At 17, Susan Snow’s father—a Los Angeles robbery–homicide detective—was assassinated while picking up her younger brother from school. Overnight, her life became sirens, cameras, and a brave face that hid years of panic and hyper-vigilance. The first therapist told her she was “fine.” She wasn’t. A decade later, the Columbine shooting triggered flashbacks and a spiral that finally led to a trauma-informed clinician who named it: PTSD—not a moral failing, not something you “get over,” something you learn to manage.

In this episode, Susan shares the long arc from shock to strength: choosing safe providers, setting boundaries with media and people, regulating a fried nervous system, and repairing relationships through honest conversation and accountability. Writing her memoir, The Other Side of the Gun, became both a reckoning and a roadmap—for her family and for anyone living in trauma’s wake. This one is practical, steady, and fiercely hopeful: you can’t change what happened, but you can change how you live with it.

• [00:00] Cold open: “Taking your power back” — why naming trauma matters

• [02:00] 1985: the call, the school lot, and the moment everything changed

• [06:30] Media glare, armed guards, and the mask of strength

• [10:30] “You’re fine”: when therapy misses trauma

• [15:30] Denver & Columbine: flashbacks, panic, and the wake-up call

• [19:30] “This is PTSD”: validation, vocabulary, and first tools

• [24:00] Boundaries that heal: news limits, safe people, body-based regulation

• [30:00] Repairing at home: hard conversations, apologies, accountability

• [36:00] Writing the book: timelines, memory, and telling the whole story

• [42:00] Purpose & service: coaching, speaking, and modeling mental health

• [46:00] Closing: it’s a marathon—how to keep going without burning out

• Book: The Other Side of the Gun: My Journey from Trauma to Resiliency (print, Kindle, audiobook)

• Site: Susan Snow Speaks — speaking, coaching, contact & discovery call