Sexual Assault Survivor Stories -SASS- is a weekly podcast designed for the purpose of providing victims and survivors of sexual assault and rape information and a forum to better understand the complexities, adversities, victories, and all the dynamics of surviving and healing. But it's not just for victims and survivors! It's a podcast of learning about trauma-informed interviewing and the neuroscience of trauma and memory, understanding the victim impact of rape and sexual assault, knowin ...
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96. Melissa Fairchild: Transforming Pain into Purpose in her Mission to Heal Others!
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This show seems to inevitably bring guests that are not only willing to share their sexual assault or rape experience with this audience, but who have the true desire to help, inspire, and uplift others on their own healing journey. Melissa Fairchild is an exceptional example, and I am honored that she reached out to me, asking to be a guest on thi…
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95. Ashley Bendiksen: Powerfully Inspiring Others with Hope and Healing
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Sometimes I am flabbergasted by how things work out to bring someone into my life for the purpose of helping to heal others through this show. This is one of those times…I found Ashley Bendiksen through Instagram, being duly impressed with her mission and accomplishments of bringing her story to national audiences to help bring justice to victim an…
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94. John Jay Wiley: Host of Law Enforcement Talk Radio & Podcast Shares his Trauma Story
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John Jay Wiley is a retired police officer (Baltimore Police Department) who is now the founder and host of Law Enforcement Talk Radio & Podcast…both a radio show and a podcast. I had the honor of being a guest on LET Radio in an episode that was aired on 09 June 2024. You can listen to that episode here. It was quite the experience, and I apprecia…
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93. Orvie B. Baker, Jr.: Producing a Documentary on a Monument Most Know Nothing About!
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I sometimes surf social media in search of someone I think might be an excellent guest for this show. When I found retired US Army soldier Orvie B. Baker, Jr. I knew I had found true excellence! See, Orvie is a former SARC, Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, for the Army SAPRO (Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office). He has tons of experi…
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92. Dave Markel: A Shared Episode of The Jan Broberg Show!
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92. Dave Markel: A Shared Episode of The Jan Broberg Show! I am honored to be able to bring to you an episode from The Jan Broberg Show, in which Jan invited me to be a guest on her show. After it aired (June 18, 2024; https://www.thejanbrobergshow.com/trauma-informed-perspectives-understanding-the-neuroscience-of-sexual-assault-with-dave-markel/),…
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91. Caroline Markel and Bailie: I Count Myself Fortunate to Know Them Both!
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If you haven’t already heard Bailie’s two-part interview, Episodes 49 and 50, give them a listen—you’ll hear one of the most compelling and intriguing interviews of sexual assault and rape that will hold you spell-bound and awestruck. You don’t need to listen to those episodes before you listen to this one, but definitely take the time to listen to…
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90. Chris McGhee: A Man on a Mission to Change a Law—Because his Daughter Was Sexually Assaulted by a Cop
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This story is compelling for lots of reasons: because it’s told by a man, Chris McGhee, whose daughter was sexually assaulted by a cop; because the cop was convicted, but didn’t serve any jail time; because Chris and his daughter are working hard to get a Pennsylvania law changed so that cops are charged with a felony instead of a misdemeanor when …
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89. Erika Shershun: From Tragedy to Triumph – A Journey of Healing from Unimaginable Trauma
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Erika’s life story sounds like a fictional crime novel…but the amazing aspect is that the truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction. The truth of Erika’s horrific story is that her father killed himself when Erika was just 15. Years later, a brother also ended his own life. At 19 Erika was raped by a friend of the young man she was dating; an…
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88. Laurie McBride: Her Evolving Light, From Desperation to Providing Aspiration
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Laurie McBride was sexually assaulted by her brother when she was a young girl. She was also emotionally abused by her mother while growing up, and then when she was in high school, she was the victim of two separate rape attempts. By the time Laurie was 18 and left home, she felt lost. In a situation like Laurie’s, it isn’t difficult to understand…
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87. Caroline Markel: She’s Back This Month; "Big, Bold, and Unapologetic!"
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Because Caroline was traveling so much of last month, I wasn't able to record an April episode with her. But now, she’s back home and busy at work. But not so busy as to miss another episode with me! This month, Caroline talks about where she was these past several weeks, who she was traveling with, what they were doing on this extended trip, and t…
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86. Kelly Justus: Embracing Her Own Healing Through Action—Promoting Project Callisto's Mission
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Kelly and I have a few things in common: our admiration and support of the mission of Project Callisto, and our belief that normalizing the converstation around rape and sexual assault will help reduce the prevalence of rape culture. With regard to Callisto: I won’t go into the full explanation of how Callisto works, you can find out that informati…
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85. Roger Canaff: A Former Sexual Assault Prosecutor and Highly Qualified Expert Gives Us His Insights!
