This podcast is intended for mature audiences only and may contain content that could be triggering. Please listen with discretion. I have listened to this next part of Stephanie's story more than once, and each time I can hear the frustration in her voice. She was angry with herself for not seeing the red flags with the father of her youngest child and eventually her third husband, but her reaction makes sense.
The Journal of Family Violence researched and found women are more likely to overlook warning signs when they are mentally vulnerable, physically unwell, or hopeful for a fresh start after her car accident left her shaken and physically compromised. Stephanie did what many survivors do. She put her own needs aside and focused on saving someone else. Had just been in a car accident and I, I consider that my first real big red flag with him. That I dismissed.
I just dismissed it and I helped him get that back. Child support paid. 'cause after my grandmother had passed, I received a very small inheritance and so I used that to help him. Get his driver's license back. How much was it? It was thousands of dollars. 'cause I don't know when he had ever paid it. So it was a lot of money. And the story was, he was, I guess 14 when this baby was born. So he was obviously a child. So he had no relationship with this child?
No, there was, I don't think he had ever met this child. We end up getting married in um, 2006. And I thought I had waited. You know, both children were in school and, uh, were one big happy family. I think I've done it right this time. Mm-hmm. Like something in me was feeling like, okay, I didn't do it my parents' way. I didn't follow their advice. I didn't give in to their demands.
According to an October, 2024 article published by the CDC, research shows survivors of abuse often repeat patterns due to deeply ingrained psychological. And neurological factors growing up in a chaotic or traumatic environment can affect areas responsible for decision making, threat assessment, and emotional regulation. This can leave survivors struggling to recognize what constitutes a healthy relationship. He was a decent husband.
Um, I really thought things were okay, and he started showing signs of anger. I. And so I came from the south. You just get used to like men have anger, you know? And I was still very much so in an unhealthy space in my life, even though I felt like I'd had some victories. Yeah, I had never dealt with anything. I still don't even know what I was doing. So we're not living in sin. So my parents have started to love me again.
I want to please them, but still hold my ground as this new adult I've turned into. I still wanted a relationship with them. So they did come visit. They doted over the children. That's really what mattered more to me, you know? So my, um, sister and brother actually had also come at individual times, you know, just to visit here and there, and I. We had moved, we're in a better place.
The kids have their own rooms and their own bathroom, and we're going to, you know, the school is right down the street. We can actually walk and feeling pretty good. He started a photography business first, and then I ended up joining him and being his editor, and then eventually his, uh, second, uh, photographer and then eventually doing my own photographer, sometimes with my own assistant. So I think it was the first time in my life where things felt. Kind of okay.
And then all hell unleashed. There was yelling, throwing things, breaking things. Silent treatment. He would leave the house for hours without telling me when he was mad and where he was. I became very depressed, lots of crying, started having like intrusive suicidal thoughts because I felt so alone again in this place. Did you love him? I did. I, I mean, I did. I thought I did. At least I had a child with him and I married him. So therefore, you know, I felt like that was part of love.
Uh, I don't know if I ever knew really what love was at that point, in all honesty, but I just wanted to be a loving person no matter what. Mm-hmm. And so I think I felt as if it were love. It gets so bad that I finally give him an ultimatum. I'm like, it's, you gotta go to therapy or we're done. I mean, I just was, I depleted at this point of energy and the kids were being exposed to this. Um, I, you know, my youngest would come and comfort me sometimes when I was sobbing, when he was gone.
Mm-hmm. And that's just really not okay. Mm-hmm. I understand kids are gonna. Here and see things we're not always gonna get along, but you know, there shouldn't be continuous chaos and literal yelling and, you know, abusive style of behavior and their mother weeping because she can't pull herself together. And so he did start going to therapy and uh, for a while. It, you know, it was starting to help things. It was getting better. We found out where his anger issues were coming from. Mm-hmm.
And he started talking about it, that he was, um, molested by his aunt. Ah, you're kidding. His aunt was molested by her uncle and so on and so forth. I think like my mom, it was that generational. That's a big place in my life where. I draw the line because of what had happened to me with my uncle and what my mom had gone through. Mm-hmm. There was no way in hell I was ever gonna let that happen to my children. And that is one thing that I was very.
Very persistent in my life was protecting them from that style of abuse. Mm-hmm. And the fact that he had dismissed this for years and become so angry inside because he had never dealt with it. I was all of a sudden, I think, putting my energy into helping him and. You know, his aunt was still alive. My uncle wasn't it? You know, it was a different situation, so we cut them off. I was like, I will not allow my children to see your family any longer. Everybody knew this was going on.
