OUR STORY
Theronda Myers, LICSW
My mission in life is to comply and abide with God and do God's will. I’ve been through many trials and tribulations playing roles upon roles. The roles that I fill in my life are roles that God has provided for me and I need to conduct myself, as God would want me to.
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Growing up in a single-parent household and being the eldest child, there was a thought of “I want better, but how"? Nevertheless, life brought many trials and tribulations which I endured and at the expense of others, I always sensed it wasn't my fault, yet I had to keep going. I felt I did not fit in well with my family. I have gained valuable insight and perspective—I had no choice. Perhaps subconsciously, I learned to creatively adapt to difficult situations. To some, such challenges would become excuses. To me, they became opportunities for change. I now have a unique wisdom that originates from desperation, courage stemming from conflict, and empathy for the plight of others. From these experiences, I would have never learned such life lessons. It’s important for me to be a woman with a solid foundation to ensure all the trials and tribulations which occur would not stop me on my journey. So I went to the master of builders. I ran to God. My Lord and Savior.
I have learned how and when to blend in, fade away, embrace, and fly. Indeed, through all of the life lessons I learned that I would not be the woman I am today. While I have learned to overcome these unique circumstances, I am not unique. As I said, such hardships do not discriminate. They are universal. Everyone faces hardship, something they perceive as traumatic, wrong, hostile, rude, cruel, or insensitive. I am not at all unique in that I have faced hardship.
While my circumstances have affected me, they do not define me or confine me. It is with this in mind that I aim to help others do the same.
IN OUR NAME
Trauma is common among women, with half of all women experiencing some form of trauma during their lives. One in four women have faced an attempted or completed sexual assault, and one in three report being abused by a domestic partner. Trauma is a risk factor for a host of mental illnesses, most notably post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus the challenges of gender discrimination, gendered violence, and mistreatment of women directly work to undermine women's mental health. When a woman goes through this pain or trauma they feel isolated or alone. The stigma of mental health leads to fewer women seeking services which can increase women's exposure to stress, and stress is a significant predictor of mental illness.
At Abide, we stand together in knowing you are not alone! We are joining together to live free, fruitful, and abundant lives; not only for ourselves but to share as well. The prefix "inter" means “between,” “among,” “in the midst of,” “mutually,” “reciprocally,” “together. The prefix "inte" means "not", therefore it doesn’t work as a proper definition of what Abide is.
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We invite women of all ages to fight the stigma of mental health and trauma together. Knowing that you’re not alone in this process and together we will work to eliminate such stigma while eliminating barriers of shame and renewing our minds together.
