Kristine Irwin
Kristine is a Senior Recruiter for an information technology company in Pennsylvania, where she is married with two children. As a freshman in college she was raped by an acquaintance who left her on the side of the road for dead. She created a nonprofit organization called Voices of Hope where she shares her personal story and helps others share their stories of trauma and healing.
“Speaking about my story actually has been a really great way for me to heal.”
“I no longer define myself as a victim. For a long time I defined myself as a fighter but also I define myself as a thriver… There are definitely some bad days still, but the good outweigh the bad.”
“I used my eating disorder as a way to hide feelings that I didn’t want to feel. Whether it was sadness or anger or hurt or anxiety… I experienced PTSD, I battled a couple years of depression, and anxiety…”
“It wasn’t until about…6 years after the rape, when I actually took some time off from being in any form of relationship and really learned to find myself and figure out who I was… because after I was raped everything changed. I knew who I was prior to it but I didn’t know who I was after.”