Read, tell and write about the experiences
One mainstay of your work together will probably be reading, telling and writing about experiences of violence. Work focused on dealing with crises, recognizing that the abuse was not her fault, or addressing consequences of abuse such as not taking care of herself, or being re-victimized can also be important "curriculum" for your work together.

Check in
Talking about the previous week or the time since you last got together can provide ideas about what to work on together. How is she doing physically? Has she been dreaming, and thinking about experiences of abuse? Has she had flashbacks of memories she had forgotten? Has she been feeling angry about something which happened during the week which connects to how she remembers being treated as a child? Talking about the week may give you ideas to suggest material to read together. Perhaps she wants to write about what happened or how she felt about it. Does she come with a strong idea of what she wants to read or write about? If so, that will provide your direction for the session.

Read stories
Reading stories others have told may help a learner tell or write her story, and lead her to recognize the common ground she shares with other survivors. You will want to read these stories yourself before you read them with the learner so that you can tell her what the story is about. Then she can decide whether she is ready to hear about these experiences. As you read together, you may want to take turns so that she is not always focusing on the mechanics of the print. The learner may want to read as long as she chooses, then you can take over for about the same amount of print, then she can take a turn again, and so on. If she is a beginning reader you may need to read most of the material or to choose pieces which are as easy to read as possible. You may want to stop quite frequently to talk about what she is feeling and give her the option to stop and do something different, or stop and write about her feelings or her own memories which are brought to the surface by the reading.

Watch videos
You may want to watch videos which tell the stories of survivors. There are several excellent videos produced by the National Film Board. Like the stories in print, you will want to view them first so that you can tell the learner exactly what happens in the video. Then she can decide whether she is ready to watch such material. If you choose to watch a video you will want to remind the learner what happens before she starts to watch and encourage her to stop the video whenever she does not want to see any more. If the video was hard to watch you might want to check with the learner to see what she needs after it. Does she want to talk about it, write or move to something completely different? If she wants to continue, you may want to talk about how she felt or what she thought as she watched the video. You might ask what she would want to say to any of the people in the video. She could write about any of these topics, or about her own story and how it is similar to or different from the stories in the video.

Read self-help books
You could also read chapters from The Courage to Heal or other self-help books to help the learner to explore issues of abuse and to feel that it is okay to tell her own story. If you look at the table of contents together and talk about what each chapter is about, you can decide together what sections are of interest at any particular time.

Make collages
The learner could create a collage to explore any aspect of the abuse she experienced, or to explore her feelings about the abuse, or her reaction to another woman's story she has read about or listened to. To make a collage you need a variety of magazines or catalogues, especially those with lots of colored pictures, scissors, glue and a large piece of paper to stick the pictures and words you cut out on to. Encourage the learner not to think too carefully about what she is choosing to include but just go with whatever feels right. The learner may want to work on the collage for a short while over several sessions. She may want to add to it or change it at a later date. After it is finished you could talk about what it shows, and what is missing, what she would do differently if she started again, what it felt like to make the collage, and what she has learned from it. This might then lead to writing on any of the themes you have discussed.

As the learner writes, or creates collages, she needs to know that she always has the right to decide whether or not she will share them with you, or with anyone else. Don't assume you are invited to read them, but be prepared to if she asks you. Making the stories public in some way may be important for her to begin to leave them behind. But they must remain her stories. Help her to decide on a safe place to store her writings so that they will not be seen by anyone she does not choose to share them with.