Survivor Conversations

In this series of 3 podcasts, Viv Gordon and Emma Bryson talk about Viv's forthcoming project, Restless, which explores what it’s like to be a survivor, and why it’s so important to break the taboo to enable more survivors to talk openly about their experiences.

Episode 3

Intro

In this third and final episode in this pilot series, we’re going to chat about all the great things that can happen when we’re able to talk openly about our lived experiences.

SHOWNOTES

1st Voice - Emma Bryson, survivor-activist and campaigner for survivor rights and interests.

2nd Voice - Viv Gordon, theatre-maker, arts/mental health campaigner & survivor-activist whose work is intended to increase the voice and visibility of survivors of CSA.

We all have secrets sometimes; there are the good ones we can’t wait to reveal, and then there are the bad ones when being found out is what we’re most afraid of. Being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse means that we’re conditioned from a very early age to keep the abuse secret - sometimes because we’re told to, sometimes because we’re ashamed of it, and often because it feels like the things that happened to us were somehow our fault.

Viv and Emma discuss...

• How it feels, to tell the truth, and leave silence & shame behind
• How empowering it is to take ownership of our own narratives
• How liberating it is to be our whole selves
• How it improves our relationships and the way we feel about ourselves

In this series of 3 podcasts, Viv Gordon and Emma Bryson talk about Viv's forthcoming project, Restless, which explores what it’s like to be a survivor, and why it’s so important to break the taboo to enable more survivors to talk openly about their experiences.

Episode 2

Trauma Responses Are Normal Responses - Emma Bryson and Viv Gordon talk about challenging the culture of silence around childhood sexual abuse

Intro

This is the second podcast episode in this series of  ‘Survivor Conversations’, Viv and Emma talk about some of the common challenges faced by survivors of CSA. Together they chat about trauma responses, trauma and memory.

SHOWNOTES

1st Voice - Emma Bryson, survivor-activist and campaigner for survivor rights and interests.

2nd Voice - Viv Gordon, theatre-maker, arts/mental health campaigner & survivor-activist whose work is intended to increase the voice and visibility of survivors of CSA.

1. CSA survivors often don’t disclose trauma until years later.
2. Don’t ask what’s wrong with someone, ask what happened to them.
3. Support and development of coping mechanisms
4. ‘Fight, Flight, Friend, Flop or Freeze’ responses in everyday situations
5. Trauma and memory and its impact on Mental Health

In this series of 3 podcasts, Viv Gordon and Emma Bryson talk about Viv's forthcoming project, Restless, which explores what it’s like to be a survivor, and why it’s so important to break the taboo to enable more survivors to talk openly about their experiences. 

Episode 1

Spilling The Beans - Emma Bryson and Viv Gordon talk about challenging the culture of silence around childhood sexual abuse

Intro

There are an estimated 11 million adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the UK but we don’t often hear people talk about it, and that’s because it’s very difficult to challenge the culture of silence and shame that tells us we’re supposed to keep it a secret.

But for many of us, that sense of being silenced can be just as difficult to live with as the abuse itself, and having to keep our lives and our memories secret has a huge impact upon our long term mental health and our ability to come to terms with the trauma of our childhoods.

SHOWNOTES

1st Voice - Emma Bryson, survivor-activist and campaigner for survivor rights and interests.

2nd Voice - Viv Gordon, theatre-maker, arts/mental health campaigner & survivor-activist whose work is intended to increase the voice and visibility of survivors of CSA.

1. Where do we start?
2. How do we talk about CSA?
3. What can we do if someone wants to talk to us about their own experiences?