About

Family Law Attorney, Author, TEDx Speaker, and Certified Domestic Abuse Professional

Charlene Quint is a family law attorney and TEDx Speaker in the Chicago area who focuses her practice on helping women overcome domestic abuse. She founded AbuseCare.org, a nondenominational faith-based organization, to provide hope and healing to women on their journey from victim to victorious, and to educate and equip churches, businesses, and community organizations in caring for victims of domestic abuse. She is a Certified Domestic Violence Professional, an advocate for victims of abuse, a facilitator of multiple nation-wide support groups and Bible studies, and a domestic abuse survivor. She speaks publicly to raise awareness of domestic abuse and provides training for churches and organizations on how to address abuse and support victims.

She wrote the award-winning and best-selling book Overcoming the Narcissist, Sociopath, Psychopath, and Other Domestic Abusers to help victims of domestic abuse become the fearless victors that God designed them to be.  After several years of facilitating support groups and Bible studies, she wrote the companion workbook to give women and women’s groups a proven curriculum for support groups, Bible studies, and individual studies.

Quint serves on the Board of Trustees of Northern Seminary, and serves as co-chair of the Partnership for a Safer Lake County, a network of organizations combating all forms of abuse. She previously served on the Board of Trinity International University and the Au Sable Institute. Quint’s TEDx Talk, How to Overcome Domestic Abuse and Set Yourself Free, can be found on the TEDx Talk YouTube channel. Quint is the recipient of the Augustana College Humanitarian Award for her work helping domestic abuse survivors.

Charlene is the author of four inspirational books: Angels of Ebermannstadt (DeepRiver Books 2012), Blessings, Prayers and Heart Songs (DeepRiver Books 2014), Overcoming the Narcissist, Sociopath, Psychopath, and Other Domestic Abusers: The Comprehensive Handbook to Recognize, Remove, and Recover from Abuse (Redemption Press 2020), and Overcoming the Narcissist, Sociopath, Psychopath, and Other Domestic Abusers: Workbook for Support Groups and Bible Studies (Redemption Press 2025).  She is a contributing author of Family Celebrations (Andrews McMeel 2018) and The Reproduction Revolution (Eerdmans 2000).

Prior to starting her own law firm, Quint served as a federal law clerk in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and then as an attorney with a large Chicago law firm.  Prior to law school, she served as the Chief Financial Officer of a Chicago publishing house. She started her career as CPA.  She graduated summa cum laude from Augustana College and magna cum laude from Loyola University of Chicago Law School.

Quint enjoys music, playing piano, singing, skiing, skydiving, art, and spending time outdoors. She has three wonderful adult children.  Quint lives in Illinois with her amazing husband, a fluffy golden retriever, and two cats.

Interview with Charlene

What prompted you to start AbuseCare?

I started AbuseCare because I had witnessed so many women of faith (including myself) who not only found themselves needing a divorce and healing from an abusive husband who claimed to be a “Christian,” but were also betrayed by their pastors, church friends, and families who took the side of the abuser. It happens far more often than we realize.  In fact, one pastor who focuses his work on domestic violence, estimates that in 85% of abuse cases in the church, the church leaders do not respond with the heart of God. Women caught in abuse need hope, healing, and to know what the Scriptures really have to say about abusive marriages and toxic people.  They need to know they are dearly beloved by their Papa God who wants an abundant, extraordinary, healthy, safe life for them. And church leaders need to be equipped and educated with the best practices on how to support a victim of abuse and hold abusers accountable, because they are in nearly every congregation.  Church leaders also need to know what Scriptures really have to say about abusive behavior and toxic people, because it is not taught in seminary.  Business leaders and community organizations also need to know how to support victims of abuse and hold abusers accountable, because these are their employees and it costs employers billions of dollars a year in lost income, time off, lost productivity, and medical costs.

What difference have you seen in the lives of the women who attend AbuseCare support groups?

Each year in the Spring I start a new support group and Bible study. The support groups are about six months long. And the difference is life changing. The women are absorbing so much information about themselves, what makes people and relationships healthy, and the signs of toxic people and toxic relationships.  And they are being immersed in God’s Word, and what He has to say about abuse, how much He cherishes his daughters, and how He wants them to have an abundant, amazing, healthy, whole, strong, victorious life. They are hearing straight from Scripture that He made them as an ezer knegdo – the original Hebrew word meaning a strong, equal but opposite ally to their husband, not a second class citizen made only to be a “helper.” Many of them are hearing this for the first time.  There are a lot of “aha” moments. At the beginning of the support group sessions, I see them confused and hurt and a shadow of themselves; but at the end of the 6 months of support group sessions, I see them as women with clarity, strength, a knowledge that they are a beloved Daughter of the King of Kings, and with a stronger faith in their heavenly Father. They are well on their way to becoming the strong, victorious women God designed them to be. God does the healing.  And He is amazing at it. But we have to cooperate with Him in the healing process and do the hard work.

