CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — She still has work to do – she likely always will – to deal with a devastating history of childhood sexual abuse that still hurts and haunts her today.
The 28-year-old Charlottetown woman endured sexual abuse by her stepfather, Patrick Arthur Timmons, for many years.
In 2012, she took Timmons to task for his horrendous criminal actions by turning to the Charlottetown Police Services.
The following year, Timmons was sentenced to four years in a federal correctional facility after entering guilty pleas to charges of sexual touching and sexual exploitation.
He was released last year but Eastman hopes to see him sent back to jail.
She is waiting for the Crown in Ontario, where she says most of the sexual abuse occurred, to decide how to proceed following a police investigation into Eastman’s complaints.
Eastman went public with her story of childhood sexual abuse in a front-page article published in The Guardian in August 2015. She first went through a cumbersome process to successfully have a publication ban lifted so she could tell her story without the need to conceal her own identity.
Eastman is clearly willing to take many steps — some quite bold — to confront her past to pave the way to a healthy, productive future.
First, she is doing an impressive job caring for herself.
She seeks counseling on a regular basis.
She has put a premium on fitness – a good avenue, she notes, for “taking the frustration out’’ – through yoga, strength training and walking.
Eastman is also in a strong, positive relationship with her fiancé, Shawn Wilkinson, after spending many years in unhealthy relationships.
“I was definitely seeking love in all the wrong places,’’ she says, noting she had a marriage that lasted less than two years.
“I was negative. I didn’t know how to communicate.’’
Now, she is doing a much better job for herself – and for others.
Since March 2015, she and her mother, Deborah McEachern, have spearheaded a community organization called Turn on the Lights.
The group helps spread awareness of childhood sexual abuse, giving families and survivors a place to talk and heal.
Eastman says the group, which is close to attaining charitable status, receives at least two messages a week from people looking for help in dealing with childhood sexual abuse.
She wants the initiative to grow into a major movement that instills in many survivors of sexual abuse a feeling of empowerment to speak out.
She encourages others to follow her lead in pressing charges against their abusers.
Eastman has no regrets charging her stepfather. Even though the process was difficult and draining, the outcome was rewarding.
“I understand fully that it is terrifying coming forward, but in the end I wouldn’t change a thing about it,’’ she told The Guardian in 2015.
“I don’t want to see these people (who sexually abuse children) walk the face of the earth. There’s way too many of them.’’
Eastman finds helping others to be therapeutic.
“I am almost doing my own healing through helping others,’’ she says.
“You can help so many other people just by speaking.’’
And, it seems, by simply walking together.
Eastman will organize the third annual Shine The Light Walk in July – an event that drew more than 60 people last year to the Charlottetown boardwalk to show other survivors, as well as those still living with abuse, that they’re not alone.
“It happens in the dark,’’ Eastman’s mother McEachern says of childhood sexual abuse.
“The only way to make a change is to shine a light on the abuse.’’
Eastman also hopes to pursue a career that brings light to people experiencing darkness.
She will be graduating in May in Family Science from the University of Prince Edward Island.
She wants to work on P.E.I. helping families find their way through great hardship. She feels doubly equipped to help by having the valuable combination of professional training along with harsh personal experience.
Ultimately, the life she hopes to lead seems reasonable enough, though she knows continued strength and resolve will be needed to fulfill the pursuit.
“I just want to lead a happy, healthy life helping others,’’ she says.
Reaching out
Victims of sexual assault can call P.E.I. Victim Services at 902-368-4582 to seek assistance with the criminal justice process or to access other supports and services they might need.
To learn more about a community organization that helps spread awareness of childhood sexual abuse, visit www.turnonthelights.ca.