No one did anything about it. Did I deal with anything at the time? Absolutely not. Was it destroying me and my decision making processes? Yes, it most certainly was. Was it putting my children? In situations that were, you know, harm harmful to their growth As little humans, yes, because their homes were chaos and full of anger. So, but I never wanted to be a victim when he was very young.
I mean, like under five years old, he had a stepdad at the time that was extremely physically abusive to him. I mean like three years old and put his head through a wall. Um, you know, you hear stories like this and for me, the empathetic part of myself cannot dismiss that and just say, you know, you need to deal with yourself. I. I can't do this. This is over, you know? Mm-hmm.
Like the empathetic part of me was like, this person is, is hurting tremendously, which is why they're angry, and all that anger is taken out on me. Mm-hmm. I did not. Hold that against him. I just wanted so badly to get him help. Sure. I wanted him to feel whole, and I was willing to deal with that anger because of that. Mm-hmm. I thought I was being a good person. Honestly, I thought that I was helping this broken bird, although I was the broken bird as well, you know?
Yet, my goal was to always survive and keep moving forward and try to get better, even though I didn't know what that meant. You may be asking, despite repeated setbacks and escalated difficulties, why did Stephanie continue moving forward? This persistence is a common coping strategy among survivors of trauma. It's driven by an instinctive desire to survive, protect, and eventually overcome. Stephanie's continuous effort to keep going wasn't about ignoring the past.
It was a deeply rooted survival mechanism intended to shield herself and her children from immediate harm, even when she couldn't clearly see a way forward. It's like. Move forward, keep marching on. We were trying our best. Mm-hmm. And, uh, therapy was definitely helping. So I was starting to have this yearning for my family as Stephanie and my friendship grew over the year and a half it took to record her story.
I spent time researching topics on various pieces that I wanted to learn more about. Pieces that stuck out to me that I couldn't get my head around asking the simple question, how could this happen? I. I uncovered that psychologists have long observed that survivors of child abuse often return to the very system that hurt them, not because they've forgotten the pain, but because the need for belonging for family runs deeper than logic, even in homes marked by trauma.
Bonds are formed that are hard to break. It's called trauma attachment, and for many survivors, the hope that this time might be different is a powerful pool. I have small children, I would love for them to have aunts and uncles still. Mm-hmm. And I wanted to help him, which means I felt like he needed to be away from them at that point too. And this is all me just not knowing what the hell I'm doing.
But you know, we're trying our best, you know, I, I just want to have this family unit that functions and is happy and loves each other. That's all I ever wanted. Mm-hmm. Just peace Of course. And so. I'm like, maybe we should go to Oklahoma, which is where my sister and brother lived, and take a little, you know, vacation there and take the kids and visit them and, you know, just see, see how it is. We go to Oklahoma, we have a great time. I. Like just a blast.
I was really missing my siblings and wanted to reconnect with them in a bigger way. And so that vacation, um, felt like that. And my kids obviously loved being around, you know, my sister and my brother and I had the wild idea for some reason when we came back to Ohio from that trip that we should move to Oklahoma. Things, things seem good and I just, I think. It could be really magical and maybe things are going to be very different now for everybody. You know, he's healing.
You know, I, I don't, healing wouldn't have been the right word for me, but I, I'm thinking things are turning around 'cause I'm feeling this more peace, you know? Mm-hmm. And then, you know, everybody's getting along and my family literally very quickly end up moving to Oklahoma. I send him first. With the kids because I've gotta wrap up my business here because I was an independent contractor in Cosmo, in a salon, and I had my own space and so I needed to finish my rental.
And I thought because I was, I could support the family that way. While he got there, they lived with my sister and he could find a place, find a job, and then I could transfer. I had to start my clientele over again. Right. Which means I wouldn't have any money. Income. Yeah. I was a huge supporter, um, financially in our family and during this process I start getting. Phone calls. He's supposed to be handling the bills at the time, finding a job, all that stuff. He hasn't found a job.
He's just partying with my brother all the time. Uh, he hasn't found a place, obviously living with my sister and her husband. And then I start getting, Hey, I need this money to pay these bills, da da da. And I was like, I've already put that money in the account. Where's it gone? He was blowing through our savings like lightning, so, um, obviously not what the plan was. Mm-hmm. And I was getting really aggravated. I was really missing my kids. And so I end up going early.