Why is healing so important? Doesn’t time heal all?

Contrary to the cliché, time does not heal all wounds, and time doesn’t make us wiser.  We need to be intentional about healing and becoming wiser, because it doesn’t just happen on its own.  I tell all my clients to make healing your number 1 priority. We need to heal so that we can be the strong, victorious, joy-filled woman God designed us to be, and so that we can live the victorious, abundant, overflowing life God designed us to live.  When we don’t heal, we remain hurt, angry, bitter, and offended. And we have a victim mindset. The Enemy wants to keep up this way, because a woman like this is not very effective for God’s kingdom.  But when we are healed, we are confident, strong, victorious, full of joy, and well able to do the work that God has entrusted us to do. In other words, we are a threat to the darkness.

What motivated you to start your law firm helping women escape abuse?

Practicing family law was the farthest thing from my mind.  I really wanted to teach at a Christian college or university because I love young people and I had been teaching as an adjunct professor of Business Law and serving on the board. But, after healing from a gut-wrenching divorce from an abusive husband that left me nearly unable to function, I felt the Lord calling me to help other women in the court room because I had a law degree, I had been practicing law for 15 years, I had the personal experience to know what to expect from abusers, and God had healed me so that I could help other women heal as well. He promised to go with me and make me into a warrior for victims of abuse.  So, since God called me and promised to equip me with what I needed, I had to say “Yes.”  God doesn’t always call the equipped; but He always equips those He has called.

What inspired you to write Overcoming the Narcissist, Sociopath, Psychopath and Other Domestic Abusers?

Healing from an abusive relationship is so very difficult.  We need guidance on how to recognize, remove and recover from abuse. I call these the 3 Rs of Abuse. So many women don’t even realize they are in abuse.  They need to know how to recognize the tactics and patterns of abuse.  Getting out and simply wanting peace is excruciating, because an abuser will be vindictive and make it so painful to leave. So, women need a roadmap of how to remove themselves safely. Even after a divorce is over, it is hard to recover and heal because we still believe all the lies an abuser told us – we are worthless, we can’t do anything right, no one will love us, God is mad at us, divorce is a sin – and hundreds more.  So, women need to know how to recognize and reject the lies and replace them with truth – God’s truth.  I call these the 3 Rs of Truth.  Women who have been affected by a toxic relationship need to know how to become all that God designed them to be. At the time I wrote it, there was no one book that gave a woman everything she needed to know in a one-stop-shop.  So, that is why I wrote it.  I had lived it, and healed from it, and wanted to help others do the same.  But the biggest reason is because God put a fire in my belly and called me to write it.  I tried to be obedient to His calling. Remember the story of Jonah when God told him to do something and he refused to obey God? He ended up in the belly of a whale. I didn’t want to end up in the belly of a whale.

So, what prompted you to write the Overcoming workbook?

After my divorce, I felt called to help a local domestic violence organization start up support groups.  I started one in Lake Forest, IL where I had lived for 20 years. And then started one in another town.  Eventually, support groups were scattered throughout the county.  However, the organization had no curriculum, and there was none available online.  The organization was not faith-based, so the support groups really fell short for women of faith who were struggling with their faith and leaving an abusive marriage.  During COVID, the organization shut down support groups, just when women were stuck at home 24/7 with their abuser, and domestic violence rates were skyrocketing. A friend suggested that I start a faith-based support group at my church independently. I drafted a curriculum, asked my church for its blessing, asked to use church facilities one night a week, and the Overcomer’s Spiritual Spa was born.  We now have people join from all over the country. Over the years, I have seen God heal and strengthen women going through this curriculum.  And, with feedback, I have fine-tuned the workbook.

How do you go about writing books like this?

First, I start with prayer.  God placed a burden on my heart to write it, and I want to be obedient to His calling.  I always ask the Holy Spirit to be my co-author.  I ask him to give me the words as I type, and He does. Second, I have to put some things aside so I can have big chunks of time to write.  That usually means that I have to decline invitations and reduce my working hours so I can get a book written. Third, I just plug away, one chapter at a time.  DV can be a pretty dark subject, so sometimes I need to step away and then take it up again later.  With the workbook, I was able to incorporate feedback from participants who were in a support groups that I facilitate over the years.  When the manuscript goes to the publisher, there is a lot of back and forth in the editing process. And then there’s marketing to get it into the hands of those who needs it – marketing is not my strong suit.  And all the while, I am praying about the book – that it contains God’s words, that it will find itself in the hands of those who need it, and that God will use it to change the lives of those who read it.

What is your best advice for women who have experienced domestic abuse?

Make God’s healing your number 1 priority.  And when you heal, partner with God to go back and help the next woman, and the next, and the next . . . .