Initiated Survivor

Today your host Kelsey is joined by guest Olivia Pepper. Olivia is a star poet and hereditary Tarot reader, a practicing mystic and ritualist, and a community organizer building communities of justice through reconnection.

Topics/Triggers:

• The transition from victim to survivor
• The concept and term survivor itself, why it can be powerful but why it can also be limiting.
• Restorative justice and how speaking with other trauma victims can alleviate the loss of connection
• Societal roots of true community and healing.

Check out more from Olivia here!

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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

Find more Initiated Survivor content here https://www.initiatedsurvivor.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/initiatedsurvivor/

Today your host Kelsey is joined by guest Olivia Pepper. Olivia is a star poet and hereditary Tarot reader, a practicing mystic and ritualist, and a community organizer building communities of justice through reconnection.

Topics/Triggers:

• The transition from victim to survivor
• The concept and term survivor itself, why it can be powerful but why it can also be limiting.
• Restorative justice and how speaking with other trauma victims can alleviate the loss of connection
• Societal roots of true community and healing.

Check out more from Olivia here!

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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

Find more Initiated Survivor content here https://www.initiatedsurvivor.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/initiatedsurvivor/

Episode 5 is all about assumptions, the very best kind.

10 constructive assumptions about survivors.

These can help us be more effective at understanding the survivor experience to meet them where they are and potentially help aid in the recovery process. And to enable ourselves to take steps and actions to make a change.

Topics/Sneak Peak:

• The base truths we can lay as the foundation to respect and aid in the healing process for survivors of rape or sexual assault.
• Steps for survivors to reclaim power in their life.
• Why engaging in recovery work at any time is useful
• How life’s ups and downs hit differently for survivors.

Our original episode on why I believe all survivors.

Kimberle Crenshaw's article on Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.

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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

Today I meet with my good friend Sarahi Gutierrez, a licensed clinical social worker out of San Diego. She has a master’s from Columbia with an emphasis on DBT. She draws from her professional experiences and from her personal experiences as well. We discuss internalized gaslighting and how this presents for survivors and what to do about it. Topics/Triggers: What it looks like, what it means, what it is, and how do we know when it’s happening Discerning what is truly your truth  vs what has been driven into you Releasing shame around gaslighting by realizing it can be a survival mechanism How it can present itself in other scenarios like the workplace Ways to check in on yourself in situations where it arises Sarahi's Full Bio: Sarahi Gutierrez is a Licensed Clinicial Social Worker practicing out of San Diego, California. She received her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) at Columbia University in New York where her clinical training focused on evidence-based treatments, with an emphasis on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. She has a diverse background ranging from working with incarcerated youth, survivors of domestic violence, people recovering from addictions, and chronic mental health concerns including suicidal thoughts and self injury. Sarahi draws not only from her professional experiences but from her own journey as a survivor of childhood abuse.  She believes that healing comes in many forms. 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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists Find more Initiated Survivor content here https://www.initiatedsurvivor.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/initiatedsurvivor/

Find a quiet place to sit back and relax today with Kelsey's guided meditation on Finding Your Center. No matter your circumstances, taking these short eight minutes to check in with your body and self will prove essential for your soul.

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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

Find more Initiated Survivor content here https://www.initiatedsurvivor.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/initiatedsurvivor/

Your host Kelsey is sharing her personal survivor story.  Why is this important? Ultimately we want to end rape and all rape culture. And calling it out as it is is the first step.

Topics/Triggers:

• Who helped her along the way, who she couldn't turn to and why.
• How working with a psychiatrist and using prescribed meds aided in her recovery.
• The simplest ways her friends showed up for her in this time.
• The distractions that didn’t serve the process.
• Some very common survivor instincts she had and exhibited
• The forms of recovery that helped Kelsey reclaim herself and her power.

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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

Find more Initiated Survivor content here https://www.initiatedsurvivor.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/initiatedsurvivor/

We Believe All Survivors Kelsey and guest + fellow survivor Jesse discuss how and why survivor belief and understanding is pivotal not only to recovery but also ending rape culture in our world today. Topics/Triggers: The baseline for believing survivors How idolized figures often get free passes when it comes to rape culture The unspoken limits put on women in a male-dominated society Simple tools to make sexual assault and rape survivors feel more comfortable How sometimes survivors themselves have trouble believing their own story and are victims of their own “victim-blaming” or gas-lighting 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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists Find more Initiated Survivor content here https://www.initiatedsurvivor.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/initiatedsurvivor/

Kelsey delves deep into her understanding and beliefs on why she believes all survivors of any type of harassment or attack.

Topics/Triggers:

• The importance of this topic.
• Calling it out and naming it takes away some of its power.
• Reducing and eliminating the gaslighting the survivors feel.
• Restoring power too pressed communities and oppressed people.
• What a false allegation is and why it is terribly defined and tracked.
• The role trauma plays in reporting and recovery.

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 at https://hotline.rainn.org/ 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 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

Find more Initiated Survivor content here https://www.initiatedsurvivor.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/initiatedsurvivor/

References

https://www.rainn.org/statistics

https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_NSVRC_Overview_False-Reporting.pdf

Briefing, Country; Burman, Scotland; Lovett, M; Kelly, Liz (2009-04-01). Different systems, similar outcomes? Tracking attrition in reported rape cases in eleven countries

Heaney, Katie. (2018 ). Almost No One Is Falsely Accused of Rape, New York Magazine: The Cut.

Hutcherson, Audrey N. (2011). "Fact or Fiction?: Discriminating True and False Allegations of Victimization". Psychology of Victimization. Nova Science Publishers Inc. pp. 1–79

Lisak, David; Gardinier, Lori; Nicksa, Sarah C.; Cote, Ashley M. (2010). "False Allegations of Sexual Assualt [sic]: An Analysis of Ten Years of Reported Cases" (PDF). Violence Against Women. 16 (12): 1318–1334.

Nutt, Amy Ellis. (2016). A shocking number of college men surveyed admit to coercing a partner into sex. The Washington Post.

Spohn, Cassia; White, Clair; Tellis, Katharine (2014-03-01). "Unfounding Sexual Assault: Examining the Decision to Unfound and Identifying False Reports". Law & Society Review. 48 (1): 161–192.

Turvey, Brent E. (2013). Forensic Victimology: Examining Violent Crime Victims in Investigative and Legal Contexts. Academic Press.

Survivors of sexual assault face unique challenges in recovering from trauma and re-entering their lives. Clinical psychologist and survivor Kelsey Harper speaks directly to survivors and offers practical skills to reclaim their life. In this podcast, you will learn new skills to build a resilient life and gain inspiration from the community of survivors sharing their stories of grit and power.

PODCAST COMING SEPT 14th!