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Having Roger Canaff join me on this show has long been a goal, and I finally was able to reconnect with this former colleague. I met Roger when I was working for the US Army in a position known as a Highly Qualified Expert for the Criminal Investigation Command (known as CID-Criminal Investigation Division). Part of my job was co-managing a 2-week …
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Hey there SASS listeners…this is a special edition episode of SASS to ask for your help… If ever there was someone in need of our financial help, one of our own SASS family members, Cassie Nicholas, is currently that one! Most of you have heard Cassie's two episodes here on SASS and know of the horrific circumstances she has endured throughout her …
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84. Jessica Michaels: Raped by Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Jess is Now Promoting Sexual Assault First Aid-PART 2
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When it came to healing from her rape by Jeffrey Epstein there first had to be a realization by Jess Michaels that she was raped. Because, Jess had been taught by society and the culture of the 90’s that what had happened to her must not have really been rape…she hadn’t screamed, she didn’t try to fight him, she hadn’t even tried to push him off he…
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83. Jessica Michaels: Raped by Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Jess is Now Promoting Sexual Assault First Aid; Part 1
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It’s difficult to imagine having a bright future with a life full of promise, fame, and prestige, living that life doing exactly what you were wanting to do: dancing, modeling, acting, singing, and a career trajectory that was leading to Broadway and world travel and fame on July 8, 1991…and then on July 9, 1991, having it all stomped out in just a…
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82. Dr. Lori Pitts: From Childhood Sexual Assault to Founder of Still Whole Wellness, Dr. Lori Recognizes Her Gift of Healing
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It was only two weeks ago that I had Anne Winslow on this show to talk about her new role as Co-Executive Director of the Sexual Assault Advocacy Network, SAAN, an online community of advocates, victims, and survivors of rape and sexual assault. During our discussion, Anne mentioned that the former Executive Director of SAAN was Dr. Lori Pitts, who…
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81. Cassie Nicholas Returns: New Trauma Memories Lead to New Ways to Heal!
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Kirjoittanut Dave Markel
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80. Anne Winslow: A Gentle Yet Powerful Voice for Survivors
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The last time Anne was on this show was just over a year ago. She shared with us her harrowing story of enduring almost 30 years of intrafamilial rape as well as marital domestic violence and rape. Yet, despite all of that, Anne managed to become one the most softspoken advocates for others who’ve endured similar experiences as she advocated and gu…
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79. Ray Epstein: The New Kid in Class Brings Hidden Terrors
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Some communities are safe harbors of individuals who identify as an assemblage who have known each other for a long time…grown together, supported each other, learned together…who have the common denominator of having gone through the same things together, particularly school. Such was the case for Ray Epstein as she progressed through a very small…
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78. The Month of March with Caroline Markel and Safe in Harm’s Way
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As promised in January, Caroline Markel is back for her monthly episode on SASS. Caroline Markel (no relation to myself, at least that we know of!) is the CEO of Safe in Harm’s Way, a non-profit organization dedicated to “providing online trauma-informed resources to survivors, their children, and pets, while identifying the unique needs based on r…
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77. Angela Galbreath: Activated Memories Lead to Hidden Meanings in Behavior
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When long lost memories, suppressed for decades through fear and dissociative amnesia, start to surface in the cognitive mind, the results can lead to frustration and confusion over what the memories stem from. Emotional trauma survivors often spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the cause and meaning of these memories that are o…
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76. To Tell or Not To Tell: The Sexual Assault Survivor’s Conundrum
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Sexual assault is a deeply personal and often traumatic experience that affects millions of individuals worldwide. For survivors, the decision to share their stories with the public is one fraught with complexities and potential consequences. In this episode I’ll help examine and explain the pros and cons of someone telling their sexual assault sto…
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75. Weapon Focus: Explaining Some of the Formation of Trauma Memory
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Part of the common experience in doing interviews of victims and survivors of rape, sexual assault, and other interpersonal violence, is to hear the person I’m interviewing say that they only remember certain parts of their trauma experience, or that there are parts that they’ve tried really hard to remember, but just can’t. Or say that there are p…
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74. Tracy DeTomasi: CEO of Callisto
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Several months ago I started noticing on my Instagram feed, several posts and reels that were initiated by an organization called Callisto. I was not particularly paying attention to these posts until one day I noticed one that was entitled “Sexual Assault Prevention,” and had the phrases, “Holding perpetrators accountable,” “Consent education,” “C…
