When someone tells you they’ve survived sexual abuse, the conversation can feel tender for everyone involved: the person choosing what to share, and the person trying to respond with care. How can we make those moments feel safer, more honest, and less lonely? 

Beth Hamilton, executive director of the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, offers guidance on how to respond with steadiness, care, and humility. 

Then Drew John Ladd shares his story as a male survivor of childhood sexual abuse. He reflects on silence, family response, masculinity, justice, shame, survival, and joy. 

This episode is about how to integrate trauma, what disclosure asks of a survivor, and how the rest of us can learn to listen better

Resources:

• RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline
• 1in6 offers support, information, and community specifically for male survivors
  

Suggested episodes:

• Forgiveness: How we define it and how it defines us
• What two suicide attempt survivors want you to know about staying alive
  

GUESTS: 

• Beth Hamilton: Executive director of the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, where she works on advocacy, prevention, survivor support, and public policy. She is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, which informs the care and clarity she brings to conversations about disclosure and healing
• Drew John Ladd: Writer, musician, and teacher. He shares his experience as a male survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and reflects on silence, family response, masculinity, justice, and what better conversations can make possible