This Is Actually Happening

As a teenager struggling with severe depression and anxiety, a woman finds dance as her only outlet, but on a night that is lost to memory, a horrific accident transforms her body, her brain and her identity.   Today's episode featured Desiree Ford. You can find out more about her on Instagram @fesireedord. Out of their experience of the accident, Desiree and her mother have also begun holdin...

A man tries to put the pieces of his life back together after growing up with a mother who suffered from severe OCD and anorexia.   Today’s guest requested to remain anonymous, but if you’d like to reach out to him directly you can email him at viking0531@gmail.com.   Content/Trigger Warnings:  severe eating disorder, anorexia, OCD, sexually explicit material, mention of suicide, ex...

A woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder experiences a roller coaster of destroyed relationships and mental storm, but after stabilizing through therapy and medication her mentally compromised mother makes an accusation that cannot be revoked. Content/Trigger Warnings:  mental illness, domestic abuse, explicit language   Producers:  Whit Missildine, Jason Blalock   Social Media:...

Growing up Black and queer in the South, a man finds an identity for himself through the arts and establishes a wonderful marriage with children, until one day, when his husband is late coming home, there’s a ring at the door and his entire life unravels.   Content/Trigger Warnings:  use of a derogatory racial slur, use of a derogatory homophobic slur, mention of gun violence, mention of...

Coming from a charmed, conservative, Catholic upbringing, a woman must confront her deepest beliefs as she struggles with the reality and implications of the most devastating news a mother can receive.   Content/Trigger Warnings:  traumatic pregnancy, death of an infant, explicit language   Producer:  Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits   Social Media: Instagram: @actuallyhappen...

After surviving a chaotic and abusive upbringing, a woman develops an undiagnosable autoimmune disorder that threatens to take her vision and her livelihood, but when a friend brings a blow-up doll to play a practical joke one night, everything changes.  Today’s episode featured Gina Hessburg. You can find out more about her and Rafael on Instagram @blowinguprafael or on her website, blowingu...

Bill Mitchell built a successful career, marriage and family, but just as his bright and loving daughter graduates from college with big dreams, an unthinkable event irreversibly changes everything.  Today’s episode featured Bill Mitchell. Bill has a book and podcast, both called When Dating Hurts. You can find out more about Bill, his book and his podcast, all at whendatinghurts.com . You ca...

Always feeling she had failed the ideals of her strict Muslim, South Asian family and community, a woman struggles to navigate trauma, shame and self-expression, when unexpected news forces her into a powerful reckoning. Today‘s episode featured Azzah Ahmad. You can find out more about Azzah by visiting her Instagram page @Lifeazziknowit. Content/Trigger Warnings:  sexual abuse of a minor, su...

A woman struggling to find herself finally discovers a place where she belongs and forms a deep friendship, but when she experiments with a powerful psychedelic the experience reveals more than she bargained for. Today's episode featured Ash Stryker. You can find out more about Ash and see her illustration and artwork by going to her website: ashstryker.com/   Content/Trigger Warnings: ...

A man struggles to free himself from his father’s iron grip on the family, but when an unsettling truth about his past is revealed, his entire life comes into focus. Today's storyteller was originally featured on the incredible podcast, The Secret Room, created and hosted by Ben Hamm. Ben's guests share stories they've never told before, giving you a front row seat to the hidden lives of...

After a woman’s Mormon family falls apart following the death of her father, her mother brings her to a Scientology Center where she leaves everything behind. Today’s episode featured Katherine Mcelhinny. If you’d like to reach out to her, you can email at canadiankat9@icloud.com . She also has a gofundme page. If you’d like to donate to her, you can do so here: https://gofund.me/3ab57d56   C...

After growing up queer with a complicated father in the 1960s, a man forges his own path, identity and career in the arts, but suddenly, after a routine surgery, he wakes up unable to move.  . Today’s episode featured John Killacky. You can find out more about John by going to  johnkillacky.com  with links to his book, “because art: commentary, critique, & conversation” as well...

A woman falls deeply in love with a married man in her close friend’s circle, when suddenly an unthinkable event throws everything into question.    . . “Of all the cruel things for the universe to do…Why? Why on earth would the universe do this, and what is this supposed to teach me? What does it mean?” Today’s guest requested to remain anonymous, but if you’d like to reach out to...

