Initiated Survivor

Kristen Hogan was last seen on the podcast in "Good, Strong, and Brave with Kristen Hogan" where she recounted her experience with surviving intimate partner violence. As a founder of Good.Strong.Brave, Kristen wants to empower other women to feel good enough as they are. Part of that is having the resiliency to go on in spite of the trauma we as survivors have endured. It is from our pain that we gain wisdom about who we are and what the world is. But that wisdom can hold uncomfortable truths, and Kristen and I speak on how our worldviews changed after our encounters with sexual violence and why resiliency helped us stay on the path of healing.

Topics/Triggers:

• Resiliency
• Generational Trauma
• Sexual Assault on College Campuses + Consent
• Peter Levine, Ph.D's Somatic Experiencing
• Wisdom from Recovery
• The Desire to Change the World
• The Gateways to Surrender
• Path to Acceptance
• Being a Good Ally
• The Power of Words
• Dismantling the Patriarchy through Community

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

Radical Genuineness is a skill, principle, and personal value that focuses on saying what you mean as you are. It is directly tied to authenticity and honesty in your relationships. It was also something that was very difficult for me to accomplish in my own life, as I used to be afraid about sharing all of who I was with the people around me. With practice, I was slowly able to show up genuinely rather than simply placating people. I want you all to be able to do the same. So, in this skills spotlight, I break down what Radical Genuineness means and give you tips to accept yourself without judgement.

Topics/Triggers:

• Authenticity + Honesty
• Trauma
• Relationships
• Prioritizing the Needs of Others Over Our Own
• The Vulnerability of Being Yourself
• Survival Mode and Placating Others
• Flight, Fight, Fawn, and People Pleasing
• What We're Saying with Radical Genuineness
• How We're Saying Things with Radical Genuineness
• Accurate Expression
• Stephen King on the Important Things

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

Barb Jenkins was last on the podcast in 2022, in the episode "Reclaiming Justice". Now, she comes back on to share all that she has done to find a way back to herself again. Part of what she lost in her attack was the joy she had in her hobbies like volunteering. While she will never be the same person she used to be, she has found new ways to help other survivors and even make a change with perpetrators of sexual violence by going into prisons and educating them on rape culture.. She has reclaimed so much of her power, and now hopes to inspire others to continue on even if all hope seems lost.

Topics/Triggers:

• Reclaiming Hobbies
• Legal System Biases Against Survivors
• Finding Community
• Sharing Recovery Journeys
• The Supreme Court
• Finding Our True Selves Again
• Jane Doe No More
• JDNM Survivors Facebook Group
• "Burying Jane Doe: A Journey of Courage and Strength" by Barb Jenkins

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

These last few months I have taken a step back from several things in my life, due to a lot of overwhelming anxiety and fear. Even though I could logically understand that my feeling of doom was inaccurate, my body still felt as through something terrible was right around the corner. So how do you keep going when everything is falling apart? In this episode, I open up about how I personally got through this moment of anxiety and reached a place of safety again. If you are going through this now, please know I am keeping you and all of our fellow survivors in my heart. You can survive this.

At the episode, we have included our previously released "Bonus: Skills Spotlight- Mammalian Dive Reflex for Anxiety and Emotional Distress" where we walk through how to use our body’s natural survival mechanism, the Mammalian Dive Reflex, deliberately.

Topics/Triggers:

• Anxiety and Panic Attacks
• Social Supports
• Vulnerability
• Therapy
• Spiraling Thoughts
• Structure + Safety
• Survivor PTSD
• Medication
• Surrendering to the Moment
• The Mammalian Dive Reflex

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

Raina LaGrand (she/her) is a Mixed (Black and white) Queer therapist, coach, and speaker based in Ypsilanti, MI. In her practice she helps mixed people embody their identities with confidence and build the community they've always dreamed of. She also helps intergenerational couples have brave conversations about identity, family, trauma, boundaries, and more. In this episode, we discuss the loss of identity that follows a sexual assault, and how it resembled a controlled burn.

