Fighting spirit

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Thursday, 27 February 2025

Warning: This story discusses childhood trauma.

It was once so hard for Maryanne Dib to tell her childhood story that she chose not to speak at all.

One day, a social worker gave her a piece of garden hose and beanbag and asked her to show how she was feeling.

“I grabbed this hose and started hitting this beanbag to pieces,” Maryanne says. “From there, she took me to a gym and I did boxing and that’s where my life in boxing began. That’s the only way I knew to talk.”

Maryanne, who became a professional boxer, now leads Left Write Hook workshops. The survivor-led recovery and empowerment program combines boxing and creative writing to release trauma.

She started out as a participant in the program, which was founded by Donna Lyon at her local boxing gym in Ferntree Gully.

“I found that the first session was really difficult and Donna gently said to me, ‘Pick up the pen’,” Maryanne says. “Week after week, I was starting to share how I was feeling. The more I wrote, the more I was getting out of it. A lot of people come to it for the boxing but the way you think about boxing after you write gives it a different essence. It allows you to connect your internal thoughts and express them physically.”

Melbourne University researchers have studied the program and found it reduces PTSD, depression, stress and anxiety in participants.

Knox City Council has provided a Community Development Fund grant for the program to run for eight weeks from February in partnership with EACH community health service in Ferntree Gully.

The Left Write Hook documentary, following the journey of eight participants, was released in cinemas in October.

For more information visit leftwritehook.org

Free counselling and support is available through Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault. Call 9870 7330 (office hours) or visit easternhealth.org.au

For after-hours support, contact the Victorian Sexual Assault Crisis line on 1800 806 292.

Fighting spirit

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