Free Like-Me
The "Free Like Me" podcast, hosted on YouTube by Clark Fredericks, is a platform for sharing powerful stories of resilience, healing, and transformation. Each episode delves into the personal narratives of individuals who have faced significant adversities, focusing on their journey towards overcoming these challenges and the lessons learned along the way. The podcast aims to inspire and support others by highlighting the importance of speaking up about trauma, advocating for mental health, and the pivotal role of friendship and community in the healing process.
Visit: Clark Fredericks website:
https://konect.to/freelike-me08808
Free Like-Me
I Had Zero Worth
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Religious trauma. Coercive control. Addiction. Depression. Deanna survived all of it — and rebuilt her life on her own terms.
Deanna grew up inside a strict Fundamental Baptist home where shame replaced support and obedience replaced safety. When she finally left, she had no tools to recognize manipulation — which made her the perfect target. A man named Steve used love-bombing, ecstasy, and calculated coercive control to pull her into repeated sexual exploitation she identifies as rape.
When she told her family, they stayed silent.
What followed was a spiral into heavy drinking, multiple DUIs, and a depression she drowned in alcohol. Rock bottom came in a jail cell. From there — through Alcoholics Anonymous, treatment, and community — she built something no one handed her: long-term sobriety, a storytelling platform called Intrepid Storytelling, and a family of three kids she created by choice through IVF, foster care, and adoption.
This is what recovering from religion and trauma actually looks like.