A single report cracked the silence. When Laura stumbled across research on child sexual exploitation in gang settings, she suddenly saw her teenage years reflected back in detail language for what had been unnamed, proof she wasn’t alone, and a doorway to tell her mother at last. 

From that moment, a decade-long journey gathered momentum: specialist services, nights of journaling, breath that softened panic, movement that thawed freeze, and a gradual return to a body that once felt unsafe to live in.

In this conversation with Laura Coveney, we talk openly about sexual abuse, exploitation and their long-term impact. Laura shares her story of losing her dad at 14, her family collapsing around her, and being drawn into a world of gang members and drug dealers who sexually exploited her at a time when she was looking for somewhere to belong. If you’ve experienced sexual abuse or trauma yourself, or you’re close to someone who has, please know this episode may be activating. Look after yourself and listen in a way that feels safe.

That moment shattered her isolation, helped her find language for what happened, and led to a clear decision: “I will do whatever it takes to reconnect to myself.”

 Laura talks about “keep going no matter what” in a way that includes rest, collapse, trial and error, misdiagnosis, and slowly rebuilding safety in her body through movement, journaling, breath work, somatics and, more recently, cycle syncing  which she now calls “an entire navigation system.” 

Reach out to Luarua through her Instagram or LinkedIn accounts. 

 If this moved you, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review, what part of Laura’s story stayed with you?

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