SILENCED BY STIGMA

We’re taking a break to focus on Season 2. To my guests, I thank you for your bravery and expertise. To my listeners, we’ll be back soon and in the meantime, remember: everybody sucks but you. 

Our guest today is Jay Sefton, a psychotherapist, writer, and recovering alcoholic. Jay was abused by a Catholic priest at a time parishioners believed the Church was beyond reproach. We discuss how that distorted view perpetuated the abuse, creating a haven for his abuser. Jay advocates for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, working pro-bono to help navigate compensation funds set up by the Catholic Church. Jay is the author of several essays, including Two Sides of the Same Cross (Licking River Review) and I’ll Have a White Zinfandel (Storyscape Journal), and has written several featured editorials in newspapers documenting his experience of being abused as a child by a priest in the Philadelphia suburb of Havertown, Pennsylvania.

Today we interview psychotherapist Jason Hanson, who has counseled victims of domestic abuse for the past eight years and is the author of Domestic Abuse: Men Suffer Too. We discuss the horror of this abuse and its indiscriminate reach across both victims’ and perpetrators’ gender and sexual identities. The 2011 study by Emily Douglas, Ph.D. a professor and chair at the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy at Montclair State University, found that 49.9% of men who sought help from Domestic Violence Agencies, 63.9% of men who sought help from Domestic Victim Hotlines, and 42.9% of men who sought help from online resources were told they only help women. Findings from The Bureau of Justice Statistics note that men are just as likely to be the victim of violent crime as women.

In this bonus episode, I’m interviewed by Eric Jennings, who was my first guest on SILENCED BY STIGMA. We discuss my history of abuse, the fallout, and what led me to create this project.

Today we interview JM Lander, an elite athlete who was sexually abused by a secret society of powerful men starting at the age of fifteen. His composed and courageous manner of sharing his astonishing and disturbing story is humbling, considering the inhumanity he was subjected to. Today, he writes, speaks, and offers consultation services to help individuals and organizations learn how to identify the signs of grooming and manipulation that can lead to sexual abuse with the goal of preventing the perpetuation of this type of violence and supporting survivors in facing their past. John-Michael presented the speech An Athlete’s Silence at the TEDxDayton 2018 Convention and currently serves on The Army of Survivors Board of Directors.

Today’s guest is attorney Helene Weiss. Helene brings her background as a Special Victims Bureau Prosecutor to her current work as an associate in the James Marsh Law Firm, one of the nation’s preeminent law firms advocating for sexual abuse victims. Helene explains how trauma-informed attorneys bring comfort to their clients and discusses the barriers present in our unbalanced justice system. The information in this podcast should not be considered legal advice. Please consult an attorney in your area to discuss avenues of recourse.

For today’s episode, we interview my best friend of thirty years, Rosalyn Mihalko. A screenwriter and playwright in Los Angeles, Rosalyn has recently disclosed her history of childhood sexual abuse. Like so many, she was only able to recognize these events as abuse while looking back at them with the eyes of an adult. In the time between her initial disclosure and our interview, she has come out as a transgender woman. This episode is littered with jabs, insults, and jokes that would make a twelve-year-old roll their eyes. While some may find our approach to such sensitive topics a bit odd, we’ve both decided to air the episode as is.

In this brutally frank interview, Brad Watts discusses the atrocities of sibling sexual abuse, the destruction left in its wake, and how to find peace on the road to recovery. Brad is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider (CSOTP), and author of Sibling Sexual Abuse: A Guide for Confronting America's Silent Epidemic. He specializes in working with individuals and families who have experienced sibling sexual abuse. Brad conducts training with communities and groups about how to recognize and respond to incidents of sibling sexual abuse. Through this work, he has helped hundreds of people on their journeys to healing.

Our guest today is stage actor John Gregor, who was forced to wrestle with the unimaginable impact of his abuse once again during the first lockdown of the COVID pandemic in the UK. He has written, produced, and filmed a short about his extraordinary struggle with self-harm and extreme compulsive behavior in the years following his abuse.

This bonus episode features the story of someone extraordinary I met while committed to a psychiatric hospital following my second suicide attempt.

For today’s episode, we have Special Victims Detective Mike Iacone of the Cranston Police Department, a twenty-year veteran, who offers unique insight into the investigative process, how he protects victims from further harm, and his highly effective method of interviewing suspects.

For the premier episode, we have a conversation with Eric Jennings, a writer, visual artist, and yoga instructor, who hid his experience of childhood sexual abuse for over three decades before coming forward as a survivor. After seeking help to deal with his past, Eric is ready to tell his story publicly.

The SILENCED BY STIGMA podcast is an intense, detailed examination of childhood sexual abuse and its devastating impact on victims, their loved ones, and society at large. This series features survivor accounts and conversations with researchers, mental health professionals, sexual abuse attorneys, and Special Victims Detectives, all to demonstrate that you’re not alone and that there are people dedicated to your protection. The voices of the abused are often silenced; SILENCED BY STIGMA is here to help you stand up and speak out. Reach out via our website at silencedbystigma.org.