There are many misconceptions about what it’s like to be a sexual assault survivor. One particularly harmful assumption is that survivors are affected by their experience only in the immediate wake of trauma.

Every survivor’s experience is different, but many will agree that healing is an ongoing process. Media justice organizer and filmmaker Tani Ikeda is addressing this reality with her powerful new project, Survivor Love Letter.

Started on Valentine’s Day, “#Survivorloveletter was an act of defiance, a declaration of self love and a call to allies to honor the survivors in their lives,” Ikeda told Mic via email.

“I imagined what it would mean for my younger self to wake up on Valentine’s Day and read message after message of public support for surviving. That’s when I knew I wanted to create #survivorloveletter.” 

The Survivor Love Letter Tumblr catalogs survivors’ declarations of self love and allows others to honor survivors in…