Butterflies and Bravery

Send us Fan Mail Welcome 2023! In our first episode of the year we share some stats from last year, talk about things we've learned and tell some stories too. We hope you enjoy this episode and we're glad you're here to live another day.  Support the show Support The Show: https://paypal.me/bnbdonations?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US Visit our Website Follow us: Instagram Facebook...

Send us Fan Mail We had the privilege of being guests on another podcast, Critical and Thinking with Ty Barnett and Ian Harris. Join us as we chat more in depth about some of the topics covered, and a few other tangents.  Butterflies and Bravery wishes you all a happy Thanksgiving week. This time of year can be difficult for many of us, so we hope you find a way to enjoy your time and create tradi...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes a whisper can be louder than a roar. Join us this week as we chat about what's been going on in our worlds. Jemima talks about a fall at work and what that might mean for her in the near future. Then Whisper tells us how she learned that humility can look very differently than we may think. We close this episode with Jemima's "The Ant Hill", inspired...

Send us Fan Mail Attention Deficit Hacks, Building Back Better and Connections If it’s living with CPTSD or living with ADHD, we need our little life hacks. Whisper found an ADHD helpline…tweet. It’s a Twitter thread.  In a shorter, light-hearted episode, we catch up with each other and talk about what’s coming up for the podcast and remind ourselves about the things that are important for us and...

Send us Fan Mail Note to cult leaders: Maybe read the whole Bible verse before starting a new belief system? Jemima and Whisper talk a little about everything (again) in this episode, including the correlation--that Whisper doesn't pronounce correctly (again)--between Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence and cult life. Parenting, The Scarlet Pimpernel, telling our stories and why our parents...

Send us Fan Mail Lisa Kendall, founder of Counter Cult Coalition,  joins us again to talk about the latest news with the federal statute of limitations being lifted on civil lawsuits relating to allegations of child sexual abuse and federal crimes harming children. Raising awareness about cults and the needs of those born into a cult is a mission we have in common. Being born into a cult means we...

Send us Fan Mail SUBJECT WARNING: UNALIVING YOURSELF When we sat down together to talk about upcoming plans and new projects, our conversation quickly shifted, because it was the struggles that so many of our ex-cult community have been facing that sat heavy on our minds. We had to talk about what could be done to help our community not feel so alone. We see the needs that are clearly arising in o...

Send us Fan Mail After last weeks very somber episode, we thought it would be nice to do something a little lighter this week. Whisper and Jemima share stories about THC and other gummies, some funny sex stories and a whole lot more. We hope you laugh your ass off like we did! Support the show Support The Show: https://paypal.me/bnbdonations?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US Visit our Website Follow...

Send us Fan Mail SUBJECT WARNING-UNALIVING YOURSELF Having been born prisoners of our parents war, an all too familiar tragedy we face in our communities is ongoing and constant suicides. Whisper and Jemima both share some of their personal experiences of having been to the darkest of places, the place where you want to cease to exist. We talk about some of the struggles loved ones face, how we ca...

Send us Fan Mail Janice Selbie was born into fundamentalist Pentecostal Christianity. She was steeped in the church from birth. Eventually her need for authenticity, outweighed her need for acceptance. Today, a trained therapist, she aids others in their escape from the clutches of fundamentalist religion. She also recently hosted a conference on religious trauma available to the public on her you...

Send us Fan Mail Beth Matenaer went from adopted to "a troubled teen" sent off into the mountains of California. Attempting escape, Beth hiked 50 miles to civilization in the middle of the night. Hear the rest of her story as we interview Beth, now a trained trauma therapist working with cult survivors and drug and alcohol addiction. Along with Dr. Janja Lalich, a renowned cult expert, t...

Send us Fan Mail Growing up in a cult or a high control or coercive atmosphere can sometimes leave your inner child needing reparenting. What is reparenting anyhow? Tonight we talk about what that means for both of us, and remind ourselves that it can look different at all the stages of our journey, and how a little change in perspective can make huge differences along the way.  We're giving...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, a t-shirt that read, "Life leads you down many paths, but my favorite one leads to the mountains" started off the conversation, and it did lead us down many paths. We start in Jamaica,  plus hear updates from  "Aunt Jemima's" life and some exciting possibilities coming her way.  Other paths included understanding others, living with the de...

