Amish Entrepreneur Show with Torah Bontrager

This panel features memoir authors who are all sexual assault survivors.

The discussion centers around gratitude for the #MeToo movement, the everyday and extraordinary women speaking out relentlessly, and how we see societal support to eradicate sexual assault and uplift survivors.

Torah selected gratitude as the theme in light that March is Women’s History Month and that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

PANEL/WEBINAR DETAILS:

Panel Members: Lisa Zarcone, Cameron Altaras, and Torah Bontrager

1. What are you most grateful for in terms of the MeToo movement?

2. How sustainable do you feel the MeToo movement is? E.g., Is it going to eventually fizzle out or is it here to stay?

3. In light that it was Women’s History Month in March and that MeToo is led by women, who are you most grateful for post-assault in helping you in your journey?

4. What’s one easy thing that any non-survivor can do to help raise awareness about sexual assault?

5. What impacts do you hope to see the MeToo movement have on the next generation? And what do you hope the next generation will do differently?

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping at Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Lisa (Author, Speaker & Advocate):

www.lisazarcone.net

A wife, mother of three, and grandmother of three, Lisa Zarcone took all of her past experiences of her personal trauma and abuse and wrote a detailed memoir of her life. She shares her story through the eyes of a child: "HERS". She gives the reader a firsthand view of abuse through the child’s perspective. This is a very raw and real look at her life as it played out.

Lisa is currently the Massachusetts National Ambassador for NAASCA (National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse). She is spreading awareness for child safety/abuse and mental health Illness/stigmas. She travels all over to publicly speak as she is working towards raising awareness, educating people, and promoting change in a very flawed system. Too many children continue to fall through the cracks. She continues to work effortlessly as this is her passion, mission and goal to break the silence.

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Connect with Cameron (Writer & Speaker):

www.TorahBontrager.com/Cameron-Altaras

Cameron Altaras was raised Mennonite in Ontario, Canada and her mother was an Amish escapee. Childhood sexual abuse by her teenaged uncle set her on a path of further abuse, including at the hands of a highly revered, now deceased Mennonite pastor, Vernon Leis. She went through the Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada (MCEC) leadership’s clergy misconduct process regarding this “Mennonite Harvey Weinstein” under whose grooming process she fell victim in her twenties. She gathered a supportive group of family, friends, and former MCEC leaders around her and together, they plodded through six years of tough challenges before the MCEC finally publicized the crimes.

Cameron holds a PhD in Religion from the University of Toronto. Her dissertation focussed on the critical theory of the Frankfurt School with regard to the ideological manipulation of power in religion and art. Before her retirement, she worked in Business Ethics. You can find out more about her at www.TorahBontrager.com/book, where there’s a link to the speech she delivered at the 2015 Annual SNAP Conference in Washington, DC: “Sex with a Pastor Is Never an Affair”.

Rachel Halder is a Sacred Sexuality Specialist/Coach and Founder of Our Stories Untold, a blog dedicated to sharing the stories of Mennonite/Anabaptist sexual assault survivors and raising awareness and healing around the topic of sexualized violence in the Mennonite Church.

Rachel has since stepped down from that project and is now helping people bridge their spirituality with their sexuality through a proven step-by-step methodology that utilizes modern neuroscience, shadow work, underworld journeying, and ancient Tantric and Taoist techniques to transform trauma, heal sexual wounds, and tap into the natural pleasure and ecstatic capacities within the body.

She went to Goshen College for her undergraduate degree, holds a Masters of Religion degree from Claremont School of Theology where she studied the topics of sexuality, religion, and trauma healing, completed 600 hours of coaching training with the Tantric Institute of Integrated Sexuality, and is the author of the *free* ebook Sacred, Sexy, and Whole: Undressing Purity Culture, Redressing Redemption.

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping at Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Rachel:

www.RachelHalder.com

Mary Kathryn Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. She is also a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault.

