After learning just a bit about Joan Van Eyll, I felt it was imperative to offer more insight from her. From infant age to her late teens, she suffered severe emotional and physical child abuse. Joan shares her candid story in her memoir, The Forgotten Child: Reclaiming a Childhood Lost to Abuse. Today, she continues to heal as she reaches to others struggling through abuse. Joan has suffered a great deal but she is strong, she’s gained inner strength and wisdom.
In her words, “Realizing I am my own greatest source of wisdom, and when I quiet myself long enough and listen I know I am so much greater then what may appear on the outside.”
Joan described how her four children have helped her heal, “They’ve inspired me, through their innocence, to reclaim my own. To heal my shattered soul, while allowing me to embrace and enhance our journey in this lifetime. Every time I looked into their beautiful faces I knew I wanted to be there for them, while being present to allow for so much more love and life then what I had been shown.”
She continued, “My journey to reclaim my own lost childhood was sometimes bitterly painful, while at other times the journey brought me serenity.Over time, I came to an awareness of the many earth (and Heavenly) angels who made an appearance in the lives of my siblings and myself to show us something very different from the abuse we experienced within our childhood home: love and compassion.”
Joan’s story offers hope to others who have or continue to survive the wrath of abuse. Her life is testimony that you can overcome tragedy, heal and create a loving and healthy environment for yourself and for your children.
Her closing words, “There is a way to honor and reclaim your own inner forgotten child. There is a way out.”
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