Elizabeth Smart shares the kind of ‘therapy’ that helped her after brutal kidnapping, sexual abuse

Two months after giving birth to her third child, Elizabeth Smart, 31, says she was glad to escape the cold of Utah for Palm Desert.

“My great grandparents, and now my grandma is a snowbird down here, so I come here probably once a year to visit her in the winter.”

Smart also saw the visit as an opportunity to do some good for the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center.

“They are at the forefront in this battle against victimization and sexual violence,” she says.

A transient couple kidnapped Smart at the age of 14, sexually abusing her for nine months, before she was recognized and rescued.

“I think every person who was been raped has felt an immense sense of shame and embarrassment and guilt even,” says Smart.

In an interview at the JW Marriott Desert Springs, Smart also opened up to NBC’s Natalie Morales about the lengthy process to finding her new normal, which Smart says did not include traditional therapy.

“I love music and that was very healing for me,” says the accomplished harpist. “I love horseback riding. I always felt it was kind of an escape from reality to get up on a horse, and it kind of put everything in perspective for me that this is just one small moment of my life and I have the rest of my life ahead of me, and ultimately it’s up to me to live my life the way that I want to.”

Through Smart’s foundation, she’s been working on forums called ‘Smart Talks.’

“They are forums that people can come and attend where we talk very openly about what sexual abuse is. What rape is… We are looking at taking these from an open forum to a podcast so we can reach a wider audience.”

Smart also says she doesn’t mind using her unique role as a survivor to provide perspective when a missing or abused child is found.

“Take that minute to look at a poster because you never know. You might be the person that sees that face. You might be the person who rescues them.”