We're living with my sister, he finally finds a job. I have. Found a job and try, you know, I'm trying to build clientele so it's not, you know, paying a lot in the beginning if you've noticed the pattern. I mean, it is just, we're hopping from one thing to the next. I mean, that's how I grew up. I never had time to really sit and think about what I felt. Um, the only thing I really reacted to was, you know.
I had gotten used to reacting to anger, and those are the things that woke me up to think like, what's wrong, you know? Or what am I doing wrong? I found this article fascinating called Trauma from the American Psychological Association. It states that even when survivors consciously strive for better outcomes, neurological imprinting from past trauma can impair their judgment and intuition.
Their brains are wired to prioritize survival, and this may mistake intense or chaotic emotions for genuine connection leading to decisions that seem counterintuitive. I thought I was making progress as an adult. Mm-hmm. In my own thinking, you know, I'm starting to see a few wrinkles here and there already in the family dynamics as always, and so.
I start realizing with my family, it's as any time in life, it's on and off, and I am not blaming my siblings for this at this point in my life with what I've gone through, especially with my parents, that I am positive. My siblings went through their own versions. Of this, not maybe my version, but I, I could only assume that they have had to deal with.
You know, other manipulations said, looking back as an adult and after therapy and everything else, um, I realize, I mean, I think we all had different parts to play in my parents' lives because honestly, at this point we, you know, we don't speak. Mm-hmm. And we never had the chance to talk about these things. At least my sister, I'd love her dearly. Um. I, I don't know her story.
Mm-hmm. But I have a feeling she also has one and I think that she can possibly, hopefully understand, you know, hers at this point. I hope that she got help along the way as well. Sure. Because in our life, I don't think any of us realize, realized even just the religious abuse that we were going through. We were just all trying our best with probably none of us had real good skill sets of any sort, um, that weren't Christian based. I think I'm around 35 and a half at this point.
I just wanted so badly to have this like. Family unit, this family dynamic. You know, we can visit, we can have dinners together every now and then. I mean, honestly, the first thing my sister said to me when we moved out there was she's like, well, I just want you to know we're really busy so we probably won't have time to hang out. And I remember my heart was just like, it dropped into my stomach. 'cause I was like, oh no. Um. That's the reason we're here.
Uh, but you know, I just dismissed it as her trying to maybe be protective too, because I assume, you know, she was having her own boundary issues. So we, we just all, were trying to do our best, honestly, Lisa and I. It was, I can't say it was the best for any of us. We all had just been messed up. Mm-hmm. I think in, in ways from the family we were raised in. In all honesty, if they don't agree with that, totally understand. Sure. But that is my perspective personally.
Like, I never wanna speak for them and their, um, viewpoint or what they believe because I, I honestly don't know. Mm-hmm. And would never want to. Uh, violate, you know, anything in that realm with them. I, I want to respect that, but this is why I'm saying this is personally my viewpoint, how I saw it, how I saw them, and maybe what they were going through. Um, this has nothing to do with anything they've said. Mm-hmm. I just wanna state that.
Um, and eventually my hope is once again, my sister and I. I would hope one day at least, would be able to heal enough in our own lives that we can maybe open our lives up to each other. Mm-hmm. Personally, and the reason I haven't done that is because I am still healing. Mm-hmm. And I'm sure my sister is too, and I want to make sure I'm in a solid place before I ever open that door again. I feel like along the way she started getting it. And I think that's why I feel hope.
Um, I, I know that even to this day, she respects my boundaries. Um, she doesn't message me, um, in times of emergency in her family. She has, but she's always very quick to say she's trying not to step over a boundary. She just wanted me to know. Um, I, I really, really. Appreciate that. I feel like those things have helped me find hope in a future relationship with her.
Um, and I'm not gonna get choked up about it right now, but if she ever listens to this before we have that happen, I do want her to know I love her and I miss her. And, um, I'm also sorry about what happened to her over the years. I am consistently reminded by Stephanie's humility, kindness, and unwavering hope I. There have been countless moments when she could have chosen anger or spoken harshly about her family, but she never does.
Instead, she meets every memory with empathy and grace, especially when it comes to her siblings and when she speaks of her parents, both Pentecostal preachers. She always takes the high road, even in the most painful reflections of being a PK kid. My parents had started getting my business again about religion and very, very concerned with, um, my walk with God taking our kids to church that was starting. They, oh my God, they, my dad one time got my husband in the car.
