Content warning: spiritual, religious, financial, mental, and emotional abuse. Lori Adams-Brown is a mother, survivor, leader, and an expert in cross-cultural business affairs. On today’s episode, Lori bravely shares her experiences working for a megachurch, and the consequent financial, verbal, psychological, mental, and spiritual abuse she faced while working for the church. The Broken Cycle Media team is in awe of Lori’s dedication to helping other survivors in the wake of all that came...

Content warning: stalking, burglary, gun violence, mass shooting, and murder.  Anthony Jensen is a father, actor, producer, and survivor from Idaho by way of Oregon. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980’s to pursue a career in entertainment, and although the years following would be filled with great success, a 1991 shooting would forever impact the way he navigated life. Anthony was the manager of a movie theater, and in the auditorium, when a film’s opening night turned violent. The...

Content warning: gun violence, stalking, emotional, mental, and psychological abuse, violent threats, criminal threats, hate crimes, racism, antisemitism, transphobia, and homophobia. As shared in part one and two of their story, J.E. Reich is a journalist, editor, survivor, and victim advocate. They shared their story on Something Was Wrong season 6, episodes 5 and 6, which aired on December 6th and December 13th of 2020. The episodes discuss the impact of the devastating 2018 shooting at...

Content warning: gun violence, stalking, emotional, mental, and psychological abuse, violent threats, criminal threats, hate crimes, antisemitism, transphobia, and homophobia. As shared in part one of their story, J.E. Reich is a journalist, editor, survivor, and victim advocate. They shared their story on Something Was Wrong season 6, episodes 5 and 6, which aired on December 6th and December 13th of 2020. The three episodes discuss the impact of the devastating 2018 shooting at The Tree of...

Content warning: gun violence, stalking, emotional, mental, and psychological abuse, violent threats, criminal threats, hate crimes, antisemitism, transphobia, homophobia, genocide, and war. J.E. Reich is a journalist, editor, survivor, and victim advocate. They shared their story on Something Was Wrong season 6, episodes 5 and 6, which aired on December 6th and December 13th of 2020. The episodes discuss the impact of the devastating 2018 shooting at The Tree of Life synagogue in...

Content warning: child sexual assault, child rape, statutory rape, incest, sexual abuse, cultic abuse, religious abuse, narcissistic abuse, assault, physical, emotional, mental, and financial abuse. Jessica Willis-Fisher is a singer-songwriter living in Nashville, Tennessee. Her childhood as the eldest of twelve siblings and member of a family band was marked by great tumult and abuse, despite spending several years in the public eye. Jessica would eventually free herself and deal with all...

Content warning: gender-based violence, abuse, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and rape. Alison Jones-Lockwood is a mother and victim advocate in Colorado. Her career in aiding survivors began years ago while she was in college, and continues to this day. Although her journey recently pivoted when she became Executive Director of the Rape Crisis Center for Northern Colorado, at the time of our recording she worked with EVAWI or End Violence Against Women International. The...

Content warning: sibling abuse, sexual harassment, voyeurism, stalking, rape, narcissistic abuse, professional abuse, self-harm, and suicide. As shared in part one of her story, Amanda is a mother, mental health compliance professional, and advocate. Nearly twenty years ago, Amanda was employed by a fixture in the family court whose deviousness would be unearthed in 2007 when he faced charges for alleged voyeurism. Her experiences surviving professional abuse, sexual harassment, and...

Content warning: sibling abuse, sexual harassment, voyeurism, stalking, rape, narcissistic abuse, professional abuse, self-harm, and suicide. Amanda is a mother, mental health compliance professional, and advocate. Nearly twenty years ago, Amanda was employed by a fixture in the family court whose deviousness would be unearthed in 2007 when he faced charges for alleged voyeurism. Her experiences surviving professional abuse, sexual harassment, and suspected voyeurism at the hands of this...

Content warning: infidelity, serial infidelity, narcissistic abuse, and physical, emotional, mental, and financial abuse. Allyn Amerongen is a mental health advocate, podcaster, and survivor of narcissistic abuse. Allyn just launched her new podcast, When Heaven Meets Hell, to highlight her experiences and healing. She also hopes to offer listeners resources and tools to thrive after their own abusive experiences. The Broken Cycle Media team is thankful for Allyn’s perspective, energy, and...

Content warning: substance abuse, substance use disorder, infidelity, serial infidelity, narcissistic abuse, assault, attempted murder, and gun violence. As shared in part one of her story, Jessie Buttafuoco is a mental health professional, advocate, speaker, and co-victim of gun violence from Long Island, New York. Her journey in the media began at an incredibly young age, as the result of a vicious attack and attempt against her mother's life in 1992.  Shortly thereafter, pieces of...

Content warning: substance abuse, substance use disorder, infidelity, serial infidelity, narcissistic abuse, assault, attempted murder, and gun violence. Jessie Buttafuoco is a mental health professional, advocate, speaker, and co-victim of gun violence from Long Island, New York. Her journey in the media began at an incredibly young age, as the result of a vicious attack and attempt against her mother's life in 1992.  Shortly thereafter, pieces of Jessie's family story would be covered by...

