Content Note Prior to Listening:
This episode includes discussion and references to childhood sexual abuse and suicidal thoughts. Please listen with care and pause whenever you need.

In this deeply personal episode of The Braver Women® Show, Leanne shares a conversation that reveals the quiet power of a specialised therapeutic relationship designed to reach places ordinary approaches often can’t.

Ally, a remarkable woman from the north of England, speaks openly about the childhood sexual abuse she endured and the decades of shame, anxiety, and 'otherness' that followed.
After years of searching for something that could truly touch the depth of her pain, Ally found in her work with Leanne the level of safety and structure needed for profound healing.
Within that carefully held space she discovered the courage to face experiences she once believed would define her forever.

Ally now calls this experience “the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” and offers her story as a gift to any woman who needs to know that the shame they carry was never theirs to begin with.

This episode explores:
• How childhood trauma silently shapes identity and self worth
• Why shame feels permanent - but isn’t
• How healing becomes possible when safety, responsibility, and a deeply committed therapeutic relationship come together

It’s an unpolished, profoundly human conversation about trauma, resilience, and the life changing impact of a therapeutic relationship unlike anything Ally had experienced before.

If this episode helps you, please share it with someone who might need hope today and leave a review to help more lesbian and queer women find these powerful conversations.

info@braverwomen.com

Connect with Braver Women

Connect with Leanne C. Jones

Braver Women YouTube

Leanne C. Jones LinkedIn

What does it really take to come out later in life, when you're married, a mother, and terrified of breaking everything you've built?

In this powerful episode of The Braver Women Show, Nichole shares her raw, honest journey of coming out at 50 after decades of hiding her truth.

From growing up in a conservative religious environment in Utah, to the fear of disappointing her family, to the moment she finally had the conversation with her mother she'd avoided for years, this is the story of what it means to let go of the life you were told to live and choose authenticity instead.

Nichole worked with me for 3 months in the Braver Women therapy programme, where she dismantled the fear, shame, and silence that had kept her stuck for decades. She didn’t just come out. She finally came home to herself.

If you’re tired of hiding, afraid of what coming out might cost you, or unsure if it’s too late to choose yourself, this episode is for you.

Ready to start your own journey?

https://braverwomen.com/
Join the Braver Women Facebook community and take your first step toward living with passion, purpose and pride: Click Here

Connect with me on LinkedIn - YouTube - Instagram - Facebook

Dip your toe in and get the Braver Women Journal for LGBTQ+ Women - The 6 Step Daily Method to Transform Your Confidence - Available on Amazon Worldwide

What if everything you believed about who you had to be, strong, self sufficient and always in control was actually keeping you stuck? How much joy does that leave for you in your life?

In this raw and powerful episode, I sit down with child centred councillor Suzy, a woman who, approaching 60, made the decision to stop surviving and finally let go to start healing.

Suzy grew up in the 1970s and '80s, a time when being gay meant staying silent. She worked in the corporate capital of banking in London and this reinforced the shame and the silence. That silence left emotional marks: anxiety, shame, people pleasing, and the constant sense of needing to earn her place. Even after building a life with her wife, the impact of those early years lingered.

When Suzy came to work with me in therapy, she was burned out, anxious, and disconnected from her own needs. Together, we unpacked the survival strategies that had helped her get through life but were now keeping her stuck.

In this episode, Suzy shares:

• How anxiety and emotional control became her default

• The invisible cost of always being the strong one

• Why rest felt unsafe and emotional vulnerability felt impossible

• The deep patterns of people-pleasing and self-abandonment

• What changed when she finally put herself at the centre of her healing

Suzy’s story will resonate deeply with queer women who’ve spent years trying to keep it together while silently struggling. Her transformation shows that even after decades of carrying the past, it is possible to create a new emotional reality with the right support.

Links & Resources:
→ Join the Braver Women community
→ Learn more about the Braver Breakthrough™ Therapy Programme
→ Work with me directly - Book your consultation here

Connect with me on YouTube

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Connect with me on Facebook

Connect with me on Instagram

Connect with me on TikTok