By himself and just had a whole lecture about God and church and we needed to be going. They were really getting aggravated at me for not taking my kids to church every Sunday. So that was starting to become annoying, obviously. I mean, we took them to church sometimes. I was not anti-God or anti-church at this point. I was anti world harvest where the Bible college was. But I was just trying to figure out what it meant to me and what kind of church I fit into.
And I didn't feel like going every Sunday, and so I didn't. Mm-hmm. And that was really problematic for my parents because, especially since I had children, um, obviously leading them straight to the pits of hell. But, uh, at this point my husband and I are constantly fighting. It's just become normal to the point that you don't realize how bad it truly is because it's an everyday occurrence. Um, I got addicted to diet pills from a diet pill mill doctor there. Mm-hmm.
Um. That was, that was rough. I was really just having a hard time with any like self-identity already and self-worth. I was starting to have thyroid problems and things that were unnecessary and it was all because of the pills. And so I finally had a doctor that had a come to Jesus talk with me, and I got off of them. Because I realized it was literally destroying my body. An article written by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network called Complex Trauma.
Rates that when children are involved, it's important to understand that trauma can deeply compromise even the most fundamental protective instincts. Clouding clear judgment. Stephanie's story vividly illustrates this scientific insight despite her genuine desire. To create stability and safety for herself and her children. She repeatedly found herself in environments that mirrored her traumatic past.
Understanding the science behind trauma and abusive patterns is crucial, not just for survivors to heal, but also for you and me to empathize deeply and recognize the complexity of their journey towards genuine, healthy relationships. So, um, my oldest daughter at this point, um, is obviously something is going on. They've started cutting.
I, I. Did not know exactly, and you would think at this point I always tried to put myself in their shoes as being a young child, but my childhood, I think, had been so traumatizing that it was, it was very blurry in my mind. It was, I just kept marching forward, didn't wanna look back, and so I didn't know why this was happening. I knew that. Uh, life wasn't feeling good for me.
Um, but I, I didn't have the skillset to ask her or know to even ask her what was going on other than what was going on. I didn't try to dig deeper. I just thought, this is a fad in all honesty. And I had been there to look back. Now, it's very frustrating as a mother to not, I think I had just looked. At my life and my past in such a blur and just kept marching forward all the time. Don't look back. And because of that, I never, I never even put two and two together on my childhood.
And the fact that maybe somebody should have asked me why I was cutting, maybe yeah, I should have. And now I have a child doing this. And I don't think to dig deeper into her life. To see why in the heck she's cutting other than she's at that age that it's, it's a fad in school right now. Now, and I, I'm so sorry for if she ever hears this, I want her to know, I'm so sorry. I did not dig deeper because there was obviously something going on. Um. There was obviously some call for help.
There was pain and I did not identify that, and so I, I do, I feel horrible to this day for just the lack of skills as a parent that I honestly had. And so we're there. My youngest one's becoming withdrawn. Very, very quiet, very hard to talk to. Um. I just honestly thought they were really quiet kid, so we had just built up to this point and I couldn't just turn around and, you know, just haul back. I didn't even have the money to do that at that point.
I mean, it was like we moved four times when we were there. We moved from my sister's house to this little tiny apartment that we eventually called hell when we referred to it. Um, and then we moved to my brother's attic. Until we bought this house, it was actually a really cool house. I ended up working in a salon that was literally right across the street, um, with these two wonderful ladies, the mother and daughter team, and I was an independent contractor there.
We were trying to stick it out, and by the end of four years it was just, we had all had enough. There was so much disconnection. Um, you know, my mom and my dad were starting to become very intrusive again. I was like, oh my gosh, what have we done? I have lived in Ohio for all this time, which was helping me form this. I. Thinking at least, or trying to of my own. And then here I am back in the, the depths of it where people are, have just access.
It wasn't like it was all bad, but it was the in-between that made it overwhelming again. So I just. I was like, I gotta get outta this again. I was like, I've made a mistake. I've exposed my kids to everything that I have been trying to run away from, I think all my life. And I was like, we are going back to Ohio. You know, we're gonna sell this house if it goes into foreclosure, I don't care. We gotta get outta here.
I mean, that's just how strongly I felt about moving and everyone was in agreement, except for my oldest daughter. Okay. My oldest daughter loved it there. I understand they were in high school already. Um, they themselves were almost thriving there in their social, you know, group and school and stuff. But I. I wasn't staying there for that reason. I had to get out and this was me running again too. I mean, instead of setting boundaries or anything else, you know, I'm just running away again.