Topics/Triggers:

• Loss of Identity from Trauma
• Connection to Community
• Physical Reactions, Anxiety, and Bodily Discomfort
• Trauma as a Grief Experience
• The Controlled Burn of Rebuilding

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

You may remember Bobbie Becerra from her previous episode on Intimated Survivor, where she recounted her life and childhood abuse. She opened up about how she broke her own generational chains, and stopped her cycle of trauma. One of the essential steps in that was to let go of the societal pressure placed on survivors to forgive their abusers. Instead, Bobbie has adopted a method of reconciliation, where she recognizes the multiple truths she is living at one time. We share how our religious upbringing instilled the notion that to forgive was our duty, why our trauma interfered with that ability to forgive, and the natural human emotion that is anger.

Topics/Triggers:

• Christianity and Catholicism
• The Pressure to Forgive
• Childhood Abuse and Familial Sexual Assault
• Anger
• The Power of Reconciliation

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

In our last episode with Kat McGinty, we explored larger scale methods to creating survivor-safe communities. In this follow-up, I wanted to take the same topic down to an individual basis, and explore the ways that we as individuals can help create communities where survivors will feel safe. Following the publication of the Open Letter in Support of Amber Heard as well as the release of the film "She Said", I've been feeling a renewed hope for a sexual violence free future. In order to get to that world free of gender-based violence, we must all do the work to dismantle any prejudices we may have through thought diffusion and non-judgmental mindful stances. Topics/Triggers: Amber Heard Open Letter She Said (2022) Film about New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor Breaking the Story on Harvey Weinstein Why the Carceral System is Not the Solution Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence Saying the Uncomfortable Things Out Loud How White Feminism & White Supremacy Hurts Survivors Checking Our Privileges and Believing Survivors The Myths of a "Just World" and False Reports Non-judgmental Mindful Stances Going Against Our Automatic Thoughts + Beliefs ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review. If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory) Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

Kat McGinty was last on the podcast to share her recovery journey and how she went from survivor to thriver. Since then, Kat has created her own female-led production company to provide a safe space for other survivors in the entertainment industry. She takes us through her decision to start a business, her perspective on the Me Too movement from an insider's perspective, and what survivors can do for fellow survivors.

Topics/Triggers:

• Rape Culture
• Brett Kavanaugh, Harvey Weinstein, and The Me Too Movement
• Protecting Survivors First
• Sexual Assault in the Entertainment Industry
• Why Uma Thurman is Angry 
• The Connection Between Gender, Survivors, and Perpetrators
• Creating Our Own Safe Spaces
• Using Privilege to Aid Others

Check out and support Kat's new production company, Wandering Kat Media, here!

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

In episode 44, Olivia Pepper spoke on the heavy gifts that survivors receive throughout the "after". It made me look back on the first year of the podcast including my previous thoughts on believing all survivors — episodes 1 and 2 of Initiated Survivor, "Why I Believe All Survivors" and "We Believe All Survivors". In these early episodes, the strategies I spoke about were primarily on an individual level. But when believing all survivors takes the dismantling of far-reaching systemic injustices, what can we as individuals do? Listen to the full episode to find out.

Topics/Triggers:

• Rest & The future of this podcast
• The realities of trauma recovery
• Reclaiming our power and community
• The myth of false reports
• The status quo of misogyny
• How rape culture responds to allegations of sexual assault
• The pathologizing of survivors
• White female privilege
• Why some believe sexual assault is an "anomaly"
• The trauma of reporting to a carceral state

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!

Olivia Pepper is returning to Initiated Survivor after their previous episode, "Nurturing Trauma Through Community", where they spoke about their transition from victim to survivor. In this episode, Olivia has returned to tell more about their recovery journey and how the process of healing themselves has led them to activism for others. We speak on community, the work of those that came before us, and how to best show up for survivors. They share with us their vision of the future, why they have been driven to action, and what they want other survivors to know.

Topics/Triggers:

• Childhood sexual molestation
• Recovering lost memories
• Fear of sexual relationships
• Date rape
• Intimate partner violence
• Rape culture
• Take Back the Night Foundation
• Political activism and systemic change
• Taboos
• Supreme Court nominations and rulings
• Tori Amos, the first national spokesperson for the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, RAINN

Find out more about Olivia here! 

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If you took anything away from today’s podcast, please share it with someone who may need to hear it. And if you really want to support the podcast please give us a rate/review.

If you or anyone you know is suffering through trauma contact the National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or online for 24/7 support. (This podcast is not a replacement for psychotherapy or mental health care. You can obtain a referral for mental health care provider from your primary care physician, or search on Psychology Today’s Find a Therapist directory)

Find more Initiated Survivor content here and on Instagram!