Nikki Rosen
November 13,2012
Published in Canada


Nikki Rosen profiles the plight of a young woman caught in the Metal Health System’s policy of containment.
Jamie is a child who was born into a nightmare of a family. When at the age of seven years,her mother committed suicide, she was left alone to a predatory father and brother. The father, an alcoholic, was physically, mentally and emotionally abusive. The older brother sexually abused her from the age of seven to her 16th year.This vicious home life created a lost lonely child unable to interact with the outside world except through avoidance or an anger so destructive it threatened her life and others.
A run away at sixteen she spent two year on the streets of Toronto before being picked up after an episodic breakdown and taken to a Mental Institution. While in the Institution she became more self controlled and began recognizing the injustice and mal-treatment of the inmates. Through a budding faith in a loving God she grew in ability to form relationships and to relate to the inmates with a rare compassionate viewpoint.
After discharge she successfully launched new beginnings by attending college. The combative spirit that assured her own survival led her to fight for others caught in the mental health system; which in turn led to more compassionate policy changes in the country’s mental health laws.
The book is a message of hope for all who have passed, or are passing, through the fires of unbearable sufferings. It is also a book that illuminates,for the larger society, the necessity to treat the mentally ill with understanding and compassion.


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Dancing Softly - "A powerful story of hope and courage that shows nothing is impossible to overcome if we learn to dance more softly. With a rare insight and honing her craft, Nikki challenges the reader to trust that good can come out of every situation no matter how hopeless it might seem. The beautiful message in Dancing Softly is that everyone's life is a gift and has value and purpose. I highly recommend reading this book."
Melvina Walter
Executive Dir. of The Halton Women's Centre ( )