“It’s like trying to go into like a dark cave with a rope attached to you so that you can find your way back and then losing that the end of the rope.”   Producer:  Whit Missildine   Episode Summary: Following a tumultuous upbringing, a woman begins confronting the complexities of her identity and self-destructive tendencies, when all of a sudden, devastating bouts of Premenstrual D...

“My personhood had been shattered into a thousand pieces that I and my family were left to pick up one at a time.”   Today's episode features Olivia Wilder. You can find out more about Olivia on Instagram @all.in.amputee   Producer:  Whit Missildine   Episode Summary: After self-medicating for years to cope with the emotional aftermath of an abusive, religious upbringing, a wom...

“These are open ended wounds that you have to patch up, but how do you patch them up? How do you make it okay.” Today’s episode featured Diamond Garrett. Diamond is currenting starting a small business to provide products, services, and resources for disabled individuals to make their lives easier as wheelchair users. If you’d like to donate to support her vision and her small business, go to...

“Living in a constant state of anxiety does something to you…I’m not able to live, I’m not able to love, I’m not able to thrive.” Today's guest requested to remain anonymous, however, if you'd like to reach to him, you can email at: k.parker007@live.com.   Producers:  Whit Missildine   Episode Summary: A boy grows up in a household devastated by AIDS, opening a downward spiral of lo...

“You were in this abyss of darkness and the hardest part was not knowing…not knowing at all if you’re going to live or die or when or how.”   Today's episode featured Marina Nemat. You can find out more about Marina and her story by going to  marinanemat.com . There you can find contact information and more about her two books, 'Prisoner of Tehran', and 'After Tehran: A Life Re...

“We had such a sense of safety and comfort and then…it was like everything changes and you can’t go back.” Today's guest requested to remain anonymous. But if you'd like to reach out to her, you can email at  ca.hummingbird.1970@gmail.com .   Producers:  Whit Missildine   Episode Summary: A woman struggles to find herself among her mother’s multiplying crises that always s...

“When there’s some trauma, you have a poison within you….If you leave it there it’s going to ferment and take over your life and your body….You need to take this out by speaking it.” Today's episode featured Sonia Acevedo. If you'd like to reach out to her, you can find her on LinkedIn Under Sonia Acevedo - AKA Sony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-acevedo-aka-sony-6352aa29/ .   If you'd li...

“A family tree is not permanent…You’re allowed to trim some branches.” Today’s guest requested to remain anonymous. But if you’d like to reach out to her, you can email at thisisactuallyhappening235@gmail.com   Producers:  Whit Missildine, Jason Blalock   Episode Summary: After growing up with a patriarchal Christian family, a woman grapples with her father losing touch with reality...

“To feel like at any moment something tragic could happen put me in a deep, deep cloud as far as who I am, what can I be, and what could I have been.”   Today’s guest requested to remain anonymous. But if you’d like to reach out to him, you can email at njsfil1972@gmail.com   Producers:  Whit Missildine, Jason Blalock   Episode Summary: Growing up Jewish and surviving the twin...

“It honestly felt like my whole life had just gone from this amazing color filled motion picture to just going into something so black and white…just feeling so alone all of the time.”   Today’s episode featured Evelyn. You can reach out to her through email at everetdev@gmail.com    Producers:  Whit Missildine, Sara Marinelli   Episode Summary: Growing up in a loving Mexi...

“The feeling of unknowing while you’re going through that is probably the strongest, most terrifying feeling I’ve ever felt.”   Today’s episode featured Matt Boman. You can find out more about Matt on Instagram @studioboman  , on his website, studioboman.com, and you can check out his car’s tik tok page @the_namastang  . If you’d like to contact him directly, you can email him at ma...

“I was just terrified, just the not knowing what was happening or what was even going on in my own body…and I was so confused and hurt and scared.”   Producers:  Whit Missildine, Sara Marinelli   Episode Summary: Just before coming into adolescence, a young girl experiences an unspeakable trauma, but a bigger horror begins once she reveals her secret.   Social Media: Instagram:...