Trauma Candy Salad

For over 20 years, Abbey survived what most people can’t imagine: a marriage defined by physical abuse, emotional trauma, mental manipulation, financial control, and the devastating pain of being cut off from her children. Across this two-part series, Abbey tells the story of how abuse slowly becomes your normal, how isolation becomes a weapon, and what it really takes to leave a partner who has c...

At 19, Ivy thought she’d found safety in an older man who showed up for her when she was hurting. Instead, she walked straight into the perfect storm of grooming, love bombing, emotional control, and drug-fueled dependence. In this episode, Sammi, Ashley, and Ivy sit down for a raw and vulnerable conversation about: • The love bombing that hooked her in • The 17-year age gap and how it created con...

This week’s Trauma Candy Salad is a mix of heartbreak, healing, and a little Gorilla Glue. 🍬 Sammi shares Ginny’s story — a daughter raised by a teen mom who sacrificed everything, only to lose her too soon. Ashley reads a gut-wrenching account from Tomorrow Girl, who escaped an abusive relationship and found her way back to herself. And Kyle rounds it out with Gorilla Glue’s chaotic tale of chil...

This week on Trauma Candy Salad, Sammi, Ashley, and Kyle serve up a full three-course meal of chaos — featuring gaslighting boyfriends, fake best friends, and workplace Chads who just won’t quit. 🍬 On the menu: • A “good guy” boyfriend caught on Grindr (and a group chat cleanup that deserves an award) • A best friend who turned out to be a full-blown frenemy • And one woman’s “Roman Empire” — wat...

This week on Trauma Candy Salad, Sammi, Ashley, and Kyle unpack three powerful listener stories that will hit you right in the gut — and maybe even make you laugh through the tears. 🍑 Story 1: A wife discovers the man she married becomes unrecognizable after kids — controlling her finances, her freedom, and nearly breaking her spirit. 🍬 Story 2: A son relives the devastating year his mother went...

We’re finally back with a brand new episode of The Aftertaste! In this bonus episode of Trauma Candy Salad, hosts Sammi, Ashley, and Rachel catch up on two unforgettable listener stories — and things get delightfully off the rails. From emotional story updates to total sibling chaos, this episode has everything: laughter, closure, and way too many tangents. Whether you’re here for the follow-ups o...

In today’s episode of Trauma Candy Salad, we’re unpacking three powerful stories of family rejection, abandonment, and the unexpected places love can be found. 🍬 Pink Starbursts: A boy comes out to his mother, only to be met with cruelty and violence. What begins as abuse ends in an unexpected and shocking twist of fate. 🍫 Chocolate Covered Almonds: A child abandoned by their father grapples wit...

This week, things are different. No listener submissions—just us, sitting down with our very first guest, Rachel. If you’ve listened to Trauma Candy Salad, you’ve heard her name before. Ashley and I used to work with Rachel, but we never knew the full story she carried: a lifelong battle with depression that began in childhood and followed her into adulthood. Rachel opens up about navigating life...

Today’s episode of Trauma Candy Salad is a wild ride through the spectrum of “are you kidding me?” moments — from career heartbreaks to shocking betrayals, and one story that’s straight out of a soap opera. 💼 First up, “Open To Work” shares her story of pouring her heart into not one but two dream jobs — only to be laid off from both. 🧠 Then, an anonymous listener opens up about the gut-wrenchin...

Today’s Trauma Candy Salad dives into the complicated, painful, and unforgettable ways fathers shape our lives—for better and for worse. From a dad who gambled away his daughter’s future, to a Navy childhood shattered by unthinkable violence, to the haunting memory of losing a father to suicide, this episode explores the lasting scars left behind. As always, we mix in a little sweetness with the c...

In this episode of Trauma Candy Salad, Sammi, Ashley, and Kyle share stories that highlight what it means to witness trauma and carry its impact into adulthood. • Brennon (🍫 Hershey’s with Almonds) recounts the years he watched his father abuse his mother, the complicated grief of losing her to illness, and the lifelong perspective that experience left behind. • Turtle Girl (🍭 DumDums) takes us...

This week on Trauma Candy Salad, we’re diving into stories of love that endured, love that vanished, and love that still lingers long after loss. Jim shares his moving story of caring for his wife through Huntington’s disease until her final breath. Helen opens up about the heartbreak of being ghosted by the man she thought she’d marry. And Grandma June tells us about the sudden loss of her husban...

