Dear Katie: Survivor Stories

At 11, Margaret begins to understand and come to terms with new feelings from her childhood; during a class on child abuse, she realizes that she was molested. In a painful journey of vulnerability, she shares her experience with her parents and best friend but doesn't feel perfect enough to share her story with the world. An Olympic swimmer who sought solace in the water, Margaret eventually real...

“No one ever regrets fighting the good fight, whether it is for yourself or for your children.” In this episode, Amanda Lee (Bubbles & Bubbly in a Bottle) discusses her experience with justice. To bring an expert perspective into the conversation, we invite Michael Lesher, a lawyer and writer, to discuss the American justice system. Michael has authored publications focused on the experiences...

As a boy, Greg was groomed by an older friend, who showed him pornography for the first time and pushed him to engage in sexual acts. He struggled to accept that this abuse happened to him as a man and couldn’t share his experience for a decade. As a young adult, Marcel suffered intense physical and sexual abuse after being held at gunpoint by an invader. His faith allowed him to survive the traum...

Struggling to find community in her first year of college, Kate finds support in her sister's ex-boyfriend, who had been friends with her since her high school years. He takes her to a concert, an experience she had been yearning for, only to pull her away to the school jacuzzis. After an uncomfortable pushing of boundaries, she asks to be taken home, only for him to take her to his house. Kate tr...

Drinking himself to sleep every night as a young teen, we rejoin Isaac at the beginning of his journey toward healing. In the second part of his powerful interview, he shares more about the psychological toll of sexual violence and the progressive decline in his mental health. Turning toward recovery in the hospital, Isaac talks about coping mechanisms, looking for help, and learning the language...

“I could not tell another living person about what happened to me.” Invited to a house party by his older boyfriend, 14-year-old Isaac is used to sneaking out to enjoy the college scene. His sense of youthful invincibility is quickly sabotaged by a man who targets him when he is alone. Overpowered by the scent of Old Spice and smothered by a pillow, his experiences become entangled with feelings o...

Smitten with her new boyfriend, young Brooke plans to skip school to meet her beau in the city. A good student, she changes her mind to focus on her upcoming quiz, much her sweetheart's annoyance. When she does see him, he berates her for her choices; she begins to search for a way out, but he corners her in the bedroom. Paralyzed with fear, she is smothered by him as he forces himself on her. Fur...

Lauren's job as a photographer for the university sports teams leads her to meet a football player she comes to think of as her best friend. She welcomes him into her home, and though he called her his “sister”, he takes advantage of her trust and assaults her on her favorite green sheets. When Lauren reports the assault to Title IX, the university fails shield her from the hostility of her abuser...

Jumping in the car with some friends, Jennifer finds herself the target of a new acquaintance. To cope with the shame and pain, she turns to alcohol and drugs, becoming an addict before she starts 7th grade. After 10 years of active addiction, she ends up in rehab where she was able to start her journey to sobriety and healing. Now, Jennifer Storm is 25 years sober, a published author, and has bee...

Insidious and powerful, the La Luz del Mundo Megachurch's indoctrination permeates Alethea's community for generations. The good girl of her church choir, she finds herself the target of the second apostle's grooming at the age of 11, with her family coaching her to search for salvation in church leadership. Immersed in the disturbing culture where young girls urge to serve their leader unconditio...

“It's never going to happen again. I am going to get help.” The most dangerous words an abuser can say. After the first time her ex-partner got physical, Amanda stayed with him, trapped until he forced her hand and put the kids in danger. Surviving through the mayhem of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of someone she was supposed to trust, she tells her story of resilience, looking to comfor...

A soldier, author, and poet, Jacob Patchen writes deeply emotional stories exploring abuse, family, and mental health. Using his experiences as a combat veteran and youth counselor, he weilds the pen as a tool for inspiring hope and bravery. Jacob's works include Words That Matter, Of Love and War, and At Daddy's Hands: Courage Knows No Age. Find out more about Jake and his inciting fiction and pr...

