Some stories don’t fade with time. They wait.
In this powerful episode of Happiness Sold Separately, host Jason Hensley sits down with board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Dawnmarie Risley-Childs for a raw, deeply honest conversation about survival, trauma, and what it really takes to heal.

Dr. Risley-Childs shares her personal journey through decades of domestic violence, sexual violence, and complex PTSD, and explains why she refuses to soften the language around what happened to her. This wasn’t “abuse.” It was violence. And the impact of that violence didn’t live only in memory — it lived in the body, the nervous system, and the subconscious.

Blending clinical insight with lived experience, this episode explores how trauma is stored, why traditional talk therapy often falls short for survivors, and how alternative approaches, including psychedelic-assisted therapy, helped unlock memories her brain had buried in order to survive. Jason and Dr. Risley-Childs also discuss dissociation, forgiveness, resilience, and how joy can still be found — sometimes quietly, sometimes unexpectedly — even after unimaginable pain.

This conversation is honest, heavy, and hopeful. It’s about naming the truth, releasing what was never meant to be carried forever, and finding a way forward without pretending the past didn’t happen.

Listener discretion is advised, as this episode includes discussions of domestic violence, sexual violence, and trauma.

Happiness Sold Separately is a weekly podcast featuring real conversations with people who’ve faced life’s hardest moments and found meaning, healing, and connection on the other side. These stories are shared without embellishment, because healing starts with truth.

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If this episode resonated with you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, or share it with someone who might need to hear this conversation. Word of mouth is how stories like these reach the people who need them most.

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Are you a storyteller, expert, survivor, or changemaker with a story that aligns with the mission of Happiness Sold Separately? We’re always open to meaningful guest conversations.
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Follow along for new episodes, behind-the-scenes moments, and conversations that explore resilience, healing, and the human spirit.

Stay curious, stay connected, and keep the conversation going.

Happiness Sold Separately, Jason Hensley, trauma recovery podcast, PTSD healing, mental health podcast, survivor stories, domestic violence recovery, sexual violence awareness, nervous system trauma, psychiatric insight, psychedelic therapy, resilience, healing trauma

In this powerful episode of Happiness Sold Separately, Jason Hensley sits down with US Navy veteran and “Unfiltered Wisdom” founder Robert Greene for a raw, no-BS conversation about trauma, PTSD, men’s mental health, addiction and the real pursuit of happiness.

Robert opens up about his childhood—watching his mother flatline on Christmas Eve, growing up with an abusive, alcoholic father and stepmother, and developing a deep, unconscious belief that life would always hurt. He shares how that pain pushed him into the military, why war felt safer than home, and how deployments to Afghanistan, Africa and Eastern Europe only added layers of trauma to an already overloaded nervous system.

After leaving the military, Robert became a high-functioning alcoholic and later turned to more substances just to feel okay in his own body. On the outside, he looked successful: a good job, a fiancé, a career traveling overseas. On the inside, he was falling apart—and ultimately reached the point of attempting to end his own life.

From there, Robert walks Jason through the turning points: discovering that pills were just “a bandaid over a bullet hole,” recognizing the difference between coping and healing, and choosing slow, painful change over constant numbing. He explains how days spent alone in nature, long hikes without a phone, yoga, breathwork and meditation became his way of pulling out the emotional “splinter” instead of just covering it with fresh bandages.

Jason and Robert dig into the invisible weight men carry as providers and protectors, the way long days at work turn into “second shift” at home, and how unprocessed stress spills onto wives and kids, silently eroding intimacy and connection. They explore forgiveness and generational trauma—especially Robert’s relationship with his father, a Black man born in 1934 who faced real, systemic racism and believed the only way to keep his sons safe was to make them the “most dangerous men in the room.”

Robert shares how he learned to forgive without ever getting the apology he hoped for, and why understanding is the currency of higher consciousness. He also introduces his simple “equation for happiness”: the way your expectations, preferences and desires stack up against reality, why expectations are really “hope mixed with aggression,” and how adjusting them can radically change your emotional life.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re just coping your way through your days, if you’re a veteran struggling to adjust after service, or a man quietly drowning under pressure and responsibility, this episode will help you feel less alone—and offer you practical ways to start relating differently to your pain.

Connect with Robert Greene and his work:
Unfiltered Wisdom: https://unfiltered-wisdom.com

Listen to more conversations about the pursuit of happiness, pain, forgiveness and real human connection on Happiness Sold Separately with Jason Hensley. Follow, rate and review the show, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear Robert’s story.

PTSD recovery, veterans mental health, US Navy veteran story, childhood trauma healing, abusive father survival, alcohol addiction recovery, high functioning alcoholic, coping vs healing, emotional trauma, men’s mental health and burnout, nature therapy for trauma, yoga and meditation for PTSD, forgiveness and generational trauma, expectations and happiness equation, nervous system regulation, Jason Hensley, Happiness Sold Separately podcast, Robert Greene Unfiltered Wisdom.

In this deeply human episode, Jason talks with financial consultant and lifelong caregiver Shelly Grimm, whose story begins with one of the earliest documented cases of Crohn’s disease in the United States. At five years old, Shelly became the primary caregiver for her mother, navigating poverty, chronic illness, and emotional isolation. The weight she carried shaped her understanding of family, responsibility, trauma, and survival.

Her experiences eventually led her into the world of trusts, estates, financial planning, and crisis navigation — fields that revealed just how unprepared most families are when medical emergencies or end-of-life situations happen. Through the Family Love Letter and her new brand, The Perpetual Caregiver, Shelly is teaching families and caregivers how to prepare emotionally, financially, and practically for the unexpected.

This conversation explores child caregiving, chronic illness, digital assets, passwords, legacy books, mental health, emotional burnout, and the hidden burdens of family caregiving. It also gives listeners a compassionate roadmap for creating stability and peace in moments of crisis.

If you love someone, this is an episode you cannot afford to skip.

Listeners can learn more at familyloveletter.com or theperpetualcaregiver.com, or reach Shelly directly at shelly@theperpetualcaregiver.com

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