subsequently received an additional 10 year sentence.

The resulting emotional and psychological trauma manifested itself in increased sexual promiscuity and alcohol and drug abuse. It is recommended that all survivors undergo psychological counseling to help them understand their feelings of guilt and diminished self-worth. Ellen was ordered to undergo psychological counseling and therapy, but ceased treatment after a single session for financial reasons.

At age 14 she was arrested for driving while intoxicated and driving below the legal age limit. She was immediately placed in a substance abuse treatment program. Unfortunately, the scope of this treatment did not include therapy for her earlier sexual abuse.

Several months later she resisted a sexual assault from her boyfriend by firing at him with a handgun. He was shot several times and badly injured. He eventually fully recovered from his wounds.

Manifestations of violence are never a recommended solution to sexual abuse. The consequences can often be detrimental. Ellen was prosecuted for assault, despite the fact that she was resisting a sexual assault. The opinion of the state attorney’s office was that a harmless adolescent sexual encounter was turned violent by her unnecessary actions. It is common for legal institutions and society as a whole to place blame for child sexual abuse on the survivor. It is important to recognize that the survivor will experience a great deal of emotional and psychological trauma as a result of sexual abuse and this will often manifest itself by self-destructive or even violent means. The solution to this is early and prolonged psychiatric and psychological counseling and therapy.

Therapy and subsequent results

While incarcerated for assault Ellen was reintroduced to her love of art and again began to study it seriously. A program of art therapy was used in conjunction with psychological counseling. Upon her release she continued comprehensive psychological therapy and counseling.

At age 18 she began to study art at the University of Pennsylvania. Two years later she entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1986 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1988.

She began illustrating children’s books written by others before she wrote her own books. Her first book was a national success and earned a National Medal of Arts. Her second book earned the National Book Foundation Award for a Children’s Book.

Current activities

Today Ellen is a noted author of children’s books and teaches art to children. She has never married and has two adopted children.





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