Child abuse | LOUISE ALLAN

Letting Go

by Louise Allan | Feb 12, 2014 | CHILDHOOD ABUSE & TRAUMA, FAMILY AND PARENTING, MEMOIR, WRITING

Our daughter is leaving home in just over a week. She’s moving interstate to go to university. There’s a good uni ten minutes down the road, but she wants to experience a different city, live in a different part of Australia, and who knows where she’ll go...

When We Remember They Call Us Liars, by Suzanne Covich

by Louise Allan | Nov 18, 2013 | BOOK REVIEW

‘When We Remember They Call Us Liars’ is Suzanne Covich’s memoir of her childhood in 1960s rural Tasmania – a childhood clouded by poverty, alcoholism, violence, and by sexual abuse at the hands of her father. The prose is tightly packed, honest and gut-punching. No...

On Smacking Kids

by Louise Allan | Jul 28, 2013 | CHILDHOOD ABUSE & TRAUMA, FAMILY AND PARENTING, FAVOURITE, MEMOIR, WRITING

This post is about something personal and very important to me: the physical punishment of children. On Friday, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) issued a Media Release with their Position Statement and brochure on the use of Physical Punishment...

Family Secrets

by Louise Allan | Apr 28, 2013 | CHILDHOOD ABUSE & TRAUMA, MEMOIR

Between August and October 2010, I had a couple of long telephone conversations with my grandmother in Tasmania. She was 88-years-old at the time and I wanted to learn as much about her life as I could before she inevitably left us. And I did … My grandmother,...

A Letter To My Daughter’s Teacher

by Louise Allan | Apr 11, 2013 | CHILDHOOD ABUSE & TRAUMA, FAMILY AND PARENTING

Dear Miss, You see me and run your fingers through your hair, trying to look nonchalant. I can see that you’re uncomfortable, possibly intimidated: I’m a good 20 years older than you, and my body is rigid, my mouth set. You know that I’ve complained about you and that...