Maxwell's Story: The Strength to Stay - Rawhide Youth Services

“I told my mom that this close person to our family was hurting me. All I could say was they were hurting me and pointed to where. I didn’t even know how to say it because I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was rape or sexual abuse.”

When the abuse began, Maxwell was at an age when most children learn to write their names, tie their shoes, and beg for one more bedtime story. She completely trusted the adults around her and believed they were safe.  She was too young to understand what was happening to her.

After the abuse came silence, and then trauma. Maxwell told her mom what happened when she was ten years old. “I felt disgusting and just filled with shame,” she said. “It felt like I was disconnected from life a lot of the time, like I was just walking around as some type of parasite in my body.”

Her mom remembers that time vividly. “Max was sexually, emotionally, and verbally abused for years,” she said. “I felt partly responsible for what happened, because I basically gave this person access.” By eleven, Max started self-harming.

The pain that lived inside her had nowhere else to go. Home became a place filled with tension and heartbreak. “There were regular arguments,” her mom shared. “Max was isolating and hurting, and our whole house was in turmoil.”

When Maxwell began therapy, everything started to change. For the first time, she had a safe space to talk about what she buried for so long. “A huge breakthrough with Max was writing her story,” said her therapist, Jasmine. “When you experience trauma at such a young age, much of it gets locked away. Writing helped
her begin to understand and reclaim what happened to her.”

Healing took years of showing up, learning new ways to cope, and choosing life on the hardest days. “My self-harm stopped when I was fifteen,” she shares proudly. Her mom saw the transformation. “If she didn’t get help, I’m not sure Max would be here,” she said. “Certainly not the Max we know today.” That transformation was on full display when Max courageously shared her story in front of over 900 people at the 2025 Main Event Gala—a triumph from years of struggling with social anxiety, she turned years of pain into a message of hope, showing others that healing is possible.

"Max being given the platform to share her story, as well as see and hear that there are others who empathize with her and want to help other youth like her, may be what Max needed for her own healing," said her mom.

Therapy became a space for connection and trust. Every session ended the same way, with a simple exchange that meant everything. “Every time we finished, Max would say, ‘Be safe, Jasmine,’ and I’d say, ‘You too, Max.’ It’s our thing. And I’ll always hold on to that,” Jasmine said.

Today, Maxwell laughs again. She spends time with her mom. And she owns her story. “Being able to talk about what happened means I’m not afraid of it anymore,” she said. “My mom tells me I’m strong. And I actually believe that about myself now.”