WOMAN WILL RUN 285 MILES, IN A WEDDING DRESS, TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR DOMESTIC ABUSE
Written by Ballzer on May 13, 2021
Sadly, there are many forms of abuse and Vanessa Reiser wants to help raise awareness.
47-year-old Vanessa Reiser, a clinical therapist from Rockland County, New York, will run 285 miles across the state of New York over the course of 12 days. She’ll run all 285 miles in a wedding dress. Why a wedding dress? Vanessa explains in an interview with FoxNews “the wedding dress symbolizes the way narcissists often use the promise of marriage or engagement to control their victims.” Vanessa herself is a survivor of narcissistic domestic abuse and shared some of her story with PeopleTV.
You can watch the full interview here. “They will wound you and then soothe you,” Reiser said. “This is what a lot of cult leaders do.” Vanessa shared that “her fiancé left her without a car in Cape Cod, then padlocked her out of the house after she rented a car to get home.”
Vanessa was unemployed when she left that toxic relationship, but she went on to start a nonprofit called Tell A Therapist, which helps victims of narcissistic abuse. She is also a licensed therapist in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Vanessa is developing a life-coaching program that will be available globally, she told Fox News.
Vanessa told FoxNews, “I’m a runner, I find it’s like my own personal therapy. A lot of this is like my own healing. So as I’m going through the run, you know, it’s like a cathartic thing for me … because it’s going to bring awareness and it’s going to make me sort of challenge myself.” Although therapeutic for Vanessa, the journey is ultimately about helping others. “I just want people that are going through this to know that they’re not alone,” Reiser said.
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 or TTY 1−800−787−3224. You can also visit thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