This week on Trauma Candy Salad, the stories cut deep. Jumpy shares how her sister dismissed her pain after years of abuse, Gabe opens up about losing his best friend to the same partner who broke him down, and Jamberry reflects on a childhood scarred by betrayal and silence. Together, we unpack what it means to be hurt by the very people we thought would protect us—and how those wounds echo long...

In this week’s Trauma Candy Salad, we’re joined by stories that travel across borders and back into childhood bedrooms. Omari shares the bittersweet push and pull of leaving Guinea for freedom in Europe, only to find himself battling loneliness, language barriers, and the ache of being “different.” Halo opens up about the lasting imprint of growing up in a chaotic home, where silence feels like da...

In this week’s episode of Trauma Candy Salad, we sit down together again to share three powerful and very different stories of survival, abandonment, and the quiet hurts that stay with us. • Runner Girl brought Tootsie Rolls and told us about the night she ran barefoot from her abuser, and how the bruises faded long before the fear. • Juniper shared her story with Jolly Ranchers by her side, about...

With Kyle away on vacation, Sammi and Ashley welcome back our good friend Jess for a deeply personal and raw episode of Trauma Candy Salad. Today’s stories explore the tangled complexities of identity, survival, and friendship—told through the eyes of three storytellers who have lived them. Grace shares her journey of growing up under the crushing weight of religious shame, learning to see love no...

🖤 This week on Trauma Candy Salad, we’re joined by a new guest host, Ivy, while Kyle is off on vacation. Sammi, Ashley, and Ivy bring three deeply personal stories to the table—each one a window into survival, resilience, and the quiet work of rebuilding after trauma. In today’s episode, you’ll hear: • A woman’s harrowing first date that ended in an assault—but also introduced her to the man who...

In this episode, the siblings of Trauma Candy Salad are back together to share three harrowing listener stories that explore what happens when the people meant to protect us become the ones who hurt us most. From childhood abuse and fear-driven obedience, to the loss of a mother struggling with addiction, to the pain of forced separation and emotional abandonment during a teen pregnancy, each stor...

While Ashley is out sick, Sammi’s best friend Jessica—who also happens to be Phil’s sister-in-law—steps in for a deeply meaningful episode. (Fun fact: without Jessica, there’d be no Trauma Candy Salad at all.) This week, we read three submissions that explore the quieter sides of trauma: emotional neglect in a marriage, caregiver guilt and exhaustion, and the lifelong ripple effects of childhood a...

Ashley’s out sick this week, so our producer Phil steps in to help share three stories about complicated love, quiet resilience, and the way our past can shape us. This one’s tender, a little heavy, and full of heart. 🍬 Follow us @TraumaCandySaladPod 🖤 Submit your story at TraumaCandySalad.comNeed support? You’re not alone. Here are some trusted mental health resources: • 988 Lifeline – Call or...

This one’s for the originals. 💌 Today we’re sharing stories from two of the first people who ever trusted us with their trauma—before Trauma Candy Salad was even a podcast. There’s childhood betrayal, broken bones, grief, and one very questionable car ride. But more than that, there’s survival—and the full-circle reminder that being believed can change everything. ⚠️ TW: Sexual abuse, neglect, su...

In this episode of Trauma Candy Salad, we’re diving into three unforgettable stories that remind us healing is rarely linear and sometimes it starts with a missed period, a fatal accident, or being forced to grow up too fast. From discovering you’re not the only one he’s raw-dogging (spoiler: he’s gross), to navigating grief, guilt, and complicated friendships, to a lifetime of generational trauma...

Some stories don’t end when the episode does. In this first installment of The Aftertaste , we revisit two unforgettable submissions—one about a mother who gave up her child and lied about it until her death, and another about a survivor who was sent on the road with her abuser by the very person who was supposed to protect her. These follow-ups go deeper, adding painful, powerful context and the...

Some stories change you. Others haunt you forever. In this emotionally charged episode of Trauma Candy Salad, Sammi, Ashley, and Kyle share three submissions that span the spectrum of human trauma - from a shocking tragedy rooted in PTSD, to a childhood lost to systemic abuse, to a soul-crushing toxic workplace. These are the kinds of stories that sit with you long after the episode ends. 💥 Trigg...

In part two of our Traumatic Birth Stories series, we dive even deeper into the devastating reality of being dismissed, unheard, and endangered while giving birth. From ignored pain and misdiagnosed conditions to fatal medical negligence, these stories reveal the brutal consequences when doctors refuse to listen. One mother nearly lost her life after a massive postpartum hemorrhage. Another was se...