All suffering is loss, but God leaves nothing unused in His plans. We help women see His redemptive thread throughout their circumstances and then look for opportunities to join with God in His transforming work.
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Dr. Ann Maree Goudzwaard
Founder and Executive Director of Help[H]er.
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Season 6 Episode 9
Bearing Witness
In Story 3, Carya begins to tell how her abuse continued even after she left home. She exposes the hidden lives of men in ministry who used their power for evil while cloaked in Christian leadership. With courage and sorrow, she shares a part of her story she’s never spoken aloud—her children.
SHOW NOTES:
Self-Care Resources:
- Christian Trauma Healing Network, Tools and Handouts
- Self-Regulation for Daily Triggers
- The Essential Skill to Regulate Your Nervous System
- Therapy in a Nutshell
- Justice From the Victim’s Perspective by Judith Herman
- Honoring the Truth: A Response to the Backlash by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis
- Escaping Enemy Mode by Dr Jim Wilder
Informational Resources:
- Serving SRA Survivors: Satanic Ritual Abuse Recovery by Kay Elise Tolman
- Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion
- RAINN.org – Informational Support for sexual abuse survivors
- On the Threshold of Hope by Diane Langberg
- Escaping High-Control Religious Groups
Episode 3
Summer Reading Series
What does healthy intimacy look like in Christian marriage? And what happens when biblical language gets tangled with cultural stereotypes? In this powerful and hope-filled episode, we welcome Sheila Wray Gregoire—author, researcher, and founder of BareMarriage.com—to discuss her latest book The Marriage You Want. With wisdom grounded in Scripture and backed by extensive research, Sheila offers a compelling call to mutuality, emotional connection, and healthy sexuality within marriage.
This conversation gently acknowledges that these insights may not apply to relationships marked by coercion or abuse. If that's your story, we hope this episode offers language to describe what’s not of God—and affirms your worth, safety, and dignity.
Whether you’re rebuilding your marriage or simply curious about God's design for intimacy, this episode brings both practical insight and compassionate encouragement.
Sheila Wray Gregoire Resources
- Bare Marriage podcast
- Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended
- The Marriage You Want: How to Build a Relationship that Brings Out the Best in Both of You
- She Deserves Better: Raising Girls to Resist Toxic Teachings on Sex, Self, and Speaking Up
Episode 2
Summer Reading Series
With deep personal insight and decades of ministry experience, Elyse challenges us to reconsider how we view the mischaracterized women of Scripture and to embrace the truth that God calls us beloved, even when our stories have been distorted or dismissed.
Episode 1
Summer Reading Series
In this powerful Summer Reading Series conversation, Safe to Hope host Julia Fillnow and Help[H]er Executive Director Ann Maree Goudzwaard sit down with therapist, author, and advocate Tabitha Westbrook to explore the sacred journey of healing after trauma. Drawing from her book, Body & Soul, Healed & Whole, Tabitha speaks candidly about sexuality, consent, coercive control, embodiment, and the intersection of theology and trauma recovery.
Together, they discuss how survivors can reconnect with their bodies, challenge internalized shame, and discern the difference between biblical teaching and spiritual manipulation. Tabitha’s clinical wisdom and personal vulnerability offer a compassionate, truth-filled roadmap for women navigating abuse, recovery, and intimacy.