Content warning: stalking, cyberstalking, emotional, mental, and psychological abuse, domestic violence, and murder. Something Was Wrong Season 19 featuring Amy's episodes began airing January 11th, 2024 and finished airing February 8th of the same year.  In the five episodes, Amy's tenacity and resiliency became resoundingly clear as she and her loved ones recounted all they faced amidst years of stalking and cyber stalking. Through what felt like a never-ending criminal justice and legal...

Content warning: infidelity, serial infidelity, narcissistic abuse, stalking, cyberstalking, physical, emotional, mental, and financial abuse. Dr. Kathi Miner is an organizational psychologist, professor, author, and survivor from Southern California. After losing her mother at a very young age, Kathi gained a poignant view of the universe and her desired place in it. As a result, she would eventually become a professor of women’s studies and psychology. She also forged her own family with...

Content warning: sexual assault, rape, abduction, murder, and serial murder. Charlie Shunick is a Louisiana educator, co-victim of murder, and advocate for missing persons and their loved ones. The devastating mid-2012 disappearance and murder of her sister, Mickey, altered her life forever. Since then, it is Charlie’s tenacious spirit that has carried her through and enabled her to use her voice for justice and ethical advocacy. Although the road has been difficult and at times...

*Content warning: murder, serial murder, and racism. Introducing a NEW investigation from the BBC’s World of Secrets podcast: The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s, in the South African city of East London – by one person. He killed so many, he lost count. It has been 30 years since the white supremacist apartheid regime crumbled....

Content warning: domestic violence, family violence, child-to-caregiver violence, sibling abuse, cultic abuse, religious abuse, abortion, and mental illness.  Mary Garden is a mother, educator, journalist, author, survivor, and advocate from New Zealand. She was born into a family with a great deal of history and many layers of generational trauma that normalized abusive behavior from as early as she can remember. However, it wasn’t until escaping her family home, eventually forging her own...

Content warning: stalking, emotional abuse, mental abuse, suicidal ideation, sexual assault, and rape. Susanne Gold-Smith is a mother, creative, advocate, and survivor from New York. Her ability to transcend tragedy and prevail after heartache are defining characteristics apparent in each of her endeavors. However, her personal journey took a dark turn after she was allegedly stalked and sexually assaulted by a private investigator. The event would launch her down a precarious legal path and...

Content warning: stalking, emotional and mental abuse, suicidal ideation, sexual assault, and rape.  Susanne Gold-Smith is a mother, creative, advocate, and survivor from New York. Her ability to transcend tragedy and prevail after heartache are defining characteristics apparent in each of her endeavors. However, her personal journey took a dark turn after she was allegedly stalked and sexually assaulted by a private investigator. The event would launch her down a precarious legal path and...

Content warning: child-to-parent violence, sibling abuse, sexual assault, childhood sexual assault, and suicidal ideation. As shared in Part One of his updates, John-Michael Lander is a former Olympic-bound diver, actor, author, speaker, and advocate. His words and efforts have been seen everywhere from TIME magazine to the TED Talk stage; he has entitled his experiences of sexual abuse and trafficking “An Athlete’s Silence.” By sharing his story on What Came Next Episode 22 entitled An...

Episode *Content warning: extortion, sextortion, sexual extortion, sexual abuse, sexual assault, trafficking, sex trafficking, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide. John-Michael Lander is a former Olympic-bound diver, actor, author, speaker, and advocate. His words and efforts have been seen everywhere from TIME magazine to the TED Talk stage; he has entitled his experiences of sexual abuse and trafficking “An Athlete’s Silence.” By sharing his story on What Came Next Episode 22...

Content Warning: emotional, mental, and physical abuse, narcissistic abuse, and mental illness. Vanessa Reiser is a licensed social worker, therapist, and an abuse survivor from New York. Her personal and professional histories have been deeply varied, but what remains to be constant are her tenacity and strength. She has reinvented herself and her path several times, but most especially after escaping an abusive relationship in 2020. Amidst all that came next for her, Vanessa has harnessed...

Content Warning: sexual assault, rape, violence, brutality, murder, and serial murder. Holly K. Dunn is an author, speaker, non-profit founder, and the sole survivor of a serial killer. As Holly began her junior year of college, she and her boyfriend Chris were attacked not far from Chris’s fraternity party by a murderer who was dubbed The Railroad Killer. In the years that came next, Holly faced every facet of the criminal justice system, as well as her own grief journey, with immense...

Content Warning: sexual assault, rape, child sexual abuse, nonconsensual pornography, and suicidal ideation. Season 11, Episode 11 of Something Was Wrong entitled [Dara] Very Sorry, first aired on February 23rd, 2023. The episode poignantly shared Dara’s account of a sexual assault she experienced while on her Spring Break Senior trip. However, her heartache did not end there though. Years later, after Dara had become a mother and began to cultivate her own healing journey, her sister...