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Only For Me

Only For Me

Michelle Derrig is the Author of the highly successful protective behaviours picture book ‘Only For Me’ and is a stay-at-home Mum to four children aged from 3 to 13.

Her book, Only For Me is a very gentle rhyming book which teaches young children that their body is private and that they have a right to protect their privacy. Since its release in July 2016, 3,500 copies have been sold across the globe to critical acclaim by parents, educators, teachers and child protection organisations.

Only For Me has been endorsed by Act For Kids, is a resource of the Sydney Children's Hospital's Child Protection Unit and has been reviewed by Kids Book Review as 'possibly THE BEST BOOK written on the subject'.

Only For Me has also featured prominently in the Australia media with coverage by Kidspot, Essential Kids, Parenting Central, Thriving Children, Hope 103.2, Daily Mail UK and Channel Ten.

Despite these successes, Michelle claims the most significant moments have been when she has heard back from parents who have received a ‘disclosure’ upon reading Only For Me with their children.

Michelle now spends her time raising awareness about child protection issues and the important role that parents play, in empowering and educating their young children about protective behaviours. She frequently presents at schools, day care centres and community groups, educating parents about how to go about having these ‘tricky’ conversations with their young children, without making them anxious or frightened.

As part of her mission, she also donates 100% of her Author Royalties to those organisations involved in preventing abuse and treating victims.

For further information or to purchase a copy of Only For Me go to www.onlyforme.com.au

Website: https://www.onlyforme.com.au/

Articles

Debunking the Most Common Misconceptions About Childhood Sexual Abuse

by Michelle Derrig   Trigger warning: This article focuses on the topic of childhood sexual abuse which may be triggering for some readers.   Talking about childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is of course, a very overwhelming and unpleasant task. So,… Continue Reading >

Banning Secrets – A News Years Resolution

For many of us, sharing a secret with a friend or family member was a normal part of our childhood. The idea of being entrusted with a secret would conjure up feelings of delight as you furtively promised ‘never to… Continue Reading >

Would you start educating your 3 year old about sexual abuse?

If you had asked me this question a number of years ago the answer would have been a definitive NO. I would have explained ‘our children are growing up in an oversexualized world and we must protect their innocence for… Continue Reading >

The WORDS no mother EVER wants to hear!

It had been a typical day in my life, of a mum to four young children. I had tried desperately to make some headway with the mess strewn across my house and the loads of dirty laundry that had piled… Continue Reading >

The ABC to keeping our kids safe during the COVID lockdown

Last week my heart broke when the media reported about a handbook circulating the dark web, listing ways for predators to target children during the COVID lockdown. As a child protection advocate, I am fully aware that these types of… Continue Reading >

Shifting The Power – A Call to Action

My journey started with a night out with friends – where I heard the shocking stories of young children being abused by children their own age. As the ‘shock’ subsided, determination set in, and I quickly become a passionate advocator… Continue Reading >

It’s Time to Pull Your Head Out

I totally understand that the thought of something terrible happening to your precious child can be too much to bear. Sometimes its easier to tell yourselves that nothing like ‘that’ will ever happen to your child.  Sometimes it’s easier to… Continue Reading >

The 10 Step Guide to Empowering & Protecting Your Kids

  Understand the reality of abuse Before you begin to empower and protect your children, it is important that you understand the reality of childhood sexual abuse. The key points to understand are: Childhood sexual abuse cuts across all demographics… Continue Reading >

Balancing Body Safety

As a Child Protection Advocate and Presenter, I speak to a lot of parents about protective behaviours.  When it comes to the Q&A sessions, many parents want to know how to balance empowering and educating their children against the realities… Continue Reading >

Teaching Your Kids to Say ‘NO’

As parents, we spend an enormous amount of time and effort trying to get our kids to say ‘yes’. Yes to eating veggies, yes to bedtime, yes to putting away toys, yes to cleaning teeth, yes to a multitude of… Continue Reading >

When something just doesn’t feel right!

When it comes to having effective body safety conversations, it is essential that we help our young children to identify inappropriate behaviour. However, it is also important to teach them to trust their own intuition when ‘something just doesn’t feel… Continue Reading >

Staying Connected with your Kids!!

Staying connected with your kids sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? But with the crazy demands of modern-day life, combined with children that mostly respond to queries about their day in monosyllables, we sometimes find that we are only skimming the… Continue Reading >

Building a Network of Trust

One of the key elements to empowering and protecting our young children against abuse is to ensure that they have a network of adults that they can trust (also known as a network of safety).  Although as parents, we may… Continue Reading >

Is your child having Christmas lunch with their abuser?

Shockingly, almost 50% of children who are being sexually abused will celebrate Christmas lunch this year with their abuser. Whilst this statistic might seem hard to believe, childhood sexual abuse statistics indicate that approximately 90% of victims will know their… Continue Reading >

Introducing Body Safety to Young Children: Part 2

 As discussed in last month’s blog ‘Introducing Body Safety to Young Children: Part 1’ it is essential that every parent takes the time to educate and empower their young children about keeping their body safe. Whilst Part 1 details the… Continue Reading >

Introducing Body Safety to Young Children: Part 1

  Introducing body safety and protective behaviours to our young children can be daunting. Most parents feel ill-equipped; unsure of the information to impart and worried that they might frighten or alarm their child. However, the truth remains that as… Continue Reading >

The Shocking Reality of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Did you know that according to the Australian Institute of Criminology’s website 12% of girls and 4.5% of boys will report being sexually abused by the time they’re 15? Statistically, this means that in every Aussie primary school class of… Continue Reading >

The ‘mums night out’ that changed my life forever!

Great food, good wine and hours of non-stop chatter with close friends. What mum doesn’t look forward to a good old ‘mums night out’? The chance to let hubby deal with those witching hours of ‘just one more mouthful’ and… Continue Reading >

 

 

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