The Healing Life

Amanda Briggs

What does it actually look like to keep choosing healing as life unfolds? Amanda Briggs explores that question through honest reflection, lived experience, and unhurried conversation. Each episode offers language, perspective, and companionship for the journey. This show is for people committed to healing — not as a finish line, but as a way of living.

Episodes

  1. Apr 22

    S1E5 - Unbreakable: Healing from Childhood Sexual Assault

    Content note: This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, suicidal ideation, and the criminal justice system. No graphic details are shared. If you or someone you know needs support, RAINN's 24/7 hotline is available at 800.656.HOPE (4673), through chat at RAINN.org/hotline, or by texting “HOPE” to 64673. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and as a childhood sexual assault survivor, this awareness month and episode are close to Amanda's heart. In this episode, she shares her story of abuse, silence, disclosure, healing, and the legal process that didn't go the way it should have. She also digs into the research on grooming, on why survivors don't disclose, and on the staggering gap between how often sexual assault occurs and how rarely perpetrators face real consequences. Amanda also shares the three unshakeable beliefs that have carried her through the worst of it, and still carry her today. Sources Gewirtz-Meydan, A., & Finkelhor, D. (2020). Sexual Abuseand Assault in a Large National Sample of Children and Adolescents. Child Maltreatment, 25(2), 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559519873975 Manay, N., & Collin-Vézina, D. (2021). Recipients ofchildren’s and adolescents’ disclosures of childhood sexual abuse: A systematic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 116, 104192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104192 McAlinden, A.M. (2012). 'Grooming' and the sexual abuseof children: Institutional, internet and familial dimensions. Oxford University Press. McElvaney, R., Moore, K., O’Reilly, K., Turner, R., Walsh,B., & Guerin, S. (2020). Child sexual abuse disclosures: Does age make a difference? Child Abuse & Neglect, 99, 104121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104121 RAINN. (n.d.). The criminal justice system: Statistics.Retrieved from rainn.org. Data sourced from Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012–2016 (2017). Winters, G. M., Jeglic, E. L., Johnson, B. N., & Chou,C. (2024). The prevalence of sexual grooming behaviors among survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 154, 106842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106842

    32 min

About

What does it actually look like to keep choosing healing as life unfolds? Amanda Briggs explores that question through honest reflection, lived experience, and unhurried conversation. Each episode offers language, perspective, and companionship for the journey. This show is for people committed to healing — not as a finish line, but as a way of living.

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