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TW: child sexual abuse and trafficking

This is part 2 of Robyn Cameron’s incredibly traumatic story of abuse, and trafficking inside a cult and continues to share the trauma she experienced and how she has come out the other side.

own healing journey in the 1990s, combined with lived experience, inspired the creation of Golden Keys Healing, which she later supported with formal training including rehabilitation counselling and ongoing professional education.

In this episode she shares:

·      Robin’s description of what trafficking meant in her childhood and the strict systems that enabled it

·      The horrific abuse she endured from a very young age and the way it was normalised within the cult structure

·      The pain she still carries about other children who were also victims and her attempts to protect them

·      How she survived by creating inner parts and protective personas to cope with overwhelming trauma

·      Living with the contrast of appearing bright and bubbly on the outside while crying herself to sleep each night

·      How suppressed trauma resurfaced through powerful body memories later in life

·      Her determination to research and gather evidence to validate the experiences many people once dismissed

·      The long and complex process of waking up from cult conditioning and unlearning its ideology

·      What it meant to leave the cult and be completely shunned, losing her entire community overnight

·      The moment she describes as finally feeling “alive” at 46 and beginning the process of truly living

Key Quotes

“The hidden reality of my teenage years was living outwardly bright and bubbly, but inwardly I cried myself to sleep every night.”

“Leaving the cult meant losing my entire community and identity overnight, which was extremely isolating and difficult to navigate.”

“Father was forbidden to rape me before I was three.”

More about Robyn

You can follow Robyn on Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook and her website.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book in for our next burnout masterclass here.

Try our FREE burnout quiz.

Grab your burnout workbook HERE. 

TW: child sexual abuse and trafficking

We have discussed the horrors of child sexual abuse before, but Robyn Cameron’s story reveals a level of depravity an injustice that is truly shocking.

Growing up in a cult she was subjected to abuse and mistreatment from an incredibly young age, but somehow survived and now is healing and sharing the lessons she has learnt.

From a young age, Robyn has been deeply curious about how childhood experiences across cultures, beliefs, and social systems shape adulthood, leading her to begin exploring healing tools as early as 13. Her own healing journey in the 1990s, combined with lived experience, inspired the creation of Golden Keys Healing, which she later supported with formal training including rehabilitation counselling and ongoing professional education.

In this episode she shares:

-      Her deep emotional connection to the ocean as a place of safety and grounding

-      Her life being born into and growing up in a cult

-      What trafficking looked like in her childhood and the systems that enabled it

-      The sexual abuse she suffered

-      The burden she carried trying to protect other children and the guilt she held for years

-      How she survived psychologically by creating different inner parts and personas

-      The hidden reality of her teenage years living outwardly bright but inwardly shattered

-      How trauma resurfaced through body memories and the long process of validating what happened

-      The lifelong work of healing from cult conditioning and confronting internalised beliefs

-      What it meant to leave the cult and lose her entire community and identity overnight

-      Learning how to live, form relationships, and rebuild a sense of self after survival

-      How she now finds purpose in healing work and helping others through creative and somatic practices

Key Quotes

“What brings up the most amount of pain and grief is that there were other children that I wanted to protect from being raped and I failed.”

“It was a death sentence for me to write to this group and say… I no longer want to be one of you.”

More about Robyn

You can follow Robyn on Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook and her website.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book in for our next burnout masterclass here.

Try our FREE burnout quiz.

Grab your burnout workbook HERE. 

Trigger warning: suicide and suicidal ideation

This week we have the privilege to talk to someone with incredible experience working in the mental health space.

Ken Meldrum has a history of being a registered nurse for 46 years working mainly in Rural, Remote Health and Mental Health. He specialised in Suicide Prevention and Men’s Health during the last 20 years.

Ken retired from Qld Health 5 years ago and has since been employed with Lifeline Community Recovery, Stand By Support after Suicide Service and currently is working with Uniting Care Farmer to Farmer Support Service across Southern Qld and Far North Qld.

Ken also established a Suicide Prevention Network since retirement in Boonah, Qld, through which he was able to raise money to establish two Blue Tractors within that farming community with the sign saying “Feeling Blue – Get Help” which has raised a lot of interest and sparked many conversations around suicide and suicide prevention. Other Communities across Qld, NSW and Tasmania are also establishing similar structures.