So here we are moving back to Ohio. Um, my husband, youngest daughter, myself. Are very happy about this. My oldest daughter, not so much because once again, they had a friend circle at this point and we're in high school, so I know that's a, an extremely tough move. Absolutely. Um, but I needed to go back and get the business set up again because at this point we didn't have like all the, we didn't have all the extra savings.
That we had when we had moved there because he had burnt through a lot of that when he moved there. And, um, I, you know, being in the cosmetology business, once you move, it's like you're starting all over again. But I reached out to a lot of my clients, um, to see after four years, uh, who might be coming back. And so I ended up having an extremely high percentage of returns. And so. I went back first to get my business established again.
Let the kids finish school in Oklahoma and, uh, find a house for everybody to live in. So basically I was gonna be there for three months getting everything prepped and ready, and then go back and get the kids and my husband. I. I was working, um, way more hours than I expected to 'cause I got so busy. Um, everybody was very happy to see me. And then they also would joke about how they were still forgiving me for leaving in the first place. That feels good. So I had really wonderful clients.
It was lovely to come back to them. Um, and. I do find a house, um, just nice little suburban neighborhood and that way be in a good school district. It was literally right down the street from the middle school. Uh, and so, you know, I was making, I was shaking and moving. Things were going well, and I. Was by myself, even though I was working a lot, I started realizing I miss my kids like crazy of course, but I wasn't missing him.
All of a sudden I find myself, you know, sleeping alone at night and just working and every now and then going out with a friend and things were peaceful and things were calm and uh, that was confusing because I. Didn't miss him and it felt very quickly like life was much easier without him in the picture and his mood swings and having to baby him all the time and having to be like on eggshells and just be, you know, walking and fear into the house all the time of his moods and anger.
And so that piece in that three months was I look back and I feel like it was almost necessary to get my head ready for what was about to happen and my body ready too. Um, just 'cause I was so tired, you know, all the time from, I mean, just constantly fighting and so just wears you out. So I end up, um, going back to Oklahoma when the kids finish school. Get everybody loaded up. We take a budget truck, come back to Ohio.
I was so excited to get to see them that I left the salon at like 8:00 PM that night and I drove through the night and saw the sunrise when I was hitting Oklahoma the next morning. So I thought I'd done a good job. You know, it's like surely everybody will be happy here and, um. It didn't take very long after that to where, I mean, it was like his anger was just off the chain so quickly.
Between that summer of 2014 and the beginning of January, 2015, I mean, there was a six month period where the girls and I would literally leave the house. Sometimes even, I mean, even when it was raining, we'd just go walk around in the rain because his anger like permeated the house. And that wasn't always in the form of yelling and screaming, throwing and breaking things.
Sometimes it was him sitting in a, an open room, you know, a community space in our house, red faced and just sitting and seething and anger. And not speaking to anyone or acknowledging anyone. Did you ask him like, is everything okay? What's going on, kind of thing. At first, I mean, I did, but then he would tell me that I was just making it worse by asking. And so eventually I stopped asking because it would get scary.
'cause then that's where the all out fights would break out because he didn't want me to bother him and. I mean, obviously there was something wrong. I wasn't gonna leave it alone, and that always backfired. So I just stopped and I instead, we would just leave, leave him there because it was, um, saturating our house. And the girls felt it. I felt it. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know where this anger was coming from and why, and it was scary. It was a different.
A different form of abusive behavior than I was used to. Um, I, there wasn't physical, you know, abuse, but man, it was, it, it, it was, I was just scared. I was scared of him. Mm-hmm. I, I don't think I'd ever learned at that point Still. To trust myself or listen to my gut feeling, telling me that something was off, which obviously something was off. And I always kept this to myself. No one really knew, um, that, you know, he was like this. I had friends that would tell me he was really moody.
They didn't like being around him, and that was just the side of him they were seeing in public settings. So you can only imagine what the house was like, but I was used to just burying it. Move on, stay strong. You know, I guess I became like a, a trauma trash compactor. I just wanted so badly to be strong and have a good life and do the right thing and start thinking for myself and being a good mom, and just being a proper adult.
Being a good small business owner, I mean, there's, there's things I wanted that I felt like were achievable and I just was bearing everything that had ever happened. And just pretending like I just needed to keep moving on. I didn't know how to deal with that. I was afraid of him to the point that I always kept like a secret notebook with a backup plan. Just in case something went down, something were to happen.