Send us Fan Mail We’ve all faced times in our lives when we get shaken, but sometimes we find ourselves facing times where it feels like nothing’s letting up. And just like a soda bottle, that constant shaking is building pressure with each jolt. If we don’t let some of that out in a controlled escape, things start to go boom. Whisper gets vulnerable again this week,as she talks about some recent...

Send us Fan Mail How do you fit a life like ours into a single chapter?  Whisper makes a run at doing just that with her chapter in "Dare to Express", a collaboration book coming out in September. A handful of amazing women were invited to write a chapter about their lives, and Whisper was one of them. Jemima and Whisper read this beautifully woven story of a little girl clinging to a li...

Send us Fan Mail Amanda Moon Ellevis is a survivor of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Her heart for the exploited stems from her unique vulnerabilities as a young musician in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as her experience being homeless. Now she’s helping others through her newly released book, “Rebuild and Thrive” a guide to assist survivors of exploitation in their first steps toward...

Send us Fan Mail This week we have a short episode as Whisper and Jemima touch base to talk about their week and what’s been happening in their corner of the world.   Whisper’s little fur baby is having some health issues, and Jemima and Whisper talk more about taking care of the pets they’ve loved and lost. Support the show Support The Show: https://paypal.me/bnbdonations?country.x=US&locale....

Send us Fan Mail In our first ever two-guest episode we talk with two of the founders of the COG-TFI Survivors movement. Their mission is to spread awareness and bring justice to the survivors of the extremist cult, the Children of God. To expose their crimes, and appeal to authorities to take action against COG-TFI leaders and abusers. We have a chance to ask some tough questions and talk about w...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes we all need a little reminder that we’ve got this. In this episode, Whisper and Jemima share some affirmations that can give us that reminder. And in their signature fashion, throw in a little bit of everything as they wander around things off topic, catch up on their week and spend time laughing at themselves. So if you need a little break from your day, this episode is...

Send us Fan Mail "Grief does not change you. It reveals you.” -- John Green Grief and loss are things that we all face at some point in our life. But when losses come one after another, we can end up in grief overload. Melissa found herself facing this, having lost her mother and two brothers in a short period of time. But where many might have crumbled, Melissa found the strength to not only...

Send us Fan Mail This episode, come join us as we welcome Pride month, and chat about random things, including the definition of PTSD, CPTSD and Moral Injury.  Plus, we have some laughs as we discuss sexuality, jack hammers and carousels, caves, headlamps and rage rooms. We hope you’ll enjoy spending the evening with us!   - Whisper & Jemima https://linktr.ee/bnbravepodcast Support the show Su...

Send us Fan Mail Born into a fundamentalist Christian home, Tammie Willis knew coercion and control from a very young age. Kept busy with religious activities, school and church all day, she had little time for anything else. Leaving religion and deconstructing the trauma that she had experienced may have been easier if her life wasn't struck with tragedy in her teen years. Somehow she stumbl...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Pledger was born in a fundamentalist Christian home. He was home schooled and fully immersed in religion from a very young age.  When he began to question things in his teen years, he came to some conclusions that didn't quite line up with what he had been taught. He broke free from his religion and came out to the world as part of the LGBTQ+ community in a very dramat...

Send us Fan Mail Ashlee was only 16 when she met him. What appeared at first to be a fairytale romance, became a web of control growing over her life. The short-lived joy of a fancy car and new clothes came crashing down. Once things turned bloody, she knew she had to escape. Before it was too late. Ashlee's dramatic story became one of transformation and healing from12 years of chronic physi...

Send us Fan Mail We are officially one year old! And what a year it's been! We have been honored with the presence of so many survivors, heard stories that made us laugh and cry, and we've shared them with the world. Whisper and Jemima talk about some of the things that have surprised them the most about being podcasters, as well as some of the reasons we do this.  Support the show Suppo...