Surviving-ISH Podcast

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Brandon Johnson was thrown out of a windshield and hit a tree head on. This car accident changed his life forever. Spending 6 months in a hospital, Brandon had to learn to walk again, but with assistance. He is now the author of children's books, some written with his baby girl, as well as adult books and working on a documentary telling his story. 

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Nora Ashleigh Barrie was adopted at a very young age. In her teenage years she was sent to The Wilderness program, part of the TTI. While out in the wilderness an unexpected blizzard hit. Nora spent 2 weeks surviving frost bite, hunger and so much more. Now she is an advocate for the TTI Survivors and Victims. She is also the Project Manager for Surviving Abuse Podcast. 

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Wikipedia:
Toxic masculinity is a set of certain male behaviors associated with harm to society and men themselves. Traditional stereotypes of men as socially dominant, along with related traits such as misogyny and homophobia,[1] can be considered "toxic" due in part to their promotion of violence, including sexual assault and domestic violence. The violent socialization of boys often normalizes violence, such as in the saying "boys will be boys" about bullying and aggression.

Carry Michaels 15 year old son encourages him to wake up and overcome this toxic energy that he has been surrounding himself with. To move on from unhealthy relationship and find away to build his own healthy foundation.

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Naz Meknat escaped life in Iran to find freedom and independence in America. What we are seeing in the news, she actually lived through. Naz shares her story in her memoir, 7000 Miles To Freedom which details how she overcame the Morality Police and being abused and held hostage by her then husband. As a refugee in the United States, Naz was able to take back control of her life and independence in order to launch a successful business as a celebrity stylist, working with people such as Sterling K. Brown and being featured in InStyle and People. 

 Naz is a women's right advocate and is sharing her story of what life in Iran is really like in order to bring more awareness to what Persian women are going through. She would love the opportunity to share her story with you and your audience since it is a firsthand experience unlike any other.

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Roman is a 1st generation immigrant from Ukraine. He
arrived in US with 6 other family members to a 2 bedroom
apartment. Roman interned with the Secret Service and
held a top secret government clearance. He was forced to
become a self taught digital marketer as a result of the
2008 recession, and fell in love with it. Roman has 13 years
of experience leading digital teams in senior leadership
roles on over 600 campaigns across many industries. He
founded Nova Zora Digital in 2012. Roman is the host of the
Digital Savage Experience Podcast, a Top 100 Podcast on
Apple Podcasts for How To. He is a foster parent, and has
had 29 kids in his home since June 2018. He became a
foster parent by going through 6 miscarriages with his wife
in 3 years, 2 of which happened on Christmas Days. With
death, loss, and hardships Roman pushes through no
matter what.

[email protected]

https://www.tiktok.com/@roman.prokopchuk?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

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Kyna Pinkas sent a letter to a family member simply asking "why?"
Why did you rape me?
Why did you abuse me?
Why did you let others do the same?
What about our baby?

Kyna was sent to a Bethal Girls home, escaping one abuse to the next.  Finding herself pregnant with her brothers child, a scared and abused teen, seems to never have a chance. Being 1 of 3 reported girls to escape and survive The Bethal Home, Kyna Pinkas here here to share her story of survival. 

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The Bethel Boys: John Moody, Dan Edwards and David Bowsher

Dan, Dave, and John endured and survived the “Troubled” Teen Industry together in the late 1990s. Each spent a year or two at the Bethel Baptist Boys Academy located in Lucedale, MS from 1996-1999. Now, they are focused on being warriors for the entire community of “Troubled” Teen Industry survivors by running a Facebook page and a ministry, as well as being active in the political movement against the TTI. 

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Phillis Dewitt is a survivor of multiple forms of abuse. One amazing thing about Phillis is her willingness to share her story. 

The Abuse:
Long term sexual abuse starting at age 3
Foster care at the age 14-15 
First foster dad arrested for bank embezzlement
Second foster dad was a deacon of the church and molested me
Became an emancipated minor at the age of 16
Had graduated from high school a year early and was working
Kicked out of the Baptist church when I told them my foster dad was abusing me
Attempted suicide and was hospitalized several times over the next several years
Married and had 3 kids in 3 years 
Abuse and issues related to abuse continued for several years
Hospitalized several times – eating disorder
Self-abusive with a hammer when I wasn’t coping

The Healing Journey:
Started foster care
Started nursing school with 9 kids living in our home because I had a dream that I needed to get.
Graduated in 2 years with my associate degree in nursing
We fostered over 100 kids and obtained permanent legal custody of 10 of those over almost 30 years
My husband actually went with me to confront all of my abusers and not one of them denied what they had done

The year before my husband died he wanted to do a video meeting with him, myself, our pastor, his wife, our doctor, his wife and my psychologist - where my husband talked about how it was to be married to me during this healing from the abuse and what it was like to confront and talk with each of these people who abused me.  He was fearful that when he died then much of the validation of my story would be gone and he didn’t want that.

My husband died in 2006 – I started my master’s degree 12 days after he died and took permanent legal custody of 3 more girls that year – single mom with 5 girls living at home and working full time – I graduated in 3 years and started my doctoral degree right away.

  Met another man in 2009 and married in 2010 although when he met me – he told me he could not date a woman with 13 children.

Have traveled all over the world doing over 30  medical mission trips and caring for abused and neglected children in Haiti, Brazil, Guatemala, India and other countries. 
Have a doctoral and post doctorate degree as a Nurse Practitioner

My youngest biological son was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and passed away after a long battle of his cancer in November of 2022

Recently co-authored a book about my life called I’m Still Standing: How God turned my pain into purpose

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/im-still-standing-phillis-dewitt/1142145913

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Angel Blue, a Song of Redemption, begins with a child’s battle with real-life monsters. The kind of monsters that fester in the deepest darkest alleyways of the human mind. We all know they exist, but few dare to speak the truth about them until now.

Forrest’s life spins into an unpredictable journey toward love and desire for recovery. A true-life story with confessions, realizations, a continuous battle with relapse, sexual abuse, suicidal tendencies, and the will to live. A story that plays out every day all over the world. This book is a beautiful symphony orchestrated to serve others to understand that it’s time victims and survivors speak up.

Angel Blue ends with your heart racing, your mind turning, and the absolute need to know if this beautiful soul will choose to love life and help himself? Will he succumb to his desire for recovery and healing? Will he change his subconscious desire for a slow death to numb the pain of the memories in his mind? A page-turner until the very end.

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Surviving Abuse Podcast first ever miniseries with survivors of the Rebekah House.
Rebekah house was a christian based girls group home ran buy Lester Roloff starting in the 70's.

Beatings, Punishment, Rape, Starvation, Murder, Abortions, Stealing and Selling babies
All in the name of the Lord

Some are still too scared to discuss publicly their trauma, and some are willing to use their bad experience to help others and heal themselves along the way.

The Rebekah House Miniseries is a story of told by the victims

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