Oct 17 2015

50 Years – Untold Fears

I was honored to be one of the presenters at the 16th annual Respect Life Conference on October 17th at Holy Angels Church in Meriden Connecticut.

My topic: 50 Years – Untold Fears. I was overwhelmed not only by the standing-room only crowd, but also by the number of invitations to share my story with even more groups and churches.

It is my mission to share my story so that other victims can find the hope and encouragement to being their own journey of Crawling Out.

respect life Conference

Sep 20 2015

Be My Guest Interview

Check out my “By My Guest’ interview with Jan Lewis….

Jun 05 2015

Salon owner, author, and advocate for abuse victims

By TAYLOR HARTZ
STAFF WRITER

Casey Morley of Casey’s Image Consultants, has become a strong voice about domestic abuse.

As Casey Morley looked into a mirror in her cozy, purple painted salon on North Main St., she recalled how standing behind the salon chair and looking into the mirror as she spoke with clients helped her find the voice that she had lost in a lifetime of abuse.

Her new-found voice has helped her not only flourish as a small business owner, but embark on a new career as a writer and public speaker.

This summer, Morley will celebrate both the 25th anniversary of her salon, Casey’s Image Consultants, and the first anniversary of being a published author.

Morley’s salon has been a part of the Southington community since 1990, offering full hair and nail services, massage, and Reiki for nearly 20 years. Now in its third location in town, the smaller, three-station salon now provides her loyal client base with perms, cuts and colors, detox counseling, and ion foot cleansing.

Morley turned her full-service salon into a one-woman business eight years ago, right around the time she decided to put pen to paper with her personal story.

 

On July 3, 2014, Morley published 305 pages documenting the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she endured from age four into adulthood. Her biography, “Crawling Out,” tells the story, not of a victim, but of a survivor. She shares the methods, tools and struggles she encountered as she began the process of overcoming the abuse.

Amidst her memories, Morley’s book includes diagrams of physical and emotional pain cycles, illustrations of women in fight-or-flight mode, and descriptions of medical conditions such as battered women syndrome.

By sharing her experiences with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, loss and what she describes as the “long, slow,cropped-crawling-out-cover.jpg process” of recovery, Morley said her goal was to be the voice of a woman who lived through it, for other women in her shoes.

Handing over a letter signed from a male senior citizen in Southington, Morley shared that she has a whole folder at home filled with letters from men and women of all ages, sent from Southington, surrounding towns, and even neighboring states.

She has been written to and visited by several Southington residents, including men who said they were inspired by her courage, men who said her book helped them see their own role in abusive relationships, and women who said her story gave them permission to feel the pain of their own abuse.

That response is exactly the reaction Morley hoped her story would trigger in her community. She hoped that by sharing her story without a filter or fear of a stigma surrounding domestic violence, her book would act as a permission slip for others to share theirs.

In a further attempt to share her process of healing Morley has recently begun public speaking. She first spoke in Southington last October, at Branford Hall and the Southington Rotary Club, and has since shared her story with hundreds of others. In April, she Spoke at Anna Maria College in Paxton, Mass., for their 13th annual Domestic Violence Conference. She shared her story with her congregation at Mary Our Queen Church in Southington, and just this month spoke with a University of Connecticut group focused on near death experiences.

Morley hopes that by sharing the statistics of domestic abuse, communities will be more vocal and active to end the cycle of violence.

Her goal is that more men and women in the area will come forward with their own battles, and the community will be receptive to hearing their stories.

“You walk with us, you go to church with us, eat lunch with us, and nobody knows it,” said Morley, “I just want to help my town.”

Morley plans to continue speaking publicly, and is hoping to organize charity events and non-profit fundraisers in the community she praised for its support. Helping her endeavor from day one, clients from her Southington salon offered to edit and transcribe her book, and she has personally sold more than 500 copies in town and donated copies to many local churches and shelters.

She has been hosted for book signings and sales in the area at The Waverly in Cheshire and the Apple Harvest Festival, and she has upcoming signings scheduled at Vintage from the Heart and Paul Gregory’s.

Morley’s book can be purchased at local businesses such as Tops Market, Dr. Carroll Grant’s office, Play it Again Sports The Chamber of Commerce, and of course, Casey’s Image Consultants salon.

Apr 15 2015

Anna Maria College 13th Annual Social Work Conference

Surviving Domestic Violence Conference, was held at Anna Maria College in Paxton, Massachusetts on April 15th, 2015.  I was one of the guest speakers. There were 6 of us altogether, sharing an experience or a view. Those AMC 2attending learned:

  • How to identify the characteristics and corresponding warning signs of a volatile interpersonal relationship.
  • Descriptions of intervention strategies, coping skills, and ways to effectively escape a dangerous relationship.
  • How to identify early warning signs and pre disposition[s] to domestic violence, as well as, clinical diagnoses that correspond to domestic violence.
  • How to bring awareness to survivors of domestic violence and interpersonal violence and how to get help.

It was an amazing day.

Mar 19 2015

A Letter From a Reader

Casey I read your book Crawling Out, and the more I read, the more I wanted to read. As I got deeper and deeper into the reading, a journey started within me that began to evoke all sorts of questions. In The beginning that’s all it was, just questions. How could adults treat children the way they were treating you? What made them feel entitled to do so? What was the abuse doing to you? How could you ever recover from it? So many questions, all without answers.Crawling_Out_Cover

As my reading continued I found myself being a cheer leader for you. I was inspired by your courage and determination in spite of the overwhelming sense of helplessness that surrounded you. Through it all though it was clear that you were extremely smart and resourceful and I believed that you would eventually find a way to break free. When you finally managed to get out and stay with a normal family I was cheering for you. That a way girl! I had no idea of the magnitude of your story.

As the story continued and you went from one abusive situation into another, I started to realize the magnitude of the cycle of abuse. I don’t know how many times I was screaming out, Just Get Away. But getting away wasn’t easy. You were surrounded by people that was so abused themselves they wouldn’t have recognized the abuse if it smacked them in the face. But you never gave up, you are a fighter, a real hero and someone that has become an inspiration to us all. By the time I finished the book I understood so much more about abuse and had answers to the questions I started with.

I felt the need to write you because it has become clear to me that crawling out never stops, not for me or for you or anyone else. You need to keep writing, advocating and doing the things you are doing today and always not only for us but for yourself. Thank you for writing this book and God Bless You.

Your friend forever,           

Robert

Feb 07 2015

NO MORE 2015 Super Bowl Ad

NO MORE 2015 Super Bowl ad …..

Sep 16 2014

Crawling Out Book Launch Celebration

So many special friends and business associates came out to support me at my Crawling Out book launch celebration. For a complete article written about the event go here. Check out this amazing video that Brittany Knowles made for me. You’ll see why It is a night I will never forget ….

Bikers Against Child Abuse came out to support me at this very special event. Go here to learn more about what this amazing organization does for children.

bikers1

Casey with Bikers Against Child Abuse at Book Launch Event

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