My name is Kathleen (Schmidt) Milliken, author of Escaping The Glass Cage: A Story of Survival &
Empowerment from Domestic Violence. My life began in Seattle,
Washington as number six of eight children. The dream of becoming an artist, of
some form, has burned within me all my life. I loved to paint and draw in
school and knew at age thirteen I would write a book, just didn't know what it
would be about at that time.
As many girls did at the time I was growing up, I married young; it didn’t last
long as I divorced him at age 25 after fleeing for my life from nearly 6 years
of extreme abuse, and began again. I learned to scuba dive while in a shelter
for battered women and later won a trip that gave me the opportunity to dive
with sharks in the Bahamas’. I’ve also been swimming with dolphins, climbed
halfway up Mt. Rainier and would love to go to Australia in the near future to
dive with the great white sharks (in a cage of course).
In 1998 I decided it was time to do something empowering about the abuse
endured. I've completed thirty-six hours of training on domestic violence
issues with DAWN (Domestic Abuse Women's Network), a non-profit in Seattle
designed to train staff and volunteers to run the "hot-line" for
women in crisis. My intention was to help women in need, but in turn, the
training helped me. Armed with only a high school diploma, I like to say my
college is "The University of Heart Knocks" and my major is in
“Common Sense and Life”. My passion is asking questions and reading empowering
books. I believe them to be a valuable tool for healing, learning, expanding
the mind and discovering new ways to think.
With my debut book Escaping The Glass Cage, my hope is to help
answer the tough questions regarding Domestic violence such as: How does a
young girl end up marrying someone, who over time and severe abuse, nearly
costs her her very life? How does she escape and learn to rebuild her
self-esteem? Why is Domestic Violence still a rampant problem in today's
society? I share my own story and how I created a new life, new beliefs and new
dreams to move forward. I believe one can either stay in the past, or forge a
new life and find ways to help and empower others.
With the desire to do more to help empower others, I’ve created of Embracelets of Hope
©. Each Embracelets of
Hope © is green and white swirl, green represents healing and white is for
peace. They are each debossed with Dream, Believe, and Achieve. I wear a silver
bracelet on my right wrist, the same one I tried to cut so many years before.
It also has the same words on it. My personal affirmation with the Embracelets
of Hope © is: “Never give up on your Dreams…..for with the Belief in your
dreams….you will Achieve more then you could have ever imagined.”
As happy as I am at finally writing and sharing my story, I felt the need to do
more. So I created Project
Empowerment on Blog Talk Radio. The show airs weekly on Wednesday's at 9 AM
PST.
My focus is to shine the spotlight on the professionals and organizations that
are making a difference in our world with education and empowerment regarding
Domestic Violence, child abuse, human trafficking and empowerment for all. The
show topics have covered questions such as, "Why does she stay?", "What
about the men victims of Domestic Violence?", "How can we help empower our children?". But I also cover topics on meditation, health, and finances.
My personal belief is that all healing and empowerment begins from within, and
by providing tools and resources, we can "be the change we wish to see in
the world" (Gandhi). But this wasn't enough, so I'm also training to
climb Mt. Rainier with the intention to summit in September of 2011. This is my Climb
For Empowerment, to raise awareness and empowerment for Domestic Violence and abuse survivors.
I have no mountaineering skills and am starting from ground zero as far as my
training is concerned. But my belief is this; there is a great deal of physical
work in preparing for this journey just as there is mental preparation. It is a
daily effort, just like it is for women/man who is slowly taking their power
back. It takes work, effort and time to move on and make a new life. So for
every step I take up the mountain will represent every step a survivor takes to
empower her/his life to become a victor and a leader.
Recently I had the honor and and privilege to host the Top 10 CNN Hero of
the year for 2009 here in Seattle, Ms. Betty Makoni. Her visit
was powerful and I will be forever grateful for her wisdom and allowing me to
set up several speaking
engagements here in Seattle and on San Juan Island. You can learn
more about this visit at my blog HERE.
Life has many twists and turns and I must confess, I'm going through another big change in my world. After 13 years of a relationship/marriage, it is time to end. But a new beginning has been born, a new chapter in my life and perhaps a new book will come out of it. I love living in Seattle with my two young sons and many opportunities are sprouting from our adventures. My "day job" is at Seattle Children's Hospital in their ER and I've been asked to be featured in their "I AM Seattle Children's" video blog series to share my work, my climb, and how Seattle Children's helped save both my son's lives (they each have Type 1 diabetes). Thank you for visiting and allowing me to share my world with you.
~Kathleen M. Milliken
Shark dive from 1998........Live your life to the fullest!!!