Since May Ken has worked with old friends he has known for over 50 years from the motorcycling community to establish Blue Bikes on busy roads across Norther NSW and Qld with the same message, initially three were planned from March last year but the number is now approaching 20, we established a not-for-profit organisation titled the Blue Motorcycle Project Inc and a Facebook Group with now over 600 members.

In this episode he shares:

-      His life before working in nursing and how early experiences shaped his perspective of suicide

-      His entry into nursing, work in jails and psychiatric wards, and the “baptism of fire” training that shaped his approach

-      His encounters with people who took their own lives and the impact of losing patients and friends unexpectedly

-      How rural and remote work and Indigenous community experience exposed the scale and causes of suicide risk

-      The Blue Tractor and Blue Motorcycle Project—why visible roadside blue machinery/bikes start conversations about suicide

-      The power of practical community-focused prevention

-      His own lived experience of suicidal ideation, the protective factors that kept him alive, and what recovery looked like

-      How connection, simple listening (“do no harm”), and community partnerships can reduce isolation and save lives

Key Quotes

"I just fell into a really dark place and I started to have real thoughts about taking my life."

"It's the lack of connections, the loss of connections that cause the problem. Once people become isolated, that's when they're at risk."

"The bottom line, the most important thing we can do is do no harm. Sit down and listen to ’em. Let them know someone cares."

More about

If you feel you are struggling, you can reach out to the services below:

·      Lifeline Counselling Service: 13 11 14 (24-hours)

·      NSW Mental Health Line: 1800 011 511 (24-hours)

·      Royal Prince Alfred Hospital crisis service: 9515 6111 (ask for after-hours crisis workers)

·      Beyondblue Support Service: 1300 224 636

·      Headspace: 1800 650 890

·      Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800

·      MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978

Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Challenges That Change Us –

Try our FREE burnout quiz.

Grab your burnout workbook HERE. 

We’ve talked about experiencing a health issue and not knowing the cause and we’ve talked about the impact of suddenly losing mobility from an accident. But what if you suddenly became paralysed, but no one knew why?

That was the experience for Ro Clark in 2019.

Ro is a Sunshine Coast based acrylic painter and graphic designer with over 14 years’ industry experience. After acquiring a spinal cord injury in 2019, she found solace and expression through her painting. Now, Ro works from her home studio, creating original acrylic artworks, limited edition prints and seamless repeat pattern designs. With a lifelong passion for art and design, Ro brings both technical skill and emotional depth to her practice.

In this episode she shares:

-      Her life before the accident

-      The accident and what happened to her

-      What she was like personally as she realised what was happening to her

-      How realising the secondary aspects of being paralysed made life much harder for her

-      The significant pain she lives with every second

-      What the hard days of recovery looked like

-      What tools from her past life did she pull on to survive

-      Examples of her experiences with low accessibility

-      How she looks forward now and what brings her joy

-      Her art and how it helps her

Key Quotes

I could see my husband’s face and he could see the doctor and that is when I knew something was wrong.”

“The pain is the hardest part for me now.”

More about Ro

Find out more about Ro via her website and Instagram.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Try our FREE burnout quiz.

Grab your burnout workbook HERE. 

We often talk about how challenges shape us, but planning and prevention are just as powerful as recovery. In this episode we bring back our in-house psychologist Vanessa de Sauty to unpack practical ways to set your year up for success, from visible yearly and weekly planners and color-coding to energy accounting, nervous-system awareness, and managing people-pleasing. 

Vanessa and I share lived and professional tips on spotting early stress signs (hyper vs hypo arousal), understanding ADHD, and building flexible containers that protect your energy.

In this episode we share:

-      The power of matching each family member’s energy needs (introvert vs extrovert)

-      The pros and cons of using visible yearly and weekly planners with color-coding and foundations vs unique items

-      The pros and cons of doing energy accounting to track deposits vs withdrawals and allocate chores by cost

-      Why you need to know your nervous system window of tolerance — hyper arousal vs hypo shutdown

-      The importance of recognising ADHD and using assessment, medication and strategies to improve function

-      How to manage people-pleasing by pausing, deferring, delegating and remembering saying yes is saying no

-      Setting 2026 by clarifying values, plugging priorities into the calendar and using workshops/resources

Key Quotes

“It's amazing how our body can start to display stuff that our mind hasn't caught up to yet."

