DECATUR - Even at 27 and married almost three years, Nicole Braddock Bromley still looks the part of "perfect girl."

Her blond hair and pretty face worked with her academic and athletic accomplishments to earn her that role in high school. But that's also when she finally told her mother that her stepfather has been sexually abusing her for nearly a decade.

The next year, at age 15, the Ohio native spoke out at a camp she attended about what had happened to her. "When I returned home, I got these letters from kids saying they went through the same thing," she said.

Bromley filed that experience away, however, until her junior and senior years at Marietta College, when she volunteered at the local domestic violence and rape crisis centers.

"I felt I was supposed to be a voice for the voiceless to let other people know they weren't alone and to give them hope," she said.

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This week Bromley will travel to Decatur from the home she shares with husband Matt in Columbus, Ohio, to do just that at Millikin University.

Research indicates her audience is plentiful, with an estimated one out of every three girls and one in six boys sexually abused by the time they turn 18.

While Bromley says healing from childhood sexual abuse is a lifelong journey, talking about it is the first step.

"Silence delays the healing process and perpetuates the hurt, shame and guilt we feel," she said. "It also protects the offender and allows them to molest other children."

Keeping abuse secret also maintains the walls victims build around themselves to avoid being hurt again, she said. "I grew up believing nobody could be trusted and no one could ever love me," she said.

Bromley got into public speaking six years ago and last year published her first book, "Hush: Moving from Silence to Healing after Childhood Sexual Abuse." She speaks to teenagers and adults of all ages but said she has a special heart for college students.

"That's when you're trying to figure out who you really are and where you want to go," she said. "I want to help people work through what has happened to them so they can have a healthy adulthood."

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@herald-review.com or 421-7978.

If you go

WHAT: Nicole Braddock Bromley presentation and book signing

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17

WHERE: Lower level of Richards Treat University Center, Millikin University

BOOK: Copies of the 2007 paperback "Hush: Moving from Silence to Healing after Childhood Sexual Abuse" will be available for $10 each

SPONSORS: Millikin's Sexual Assault Awareness and Greek Pan-Hellenic councils

FOR MORE: Call Sandy Laesch, education coordinator at Growing Strong Sexual Assault Center, at 428-0770.