Penny Christian Knight
#MeToo. I was born in 1934 in Newark, Ohio, and I am a survivor of childhood incest and acquaintances' sexual abuse later. Please read the trilogy to learn more about my trauma, subsequent behavior, and recovery.
Interested in writing since I was 10, at 16, I wrote my first, unpublished, story for True Confessions magazine. In the mid-1960s, I wrote publicity part-time for a television program at WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, and later continued writing full-time as a Public Relations Assistant in their Public Relations Department. I was too busy with many things in my life to submit my writing until 2012 when I finally submitted a personal essay, "Not My Will, But Thine Be Done," to Venture Inward magazine. The essay was published in their Volume 28 Number 4 issue soon after. I have been a letter and journal writer most of my life and have partially used those two mediums and memory to tell my story in Developing Resilience.
I have had a variety of occupations and careers, including modeling and acting. I worked for several years as an executive secretary until, in 1979, at 45, I decided to return to college as a sophomore. I had experienced my freshman year at Kent State University in 1953. I became a server in various restaurants while pursuing my bachelor's degree in psychology and English at Ursuline College. I graduated Summa Cum Laude after three years in the spring of 1982. But then, I was off and running the following fall to work on my master's degree in psychiatric social work at Case Western Reserve University, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. I received my degree after two years, in 1984, at 50.
My professional career found me working in agencies for mental health, outpatient substance abuse, foster care, and disturbed children. After four years, I shifted to private practice and, in 1989, formed my own company, Knight Counseling Clinic. During the pandemic in 2020, I closed my office and offered virtual therapy to my clients. I retired from private practice in 2023 at the age of 89.
I have two sons, three grandchildren, a white cat named Pixie, and live in Euclid, Ohio.