"When I say yes to something, I'm actually saying no to something."

More about

To find out more about Vanessa, check out her website HERE.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Try our FREE burnout quiz.

Grab your burnout workbook HERE. 

Claire Torkington has lived a life. That means there have been big highs, as well as some big challenges.

Besides dealing with burnout, and fighting fires as a firefighter, Claire has lived through numerous other close calls and just avoiding multiple deadly incidents, including 3 terror attacks.

Her career spans the globe as she has moved and adjusted to whatever life has thrown at her.

Now she works with Ability Enterprises, a not-for-profit, social enterprise providing meaningful employment opportunities to marginalised individuals living in regional Queensland.

In this episode she shares:

-      Her childhood experience moving around the world

-      The major attacks and disasters she happened to live through

-      What she learnt from living through these incidents

-      How she ended up looking after her dads mum in the UK and how that changed er life

-      Her time as a firefighter

-      the moment she collapsed

-      The realisation she made about her mental health

-      What she does when she realises she is going down the path of her health getting bad

-      The mantras and lessons she has taken from her challenges

Key Quotes

"By the time I got to the gate of the complex, I was physically ill."

"I was actually on a plane on September 11th flying to New York, and we were pulled out of the air..."

"I refused to accept initially that this fall over moment was anything to do with my mental health whatsoever or stress."

More about Claire

Find out more about Ability Enterprises here.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey all! We had a bit of a glitch with this weeks episode. It will be coming soon, but until it does I wanted to take a walk down memory lane and highlight an episode that has stayed with me ever since we recorded it.

This one is powerful and such a great listen, and even if you have listened before I think there would be whole new takeaways from a second liusten.

And if you haven't listened. enjoy!

Trigger warning: Domestic violence, sexual assault, mental health

While abuse within the family is something we have discussed on this podcast, one topic we have not covered as much, which often goes hand in hand, is the abandonment many children go through in this experience.

Dante Amato is renowned in the Personal Development space for the deeply nurturing and transformational spaces she holds. She is a Business Mentor, Transformational Life Coach, Spiritual Guide and Energy Practitioner. But besides being a coach, Dante is a woman who has walked the path of trauma and triumph, gaining valuable insights that fuel her mission to help others.

From an early age she experienced abandonment, abuse, manipulation and trauma which extended far into her life. As an adult she has done a loooot of healing and work, but her story is one that I think will resonate with a lot of people.

In this episode she shares:

• Her experience of being abandoned by her mum as a child
• The experience of spending time with her unstable mother as a child
• Her experience with domestic abuse in her mother’s home
• How her brother was manipulated and let down by their mother
• How her relationship with her husband helped her
• What happened when she was diagnosed with infertility
• What her journey to heal was like
• The thing that kept her going through recovery when things got really hard
• How she developed her voice in adulthood
• The way she was able to work through her anger
• What she is doing now to help others

Key Quotes

“I had to completely cut my mother off. Really intentionally and energetically remove her from my life.”

“The constant thought that I had was that I just need to do everything that I can to make her love me.”

“When bad things happened, we would never ever speak about them.”

More about Dante

Dante’s website: https://www.danteamato.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedanteamato/?hl=en

Minibook: https://www.danteamato.com/mini-book-of-self-discovery

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website: http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites: www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Challenges That Change Us –

Try our FREE burnout quiz.

Grab your burnout workbook HERE. 

Trigger warning: suicide, depression, acts of war.

Many of us have seen war movies, but nothing can truly explain the horrors and intensity of war. So we can only begin to understand the mental impact that going to war can have on the brave soldiers who are involved.

Dave Payne has carved a difficult path from the frontlines to the boardroom. 

He has served as a leader in Iraq and Afghanistan wars and, as a security supervisor at the Regional Processing Centre on Nauru.

Dave has battled PTSD, depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. He has since rebuilt his mind, body, spirit, and purpose.

Now, bringing this skill set to Lifespan Supplements as Director, Dave delivers top quality health products that help people live stronger, longer, vibrant, and more purposeful lives. 

He also uses his hard fought and won skills to support and enrich the lives of veterans through Sage and Sovereign Group, as well as his Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) coaching business.

