It's difficult to imagine having a bright future with a life full of promise, fame, and prestige, living that life doing exactly what you were wanting to do: dancing, modeling, acting, singing, and a career trajectory that was leading to Broadway and world travel and fame on July 8, 1991…and then on July 9, 1991, having it all stomped out in just a few minutes by a man whose only goal was to rape. That's what Jeffrey Epstein did to Jessica Michaels.

Jessica barely knew Jeffrey Epstein. She had only met him briefly to talk about the possibility of working for him doing massage; when he invited her to his home just a few days later, she was pretty sure she had the job. But that second encounter went from a bizarre meeting of providing him with a massage, to him forcefully raping Jess. At that moment, her life caved in on her, putting her in a 27-year state of emotional dissociation and bodily illnesses and adrenal fatigue syndrome that enveloped her life, nearly destroying her physically.

Jess did what she could to survive, including teaching dance. But then even more devasting trauma stuck her and her small town when several of her dance students were murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting. It's strange, but that tragedy set Jess on her path of healing. Healing from the shooting trauma, and healing from the rape trauma. And it also put her on a path of helping others heal from their sexual trauma. The story is more than incredible; it's phenomenal.

Listen to Jess tell her story of devastating rape and astounding healing. Then, do your part to help bring justice to victims and survivors of rape and sexual assault by sharing this episode with everyone you know. The growth of this podcast is dependent on listeners doing just that: sharing episodes and encouraging others to listen. Another way to help provide justice is to Start By Believing. If you don't know what that phrase means, you can learn more here. And yet another way is to learn more about and promote Jess' work on Sexual Assault First Aid, a mobile app she is helping to design and promote.

There's so much work to be done to push this world towards the vision of eliminating rape and sexual assault. And while the realist in me believes that this goal isn't really possible, the optimist in me says that we can all work together to significantly reduce the prevalence of these devastating crimes and help bring justice to victims and survivors. This is important because we all know someone whose life has been impacted by rape or sexual assault, even though we may not know it. Please do your part. You have my sincere appreciation.

Here are some links and sites I would encourage you to check out and support:

https://youtu.be/bJtjJiWAra8

[email protected]

JessMichaelsSpeaks.com

[email protected]

https://markel-consulting.com

https://startbybelieving.org

https://safeinharmsway.org

https://thejanbrobergfoundation