Nagle has authored numerous briefs in federal appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Nagle studied theater and social justice at Georgetown University as an undergraduate student, and received her J.D. from Tulane Law School where she graduated summe cum laude and received the John Minor Wisdom Award. She is a frequent speaker at law schools and symposia across the country. Her articles have been published in law review journals including the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, Yale Law Journal (online forum), Tulsa Law Review, and Tulane Law Review, among others.

 

Nagle is an alumn of the 2012 PUBLIC THEATER Emerging Writers Group, where she developed her play Manahatta in PUBLIC STUDIO (May 2014). Productions include Miss Lead (Amerinda, 59E59, January 2014), and Fairly Traceable (Native Voices at the Autry, March 2017), Sovereignty (Arena Stage), and Manahatta (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). In 2019, the Rose Theater (Omaha, NE) will produce her new play Return to Niobrara, and Portland Center Stage will produce the world premiere of Crossing Mnisose.

 

Nagle has received commissions from Arena Stage (Sovereignty), the Rose Theater (Return to Niobrara, Omaha, Nebraska), Portland Center Stage (Mnisose), Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Yale Repertory Theatre (A Pipe for February).

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Please catch Mary Kathryn's play Manahatta, running through October 2018

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Ashland, Oregon

https://www.osfashland.org/en/productions/2018-plays/manahatta.aspx

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping at Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Mary Kathryn:

Twitter: @MKNagle

www.pipestemlaw.com/attorney/mary-kathryn-nagle

Kenneth Copp is a rare (former) convert into the Amish church, who now calls himself an Amish atheist. Kenneth builds handcrafted, solid wood Amish-style heirloom furniture, powered by real workhorses in an effort to produce goods in the most sustainable way possible. His shop is Locust Grove Woodworks in Maine.

In this episode (Part 1 of his story), we cover what prompted him to join the Old Order Amish church as a teenager and then what the single defining reason was for him to exit the church at age 38. Via his journey, we cover fascinating pieces of Anabaptist origins and history, including the myriad factions of Amish and Mennonite branches of Anabaptistism and some of their governing structures––and even a look at Amish fashion.

In Part 2, we go in-depth in the freethinking, or rationalization, that led to Kenneth’s resignation of religious beliefs, and why he still identifies as Amish. And, Kenneth learned the Amish language and still speaks it, no small feat for an outsider.

Kenneth, raised Pentecostal, considered joining the Holdeman Mennonites who claim to be the one and only true church. From there, he joined the Beachy Amish, and then converted into the Old Order Amish.

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Questions about Torah?

Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Kenneth:

www.locustgrovewoodworks.com

Bridie Farrell is a former US National Speedskating Team Member and the founder of NY Loves Kids. When she was 15 years old, she was sexually abused by Andy Gabel, a 33-year-old and the #1 speedskater in the US at the time.

In this episode, Bridie and Torah talk about how difficult it is for adult victims or survivors to come forward, even celebrities who have teams of lawyers, assistants, and PR to help them with what to say. Child victims have no such backing, so it’s upon us adults to speak out on behalf of children everywhere.

Bridie shares how we can help change the laws and raise awareness about sexual assault statistics by sending simple, easy tweets while binge-watching the Winter Olympics or our favorite TV shows. If you do nothing else, tweeting a statistic at your state senators every time you watch a show is enough. You will do more good and create more change than you realize if you’re as committed to tweeting stats as you are to binge-watching.

For a list of Tweetable statistics, check out http://www.TorahBontrager.com/FREE or follow the podcast on Instagram @OurAmishNation www.Instagram.com/OurAmishNation

ACTION STEPS:

Send/schedule a daily Tweet/Gram to @NewYorkGOP or your State senator:

1. Did you know that 8 minutes ago, a child in our country was sexually abused? What are you doing about it?

2. Every 8 minutes a child is sexually assaulted, 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 3 girls. What are you doing about it?

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Bridie:

www.bridiefarrell.com and www.NYloveskids.org

Author, Trauma Recovery Speaker, Military Veteran & Radio Host Sean Wyman shares his story of overcoming childhood abuse (C-PTSD) and 30 years of barricaded hate. He believes it is inside of all of us to live the life we want to live.