In this episode he shares:

-      His early upbringing in Australia with his parents and why it was good and paved the way for him to have the life that he has now

-      The things that built resilience in his youth

-      What life in the military was like

-      The accident he had while off duty

-      How he was made to go back to military work when he hadn’t recovered

-      His time in Iraq and the horrors he witnessed

-      How he realised he was in trouble while back home on leave

-      The damaging response he was given when he opened up about his struggle

-      How bottling up his feelings lead to drinking

Key Quotes

“I just felt this, like a hole just appeared in me. These thoughts and feelings were creeping in. There was lots of sadness.”

“They were testing chlorine bombs…and it just literally melts skin. It just melt human.”

More about

You can find out more about what Dave does via the Lifespan Supplements website.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trigger warning: suicide, depression, acts of war.

Many of us have seen war movies, but nothing can truly explain the horrors and intensity of war. So we can only begin to understand the mental impact that going to war can have on the brave soldiers who are involved.

Dave Payne has carved a difficult path from the frontlines to the boardroom. 

He has served as a leader in Iraq and Afghanistan wars and, as a security supervisor at the Regional Processing Centre on Nauru.

Dave has battled PTSD, depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. He has since rebuilt his mind, body, spirit, and purpose.

Now, bringing this skill set to Lifespan Supplements as Director, Dave delivers top quality health products that help people live stronger, longer, vibrant, and more purposeful lives. 

He also uses his hard fought and won skills to support and enrich the lives of veterans through Sage and Sovereign Group, as well as his Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) coaching business.

In this episode he shares:

-      His early upbringing in Australia with his parents and why it was good and paved the way for him to have the life that he has now

-      The things that built resilience in his youth

-      What life in the military was like

-      The accident he had while off duty

-      How he was made to go back to military work when he hadn’t recovered

-      His time in Iraq and the horrors he witnessed

-      How he realised he was in trouble while back home on leave

-      The damaging response he was given when he opened up about his struggle

-      How bottling up his feelings lead to drinking

Key Quotes

“I just felt this, like a hole just appeared in me. These thoughts and feelings were creeping in. There was lots of sadness.”

“They were testing chlorine bombs…and it just literally melts skin. It just melt human.”

More about

You can find out more about what Dave does via the Lifespan Supplements website.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Try our FREE burnout quiz.

Grab your burnout workbook HERE. 

Trigger warning: sexual abuse

For many survivors of child sexual abuse, the moment the truth comes out can almost be another form of trauma while for others it can be cathartic. In fact as Alison Mau knows very well, the needs of survivors are infinitely varied.

Alison is an award-winning journalist with more than thirty years in major television, radio, and print media roles. A long-time advocate for gender equity, in the wake of the global #metoo movement, Alison created a ground breaking investigative journalism project at NZ’s largest news platform in 2018. Over five years, the #MeTooNZ project published dozens of major investigations and supported hundreds of survivors to tell their stories, leading to widespread change in the way sexual harassment is reported by media.

In many ways her experience helped her when it came to exploring and sharing her own personal experience with childhood sexual abuse.

In 2023, Alison co-founded Tika, a tech-first access to justice charity designed to remove the barriers survivors experience when seeking justice and accountability.

Her #1 bestselling memoir, No Words For This, was released in April 2025.

In this episode she shares:

-      How her curiosity, optimism, and likely undiagnosed ADHD have shaped who she is

-      Why she wrote No Words for This and the lack of language around sexual harm

-      The decision to tell her family’s story and why leaving it out felt dishonest

-      The unexpected impact of the book and how it helped survivors feel less alone

-      Her role leading Me Too NZ and changing how survivor stories are reported

-      What trauma-informed journalism looks like in practice

-      How a phone call from her sister brought buried childhood abuse into the open

-      The relief and complexity of discovering she was no longer alone

-      Why justice and healing are not one-size-fits-all for survivors

-      How she transformed anger, struggle, and grief into advocacy and systemic change

Key Quotes

“I spent my whole life pushing it down just so I could survive, until one moment made it impossible to stay alone with it.”

“Struggling isn’t weakness, it’s what happens when you’re carrying something that was never meant to be carried alone.”

“The hardest part wasn’t what happened to me, but learning to believe it wasn’t my fault.”

More about

Find out more about Tika here.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: [email protected]

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.