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A uniform, a cigarette break, and a teenager who just wanted to feel seen—what starts as attention quickly reveals the blueprint of grooming and coercive control. We follow Sarah as a 16-year-old pulled into an adult’s orbit, pressured into marriage through a pregnancy ultimatum, and cut off from school, work, and friends. The twist that lands like a gut punch: the person who should have protected her becomes part of the harm, pushing “practical” choices that deepen dependency and, later, crossing a boundary that shatters trust at its core.

Across the conversation, we map the mechanics of abuse in plain language: how image and authority hide predatory behavior, why gaslighting targets your sense of reality, and how economic abuse traps survivors even when the truth is in their hands. Sarah’s story makes visible the quiet tactics—smear narratives, isolation, financial leverage—that turn a normal request for a break into “proof” of unfitness. When emails expose an affair denied to her face, the denial continues, under the guise of “counseling for the kids.” We talk frankly about why leaving isn’t simple when you have no GED, no savings, and a baby in your arms, and we point to what real support should look like: safe housing, childcare, documentation, and people who believe you before the receipts show up.

You’ll leave with a clearer lens for red flags—age secrecy, ultimatums, control of money and movement, triangulation inside a family—and a renewed respect for survivor instincts. If this story hits close to home, know you’re not alone and that help exists. Share this episode with someone who needs a reality check about coercive control, and if you have thoughts or a story to add, call 1-844-TELL-DTS. Subscribe, leave a review, and help us reach more listeners who might still be searching for the words to name what they’re living.

🚨🚨Help Sarah get to safety:🚨🚨

✨👉 CookinCleaninMama’s Linktree 👈✨

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

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A mother of three children with special needs has been running for her life for nearly six years. Now, with her abuser scheduled for release from prison in November—a man who told a judge he's coming to find her—time is running out.

Sarah's story begins with profound childhood trauma. At nine years old, she lost her father to cancer, only to be sexually abused by a family friend weeks later. Her mother quickly remarried and left Sarah to navigate her grief alone, setting the stage for a lifetime of seeking love and safety in all the wrong places. This childhood betrayal formed the foundation for cycles of abuse that would follow her into adulthood.

What makes Sarah's case so disturbing is that she's done everything "right." She's filed police reports across multiple jurisdictions, testified in court, obtained restraining orders, and relocated her family repeatedly. Yet the system continues to fail her at every turn. The Address Confidentiality Program, designed to protect survivors like her, processed her application so slowly that her real address became public record—accessible to anyone, including her abuser who has a documented history of shooting a previous girlfriend.

Sarah's resilience shines through her determination to rebuild her life while protecting her children. She's self-published three books, including "Memoirs of a Mama on the Run," documenting her experiences and offering guidance to other survivors. Through social media, she shares her story, hoping to raise awareness about the gaps in our protection systems for domestic violence victims.

This powerful first episode of Season 3 challenges us to confront uncomfortable truths about how domestic violence cases are deprioritized and mishandled by authorities. Statistics show women are 70 times more likely to be killed in the two weeks after leaving an abuser than at any other time in the relationship, making these systemic delays potentially lethal. As we follow Sarah's journey, we're left asking: What happens when you follow every rule and it's still not enough to keep you safe?

🚨🚨Help Sarah get to safety:🚨🚨

✨👉 CookinCleaninMama’s Linktree 👈✨

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

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What choices would you make to survive when the system designed to protect you repeatedly fails? Season 3 of Dismissed: True Stories follows one mother's harrowing journey as she flees domestic violence with her children across multiple states for nearly six years.

The nightmare begins with a knife at her throat and a terrifying threat: "He told me he was going to cut my scalp off and said if I screamed, he was going to make sure my kids have nightmares for the rest of their lives." What follows is not just an escape, but a desperate fight for survival that continues long after leaving her abuser. Despite filing "a whole string of police reports from multiple cities, multiple states," safety remains elusive as her ex-partner refuses to give up the pursuit.

This season delves deep into the reality of domestic violence survival—the homelessness, hunger, sleeping on floors, and constant relocation that becomes normalized in the quest for safety. We explore how abuse ripples through generations, with our survivor noting that her mother was "truly my first abuser in life." When backed into a corner with few options left, survivors face impossible choices: "Have you ever considered sex work?" becomes a legitimate question when conventional paths to stability have been exhausted.

Dismissed: True Stories centers the voices that society too often ignores, challenging listeners to witness the full complexity of domestic violence survival. This podcast is created by survivors for survivors, acknowledging that leaving an abuser is often just the beginning of a much longer journey. Subscribe now and join us on October 3rd for a powerful season that refuses to look away from the stories our society too frequently dismisses.