Sean understands adversity very well. From an abusive childhood, contemplating murder at age 10, growing up in foster care and group homes, experimenting with drugs and getting addicted to cigarettes and alcohol at 13, a near death experience in the Army at 21, failing in his first marriage going $96,000 in debt by age 27, and failing miserably for his first years getting started in business.

Today, his work focuses on helping others who have experienced trauma by letting go through his 8-Step Movement Process.

Sean is the author of the book “Let Go: The Movement Process” available on Amazon.

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Sean:

www.seanwyman.com

Author, Speaker & Natural Mommy Blogger Lindsay Gibson shares her story about loss of innocence through rape, attempted murder, and the death of her baby. The loss of her child caused her to seek answers. That led her to include healing the body and becoming certified as a Trauma Yoga Instructor.

Today, her greatest desire is to help women who have experienced trauma and grief through loss to heal and become all that they are created to be: healthy, vibrant people.

Lindsay is the author of the memoir “Just Be: How my Stillborn Son Taught Me to Surrender” available March 20. You can preorder now.

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Lindsay:

www.lindsaymariegibson.com

Dr. Glen Brooks explains, based on decades of ketamine research, why post-traumatic stress isn't a chemical imbalance and really much more of a structural problem. He explains how ketamine can fix the neurons in our mood centers so that we PTSD sufferers can have a normal mood again.

Ketamine is a very good drug and it’s a very safe drug. Dr. Brooks' success rate is 85% to 90% for someone under age 30. And between ages 30 and 50, the success rate is 80%. For over 50, the success rate is worth giving ketamine a try if nothing else has worked for you.

Unfortunately there’s a lot of material about ketamine that frighten patients and frighten the parents of young adults who should be coming in for treatment. There’s always the argument that ketamine is a recreational and addictive drug and that we don’t know the long-term consequences of using ketamine. Well, that's just plain incorrect. We do know the long-term consequences and there are no bad ones. No addiction comes from any of the clinics that administer ketamine properly. There’s absolutely no dependence on this drug at all.

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Dr. Brooks: www.nyketamine.com

Glen Z. Brooks, MD. has dedicated himself to the treatment of depression and neuropathic pain syndromes with Ketamine Infusion Therapy. A Board Certified Anesthesiologist, he completed his residency and pain fellowship training at Harvard’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston Hospital for Women and Boston Children’s Hospital. He has been a faculty member at Yale University School of Medicine, Chairman of Anesthesia at Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan and is a member of The American Society of Anesthesiologists, The New York State Society of Anesthesiologists and The American Academy of Pain Medicine. If you or a loved one is suffering from disabling chronic pain or depression that has not been well controlled by other treatment, Dr. Brooks may be able to help.

Kelly Atwood's story: "I’ve been so broke that I literally couldn’t afford to buy food for dinner. And I’ve also made $30,000 in one month. I’ve been that girl who feels like the world is out to get her and nothing is ever going to go her way. And I’ve also been the girl who has created her life using her thoughts, her beliefs, her actions, and her heart.

"THIS is why it is my life’s work to help YOU get over the struggle, and start living out your wildest dreams. I want to help you start making the money you so deliciously desire, so that you can have the impact in this world that you were born to have..

"You can have, do, or be ANYTHING you want in this lifetime. But you gotta make some significant shifts in your thinking, your mindset, and who you are being."

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Kelly:

www.kellyatwood.com

Jo Beckwith was raped by a pastor six years ago, and it devastated every part of her. Very fortunately, she was able to take her life back and live again. Now she spends her time trying to help other survivors find healing and a meaningful life after assault as well.

She cares passionately about helping survivors and supporters along their journey of recovery and as such, she created a YouTube channel called "Jo Beckwith - Life After Sexual Assault" where she shares practical tips and tools to bring a light into the darkness.

In this episode, Torah and Jo laugh a lot. Yes, we survivors CAN laugh (and love) again.

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Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

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Connect with Jo:

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter