Honoring Their Voices, a virtual series, amplifies the voices of survivors and others with lived experience of child sexual abuse through engaging and compelling conversations.
Each conversation will be hosted live via Zoom and will include a Q&A session for attendees to chat with our special guests and experts.
Honoring Their Voices with Nikki DuBose & Tom Krumins
On April 17, we were joined by Nikki DuBose and Tom Krumis, two amazing individuals who are a part of our NEW Stewards of Children®. Nikki and Tom shared their experience working with Darkness to Light and gave us a look into their journey to healing through prevention and advocacy.
Nikki DuBose is a model, doctoral student in clinical psychology, author, and founder of Live ED Free, an eating disorder recovery coaching service. As an advocate for eating disorder recovery and protection for children, she has helped pass mental health legislation for fashion models and child sexual abuse survivors.
Tom Krumins is a passionate and dedicated survivor-advocate working to address sexual violence against children and adolescents. He is committed to advancing trauma-informed solutions through policy, education, and community mobilization. When he isn’t working, Tom enjoys performing stand-up and improvisational comedy — successfully entertaining tens (tens!) of people since 2017.
Previous Events & Recordings
In this three-part series, our team sits down with author Stephen Mills to discuss his book, Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood. Learn more about Stephen and his journey with the event recordings, information, and resource guide below.
Recordings:
Part 1: Grooming
WATCH THE RECORDING ON YOUTUBE
Part 2: Trauma
WATCH THE RECORDING ON YOUTUBE
Part 3: Reckoning
WATCH THE RECORDING ON YOUTUBE
About Stephen: Stephen Mills is the coauthor of Next of Kin, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. He has advised and written for an array of public interest organizations in the fields of human rights & environmental protection. Stephen is honored to serve as an Ambassador for CHILD USA and a board member of CHILD USAdvocacy. He lives in California with his wife, Susan
“The trauma of sexual abuse is shared by one out of every six men, yet very few have broken their silence. Unflinching and compulsively readable, CHOSEN eloquently speaks for those countless others and their families. It is a rare act of consummate courage and generosity—the indelible story of a man who faces his torment and his tormentor and, in the process, is made whole.”
Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood: At thirteen years old, Stephen Mills is chosen for special attention by the director of his Jewish summer camp, a charismatic social worker intent on becoming his friend. Stephen, whose father died when he was four, places his trust in this authority figure, who first grooms and then molests him for two years.
Stephen tells no one, but the aftershocks rip through his adult life, as intense as his denial: self-loathing, drug abuse, petty crime, and horrific nightmares, all made worse by the discovery that his abuser is moving from camp to camp, state to state, molesting other boys. Only physical and mental collapse bring Stephen to confront the truth of his boyhood and begin the painful process of recovery—as well as a decades-long crusade to stop a serial predator, find justice, and hold to account those who failed the children in their care.
The trauma of sexual abuse is shared by one out of every six men, yet very few have broken their silence. Unflinching and compulsively readable, CHOSEN eloquently speaks for those countless others and their families. It is a rare act of consummate courage and generosity—the indelible story of a man who faces his torment and his tormentor and, in the process, is made whole.
Learn more about Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood by visiting Stephen’s website here.
PART 3, JUSTICE
March 21, 2023 | 7 p.m. EST
Reckoning: In the third and final part of Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood, Stephen is left to deal with the issues surrounding justice. How can he, at such a late age in his life, get justice for what happened to him and countless other boys that were victims of Dan’s? How could this man have been allowed to move from camp to camp, continuing to sexually abuse children? How could the law not protect children? Why were organizations and institutions seemingly brushing what happened under the rug? Where was the accountability? Why was no one taking responsibility?
You will soon learn in the third and final part of this series that Stephen is still on this journey. Katelyn Brewer will be joined by Stephen as well as two other survivors and fierce advocates for justice from child sexual abuse: Jim Clemente and Kathryn Robb. Both Jim and Kathryn have extensive legal backgrounds that will help walk us through statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse and what survivors are up against.
PART 3, JUSTICE
March 21, 2023 | 7 p.m. EST
In “Reckoning, the third and final part of Chosen, Stephen resolves in his early thirties to stop a serial predator who is still abusing children. But how can he prevail on law enforcement to take action? And how will he get justice for the assault on him and countless other boys years and decades earlier? How could this perpetrator have been allowed to move from camp to camp and operate in six different states? Why did so many respected organizations fail the children in their care by remaining silent and enabling nearly three decades of abuse. Where was the accountability?
You will soon learn in the third and final part of this series that Stephen is still on this journey. Katelyn Brewer will be speaking with him as well as two other survivors and fierce advocates for justice: Jim Clemente and Kathryn Robb. With their extensive legal backgrounds, Jim and Kathryn will help walk us through the statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse and explain what survivors are up against when seeking criminal and civil accountability.
