Voices of Hope

Voices of Hope started in 2015 which originally was an avenue for me to heal and spread awareness on the issue of sexual violence. But it turned into something so much more.

My name is Kristine Irwin and I am the founder of Voices of Hope. Our mission is to change our culture one voice at a time. Voices of Hope was founded in 2015 after my son was born. Once I had my son, I knew that I wanted him to grow up in a world where he wasn’t afraid to stand up for what he believes in and to speak up when he feels something is wrong. In the last 5 years, we have helped over 5,000 survivors of sexual and domestic violence across the globe. This all stemmed from my own experience of rape as a freshman in college.

In 2004, I was raped and left on the side of the road by an acquaintance from my hometown. My perpetrator went to trial and was sent to prison 11 years after the incident. While it has been 16 years since it happened, I have had 16 years of working through depression, anxiety, PTSD, and an eating disorder. While have had years of healing, and techniques to work through my mental health, I know healing will be a lifetime endeavour.

One thing that helped me heal was to help others. So when Voices of Hope came to be, it grew into the way I could do just that. We have helped individuals share their story of trauma in a public forum, we have sent countless holiday cards to domestic violence shelters, and rape crisis centres during the holiday seasons. We partnered with restaurants and bars during sexual assault awareness month to help educate about consent. I have shared my own personal story with many people all over the globe to educate and prevent sexual violence. We developed a podcast called “Unveil your Voice” which shares the stories of individuals that are making changes in the world around trauma, and ways to heal. And this year, we are about to release our first collaborative book with 14 authors.

I knew how important writing was for me in my own healing and I decided that I wanted to help others to do the same. I put it out to the world that we're looking for individuals who wanted to share their story in hopes to heal and help others The response I got was incredible! 14 individuals were able to share their story in the upcoming release of “Unveil your Voice.” The authors range from dental hygienists and editors at national media outlets to moms, activists, business owners and more. As you turn the pages of the book, the authors all have a story to share, and their bravery is incredible. I couldn’t be more thankful for each of them and their resilience.

“Unveil your Voice” comes out on January 11th and right now you can preorder it at www.voices-of-hope.org.

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