Kathy and Richard are the husband and wife team behind Comfort In The Storm. They are credentialed advocates (NACP), authors, and the parents of a child sex abuse survivor. Given their unique perspective, they facilitate comprehensive and thought-provoking Child Sex Abuse Prevention and Awareness trainings. They also accept bookings for public speaking engagements where they offer extremely transparent insight into their family’s own journey from disclosure to healing. Kathy and Richard are known for highlighting the data behind the epidemic while using their experiences to offer practical life application to help families develop a safety plan for their children and end this public health crisis.
Together, Kathy and Richard are on a mission to end child sex abuse – one speaking engagement, one training, one social media post, and one family at a time. Look for their daily prevention, awareness and support tips on Instagram – @comfortinthestorm
Kathy Butler is a wife, mother, NACP certified child advocate, author, speaker, and the Founder of Comfort In The Storm LLC, an organization created to provide education and awareness about child sex abuse prevention.
She holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Communications and received her certificate of completion in Child Advocacy Studies Training from Athens State University. Kathy is also a Facilitator for ATL CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate). In addition, Kathy has also completed the CHRIS 180 Trauma Stars modules, which emphasizes a trauma-informed approach to advocacy, and she is a member of the GA CJCC Taskforce.
Kathy has conducted corporate trainings for over 20 years and couples her professional speaking experience with her passion to educate others about child sex abuse awareness and prevention. Kathy is also the exclusive training partner for the Comfort In The Storm Foundation. She is also the chief content creator for the Comfort In The Storm Foundation’s social media platforms, and her articles have been published on several social media lifestyle sites.
Richard Butler is a husband, father of two girls, and a certified child advocate. Richard served in the US Army National Guard for seventeen years where he was responsible for overseeing communications and readiness training for over 2500 soldiers. He holds a Bachelors degree in Christian Education and is a certified para-educator. Richard also worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District for seventeen years as a Senior Recreation Director where he served some of the district’s most at-risk students and their parents by teaching leadership skills; challenge by choice and decision making skills, and he facilitated parenting classes.
Richard has also held a ministerial license for over fifteen years. He also serves as a Fulton County Cadre Facilitator and a Court Appointed Special Advocate for youth in foster care with the GA Department of Family and Children Services. In addition to his degree in Christian Education, Richard has taken Child Advocacy Studies courses at Athens State University, as well as other trauma-informed courses to meet the needs of the youth he serves.
As a training facilitator for Comfort In The Storm, Richard offers a unique prevention and awareness training experience through the lens of true girl dad.
**Disclaimer – We provide prevention and awareness training, peer support and advocacy services. We encourage each survivor and their family to seek professional assistance from licensed therapists and legal professionals, as needed.**
Please feel free to post what is on your heart. This site is for you. We will strive to help you as you heal, vent, and express. Our desire is help survivors and the people they rely on as their support system thrive.
Please use the links we add, they have excellent information from knowledgeable people familiar with this journey we find ourselves taking.
Hello! I am Taylor Butler, the child on which this site is based. I am here to answer any questions you may have, whether you are a victim or parent of a victim. Don’t be ashamed, and don’t be afraid! we are here to help heal, not hurt. I am a survivor! You can be too!
With Love and Support,
Taylor Butler
Thank you for your courage. So many people want to pretend like it don’t exist or that it can’t happen to their child. I applaud you for telling your parents and I applaud your parents for this site so that healing can happen now while you are still young. It took over 30 years for me to get healing and there are times that I feel like I still need healing because of how long it went on for me and there are things that I have buried and I can’t say that it’s all come to the surface.
Thank you again for your courage.
Thank you for having the incredible strength and courage to share your story. God bless you.
I am pleading for the men out there to come out of the shadows and speak. If you are a survivor or the family member/friend of a survivor of sexual abuse on any level, please share your story! You may choose to stay anonymous, that is fine, but share what is on your heart. Let the women, girls and boys in your life know that you have their back. Let your loved ones know your not ashamed of them, they are victims not criminals.
So men, men stand up and be heard. It is time to be strong and vocal. We have victims who are waiting on us to help them transition to survivors then to leaders able to help others who will follow in this struggle.
As a new school year begins, I am pressed to encourage parents to talk with your kids about their safety. School can be a magical place for kids; often a sanctuary from the negatives in their lives.
Unfortunately, predators live and thrive in these environments, seeking kids who are isolated, alone, introverted, shy or quiet. Child predators will spend a significant amount of time and energy grooming their victims. Gaining the trust of the child / children being groomed is vital to the molester. This is why it is so important for the positive role models in the kids’ lives to go over the dos and dont’s with their kids.
While teachers and other adults on the campus are the authoritative figures, teach you kids that adults sometimes are wrong or make mistakes. PLEASE teach your child that it is okay to respectfully say no or decline an offer from an adult to have a 1 on 1 conversation or meeting. TEACH children that they have body parts that even the NURSE / DR. SHOULD NOT TOUCH or see without a parent being present and giving consent. TEACH them
what inappropriate exposure is, and express the need to TELL A PARENT OR ANOTHER TRUSTED ADULT if any of these things happen.
We must be careful not to give our kids’ power to speak up for themselves away by telling students to listen to all adults and follow all rules.
We say don’t talk to strangers, then say the nice man said hello you should say hello back (contradiction)! Parents we must do better, our children’s lives depend on it.
Wow that is so true.
Margo
I am so encouraged and inspired by this site! what a blessing and an honor for parents to speakout for the voice of those whom are too afriad to do so!
I am both a survivor and THRIVER of sexual molestation, and rape as a young woman. I was blessed with free counseling from the YWMCA. I later became a crisis counselor helping other victims, both women and children. I would like to encourage anyone who has been molested or violated in anyway to visit your local Y, and take advantage of their resources.
From the voice of a Survivor!
To God be the Glory & the Honor
My heart breaks as news of more so called educators have been exposed as predators. The very institutions that have been given the mandate of protecting, teaching, and educating our young have all to often turned on our children. We much educate our kids on the boundaries which must be maintained to protect them from these predators. We much provide a forum for our kids who have been victimized and are feeling helpless and without a place to have their voices heard. We are here for you and your support group to share stories, help heal and help others to heal.
Stripping games are being played on the Internet in increasing numbers. Young girls are racking up points as they strip for the cameras. The more the girls reveal, the more points they accumulate. Unfortunately, for the girls, in many cases predators are using the photos or videos for their personal enjoyment as well as altering the girls’ images and inserting them into pornographic movies and videos.
Young ladies, please think before you put revealing photos or videos of yourself on the Internet, in an email, or in a text message. Predators create these games for the very purpose of exploiting you and feeding their own perversion as well as those with the same perverse behavior.
You may not understand it altogether right now because in your mind, these games are harmless and fun. However, once these images make their way onto the Internet, you could literally spend the rest of your life trying to explain them away to family, friends, dates, and potential employers. Some games are just better off not played.
I want to say I have known this family a long time and Taylor since she was a baby. I truly want to say your are a brave awesome young lady and I thank god for your parents for doing this . Having three boys in this crazy world this site helps me monitor and watch very close to who I leave my boys with!