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Sarah’s Astounding Story of cPTSD, Resiliency, Survival & Healing

119 min • 20 september 2024

This podcast episode with Sarah is one of the most powerful stories of trauma, resiliency, courage, vulnerability and healing that has ever been shared with me… and over the years I have been privy to hundreds of stories of traumatic birth and healing. I feel it’s important to forewarn my podcast listeners of the, what will be for many, hugely confronting topics that we discuss in this episode, including rape and sexual abuse, suicide, cancer, early pregnancy loss, extreme postnatal depression, suicidal ideation, a near-death experience of early postpartum septicaemia, and complex PTSD.

Please take a moment to tune into your mind, heart and body to ascertain whether you are in an okay space to be taking in this conversation right now. If not, honour your current needs and come back to this episode if and when you feel ready to do so. Should you decide to listen and find that the themes trigger your own trauma responses please contact a trusted friend, therapist or local support service to garner the help that you are needing.

Sarah is a mum to two children, aged 2 and 4. She is a survivor of adolescent sexual abuse, and cancer, as well as having dealt with the trauma of losing both her parents by 13 years of age. In this podcast episode she talks through the coping strategies she adopted, including fawning, numbing and dissociation, and how these impacted her birth and postpartum experiences. Sarah wants to share her story so that others won’t feel so alone in their traumatic experiences of new parenthood. In her sharing, she offers guidance, hope and inspiration to those who may be feeling a sense of hopelessness surrounding the hardships that life, birth and new parenthood can sometimes bring. She is an absolute heroine and is courageous beyond measure.