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“We all affect everyone else’s mental health. If you are going through something right now, just keep going."
In this deeply powerful episode of The Angela Rose Show, Angela sits down with Laverne, who traveled all the way from Canada to share his story of growing up inside the Holdeman Mennonite community, surviving childhood abuse, sexual assault, religious fear, and the long road of reclaiming his voice, his body, and his worth.
Laverne opens up about the painful reality of growing up with an abusive mother- a woman he describes as violent, manipulative, emotionally cruel, and incapable of offering the nurture every child deserves. As the scapegoated child in a large family, Laverne experienced repeated verbal, emotional, and physical abuse, often being punished for things he did not do and learning early that love, safety, and protection were not guaranteed at home.
He shares how that maternal wound shaped so much of his life: the begging to be loved, the fear of rejection and abandonment, and the way childhood trauma impacted him in relationships and his career in law enforcement.
This conversation also explores the betrayal of not being protected after childhood sexual assault, the silence and control inside the church system, and the way religious fear was used to pressure children into compliance. Laverne names the devastating contradiction of a church that preached non-resistance while violence lived inside the home, and a culture that claimed to protect children while abuse was normalized, minimized, and handled internally.
Laverne shares honestly about therapy, EMDR, somatic healing, mental health crisis, PTSD, parenting differently, and what it means to “heal out loud” so others know they are not alone. He speaks with deep love for the little boy who survived, questioned, resisted, and somehow never fully lost himself.
With courage and honesty, we explore:
• Growing up in the Holdeman Mennonite community in Canada
• The impact of an abusive mother
• Being scapegoated as a child and punished for being true to himself
• The lifelong wound of not receiving nurture, affection, or protection from a mother
• Religious fear, hellfire preaching, revival pressure, and spiritual control
• The betrayal of childhood sexual assault not being handled with safety or justice
• Why silence only serves abusers
• How abuse hides inside high-control religious systems
• Mental health stigma, suicidal ideation, and why men need safe spaces to speak
•A career in Law enforcement, PTSD, burnout, and childhood trauma resurfacing
• Forgiveness as something done for yourself—not as permission for continued harm
• Parenting with love, protection, curiosity, and freedom
• Reclaiming the little boy who always knew he deserved more
This is not just a story of survival.
It is a story of truth, courage, and learning to love yourself again.
Trigger Warning: Discussion of childhood physical abuse, maternal abuse, sexual assault, religious trauma, coercive control, emotional abuse, mental health crisis, suicidal ideation, PTSD, family trauma, and spiritual manipulation.
If Laverne’s story resonated with you, please leave a comment and let him know what part of his story you connected with. These conversations matter. They help others feel less alone, and they remind us that telling our story can become a lifeline for someone else.
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Connect with Laverne (Guest)
Instagram: / trueemotiondad
Facebook: / Laverne Friesen
Tiktok: / trueemotiondad
Crisis Support Resources
Crisis Text Line — Text TWLOHA to 741741
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Call 988
National Child Abuse Hotline — Call 800-422-4453
RAINN — Call 800-656-4673
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