Healing In Nature

THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL: A PATHWAY TO RECOVERY FROM SEXUAL VIOLENCE

research nature-based therapy for rape survivors with PTSD. Still, now I was writing an autoethnography and hiking a section of the AT to understand better how nature is healing in my experience. She said, "Well, I would've met your first criteria." I was curious, amazed, and heartbroken at the same time. She looked me in the eye and said, "I know way too many women that it has happened to." In the distance, we saw a young man approaching, which I learned was her boyfriend. "I would've gone alone, but my mom wanted someone to go with me," the woman laughed. I found out her name was Susan. Although I chose not to pursue legal charges, I soon realized that I could not keep going on with my life without doing anything at all, and seeing him around campus made me dissociate, and I suffered from intense flashbacks of the rape. I decided to report the sexual assault to campus safety. The school handled the report appropriately, and a school investigation underwent. Campus safety served as witnesses to the local police department. The university found him guilty of sexual misconduct and suspended him until I graduated college. I was disappointed he was not automatically expelled, but I accepted that I no longer had to attend college with my rapist.

Ten miles to the next water source. Fuck - I remember thinking to myself. I needed more water to make it to the next water supply northbound. I decided to backtrack, a total of four miles, to get water. It was worth it. Little did I know I would be hiking 18 miles that day. It was afternoon, and the sun was scorching. I decided to take a back-off break and soak it all in; the solar panel certainly appreciated the gesture. I saw backpackers pass by, and some day hikers pull up in vehicles to hop out with small bags or nothing. A thru-hiker stopped by and sat in the same parking lot as me. He looked at me, "I think I'll stop here too." His trail name was Gas.

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