Dissociated
Dissociated — Breaking Silence. Building Joy.
There was a time when silence was survival. But silence doesn’t last forever.
Host Sheryl Brown survived fifteen years of childhood sexual abuse by her adoptive father. Decades later, when her niece came forward about the same man, Sheryl finally found her voice.
In this deeply personal and hopeful podcast, she shares her journey from trauma to truth — and the light she discovered through the cracks.
Each episode blends intimate storytelling with conversations from survivors, therapists, and authors, exploring what it means to heal, to reclaim your power, and to build joy after pain.
Because the cracks in our stories aren’t where we break.
They’re where the light gets in.
Dissociated
S1 | E2 | The Man the World Chose to See
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Content Warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and its long-term impacts. Please take care while listening.
In Episode 2 of Dissociated, Sheryl takes listeners back to the beginning — before she had language for what was happening, before silence became survival.
This episode explores the world of her early childhood: the man who entered her family with a heroic story that made him easy to trust, the home that looked ordinary from the outside, and the subtle moments where something began to feel wrong. Through detailed storytelling, Sheryl shares how abuse doesn’t always arrive loudly or suddenly — it often unfolds quietly, hidden inside routines, laughter, and moments that are easy to dismiss.
As fear slowly moved into her body, Sheryl learned to adapt in ways she didn’t yet understand: freezing, staying quiet, mapping danger, and trying to disappear. This episode is not about graphic details — it’s about clarity. About showing how grooming works, how a child’s body knows before the mind can explain, and why silence is so often misunderstood.
Episode 2 lays the foundation for understanding what comes next — not just what happened, but how it shaped everything that followed.
CREDITS: Created, hosted, and produced by Sheryl.
Website: dissociatedpod.com
RESOURCES
Immediate Support
- National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-4673 Website: https://www.rainn.org
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 Website: https://www.crisistextline.org
- Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988 Website: https://988lifeline.org
Therapy & Trauma Support
- Psychology Today Therapist Finder: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapist
- Therapy Den — Inclusive Therapist Directory: https://www.therapyden.com
- EMDR International Association: https://www.emdria.org
- Trauma-Focused CBT: https://tfcbt.org
Organizations & Survivor Communities
- RAINN: https://www.rainn.org
- 1in6 (for male-identifying survivors): https://1in6.org
- Pandora’s Project: https://pandys.org
- End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI): https://evawintl.org