Like, you know, the financials, basically, uh, what I would need to do for the girls and how, you know, I would go into support mode as a single parent. It's like I had this list ready to go at any moment. He was working and it's not like he was making great money, but he was making money, but he also liked to spend money. He also was the type of person that would be like.
I just need, I want my own paycheck because I did all the bills and the finances and it's not like I was spending money on myself. Um, he was just very selfish in that way. And so, you know, he was buying gaming stations games like, you know, just stuff all the time. And, uh, so it's not like we had a lot of money saved. Uh. It's not like we were putting away for retirement even or anything. And so I knew at any moment if something were to happen, that income was gonna drop off.
So that was my backup plan, my secret notebook. But the fact that I had one of those with no intentions of actually leaving, just waiting for something horrible to happen. Mm-hmm. Because I needed that like tangible validation that I was okay to leave and maybe I tried my best is is a crazy thought now. 'cause inside my body was screaming like, get out, get out. You know? And I didn't know what that meant. You didn't, so you didn't know to make the decision to end it? I didn't.
I thought something physical had to happen. Makes sense. Before I could make that decision, and although he had never physically put his hands on me at that point, it's like I was always assuming eventually it would happen because of his actions. I never thought he would hurt the kids. And here I am sitting in another failure is what it felt like.
And so although I had these backup plans and my insides were literally on fire and I was afraid, and I was afraid of him too, so that made it hard to leave too, to me, as being far as being abused, it's really hard to work out custody matters even and stuff. I didn't wanna leave them necessarily alone with him all the time either. And then that would also split it up because my oldest daughter. Had considered him to be dad. Did she call him dad?
Yeah. Oh. And so it was, it was, I, I, I really feel for women in this position because until you're in that position, it is hard to know what to do. And I think we always want so badly to try our best to keep our families together. I was always dismissing some of this behavior because of what he had gone through. And I know healing is different for different people, but in this case, this wasn't healing. This was just immense anger building.
Um, and so I was dismissive about his behavior, although always threatening. Possible divorce threatening with therapy. I never acted. I just had my backup book and nothing physical had happened, and that's the only rules I had to go on in my mind. I had never learned to talk to anybody about problems afterwards. I had clients and friends that were like, I never knew you were going through anything. I kept everything to myself. Um, I had learned that behavior.
Very early on and, um, put the face on, it was still me just dealing with life as it came, and I had no support system at that point in my life. I always held on. Yeah, to all of this my whole life. I mean, every relationship, every trauma I held on to, and once again, I never, ever thought he would hurt the kids. It was the last thing that I ever thought would happen, and when it came down to it in 2015, in January.
I got a phone call while I was at work one evening, and it, um, dropped me to the ground. I literally, I, I just, um, I lost control. It's like my legs went out from underneath me. Um, I had a client in the chair. I was weeping and then trying to gather myself together enough to, to deal with what I just heard, and then also deal with what I needed to do. But I received a call from my oldest daughter that, um, there had been some sexual advances and that she was not home.
And, um, that was, it was devastating. Next time on just one person, I get a phone call from him and he's telling me I'm not getting my kids back and starts screaming at me about things. Uh. I immediately, I immediately am like, let me talk to my child. And he screams at me. No, all, all the Christians unite and you know, let's just make this as the worst case possible scenario and try to, instead of trying to talk to me or maybe.
Make sure I'm okay and listen to just one person on Spotify, apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Visit just one person podcast.com for more information. If you enjoy this podcast, please share it with a friend and follow us on Instagram at just One Person podcast. If you or someone you know is affected by abuse or is in need of support. Resources are available and we have listed them in the episode notes, or you can call the Child Help National Child Abuse Hotline.
It's 1 804 a child available 24 7. You can also text four dash Hope 2 7 4 1 dash 7 4 1. Just one person is produced by J one P Productions executive produced by me, Lisa Bloom, lead producer. And story editor, Carrie Caulfield Sound, designed by Alejandro Ramirez. A special thanks to voice actor Scott McKinley portraying Stephanie's dad, our heartfelt thank you to Stephanie's partner, Melissa Weaver, and my wife Julie Lesky for being a part of the podcast team.
Also to Stephanie's three close friends, Krista, Anisa, and Becks for participating in this series. Music for this podcast is from Epidemic Sound and Sounds Stripe. Original music recorded and performed by our first season's guest, Stephanie Michelle. And the Michelle Michelle Band. I'm the preacher out.