Which is worse: silence or exposure?

“Coming out” as a survivor of rape was no small matter. It felt (and still feels) risky for me. After all, I’m a clinical counselor and trauma therapist. I feel pressured to uphold a certain image as a professional. Still, there is a cost to having a secret so big, a cost that has impacted me negatively because I felt I couldn’t be authentic in the world. While this podcast exposes my stories and the challenges of recovery, it remains my attempt to unite my worlds: as a therapist, survivor, educator, partner in healing. Listen to hear what made me decide to finally break my silence and come out as a survivor…

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Something went bump in the night. What would you have thought? What would you have done? Listen to hear my terrifying experience and what it taught me about healing from trauma and where I am in my journey of recovery from PTSD.

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I wonder what the word love brings up for you. Depending on your experience at any given time, love can bring up many different feelings. When you’re a trauma survivor, specifically from intimate partner sexual violence, romantic love can bring up all sorts of fears. This latest essay took a 180 degree turn around in 24 hours from when I started writing it, due to my own experience with this crazy little thing we call love. Listen to hear how I, as a rape survivor, wrestle with the barriers to love…

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Are you resilient? How do you feel when someone tells you that you are? Glad, proud, or maybe - could it be? -  a little annoyed. Perhaps the comment reminds you of the trials you’ve been through alone and how you would have preferred to have someone there on the path with you. Listen to hear the dark underbelly of this overused term called resilience. You may think twice before using it again…

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Let’s take a break from trauma and talk about joy. Where does it come from and how do we create it? You know me by now, though. What seems simple may not be. In fact, there is a dark side to Joy. What I propose may seem radical, but some poets offer clues to the answer. Today we talk about where joy is sourced and how to access the profound depth of it. Beware and be aware: what I share may surprise you…

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Should we even speak now? In this episode, we explore grief and the different responses people have to those who are grieving depending on the type of loss. We discuss how the social response to unspeakable losses can make things worse for the one experiencing grief and trauma. Listen for a mini-class on what it takes to get through…

On today’s podcast, we explore emotions – those pesky things! If we’re feeling good, there’s nothing we can’t do – but if we’re not, oh no! How do we cope? In keeping with this time of year, where there’s less sunlight in most places and the January blahs can set in, we can sometimes fall into our own darkness. I call them the “dark days.” Listen for a mini-master class on emotion and learn how this therapist meets her own inner darkness, a process that led to a surprising new direction…

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

On today’s podcast, we explore the concept of identity and how others might perceive us due to how we show up in the world. Listen to consider what it means to weigh the cost of silence versus the cost of speaking out authentically and decide for yourself which cost you most want to bear. Because the choice is yours…

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In today’s podcast, we step away from looking at trauma directly and follow a well-worn path in keeping with this time of year: making New Year’s Resolutions. Here we discuss some of the pitfalls we can encounter when setting goals for ourselves. Listen to hear how I spent the last day of 2022, in fact how I spend every last day of a given year, and how tweaking the goal-making process, one that is so strongly imposed on us in our culture, could take us on an unexpected, and perhaps more satisfying, journey…

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Today, we explore dance and movement and how these activities can help with healing. I share about my first foray into ecstatic dance. Listen to hear how what started as a sleepy, unassuming Sunday morning led to new insights about my own process and where we can go from here …

Princess and the Pea, Survivor Edition is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.