Meet Tara Larrick: Leader, Speaker, and Survivor

Need a few dating tips?

Meet Tara! Tara is an advocate and educator in sex trafficking and domestic abuse, positively influencing others via her organization, Awaken Justice. Through perseverance in her own personal experiences, Tara found her passion in spreading awareness and educating teens. 

On Thursday, July 25th, at 6pm MST, Tara will be joining We Are HER for a webinar on dating after abusive relationships. Tara found after her abuse that knowing her worth was the key to healthy and happy relationships. Keep reading our Q & A with Tara to find out more about what she’s learned from her experience!

Question: Tell us about yourself! How have your personal challenges shaped you into who you are today?

Answer: I am a domestic violence survivor.  I have spoken and shared my story with a couple thousand people over the last year. I have been able to offer hope and advice to teens, especially with Awaken Justice.  But I did not know I was in an abusive relationship. It was not a thing every day. It was isolated incidents. 

Question: What were some of the signs you saw that indicated you were in an unhealthy relationship?

Answer: I thought it was a normal relationship and we were just having problems. I had to ask for cash and access to the bank account. He would take the checks and deposit them into his account. My therapist said that it sounded a lot like financial abuse. Well, I was curious and wanted to know what financial abuse was. Looking this up online was like following the rabbit trail. I opened up different websites with the traits of abusers, and I went straight down these lists and realized this is exactly what I’ve been experiencing. 

Question: Tell us more about Awaken Justice. What is your role? 

Answer: We teach the realities of trafficking and what domestic abuse actually is. We get the awareness out there, of what interpersonal violence is. We educate teens, parents, and educators.  If people don’t know, they’re much more likely to enter into one of those kinds of relationships. [Abusers] won’t punch you on the first date. We want people to recognize those true colors early on. We want teens to be safe and be able to identify what isn’t healthy as well as know what they want to pursue or not.

Question: Where does your passion come from?

Answer: Because of my lack of knowledge of what an unhealthy relationship looks like and what was happening, I had an overwhelming passion to educate others. 

Question: What kinds of skills and concepts do you want people to take away from Awaken Justice?

Answer: The number one thing is that they have so much worth. They go around looking on social media, in stage of placing their worth in what others have to say about them. We are trying to combat this. You are worth so much because you are a human being. We’re helping them stop putting identity in other things, and helping them put it in what they believe in themselves.  

Question: Which lesson is essential for dating?

Answer: Non-negotiables: things like respect, kindness, forgiveness, and true humbleness. As opposed to superficial things such as having good looks and being funny. Especially abusers—they will be charming, but actions won’t match words. We help them realize that the character is important. [Teens] assume they know what a healthy relationship is because their parents have one. They get lots of things from social media, movies, and media.

Question: What is one piece of advice you’d like to give someone who is in your situation?

Answer: Make sure you’re ready before you’re in the dating scene and you’re by yourself before you look for a healthy relationship. [When you’re in an abusive relationship,] you’re so used to that person making decisions for you. You don’t feel confident in who you are as a person. Gain that confidence and power. Take that back. Know who you are.  Love is an action, not a feeling. And learning what you need as a person- discover who you are as a person again.

Question: When beginning to date again, what is something you discovered in the process?

 Answer: Eventually, dating is going to be uncomfortable because you’re going against what you’re comfortable with. You have to decide you’re not gonna date the same person again and it’s going to cause pain and uncomfortableness, [After my first relationship,] I had gained courage. I decided I would look for people and things that are completely opposite. I wanted kindness and full respect. Even outside of relationships, know what your boundaries are and vocalize them. You can’t assume anything because you haven’t said anything. Just because someone hasn’t said “no” doesn’t mean the boundary isn’t there.

Question: What would you like people to take away from your webinar with HER?

Answer: I want people to take away from my story, specifically, that they don’t need to date in order to be whole. They don’t need someone. But, there is hope in dating after abuse. You can change your story and the way you go about things.  It’s possible to break the cycle. It’s a lot of work. But it’s possible. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is worth it. Don’t settle because they are worth way, way more than any unhealthy relationship. 

We are very excited to be working with Tara for We Are HER’s next webinar. Make sure to visit the website for Awaken Justice to learn more about what Tara does, and tune in to the webinar on dating after an abusive relationship on Thursday, July 25th at 6pm MST.

To join us, register for the webinar here.