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Date: 11/9/2021
LUDLOW – After publishing her first book “Life with My Idiot Family: A True Story of Survival, Courage, and Justice over Childhood Sexual Abuse” in 2017, local sexual abuse survivor, coach and advocate Kathy Picard released her first children’s book, “I love you so much that…” on Aug. 4.
Picard said she has been advocating for over 20 years to help educate children about sexual assault, keep children safe and inspire others to tell their stories.
“I have been advocating for over 20 years now and I think it is important for my voice to be heard to get out there and help educate kids to keep them safer unlike what had happened to me when I was younger, I was sexually abused from when I was 7 to 17 years old,” she said. “I think going out there and helping to keep our kids safer and also inspire others to tell their stories, letting them know that they are not alone and what happened was not their fault.”
Along with hospital visits and presentations to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Picard said she speaks at the police academy to help officers in training understand how to help someone that may have been sexually assaulted.
“I have been a public speaker going out to the police academy, so I go out there and tell them that their eye contact and their tone of voice is important when they go out on these calls, letting the person know they are there when they are ready,” she said.
Picard said one of her biggest goals is to have a more active presence in schools and educating younger children.
“I really want to get more into the schools and the younger kids to help them and stop their abuse, we need to educate the kids as soon as they are able to talk. It is scary but the youngest I heard was a two-month-old baby being sexually abused,” she said. “We really need to educate the kids as soon as possible.”
Since retiring seven years ago Picard said she has dedicated her life to public speaking and advocating for children.
“I love what I do, I retired seven years ago and going out and speaking and helping in ways that some people cannot, I feel that is a blessing. It is a passion of mine to go out and stop others from having to go through what I did,” she said.
While it was hard to write her first book with her husband, Picard said she was glad she wrote it because of what it has inspired in others.
“It took us five years to write that book, it is an award-winning book. It was hard and it was triggering but I am glad I did do it because people are saying that it inspired them to use their voice to get out there and speak,” she said.
Picard said she was inspired to write her own children’s book after reading another book during her presentations and finally had the time to sit down and write once the coronavirus pandemic began.
“During my presentations I would go out and I would read ‘My Body belongs to Me,’ which is a book for 3- to 10-year-olds and lets them know there are resources out there. I said someday I was going to write my own and during COVID I had extra time on my hands and met up with Deb and from there ‘I love you so much that...’ was published on Aug. 4,” she said.
Her latest book, “I love you so much that...,” which was illustrated by Deb Louise Nicholson, is full of lessons for children to teach them to take care of themselves when they grow up.
“It is lessons that kids need to be read to and be able to hear and it is telling them to listen to their teachers in school and so they can learn things to take care of themselves when they grow up. Then you ask who they should pay attention to, and you open up the conversation so they can relate back,” she said.
Each lesson is broken down so that includes the lesson and a reason why and one example Picard gave is to teach children how to brush their teeth and why.
“The book is about teaching kids safety, so one of the things is ‘I love you so much that I ask you to brush your teeth,’ and then why, you give them a reason, ‘So you’ll always have a wonderful smile to share with the world,’” Picard said.
Picard said she dedicated the book to Molly Bish, who was kidnapped and murdered at 16 years old in 2000, and Danny Croteau, an altar boy who was murdered at 13 years old in 1972, to honor two people who lost their lives too young.
“We dedicated it to Molly Bish and Danny Croteau, I was honored to receive the Missing Children’s award from Maggie and John Bish. Molly has always had a special place in my heart and Danny Croteau, hearing that particular case, it is just sad, it is two people that lost their lives way too young,” she said. “It was an honor to reach out to them and ask the permission to put their names in my book and they welcomed it with open arms.”
While she said she is thinking about writing another children’s book, Picard said she is wrapped up with printing two more versions of the book.
“We are talking about another children’s book, we want to get this done first, we went to the bindery yesterday because we have a special collector’s copy coming out and once it is approved it will go out. Who does a book that has four versions? That is what we are doing, we have the paper book, the Barnes and Noble, but we have two more editions coming from Bridgeport Bindery,” she said.
“I love you so much that…” and “Life with My Idiot Family: A True Story of Survival, Courage, and Justice over Childhood Sexual Abuse” are both available on Amazon.