🚨🚨Help Sarah get to safety:🚨🚨

✨👉 CookinCleaninMama’s Linktree 👈✨

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Send us a text

Haley McLean shares the story of Hope's Second Chance, Michigan's only animal sanctuary specifically created to help domestic violence survivors escape with their pets. She built this solution after seeing firsthand how survivors were forced to choose between safety and their animals.

• Founded during COVID when Haley realized shelters couldn't accommodate pets due to liability and space issues
• Pets often face abuse or are used as control mechanisms by abusers, making them overlooked victims
• Provides temporary housing for all kinds of animals while survivors establish safe living situations
• Animals receive veterinary care they've often been denied in abusive homes
• Pets frequently show trauma responses and PTSD symptoms from witnessing abuse
• The sanctuary provides a calm, stable environment with loving care for traumatized animals
• Average stays last about three months while survivors rebuild their lives
• Operates completely through volunteers with no paid staff
• Currently reopening after financial challenges and seeking foster homes
• Survivors consistently demonstrate incredible strength in rebuilding their lives

Visit Hope’s Second Chance to learn more about volunteering, fostering, or donating to help survivors and their pets escape domestic violence together.

Zoom link for Tala’s Q&A: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/U1HL5kOnQnuNw2lFSBwx9A

📣 Helpful Facts

• Nearly 50–70% of abuse survivors delay leaving if they can’t bring pets (Human Resources).
• Studies show up to 90% of abusers threaten or hurt pets as a control tactic (banfieldfoundation.org).

🐾 National & Directory Resources

• Safe Havens for Pets – A searchable national directory run by the Animal Welfare Institute to locate local programs that shelter pets of domestic violence victims (Animal Welfare Institute, Safe Havens for Pets).
• Purina Purple Leash Project & RedRover – Grants and support to equip domestic violence shelters to take in survivors with pets; aims for 25% of U.S. shelte

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

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Dignity arrives in unexpected forms—sometimes as a toothbrush, sometimes as a pair of socks, sometimes as a space that says "you're seen and you're not alone." Today, I'm taking you on a journey that's both heartbreaking and hopeful: the creation of Tala's Closet, a free resource center for domestic violence survivors.

Tala Smith was brilliant, brave, and full of promise before domestic violence stole her future. Her mother Connie shared that Tala lived by the motto "see a need, fill a need"—words that crystallized into a vision for creating something meaningful from unimaginable loss. When survivors flee abuse, they often leave everything behind. The practical necessities—hygiene products, clothing, diapers, formula—become overwhelming obstacles to independence. Tala's Closet removes those barriers by providing essentials with no questions asked, no judgment passed.

The powerful synchronicity of timing cannot be overlooked. Days before our grand opening, a domestic violence homicide occurred just streets away from Tala's Closet. This devastating reminder of why our work matters has only strengthened our resolve. We're not just opening a closet; we're creating sacred space where dignity is restored, where survivors know they're believed, and where a community stands ready to help them rebuild. For the woman sleeping in her car tonight, for the mother who left with nothing but her children, for anyone wondering if escape is possible—we're building something different. We're continuing Tala's legacy by seeing needs and filling them, one toothbrush, one clean shirt, one act of compassion at a time. Check the show notes to learn how you can support this mission and help transform lives in your own community.

https://watersedgebuckeyelake.com/talas_closet

Amazon wishlist coming soon!

Looking for ways to give back or help out? Give Waters Edge Community Center a follow on Facebook and send them a message. Their dedicated volunteers will be in touch with you soon. https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1FwvsmLYRk/

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Send us a text

What happens after you've escaped abuse? When survival is no longer your only focus, how do you rediscover joy and truly come home to yourself? This deeply personal episode explores the challenging journey from merely existing to feeling alive again.

The path back to yourself isn't linear, but it follows recognizable patterns that can guide your healing journey. Through honest reflection on my own experiences, I share seven practical steps that helped me reconnect with my authentic self after domestic violence. From the surprising power of nature walks to the unexpected healing that came from a tequila and twerk class, this episode reveals how seemingly small steps can create profound transformation.

We explore the critical importance of honoring your intuition after years of being told what to think and feel. You'll discover practical techniques for quieting the mental noise that keeps you stuck, moving your body to release stored trauma, and identifying the activities that bring you into a flow state. Most importantly, you'll learn how finding community with other survivors can lift the invisible burden of shame and isolation.

The journey from victim to survivor to thriver involves countless pivots—each one bringing you closer to the person you're meant to be. Each time you follow what feels right, you reclaim pieces of yourself that abuse tried to steal. Whether you're just beginning your healing journey or you've been walking this path for years, remember that everything you need to heal already exists within you. You deserve not just to survive, but to experience genuine joy, connection, and purpose.

Join our survivor community by connecting through the Facebook group linked in the show notes. Your healing journey matters, and you don't have to walk it alone.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Send us a text

Imagine waking up one day to find yourself trapped in a relationship that looked like love but secretly stripped away your safety, autonomy, and nearly your identity. This is Farah's story - a journey through BDSM, polyamory, and cult-like control that will leave you breathless.

When Farah first met her daughter's father, she was exploring her submissive side. His charisma and intelligence mirrored her own spiritual interests, and he even helped her get a restraining order against a previous abuser - positioning himself as her protector. This carefully crafted safety was the perfect trap. Soon, Farah found herself living with multiple "sister wives" in a household where one man controlled everything, from their daily activities to their very thoughts.

The psychological manipulation was relentless. Even the smallest disagreements became ammunition against her. "If you told him 'that's dark blue,' he'd say 'it looks more like navy blue to me' and somehow make you feel crazy for having an opinion," Farah explains. This constant undermining left her questioning her worth, believing she might be broken beyond repair.

Farah's awakening began unexpectedly - meditating in her backyard, reconnecting with nature, and literally talking to birds. Through identifying her cardinal values (loyalty, respect, integrity, safety, and security) and questioning the negative thoughts that had been planted in her mind, she slowly reclaimed her power. The most powerful revelation? "We are not broken," she emphasizes. "We're just rearranging the pieces and making art out of the mess."

This conversation goes beyond survival stories to decode what healing really looks like - not just the breakthroughs, but the quiet moments when you realize your body finally feels calm and safe again. Farah and Elissa explore how many mistake constant activity for healing, when sometimes it's just your feet in the grass with the sun on your face.

Ready to reclaim your power? Learn how anger can be the doorway to clarity and action when channeled productively. As Farah says, "Imagine their face when they realize they didn't break you." Because they didn't. And they never will.

Follow Farah on Insta:

@Farahsfitnessfactory

Follow Alex on TikTok and Insta:

@narcsurvivoradvocate

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Send us a text

"You don't need to see the whole path. Just take the next step." -Unknown

"It took me 34 years to feel safe within my home." These words from Farah stopped me in my tracks as we recorded this powerful conversation about survival, recognition, and healing after lifelong abuse.

This episode follows Farah's journey from a childhood marked by severe physical violence through two abusive relationships that left her questioning her worth and identity. With remarkable candor, she shares how she initially failed to recognize her experiences as abuse until a friend asked just the right questions and she began reading about narcissistic relationships. "The floodgates kind of just opened up," she explains, detailing that moment of clarity when she finally saw her past through unclouded eyes.

What makes Farah's story extraordinary isn't just what she survived, but her unwavering spirit through it all. Even as a child facing brutal corporal punishment, she refused to stay silent. Her siblings nicknamed her "Kunta" (from Roots) for her refusal to submit to mistreatment. That same fighting spirit eventually helped her create boundaries, make difficult choices, and finally establish a safe home for herself and her children.

Throughout our conversation, Farah offers profound insights into what healing actually looks like day-to-day. "Healing is a lifestyle," she emphasizes, sharing her practices for nervous system regulation, learning to be still, and checking in with her body after years of disconnection. For anyone who has experienced trauma, her wisdom about giving yourself permission to feel everything – including the uncomfortable emotions – provides a roadmap for authentic recovery.

This episode contains detailed descriptions of physical abuse that may be triggering for some listeners. Please prioritize your wellbeing while listening. Join us next week for part two, where we'll explore Farah's experience in a controlling BDSM and poly relationship with cult-like dynamics, and how she ultimately found her way back to herself.

Follow Farah on Instagram!

@farahsfitnessfactory

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 OR text begin to 88788

Give me a call! 1-844-TELLDTS

Come join our community of survivors who are looking to meet someone just like you! See the behind the scenes work that goes into the sisterhood non-profit business, discuss DTS episodes, and of course find your survivor sister.

🔗 Follow Along:

• TikTok: @thedvsurvivor
• Instagram: @thedvsurvivorsisterhood
• Join the Sisterhood! The Survivor Sisterhood

Ready to share your story? Send me an email with the main talking points of your experience and I'll reach out to book an interview.

dismissedtruestories@thesurvivorsisterhood.com

Give DTS a 5 star rating! It helps this podcast reach other victims and survivors who NEED these stories! Help us find each other, help us heal, and help us find safety. Love you, mean it.

All sound and music courtesy of Epidemic Sound