12/02/2025
Imagine discovering something painful happened in your home years ago — and finding that the internet has nothing to offer you.
This is what happened to Brandy Black.
It’s also why 5WAVES exists today.
Most people will never know a certain kind of silence.
It’s the silence that falls over a family after discovering sibling se/ual trauma or abuse in their home.
The silence that comes right after the truth is spoken.
The silence that settles when parents realize they can’t turn to friends, relatives, or even their closest confidants.
And even as recently as five years ago, online resources were silent too.
A silence one of our co-founders, Brandy Black (pen name to protect her family), lived this firsthand.
When she discovered sibling se/ual trauma in her own home, she searched everywhere for guidance. She looked for books, articles, research, anything that could help.
But there was nothing.
So she did something extraordinary:
She wrote the first focused support site for sibling se/ual trauma and abuse.
That’s how she and Jane Epstein met. She was looking for a survivor to review her work. That conversation sparked the connections that became 5WAVES and changed lives.
This is the heavy burden so many families carry alone, until they find 5WAVES.
Parents are trying to protect the child who was harmed.
Parents are trying to protect the child who caused harm or abuse.
Siblings are caught in the middle.
No casseroles.
No check-in texts.
No “How can I help?”
Only silence.
If you’ve ever wondered why we talk about this work so openly, it’s because the people living through it often can’t.
But we can speak up.
Our nonprofit can speak out.
Together, we can build a world where families don’t have to choose between protecting their children and getting the support they need.
No one should have to trade silence for safety.
If you want to learn more about our mission or how to support this work through donations, visit 5WAVES.org. We rely on individual donations to cover expenses. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations are tax-deductible in the US.
