Courage Conversations

This Week's Topic: Predator "Apologies"  

This Week’s Guest is: Maureen Farrell-Garcia  

Maureen Farrell Garcia is a captivating speaker and workshop facilitator who combines research with personal experience to empower her audience. With empathy and wit, Maureen connects with her audience offering her knowledge of abuse dynamics and insights for creating safe spaces and healing from abuse.  Her writings have appeared on various websites including Christianity Today, CBE International, Converge, Christ and Pop Culture, and The Institute for Collective Trauma and Growth.  

Twitter: @mfarrellgarcia 

Website: https://www.maureenfgarcia.com/

This Week's Topic: How To Be A Survivor Ally  

This Week’s Guest is: Nikole Lim  

Nikole Lim is a speaker, educator, and consultant on leveraging dignity through the restorative art of storytelling. Nikole shifts paradigms on how stories are told by platforming voices of the oppressed—sharing stories of beauty arising out of seemingly broken situations. Her heart beats for young women whose voices are silenced by oppression and desires to see every person realize the transformative power of their own story. As our Founder and International Director, Nikole has been deeply transformed by the powerful, tenacious, and awe-inspiring examples of survivors. Their audacious dreams have informed her philosophy for a survivor-led approach to community transformation.  Nikole graduated with a degree in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University and is currently pursuing a masters in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is a native of the Bay Area and can often be found buying African fabric on the streets of Nairobi. Her vision is to equip survivors and advocates to lead in ending the cycle of sexual violence—believing that they will be the ones to bring us all into liberation. In it, her hope is that the world may be transformed by them—just as she has.  

VISIT: freelyinhope.org and Freely in Hope

This Week's Topic: Art As Resistance  

This Week’s Guest is: David Hayward a.k.a NakedPastor  

David has a Masters in Theological Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Diploma in Religious Studies and Ministry from McGill University in Montreal, and a Diploma in University Teaching from the University of New Brunswick. He served the church as a pastor for 30 years and left the ministry in 2010.  Like all graffiti artists, NakedPastor uses words and images to challenge the status quo and offer hope for those who struggle and suffer under it. 

 Website: www.nakedpastor.com 

Social Media: @nakedpastor

This Week's Topic: How EMDR Therapy Could Change Your Life  

This Week’s Guest is: Mike Phillips  

Mike Phillips is a trauma therapist, specializing in EMDR and Internal Family Systems. He pastored for 35 years concurrent to being a therapist. He has worked with over 100 churches to help with their victims of pastoral or leadership abuse. 

VISIT: www.mikeinsac.com

This Week's Topic: Advocate Burnout Syndrome  

This Week’s Guest is: Naima Dido from Threads For Well-Being  

Naima Dido was born in Nairobi, Kenya, where her parents met just after her father arrived from Ethiopia as an Oromo Political Refugee. The eldest of 5 siblings, she and her family moved to the U.S. in 1988 through the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program. She describes herself as an activist for human rights and for the equitable protection of women and girls. Her life experience as an African woman and a refugee, along with her volunteerism, fuel her passion for self-sufficiency and human dignity. Naima believes imbalances of power and the lack of access to resources and education as the root of poverty. She believes that change is possible and that solutions require good ideas, courage, and persistence. She has more than 20 years of experience working with refugee and immigrant communities in the US and Africa. Naima is also the founder of Threads For Wellbeing, a wellness retreat project for survivors and activists. The project initiates and leads dialogs on understanding and healing trauma. And above all supports and promotes holistic well-being, and self-care as essential acts of self-advocacy necessary to create positive and sustainable social change.  

VISIT: https://www.threadsforwellbeing.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threadsforwellbeing/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThreadsForWellbeing/

This Week's Topic: Uncovering Abuser's Deception Tactics  

This Week’s Guest Is: Jimmy Hinton  

Jimmy Hinton, MDiv grew up in Shanksville, PA, just one mile from where United 93 crashed on September 11, 2001.In 2011, Jimmy’s sister confided in him that she had been sexually abused when she was a young child by their father, a former minister of 27 years. Jimmy reported his father to authorities which resulted in his confession of 23 victims and a conviction of 30-60 years in Pennsylvania state corrections facility.Jimmy researches deception techniques of child molesters and specializes in abuse in plain sight. Jimmy is a full-time minister and safeguarding specialist with G.R.A.C.E (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment).VISIT: https://jimmyhinton.org/

This Week's Topic: The Transformative Power of Connection  

This Week’s Guest is: Cristy Horsley  

Cristy Horsley served as a volunteer for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate for children) for a year and a half and joined the CASA of Central Virginia staff in June 2014. For Cristy, CASA has been an expression of an ongoing interest in social justice and advocacy and has been the place where she has been introduced to many important voices on a range of justice-centered topics.   

Be sure to give the Courage 365 accounts a follow! 

This Week's Topic: Becoming Resilient  

This Week’s Guest is: Thomas Edward  

Thomas Edward is the founder of https://www.safeplaceformen.com/, a leadership development coaching organization tasked to help educate, coach, and equip men dealing with adverse childhood experiences (ACE) of sexual abuse and trauma.  

Be sure to connect with Thomas at the links below!  

And, be sure to give the Courage 365 accounts a follow: