66: Life After… Silenced to Stage: My Chapter from Empower Her Legacy, Coercive Control & Why Stories Save Lives

<p>Content warning: This episode contains my personal account of domestic violence, coercive control, narcissistic abuse, suicidal ideation, self-harm, and eating disorders. Please take care when listening, or skip this episode if it feels triggering.</p><p><br></p><p>What if the story you were most afraid to tell out loud was the one that could save someone else&#39;s life?</p><p><br></p><p>In today&#39;s solo episode, I&#39;m doing something I&#39;ve never done before on this podcast - reading my own published chapter from the bestselling anthology EmpowerHer Legacy from She Rises Publishing aloud, in full, for you.</p><p><br></p><p>This is my domestic violence story. Not a summary of it. Not the highlights reel. The whole thing.</p><p><br></p><p>My childhood, the 20 years of abusive relationships, the love bombing, the coercive control, the eating disorder, the moment I stood in a kitchen and stared at the knife block, the day I left, the emergency housing, the forty-page police statement, and the slow, non-linear, lifelong journey of healing that followed.</p><p><br></p><p>I&#39;m sharing this because I wanted to go first. Because if I&#39;m going to ask women to be vulnerable enough to put their stories in our anthology, the least I can do is show you what that looks like.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, I share:</p><ul><li>Growing up in a home where women were taught to be silent, invisible, and obedient, and how that became the blueprint for every relationship I had</li><li>20 years of abusive relationships - different faces, different cities, the same story in a new costume</li><li>The danger of love bombing and how abuse recruits your existing wounds rather than creating new ones</li><li>The moment in the kitchen that changed everything, and why the real turning point and the actual leaving are almost never the same event</li><li>What happened after I left - emergency housing, a 40-page police statement, 9 moves in 10 months, losing my business, and missing him</li><li>What I would say to the version of myself still living inside fear</li><li>Why storytelling saved my life, and why I believe it can save others too</li></ul><p><br></p><p>This episode is for every woman who has ever been told her story is too much, too messy, or too shameful to share. It is not.</p><p><br></p><p>Your story is not something to survive privately. It is something to use. And when you tell the truth about what happened to you - what it took to get out, what it took to rebuild - another woman somewhere hears her own life more clearly.</p><p><br></p><p>Stories save lives. Storytelling saved mine.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>If you need urgent support, reach out to one of these incredible services:</strong></p><p><strong>1800RESPECT</strong> – National sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service</p><p>Phone: 1800 737 732 (24/7)</p><p>Text: 0458 737 732</p><p>Website: <a href="https://www.1800respect.org.au">https://www.1800respect.org.au</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Safe Steps</strong> – Family violence response centre (Victoria)</p><p>Phone: 1800 015 188 (24/7)</p><p>Website: <a href="https://safesteps.org.au">https://safesteps.org.au</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Lifeline</strong> – Crisis support and suicide prevention</p><p>Phone: 13 11 14 (24/7)</p><p>Text: 0477 13 11 14</p><p>Website: <a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au">https://www.lifeline.org.au</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Beyond Blue</strong> – Mental health support for anxiety and depression</p><p>Phone: 1300 22 4636 (24/7)</p><p>Website: <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au">https://www.beyondblue.org.au</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Apply to be an author in our Life After I Left Anthology</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://forms.gle/XKMtPoukCfVKnbqF9">https://forms.gle/XKMtPoukCfVKnbqF9</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Connect with Cat:</strong></p><ul><li>Join my mailing list to be the first to know about my NEW fear program: ⁠<a href="https://catlouised