A Safe Space to Land

A Safe Space to Land is a powerful, unflinching memoir about what comes after domestic violence. After the escape. After the courage. After the moment everyone assumes you are finally safe. Patty D. Rickman reveals a truth many survivors discover too late: harm does not always end when abuse ends—it often changes form.This book is for the survivor who followed every rule and was still harmed.For the survivor who was told to be patient, reasonable, and strong—while truth was delayed, questioned, or silenced.For the survivor who realized that survival was only the beginning.With clarity, restraint, and courage, Patty chronicles her journey from victim to advocate, exposing how coercive control can persist through post-separation and post-litigation abuse—a form of harm that exploits courts, procedure, and delay to maintain power long after physical abuse has ended. In most jurisdictions, there are no stand-alone laws designed to recognize or stop this form of abuse, leaving survivors trapped in systems that were never built to protect them from it.This is not a story built on accusation.It is a story grounded in facts, records, and lived reality.Blending personal experience with publicly What happens when you do everything you’re told—leave, report, survive—and the system still asks more of you?verifiable events, A Safe Space to Land examines litigation abuse, the misuse of power, and the legal standard of impartiality—asking what justice requires when systems prioritize procedure over people. Along the way, Patty transforms private trauma into public action, standing where survivors are rarely welcomed and insisting that safety must be more than a promise written into policy. This book is not about anger.It is about truth.A Safe Space to Land gives language to survivors who were never told why the abuse didn’t stop, validation to those who were doubted, and clarity to anyone who has felt punished simply for seeking protection. It is both a reckoning and a refuge.Because survivors should not have to disappear, diminish themselves, or endure further harm to be believed.This is a book for anyone still searching for solid ground—and a reminder that you deserve a safe place to land. Read more