Invisible Girls

The Invisible Girls: A Memoir

Author: Sarah Thebarge

Presented by Nikkita ScottHuman Development

Athens Technical College

All About Me

• Sarah Thebarge • Breast Cancer Survivor

• Ivy League Education

• Christian Woman

Strangers to You… …Friends to Me

• Somalia Family: Hahdi and her 5 girls

• Refugee• Train Ride• Abusive Husband• 8 children total• Cultural

Differences

Visual Identity

• Connectivity through images• Sending photos

• Perception• What you see is what

you get

• Person’s Identity • Society sometimes uses

the visual to determine a person’s identity, and how they view them

• Seeking Acceptance

Activity as a Tool in Language

• Getting Familiar• Things that they

are already familiar with

• Daily Activities• Basic chores

and day to day activiites.

Mooovvveeeee

• Relocation more than 3 to 4 times within an allotted time

• Affects Family• Parents and siblings

• Behavioral Problems• Problems Developing

Socially• Strained Relationships• Negativity

Effects of Residental Instability

Spousal Abuse

• Private and Personal vs Public and Open• A personal matter that

affects the community• The victim

• Preventative Measures• Studies show how utilizing

different resources and organizations to support the victims decrease the chance of reoccurrence.

To Be or Not to be…

• Relationships after Breast Cancer Diagnosis • Self-Esteem• Self-Love• Confidence• Femininity • Appearance

• Studies prove that the separation rate is greater in a relationship over the formation of women with breast cancer

• Sarah struggled with these factors significantly. She felt she would never be able to feel the love of another being.

Gender Roles

Marital Quality• Being Equal • Life Satisfaction • Femininity • Traditional Values

• Women: birth children, cook, clean

• Men: Work, bring home the money

Dealing with an Illness

• Different with the diagnosis

• Circumstances• Overwhelmed• If no support, instability• Friends and Family• Sarah’s reoccurrence• Emotional Breakdown

Breast Cancer Survivor

During Recovery: Religious SupportPositive Effects of Spirituality with a mental illness

• People with higher understanding and guidance of spiritual growth are able to cope and recover within their illness.

• Sarah was able to regain focus and understood God’s work and the will he had for her.

Negative Effects of Spirituality with a mental illness• Emotional desolation

(emptiness) • Anger

Spirituality

• Religion, and Beliefs• Growing up

• Spiritual environment• ¾ Fulfillment, happy

• Depression • ¼ Depressed, mental disorders

Spirituality

Believers

NonBelievers

How Do I Move On…• Parents coping with the death of a child

• Hahdi had 8 children, 5 girls and 3 boys• Her boys died in Somali due to the poor conditions there

• Step System• Parents go through a series of steps

• Devastation, Denial, Depression, Reconstruction

• Parenting • Responsibilities as a parent• Protectiveness • Strength

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heart rate and skin conductance levels to social rejection. Frontiers in Psychology, 51-10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00956• Cettina, T. (2010). Beyond belief raising a spiritual kid. Parenting Early Years, 24(11), 117-120.• Stoneman, Z. H. (1999). Effects of residential instability on head start children and their relationships with older.. Child Development,

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