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This site has been so helpful to me. I can't express how thankful I am to have support from everybody on this site. Words don't seem to do this site justice.

Angela

I came to the Fort with no experience of on-line communities...and more than a little trepidation. I was surprised how quickly I felt at home...felt that I belonged.

Jane

thank you for founding this site and all those who had the courage to share... thank you...

Anonymous

Awesome information. Really got me thinking and into action.

Maude D.

loves your site :)

deb

Thank You so much for all these resources, you have no idea how much they helped me.

Caitlyn

I had zero idea that anything like this even existed. Truth is I've had to work at not feeling sorry for myself that I didn't have Fort 10 or 15 years ago.

Me1issa

I am so happy to have found your site. I left my abuser and am trying to live a "normal" life. It's been two years since I left and I'm still having trouble adjusting.

Megan

thanks so much I really needed this no nonsense approach today

Julia

This is a wonderful site and you are doing the sort of good work a lot more people should be doing. You have my full support. Thank you for having the courage to tackle this issue. Not enough people do.

Blaine Hislop

My heart has never been so touched by the stories I read here, there is nothing superficial or ideals so high they are unattainable. The people here are real and are passionate about extending support no matter how bad your situation is.

VictorianRoses

This site made me come to terms and realize quite a few different things that could seriously impact my situation in a little bit of a positive way as opposed to the constant negative impact everything has currently. It also gave me some hopefully helpful pointers that you best believe I will be attempting starting first thing in the morning.

Anonymous

(July 19th 2014) Tasha said:

A year ago today, I was in crisis. I thought that I was going to have to go inpatient, as the only way to help me through the tremendous struggles I was having with my ED and how it was affecting my health. I was actually looking for some kind of hotline or a facility when I found a list of resources on an ED website. All it had was the admin email for Fort, but I figured if there was an admin for this place, then there was a site too. I took a chance and typed fortrefuge.com into my browser, and read some of the pages. The more I read, the more I realized that I might have found what I was looking for. I didn't join right away, thought about it for a few days, and then, since I just wasn't finding any other resource that I thought might help me, I joined.

I was thinking I needed to go inpatient because I couldn't seem to find the amount of support that I knew I needed--even though I have a great T and had been seeing her for over a year--and thought that inpatient might be the only way to help myself. I've discovered over this past year, though, that peer support can be extremely helpful, in addition to professional help. Finding Fort, I found a place where I didn't have to hide. I don't have to hide my DID, I don't have to hide my abuse history, I don't have to hide the ugly aftermath of my abuse, I don't have to hide my various diagnoses, I don't have to hide who I am. Surprisingly, I found that ppl accepted me and liked me. For the first few months, I was kinda surprised at that, just because it was so far out of the realm of my experience up til then.

I think that I've learned a lot over the past year, being on Fort. I think that it's helping me heal from abuse and its aftermath in a lot of ways--even ways I wasn't even aware that I needed to heal. I feel like I've got this huge mountain still to climb, but it's nice to have support of my peers while I try to climb it. It's been really helpful to have discussions with ppl, ppl who understand how hard abuse aftermath is. It's been really fun to talk with ppl about what has and hasn't worked for them, to share ideas with each other. The support I've found here has been really invaluable to me. My T keeps saying how valuable support groups are in the healing process, and I really agree with her. I think I'd be in quite a different place emotionally had I not run across Fort.

Sometimes I wonder if I've made progress as far as healing, because what I'm working on now is some of the hardest trauma work I've ever done, but it's also the first real trauma work I've been able to do. Sometimes I wish that I'd been able to keep seeing the T I had just after I got out of the abuse. She was amazing, but she was working on helping me learn coping skills just so I could function and get through college and all the other things I had on my plate at the time. Sadly, I still miss her. I kinda wish I could somehow let her know how I'm doing now. From then until now I know there's been progress. I wonder if that's how I need to think of it--seeing how far I've come since I got out of the abuse, instead of trying to see progress at closer intervals.

The progress I've had in the past year just seems miniscule compared to what I feel I need to/should have accomplished. I guess maybe you can't rush it, though. I definitely know the pitfalls of overprocessing. Thinking about it, I think I actually am making progress though, progress I can see. A year ago, I wasn't experiencing my feelings like I am now, and even if that's the only thing I've managed to progress in, then that's enough. Expressing myself is important, and I have a feeling it's gonna be important as I go through more trauma work in T.

Guess I'm just trying to say that I'm really glad that a year ago I was at such a place that I looked for support, and stumbled in a round about way into Fort.