Elizabeth Smart’s abduction from her Utah home at the age of 14 in 2002 followed by nine harrowing months in captivity created national headlines. Her fortuitous rescue from her captor, a drifter who believed that he was a prophet, gave the nation a reason to rejoice. As the keynote speaker at the 2015 Prevention Conference, Smart shared her story of perseverance in the face of unimaginable adversity while also discussing the importance of the recovery process and how to prevent your past from dictating your future. At the press conference before her speech, she spoke out as an activist on behalf of kidnapping survivors and child victims of violence and sexual abuse.
