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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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