Trauma recovery stories offer a raw look at how one woman found healing after a childhood spent navigating deep adversity. Discover how Karen turned a painful past into a foundation dedicated to helping other trauma survivors.

This conversation explores the resilience required to care for oneself when support systems fail. We look at the specific moment Karen, at twelve years old, found solace in a stray dog named Boy while managing responsibilities no child should endure. Her journey highlights the long road toward understanding and self-compassion that eventually led to her life mission.

Listeners will gain insight into the process of working through early-life trauma and the importance of finding a voice during difficult times. By examining her path from a young girl protecting her own well-being to a woman supporting her own parents, we identify the core elements of emotional survival. Understanding this trauma recovery process is essential for those seeking perspective on overcoming childhood wounds.

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She grew up in silence, survived abuse that started before she could remember, and at 12 and a half years old found herself standing in a dark room with a knife. Then her dog walked in. What happened next changed her life.

Karen Diskin-Dickson is a trauma survivor, Reiki master, former nurse and EMT, and co-founder of the Remarkably Resilient Foundation. In this episode of The Life Shift Podcast, she shares the story of a childhood defined by fear and silence, the moment by a river that became her turning point, and the long road toward healing that followed.

This is not a quick recovery story. It's a real one. Years of therapy. A confrontation with her abuser at 24. Learning, at 19, that she didn't know how to play with her own child. Eventually choosing to care for the elderly parents who had hurt her. And building, in her 50s, a foundation with her sisters to help others understand that trauma is not what's wrong with you. It's what happened to you.

Topics covered in this episode:

- Surviving multi-generational abuse and incest
- The life-shifting moment at age 12 and how a dog changed everything
- Escaping a controlling father and starting over with police protection
- Learning to parent without knowing how, and seeking therapy to get there
- Confronting her abuser and finally releasing years of fear
- Choosing to care for the parents who hurt her, and finding a mother in the process
- Building the Remarkably Resilient Foundation and working with incarcerated trauma survivors
- ACEs, dysregulation, and the neuroscience of healing

Learn more about Karen and the Remarkably Resilient Foundation: www.remarkably-resilient.com

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If this episode reached you, leave a comment. Someone out there needs to know they're not alone.

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