He told her she would never leave that house unless it was in a pine box.

In this episode, your host welcomes her very first guest- award-winning performer, comedian, singer, songwriter, and playwright Maryann Maisano. Known for turning life's heaviest truths into something relatable, honest, and even funny, Maryann brings both heart and humor to one of the podcast's most powerful conversations.

Maryann shares the story of her sister Angie, decades of physical abuse, four concussions, stab wounds, and a judge who cried when he finally saw her arms. Angie escaped during COVID and passed away three years ago. Her story is one of loss, legacy, and a call to action.

Together, they talk about growing up with the Italian concept of "figorra", saving face no matter what, and how unspoken rules and family silence around abuse create the conditions for it to continue.

They also discuss women's rights, political pushback, positive self-talk, healing, and Maryann's vision for building a national network of survivors demanding change.

Taking off the mask is terrifying. But it's the only way anything changes.

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The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"I have makeup on. I know what's coming."

This episode opens with one of the most powerful moments in the podcast, putting on mascara as a quiet act of defiance, and the stare that followed. No words needed. No rule was ever spoken out loud. And yet the consequences were immediate.

It explores exactly what coercive control is, the isolation, the monitoring, the micromanagement, the financial abuse, the gaslighting, and explains how it differs from emotional abuse. Coercive control isn't just about hurting you; it's about owning you. It's calculated, constant, and designed to eliminate your freedom entirely.

It also explores how missing a nephew's birthday party and cancelling lunch with a sister can be the first signs of a quiet unraveling, and how those moments often go unrecognized until years later.

It covers what the law says about coercive control, and the UK, Scotland, Ireland, and Australia have criminalized it, while the US continues to lag behind, and it walks survivors through exactly how to document it to build a stronger legal case.

If you have ever lived by rules that were never spoken out loud, this episode will finally give you the words for what you experienced.

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The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"I found myself parroting beliefs I didn't hold, just to stay safe enough to finish a phone call."

This episode explores a question that abuse makes almost impossible to answer: What does it mean to be a woman? And what happens to a woman's identity when conditioning has been quietly shaping her thoughts, beliefs, and sense of self for years?

It explores implicit memory, how the body learns to react to danger cues like a garage door opening or a tone of voice before the conscious mind even catches up, and how this survival mechanism silently shapes choices, beliefs, and identity without awareness.

It also draws a powerful and uncomfortable connection between the cultural expectations placed on women and the dynamics of an abusive relationship, and asks whether we are truly teaching our girls what they deserve.

This episode includes a guided exercise to help survivors begin asking the questions abuse never let them ask: who am I really, what do I believe, and what brings me joy?

Your identity was not lost. It was taken. And you can take it back.

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The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"I laid on the bathroom floor for over two hours. My cats found me first."

This episode explores what PTSD can look like years after leaving an abusive relationship, the triggers that strike without warning, the panic attacks, and the guilt of watching trauma affect the healthy relationships that were supposed to feel safe.

It breaks down what PTSD actually looks like in abuse survivors and their children, including infants, and shares the devastating statistics about how abuse rewires developing brains.

It then tackles one of the most painful and least talked about realities of leaving abuse, the family court. With 58,000 children a year ordered into unsupervised contact with abusive parents, and mothers who allege abuse losing custody 73% of the time, this episode asks the question that demands an answer: Why are survivors forced to choose between protecting their mental health and protecting their children?

This episode closes with a tribute to Peyton, Evelyn, and Olivia, children whose lives were lost at the hands of those meant to keep them safest.

Survivors deserve a world where leaving does not mean losing.

Send us Fan Mail

The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"I drove to the courthouse alone with 12 years of documentation hidden in diapers, camera cases, and folded inside clothes."

This episode explores what it can take to finally file for an order of protection, the fear, the shame, the hope, and what can happen when the system fails to hold.

It walks through the quiet acts of resistance that can keep survivors going, daily exercise, positive self-talk, defending children, and explores how one final calculated act can ultimately open the door to freedom.

Most importantly, it walks survivors through practical steps they can take right now, hiding money safely, opening a secret bank account, using cash back at stores, and contacting a shelter advocate without being detected.

You don't have to jump. You don't have to run. You just need to begin.

Send us Fan Mail

The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"I would watch myself floating above, just detached from my body. I didn't know it had a name."

This episode explores what dissociation actually feels like from the inside: the weightlessness, the numbness, the experience of watching your own life unfold from somewhere outside your body.

It explains what dissociation is, why it happens, and why over 50% of women experiencing domestic violence will exhibit dissociative symptoms, often without ever knowing it.

It also walks through one of the most powerful stories on the podcast: a highway road-rage incident in which a family is trapped in a car with no way out, and explains exactly what happens in the brain when a person feels completely trapped with nowhere to go.

If you have ever felt numb, robotic, or like you were watching your own life from the outside, this episode will finally give you a name for what you experienced.

Send us Fan Mail

The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"My children did not steal my time. They made my time priceless."

This episode explores what it can feel like to grieve the years stolen by abuse, the endless days, the suffocating tension, the dreams that had to wait, and what it means to finally take that time back.

It speaks directly to children of abuse, and to every parent who stayed to protect them, offering a release from the guilt that was never theirs to carry.

It also explores how abusers weaponize time itself, using gaslighting and control to make survivors lose track of years, convincing them it is too late to start over.

For anyone grieving the years abuse stole, this episode is a reminder that it is not too late. Your time belongs to you again.

Send us Fan Mail

The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"It's been six years. I have a new life. My kids and I are safe. I really thought the fear would have eased by now."

This episode explores what life after abuse can actually look like, the triggers that strike without warning, the hypervigilance that never fully quiets, and the shame that lingers long after the relationship ends.

It breaks down gaslighting, how abusers use it to make survivors doubt their own reality, and explores why overanalyzing every word and situation becomes a survival habit that is hard to unlearn.

It also raises something deeply unfair: that survivors sharing their stories to help others can still live in fear of retaliation. And it asks whether that fear ever truly goes away.

If you've ever wondered why the fear doesn't stop after you leave, this episode will help you understand why and remind you that you are not broken.

Send us Fan Mail

The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"I called lawyers for 15 years. I couldn't risk leaving my kids alone with him half the time."

This episode explores why leaving an abusive relationship is rarely as simple as walking out the door, and what keeps survivors trapped for years, sometimes decades.

It breaks down love bombing, the manipulative tactic abusers use to pull survivors back in, and explains the chilling statistic that 75% of domestic violence homicides happen when a victim tries to leave.

It also speaks directly to family and friends, how to support someone without judgment, how abusers use technology to monitor victims, and what safe escape planning actually looks like.

If you've ever wondered why someone you love went back, or if you've gone back yourself, this episode will help you understand why, and remind you there is no shame in it.

Send us Fan Mail

The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.

"I wish he'd just hit me, because then I would have had proof."

This episode explores what years of non-physical abuse can actually look like, the patterns that repeat endlessly, the impossible expectations after every incident, and the invisible control that left no bruises and no proof.

It also walks through a powerful checklist of abuse warning signs, from tracking apps and financial control to gaslighting and isolation, and explains why these behaviors are just as serious as physical violence.

If you've ever wondered whether what you're experiencing is really abuse, this episode is for you.

Send us Fan Mail

The personal experiences shared in this podcast are the opinions of the individuals sharing them and are not intended to serve as professional advice or constitute accusations about any other person, organization, or group. We encourage you to seek professional support and assistance. 

The topics discussed in this podcast may be distressing and triggering for some listeners and could impact your mental health. 

The content of this podcast is intended for educational and awareness purposes only.

For more information and resources, please visit hanginthere.net.