Defiance of Silence - A Sacred Witness

Silence can protect us for a while—but eventually, it costs everything. In this powerful episode, Valerie sits down with Nicole, a decorated veteran, detective, and survivor whose 26-year career in law enforcement and the military was defined by service, strength, and relentless achievement. Rising to the role of Special Agent in Charge and Sergeant in the MA Army National Guard, Nicole Ferry also graduated from the FBI National Ac...

What if grief isn’t only about death, but about every quiet loss we were taught to outrun?

We open Season Two with a grounded, powerful conversation with Brad Gallup — veteran, transformational coach, and equine-guided educator. Together, we explore unmourned grief, moral injury, and the hidden cost of caring in a world that both hurts and heals.

Brad shares his journey from Desert Storm to a near-suicide, secret therapy, and more th...

What if the most healing thing we can offer isn’t advice, but presence? We close our first season by honoring the stories that found a home here and the witnesses who listened with care. From sexual trauma to the quiet, everyday work of surviving, this conversation threads together what we learned, what surprised us, and why the body keeps holding truth long after the recording stops.

We revisit the heart behind the show: ...

Start with a breath, stay for the truth. Valerie sits down with Lauren, a licensed professional counselor and former child life specialist, to unpack what it really means to be a sacred witness—how to show up for survivors without losing yourself to vicarious trauma. From emergency rooms and SANE exams to therapy rooms and courtrooms, we trace how the body stores stress, why memories fragment under threat, and how fight, flight, fr...

Some stories crack the shell and let the light in. Valerie sits with Becca—a tattoo artist, mom, and survivor—who turns the old script of silence on its head and shows how radical self-forgiveness can rebuild a life. We move through early violations and the ache of not being believed, into the adult patterns that followed: people pleasing, numbing with alcohol, and mistaking compliance for consent. When a trusted friend crossed a l...

What does it take to love someone through trauma without losing yourself? We sit down with Rachel—forensic nurse, educator, and secondary survivor—to unpack the messy, courageous work of building safety, voice, and trust when PTSD lives in the home. From a brave early disclosure on a blind date to a life-saving inpatient stay and a parking-lot pregnancy reveal, her story is equal parts raw and deeply hopeful.

Rachel explai...

Silence can isolate — but it can also safeguard a story until it’s ready to be spoken.
In this episode, we sit with Jeanine McNeill, CPS—an Army Veteran, Women Veterans Program Certified Peer Specialist, and Women’s Health Liaison at the Sheridan VA. With more than 40 years of lived experience, Jeanine has transformed her own journey through Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) into advocacy, suppor...

When the US Army stamps your discharge Chapter 8 and strips your benefits, it’s easy to believe your service didn’t count. Lucy wouldn’t accept that ending. She walks us through growing up in chaos, surviving assault in uniform, and carrying a story so heavy it nearly pushed her over the edge—until a clinician named PTSD and a fellow vet’s challenge rekindled her fire.

We trace the moments that changed everything: a panic ...

What holds a caregiver together when the work starts to pull them apart? We sit down with Halie—trauma nurse, survivor, and seeker—to explore the quiet, practical ways she rebuilt herself after moral injury, burnout, and years of outrunning her own story. She brings the ER and ICU into focus with unflinching honesty, then shows how small rituals and community transformed adrenaline into presence. 

We talk about how trauma lives in t...

A two‑piece swimsuit turned see‑through. A cabin in the woods. Years of silence that felt safer than the truth. Susan joins us to trace a line from early humiliation and assault to a life rebuilt on wise vulnerability, safe witnessing, and a stubborn kind of joy that doesn’t vanish when life gets loud. We talk about how shame sneaks in when adults laugh instead of protect, how silence becomes a habit that looks like strength, and h...

What happens when your very survival depends on disconnecting from your own body? For Paralympic champion and Army veteran Lia Coryell, this wasn't a philosophical question—it was her childhood reality.

Born into extreme poverty in northern Wisconsin with a father in prison and an illiterate mother, Lia learned early that the world could be unimaginably cruel. By age nine, she had developed a profound dissociative res...

In this first episode Valerie shares her personal story of surviving sexual trauma, breaking the silence and discovering the power of being witnessed. Hear how being witnessed led to a spiritual awakening that ultimately led to the birth of Defiance of Silence - A Sacred Witness Podcast. 

For decades, I carried the weight of childhood sexual abuse and military sexual trauma without telling a soul. When I unexpectedly encountered my ...

"The body keeps the score." This phrase has become commonplace in trauma-informed circles, but what does it actually mean when your physical symptoms have emotional roots? How do we become truly present in bodies that have stored years of unprocessed experiences?

In this profound conversation with Air Force veteran, former firefighter, and bodyworker Amber Miskovich, we explore the sacred art of witnessing—both o...