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73. Merle Yost: From an Unimaginable Childhood to an Uncompromising Dedication to Helping Others
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Activation and discretion warning: This episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of physical assault, animal abuse, sexual assault, and rape. Caution and discretionary action are required. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme self-care in listening to this episode and if you are activated or triggered and need help, call t…
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72. Caroline Markel Hammond: There’s Power in Keeping Your Story Your Story
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In the grand scheme of this podcast, my goal has always been to provide a platform for victims and survivors to tell their stories of rape or sexual assault in a safe environment, to help bring justice to victims and survivors of rape or sexual assault, and to provide my listeners with insights, education, and guidance to help survivors on their he…
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71. Tiffany Thomson: Doing Her Part to Bring Justice to Victims and Survivors of Trauma
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Some might find this episode and think, “This is a shameless plug for Dave’s wife’s cousin.” But the honest truth is, that is not my intention at all! I ran across my wife’s cousin’s Facebook page and saw that she had started a new business. “She” is Tiffany Thomson. The thing that caught my eye was that Tiffany, who I haven’t seen since about 2005…
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70. Plamen Draganov: Healing After Being Kidnapped, Beaten, and Raped at Fifteen
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Activation and discretion warning: These notes and this episode contain explicit and graphic descriptions of kidnapping, physical assault, and rape. Caution and action are required. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme discretion in listening to this episode and if you are activated or triggered and need help, call the national sexu…
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69. CSM Marisa Saucedo: Yeah, I Fell…But I Got Back Up!
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Being in the US Army Reserve requires discipline. And commitment. And top-notch performance. If you fail at any of these there can be serious consequences…including being discharged. One of the requirements is that during “battle assembly” (weekend training) you have to be there; if a Soldier fails to attend on a consistent basis, they can face tha…
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68. Jan Broberg: Focused, Intentional, and Resolute
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If someone is serious about attempting to fulfil a significant, meaningful, and overwhelmingly difficult objective, the effort can often-times feel ineffective, even pointless. Having this type of purpose-filled lifegoal can be exhausting and often will end in frustration long before even a small dent can be made in the predicament. Especially if t…
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67. Cheryl Wright: Confronting the Torment, Shedding the Weight of Shame, and A Journey of Healing and Gratitude.
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Activation warning: this episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of attempted suicide, physical assault, sexual assault, and rape. Discretionary caution is strongly advised. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme self-care in listening to this episode and seek immediate help through the national suicide hotline by dialing 9…
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66. Bonus Episode! Arci Grey Is Offering a Free Workshop: Breaking the Invisible Barriers of Trauma.
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Last Wednesday I was just sitting at my desk working on this podcast, and out of the blue I got a text from my good friend and former SASS Podcast guest, and Trauma-informed Peak Performance Specialist, Arci Grey! Arci wanted to schedule a phone conversation with me…which I did. We scheduled the call for Thursday…and it wasn’t just a friendly, catc…
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Last week’s episode featured a series of guests who, during their episode interviews, chose to recognize and celebrate the SASS format, its purposes and successes, and the healing benefits of being part of this podcast. I took clips of those episodes and compiled them into a succession of the comments that they made about the show. The episode was …
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64. Dave Markel: The 2023 Year-end Episode of Sexual Assault Survivor Stories
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64. Dave Markel: The 2023 Year-end Episode of Sexual Assault Survivor Stories. 2023 has been an amazing year of growth for Sexual Assault Survivor Stories. It’s terribly sad that there is a need for this podcast to exist in our world. Yet, it’s a blessing to provide this platform for victims and survivors who willing to share their stories of rape …
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63. Yri Stafylaki: Part 2- Life Became a Total Disconnect, Then Came the Start of Healing
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This is the concluding episode of Yri Stafylaki. It’s her continuing story of how her bad situation with an abusive boyfriend got worse. Worse because the fallout of what it means to be in an abusive, narcissistic relationship is often extremely messy. Yri had been living her athletic dream of being on a basketball team that meant the world to her.…
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62. Yri Stafylaki: Part 1- A Narcissist’s Conniving Tactics Lead to Manipulation, Confusion, and Rape
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It never ceases to amaze me…my podcast listeners that reach out to me with courage, strength, fortitude, and powerful resilience who are hoping to share their stories, not for glory or attention, but to help others who may find themselves in very similar circumstances with very similar experiences, in order to offer a sense of comradery and communi…
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61. Ashleyann Garcia: Struggling, but Winning!
