“For ten years I was in a domestically violent relationship,” said Sarah Gallardo, who likes to go by the single name Sarah.
On March 10, Sarah, founder of “Sarah Speaks Up,” spoke at a Sacred Heart University colloquium held via Zoom, she spoke for nearly an hour straight without interruption. About thirty students and professors attended the event and participated in a short question and answer session afterwards.
As a survivor of over ten years of domestic violence, Sarah uses her platform to shed light on domestic violence and to encourage other survivors to speak up about their own experiences.
In her presentation, Sarah described her childhood, including how she was able to cope with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father.
“As the oldest, a lot of the responsibilities naturally fell on my shoulders,” said Sarah, who became a mother to her younger sisters. “We did struggle as kids.”
Wanting to be able to get away from the craziness of her home life, Sarah strove to be great in school. She got involved and joined as many clubs as she could to ensure that she could go away to college.
“I poured myself into my studies and extracurricular activities. I was actually overly involved,” said Sarah. “It was kind of a little bit uber-extra, but my subconscious thought that the busier I was, the less I’d be able to focus on the dysfunction and less I’d actually have to be physically home.”
This led her to get the opportunity to attend her number-one school, Berkeley College of Music, in Boston.
However, this is when Sarah came to the realization that she had been molested by a friend of her father from the age of 8 or 9 to the age of 13.
“I began having these strange flashbacks and triggers and nightmares that I found very confusing at the time,” said Sarah.
Sarah served as an inspiration to the students attending.
“Although this is a painful topic, it needs to be talked about,” said sophomore Maddison Jones. “Knowing what happens behind closed doors truly does raise more awareness.”
Later, Sarah got involved in a ten-year long abusive relationship, facing things like being beaten, raped and even shot at.
She tried to escape many times, but it wasn’t until Sarah had her first child that she decided to leave her now ex-husband.
“I thought to myself, if anyone was to hurt this little girl, I don’t know what I would do to that person,” said Sarah. “And then I thought, if she learns to allow people to mistreat her, won’t that be my fault? Won’t that be the example that I set for her? So for that reason, and that reason mainly alone, we left my ex-husband when my daughter was six months old.”
While her ex-husband was in jail, Sarah began to heal from the trauma by going to support groups and doing other healing actions.
She then worked to get her domestic violence counselor certification and become a speaker.
“More than anything, I wanted to help others who have gone through similar situations, or worse, those who are still stuck in that,” said Sarah.
Sarah has won a number of awards, created two support programs and had the opportunity to speak at the Commission on the Status of Women Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
“‘Sarah’ doesn’t matter. But what Sarah can do for everyone else, that’s what matters,” she said.
For more information on Sarah, you can read her book “Hiding in Plain Sight,” available through Amazon, or visit her website sarahspeaksup.com.
