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Interested in writing since I was 10, at 16, I wrote my first, unpublished, story for True Confessions magazine.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.
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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.
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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.
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I have two sons, three grandchildren, a white cat named Pixie, and live in Euclid, Ohio.
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