Tracy stumbles frantically into her daughter’s bathroom at TCU finding her slumped in the shower, wearing a t-shirt, and unresponsive. Minutes later, the authorities arrive, her daughter is pronounced dead, and Tracy’s life is changed forever. After investigation, it is determined that her daughter was raped and strangled by a man with not one, but two, prior sexual assault allegations filed again...

“I can’t play the game anymore” – After suffering abuse from both her first boyfriend and her first music producer in her final years of high school, Rachele Royale speaks out about what it means to recognize and heal from generational abuse, as well as the seemingly inexorable experience of sexual violence and womanhood. An independent singer, actress and dancer, she paints a vision of cooperatio...

'I don't want to be strong anymore - but what are the options? I have to be strong because I'm forced to be.' When the opportunity to promote and discuss her book Melanin knocks on the Marie’s door, so do the hands of a man who can’t understand the word 'no'. Her host creates an environment of discomfort - until she steps up and pushes pack. Marie shares the inner conflict of being a strong black...

The bad boys are interesting, adventurous, and far more exciting the a run-of-the-mill accountant - or so Kristin thought. He quickly becomes controlling, preventing her from going out and trying to force her to stop her medication. Kristin's mental health becomes a vulnerability, a target for her abuser to leverage; however, as she heals, she finds a support system that empowers her to return to...

This week, we host Nicole Matthews, Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition and proud descendant of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She describes the ripples of violence that colonization have sent through communities across the United States, naming the intersectional nature of violence against native women. To truly understand and enact change, we must acknowl...

On the first day of class, Laura sits in the back of the room, distracted by the summer heat, when her ex-boyfriend saunters in. Still friends, they hang out until the last day of class, when he invites her to celebrate with a cup of wine. Within 2 sips, she falls back and the hem of her pink skirt is seared into her mind as the last memory of the night, still present now 35 years later. Today, La...

At thirteen, Ray meets a new boy in her class, bumbling into her first awkward tween relationship. Her inexperience quickly becomes a vulnerability, and her new beau takes advantage of her naïveté to manipulate her into sexual activity. Blindsided by these new experiences, Ray's encounters with her young abuser become the subject of scrutiny as her school questions her story. Today, she shares her...

A frog thrown in boiling water will jump out. But a frog put in a pot of water and heated to boiling will die. Author Kelly Sundberg describes her relationship with her husband, and how an initially innocent relationship slowly morphs into a storm of fear and violence. At first, her strength masks her suffering, but in the end, it saves her. Today, Kelly shares her story of abuse, survival, and li...

Trauma often causes a disconnect between the body and mind; to protect ourselves from the horrors of the present, we inhibit our ability to feel. However, this can prevent us from developing the emotional resilience to find our way out of our place of pain. A survivor of suicide, Matthew Green has created a path to healing from this inner discord. In this episode, he discusses his work with 5th Pl...

Sleeping in the hallway at 12, Ken remembers mysteriously waking without pajamas, finding a family friend touching him. Threatened by the perpetrator to keep his silence, he suffers years of violence, finding golf as a refuge while isolated in a foreign country.  Now, as a professional golfer, he shares his journey climbing his way out from pain, triumphing over the mental health challenges throug...

From homeless to hero, Michael Unbroken is the author of the best-selling book Think Unbroken and is a coach, mentor, and educator for adult survivors of child abuse. He spends his time helping other survivors get out of "The Vortex" to become the HERO of their story! Michael hosts The Think Unbroken podcast and is on a mission to end generational trauma in his lifetime through education and infor...

New to the college dating scene, Sarah is excited to experience all of hookup culture and lose her virginity. They find themselves in a casual relationship with a frat boy who pushes their boundaries over and over again. Sarah runs those moments through her mind, doubting whether it was her fault, and quickly finds herself experiencing the darker sides of fraternity brotherhood and a sexually char...

Barely old enough to form memories, Beth lies in fear in her bed, night after night. Her seemingly perfect family hides a dark core, burying her in psychological and sexual trauma. She emerges from her childhood a survivor, poet, and advocate, writing a path to strength and healing.  Hosts: Claire Kaplan and Katie Koestner Editor: Craig Stanton Producer: Emily Wang