The Shame That Came After
Please note: our content contains sensitive discussions of childhood sexual abuse.
In this expert video, Dr. Guila S. Criminologist, and RJ Facilitator or restorative, explores how shame forms after victimization, not just from what happened, but from how others respond when someone discloses.
Drawing from restorative justice, trauma research, and lived experience, this conversation looks at:
Why shame often follows victimization
How secondary victimization deepens harm
How harmful responses and myths get internalized
Why “it’s not your fault” is a powerful antidote to shame
For many survivors, healing isn’t just about what happened,it’s about releasing the shame that never belonged to them.
Connect with Guila
Dr. Guila Benchimol is an educator, consultant, researcher, and victim advocate whose work focuses on gender, abuse, and power. She holds a PhD in Sociological Criminology from the University of Guelph and is also a trained restorative and transformative justice facilitator. Guila is the Director of Faith-Based and Community Accountability at Ampersands Restorative Justice where she works with those harmed and those who caused harm to meet survivors' restorative justice, and healing needs.
Guila was also one of the key advisors who guided the launch of the SRE Network in 2018, where she continues to serve as the Senior Advisor on Research and Learning while consulting on other projects. She has been invited to address Jewish professionals and clergy across Canada and the US, as well as other faith communities, where she educates, trains, and develops and implements policies on abuse prevention and intervention.
She sits on the board of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and is a research associate at the Center for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence, where she has worked on domestic violence and homicide files. Her first 10+ year career as a Jewish educator in and outside of her Orthodox Jewish community informed her understanding of the need to address victimization of all kinds.
Previously, Guila was the Director of Judaic Studies at Tiferes Bais Yaakov and the Managing Director of NCSY Canada. She lives in Toronto and was raised in its Spanish Moroccan Jewish community which was built by the families who fled Tangier.