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One of the most difficult components of the sexual assault/rape healing journey is mustering the courage and strength to tell someone else your story. It can be formidable. Daunting even. But many psychologists and sociologists agree that talking about ones own sexual assault or rape experience can help in processing one’s emotions, provide a commu…
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Just a quick announcement explaining why there’s not a full episode this week, and to express my gratitude to you, my listeners! Don’t forget to Start By Believing…because we all know someone whose life has been affected by rape or sexual assault. https://markel-consulting.com https://startbybelieving.org https://safeinharmsway.org #thrivivors #the…
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59. Dave Markel: Clarifying-Is it Rape or Sexual Assault? and, What it Means to Start By Believing!
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This episode is short but packed full of information. I wanted to clear up some confusion that has been brought to my attention regarding the differences between “rape,” and “sexual assault.” I won’t go into those differences here; you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out what those idiosyncrasies are. And the other topic of this short epis…
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58. Ruthie Uhl: The Devastating Impact of Familial Sexual Assault: A Mother’s Gripping Perspective
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It’s never easy to talk about a child being sexually assaulted by another family member, a family member who is an older brother, who knows better, who manipulates, strangles, and holds down his younger sister is even more atrocious. No one wants to talk about that. But talking about is what we need to do to help put an end to this wreckage. Ruthie…
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57. Lee Cooper: Part 2- The Impact of Child Sexual Assault in Adulthood
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Activation and discretion warning: this episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of sexual assault and suicidal ideation. Caution and action are required. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme discretion in listening to this episode and if you are activated or triggered and need help, call the national sexual assault teleph…
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56. Lee Cooper: Part 1- A Child’s Life Devastated by His Own Father
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Activation and discretion warning: this episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of sexual assault and rape. Caution and action are required. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme discretion in listening to this episode and if you are activated or triggered and need help, call the national sexual assault telephone hotline a…
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55. Alan Manwaring: Breaking the Silence
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Activation warning: this episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of sexual assault and rape. Discretionary caution is strongly advised. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme self-care in listening to this episode. If you are activated or triggered and need help, call the national sexual assault telephone hotline at 1-800-6…
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54. Alan Manwaring: Ready to Tell His Story!
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54. Alan Manwaring: Ready to Tell His Story! My good friend and colleague, Alan Manwaring, has been guesting on Sexual Assault Survivor Stories for several episodes now, describing his take on the importance and impact of this show from his perspective as a survivor of childhood sexual assault. He has also given his own opinion on how crucial it is…
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53. Scarlett Robertson: Sweet Hopes That Instead Lead to Manipulation, Rape, Assault, and Back to Sweet Hopes. Part 3.
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Activation warning: this episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of physical assault, sexual assault, and rape. Discretionary caution is strongly advised. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme self-care in listening to this episode and seek immediate help through the national sexual assault telephone hotline if you are act…
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52. Scarlett Robertson: Sweet Hopes That Instead Lead to Manipulation, Rape, Assault, and Back to Sweet Hopes. Part 2.
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Activation warning: this episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of attempted suicide, physical assault, sexual assault, and rape. Discretionary caution is strongly advised. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme self-care in listening to this episode and seek immediate help through the national suicide hotline by dialing 9…
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51. Scarlett Robertson: Sweet Hopes That Instead Lead to Manipulation, Rape, Assault, and Back to Sweet Hopes. Part I.
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Activation warning: this episode contains explicit and graphic descriptions of attempted suicide, physical assault, sexual assault, and rape. Discretionary caution is strongly advised. This episode is not for children. Please use extreme self-care in listening to this episode and seek immediate help through the national suicide hotline by dialing 9…
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50. Bailie: From Darkness to Empowerment: LGBTQ Survivor's Inspiring Journey - PART II
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WARNING: This episode is explicit and detailed in the descriptions of attempted suicide, self-harm, rape, and sexual assault. It is not appropriate for children, and extreme discretion is advised in keeping the listening audience restricted to only appropriately aged and emotionally capable persons. If you are activated and are having thoughts of s…
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49. Bailie: From Darkness to Empowerment: LGBTQ Survivor's Inspiring Journey - PART I
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WARNING: This episode is explicit and detailed in the descriptions of attempted suicide, self-harm, rape, and sexual assault. It is not appropriate for children, and extreme discretion is advised in keeping the listening audience restricted to only appropriately aged and emotionally capable persons. If you are activated and are having thoughts of s…
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48. Abigail Alvarado: The True Story of Decades of Sexual Slavery & Her Ongoing Journey of Healing
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In June of this year, I was contacted by true-crime author, Jamie Collins, who sent me a press release about a new book she was publishing, I am Abigail. The press release was extensive, but for an explanation about the book, here is just a portion of the release that I received: Written in the first person from Abby’s perspective, I AM ABIGAIL is …
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