Abduction Survivor Jaycee Dugard appears at Sonoma Speaker Series
Jaycee Dugard, an abduction survivor who endured 18 years of captivity in the Bay Area, will be the next featured speaker for the Sonoma Speaker Series on Monday, October 3.
Dugard was just 11 years old when she was kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe while walking to her school bus-stop. For the next 18 years, she was held captive in a backyard shed by convicted sex offender, Phillip Garrido, and his wife, Nancy. During that time, she gave birth to two daughters, fathered by her captor.
Since her rescue in 2009, she has used her freedom and voice to share her unique survivor experience. She is the founder and president of The JAYC Foundation, an organization created to assist families and individuals that have experienced a severe crisis, challenge, or conflict through a major life disruption. Her mission is to spread the message of hope, growth, and resiliency through educational and animal-assisted programs, and to encourage the collaboration of caregivers to provide “Protected Spaces” for families to heal.
Dugard will be appearing with Dr. Rebecca Bailey, Ph.D., a leading family psychologist and equestrian who has become a world-renowned professional educator, speaker, and author, with years of practice in Sonoma Valley. She is the founder of Transitioning Families, a group of independently licensed mental health practitioners dedicated to Bailey’s innovative ideas for helping families through crisis and difficult change. She is best known for her work with survivors of non-familial abduction and is on the Advisory Board of the JAYC Foundation.
Bailey (above) and Dugard together have created an innovative model that utilizes horses to help educate judges, police officers, therapists, and other professionals about compassion, kindness, and connection.
Dugard is the author of A Stolen Life, a New York Times Bestseller, and Freedom: My Book of Firsts.
Dugard and Bailey will appear from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Hanna Boys Center Auditorium. Tickets are $35 general admission, $75 VIP at SonomaSpeakerSeries.com.
