How Do You Listen Well to Hard Stories? | Safe to Hope Podcast
How do you prepare your heart and mind to hear stories of deep suffering without becoming overwhelmed — or walking away untouched?
In this today’s episode of the Safe to Hope podcast, Self-Care with Julia and Ann Maree, we pause before beginning this season’s difficult story to talk about something equally important: how to listen well.
Ann Maree is joined by licensed therapist and Help[H]er board member, Julia, to explore the weighty but necessary practice of bearing witness — not only to unimaginable trauma but also to the redemptive thread running through the darkness.
Together, they discuss what it means to listen with wisdom, vigilance, and compassion. You’ll hear practical self-care strategies, spiritual insights, and thoughtful encouragement for anyone who wants to enter into another’s story without losing themselves in the process.
Whether you’re a caregiver, pastor, counselor, advocate, or simply someone who desires to learn how to care well, this episode offers important guidance on how to hold hard stories — and hold yourself — with care.

How Do You Listen Well to Hard Stories?
How do you prepare your heart and mind to hear stories of deep suffering without becoming overwhelmed — or walking away untouched?
In this today’s episode of the Safe to Hope podcast, Self-Care with Julia and Ann Maree, we pause before beginning this season’s difficult story to talk about something equally important: how to listen well.
Ann Maree is joined by licensed therapist and Help[H]er board member, Julia, to explore the weighty but necessary practice of bearing witness — not only to unimaginable trauma but also to the redemptive thread running through the darkness.
Together, they discuss what it means to listen with wisdom, vigilance, and compassion. You’ll hear practical self-care strategies, spiritual insights, and thoughtful encouragement for anyone who wants to enter into another’s story without losing themselves in the process.
Whether you’re a caregiver, pastor, counselor, advocate, or simply someone who desires to learn how to care well, this episode offers important guidance on how to hold hard stories — and hold yourself — with care.

Sometimes, stories unfold side by side—but not always in harmony.

Recently, a well-known Christian podcast released a new series exploring topics like trauma, mental illness, and abuse—many of the same themes we're addressing this year on Safe to Hope. Understandably, some of our listeners are engaging with both, and a few have already shared how conflicted or invalidated they felt.

In response, we’ve released a special bonus episode. Not to criticize, but to care. To gently offer a different perspective—one shaped by the lived experiences of survivors and informed by experts in trauma care and memory science. Whether or not you’ve heard the other podcast, this episode frames the heart of our season: why believing survivors matters, and how we hold sacred space for stories that are hard to tell.

This week on Safe to Hope, we talk about the process of storytelling, self-care, and grief, and why survivors need time, patience, and space to make sense of what they’ve been through. Carya shares how putting words to her story changed how she saw it, but also how she wrestles with grief and the need for lament. Together, we explore why survivors often feel alone in their experiences and how we, as listeners, can create a safe place for healing—without rushing to fix, minimize, or explain away the pain.

We also talk about Jesus in suffering—how He is strong yet gentle, never hurried, never harsh, and always present. If you’ve ever struggled to sit with hard truths, hold space for grief, or find hope after deep pain, this conversation is for you. Tune in and walk with us in the land of the living.

In this episode of Safe to Hope, we meet Carya, our storyteller for Season 6. Instead of starting at the beginning of her story, we begin with where she has landed—a place of deep wrestling, but also profound hope. Through the lens of Jesus is My Captain, Carya shares the mystery of suffering, the presence of Christ in unimaginable pain, and the reality that following Him is not always safe, but it is good. Her words are a testament to the severe mercy of God, who calls us not to escape suffering, but to walk with Him through it.