Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anna Astwood. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Anna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I was a victim of sexual assault at age 12 and a victim of teen dating violence during high school. I spent most of my 20s and 30s as a high school counselor. I began to notice my students involved in abusive relationships and there really wasn’t much education or awareness of teen dating violence. Up until this point, I had never disclosed my sexual assault with anyone and only a few people knew about my experience with dating violence as a teen. I felt compelled, pulled even, to do something to help bring awareness to teen dating violence. But here was the risk I had to take in order to start this non profit……….I had to come to terms with what has happened to me and be comfortable speaking out about the assault and the abuse.

Naturally, I am not a risk taker. I am a creature of habit, stay in my lane, don’t rock the boat kind of person. After counseling and reflection, I felt comfortable telling a close friend of my previous abuse and that I think I want to start a non profit to educate teens about dating violence. I was very nervous about this disclosure and also the idea of starting a non profit; I mean who am I do start a non profit? My friend, Charisma, was caring, supportive and actually disclosed her experience of teen dating violence as well. From that moment we started working on creating Love Doesn’t Hurt Inc and increasing awareness of teen dating violence and educating communities.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My educational background is a Bachelors Degree is Psychology and a Masters Degree in School Counseling. I was a high school counselor in the Central Florida area for 11 years. Over time, through thoughtful consideration and lots of therapy I started to work through the sexual assault I experienced at age 12 in school and the 2 1/2 years abusive relationship I was in during high school. During my time as a school counselor, the topic of Teenage Dating Violence was never really brought up, no in-services about it, no protocol for when it happens, really no talk of it ever. But it is happening, it is happening in every school if you want to believe it or not.

While my experience with dating violence was physical and emotional, not all will experience that. Teenage dating violence can be emotional, verbal, digital or physical. I noticed during this time that our culture enables this behavior as it is modeled by adults or put off as “oh that boy just likes her”. Nope, nope and nope. We have to educate our teens, parents, educators and our community what an appropriate healthy relationship looks like. The culture has to shift!

Charisma and I go into schools of all levels and present information to students, counselors, administrators, teachers and parents about the types of dating violence, the cycle of abuse, how to create boundaries, what makes up a healthy relationship, empowerment, self care, safety planning and how to ask for help. We have recently started Love Doesn’t Hurt Clubs in high schools and middle schools. We want the students to take the wheel on empowering their peers and changing the abusive culture in their own community. We provide the materials, content and support to help these teens change their school’s culture.

I am so proud of Charisma and I that we found a path towards living a life without the guilt, fear and shame of being in an abusive relationship. Abusive or assaults at a young age will affect you the rest of your life; and I am speaking from someone who is still affected by the assault I endured and abuse I faced. I am proud that even though it is difficult for us, the desire to help teens is stronger than our hurt.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back, I would choose to be a school counselor again. Why? Well, if I didn’t have the direct experience working with teens everyday and being a counselor who sees the pervasive issue of teen dating violence first hand, I could have hid my own pain with abuse for much longer. Being a school counselor almost forced me to deal with my trauma and I looked into the eyes of teens that were experiencing abuse and something had to be done. I am now a co-founder of an amazing non-profit and a small business owner but my experience as a school counselor, while a difficult job, is how I got here in the first place.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Yes!! My husband is best friends with her husband. They have known each other since they were 5 years old and played football together. Not to put them on the spot, but that is 35 years of friendship! Charisma and I met about 16 years ago when I first started to date my husband. We have been good friends for such a long time, she was the perfect person to discuss my desire to start a non profit about teenage dating violence. Little did I know, she also had similar experiences and a desire to start a non profit as well. I am so glad I somehow found the courage to tell her because we have created something that is truly beautiful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lovedoesnthurtinc.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedoesnthurtinc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LoveDoesntHurtInc