Beyond the Monsters

LaRon shares his story of growing up in extreme poverty surrounded by addiction, violence, neglect, and abuse before entering the foster care system. After being placed in a foster home where he was starved, tortured, threatened with weapons, and made to eat from dog bowls, LaRon reached a point where he no longer wanted to live. In one of his darkest moments, music interrupted a suicide attempt and became something he could hold onto until he eventually returned to a foster mother who gave him the safety and unconditional love he had never known. LaRon opens up about being adopted, pursuing a career in music, and the ways his childhood trauma continued to follow him into adulthood, marriage, and fatherhood. After his marriage ended and the mother who adopted him unexpectedly died, LaRon found himself struggling again with grief, anger, and suicidal thoughts while trying to rebuild his life and remain present for his children. Today, he is confronting the patterns passed down through his family, navigating an ongoing fight to reunite with his youngest daughter, and using his music and story to turn what he survived into something that might give someone else hope. LaRon’s Links: https://www.instagram.com/iamlaronmusic https://m.youtube.com/stevie3580?ra=m https://beacons.ai/iamlaronmusic LaRon’s Book: From My Test To My Testimony https://a.co/d/0942q33m Resources: Crisis Text Line 741741 RAINN 24/7 confidential support, online chat & hotline 1-800-656-HOPE SAMHSA’s National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) Beyond the Monsters Socials: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthemonsters https://linktr.ee/BeyondtheMonsters Disclaimer: This podcast shares personal experiences and educational discussion. It is not medical or mental health advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your own care. Topic: Foster care abuse, Child neglect, Childhood trauma, mental health, Generational trauma, Foster care system, Child welfare system If you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast, please fill out a form here: https://form.jotform.com/243366933402153 Please contact [email protected] for any business inquiries! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ariel shares her story of surviving childhood SA, addiction, and years of struggling with her mental health before reaching a point where she attempted to take her own life. After six months of sobriety from alcohol, a difficult night became a breaking point, and Ariel survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, an experience she describes as being followed almost immediately by regret and the realization that she wanted to live. In the years since, Ariel has had to confront not only the trauma that contributed to her attempt, but the physical and emotional aftermath of surviving it. She opens up about the impact on her son and family, her experiences within the mental health system, and the work it took to rebuild her life. Today, Ariel lives and works at Mattersville, a nonprofit wolf dog rescue that works with veterans struggling with PTSD, where caring for the animals and finding purpose within the community became an important part of her healing. Mattersville https://mattersvillevets.org/ Resources: Crisis Text Line 741741 RAINN 24/7 confidential support, online chat & hotline 1-800-656-HOPE SAMHSA’s National Helpline (mental health and/or substance use) 1-800-662-HELP (4357) Beyond the Monsters Socials: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthemonsters https://linktr.ee/BeyondtheMonsters Disclaimer: This podcast shares personal experiences and educational discussion. It is not medical or mental health advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your own care. Topic: Suicide Attempt Survivor, Mental Health Recovery, CSA, Complex PTSD, Alcohol Addiction, Suicide Prevention If you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast, please fill out a form here: https://form.jotform.com/243366933402153 Please contact [email protected] for any business inquiries! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rhiannon Thoreson was 19 years old and washing her car in broad daylight when a stranger came up behind her, held a knife to her throat, and kidnapped her. He drove her to a remote area, where she was held for hours, repeatedly sexually assaulted, physically assaulted, and threatened with death. What followed was a years-long struggle with severe PTSD, suicidal thoughts, panic attacks, hypervigilance, shame, and the pressure to appear successful on the outside while privately struggling with what had happened to her. Rhiannon opens up about returning to college shortly after the attack, hiding how badly she was struggling from the people around her, and spending years in therapy as she learned how to live with the trauma. She shares how EMDR changed her experience with PTSD, why she stopped expecting herself to one day be completely “healed,” and how surviving the attack ultimately influenced her decision to attend law school and advocate for victims of crime. Rhiannon and Chell also discuss survivor guilt, forgiveness, restorative justice, and the complicated reality that a conviction and courtroom victory can hold someone accountable without necessarily bringing a survivor healing or closure. Rhiannon’s links: https://www.instagram.com/mybeautyfromashes https://linktr.ee/mybeautyfromashes https://rhiannonthoreson.com Rhiannon’s TEDx Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSV0IrT8eDA Rhiannon’s book: My Beauty from Ashes https://rhiannonthoreson.com/books Resources: Crisis Text Line 741741 RAINN 24/7 confidential support, online chat & hotline 1-800-656-HOPE SAMHSA’s National Helpline (mental health and/or substance use) 1-800-662-HELP (4357) Beyond the Monsters Socials: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthemonsters https://linktr.ee/BeyondtheMonsters Disclaimer: This podcast shares personal experiences and educational discussion. It is not medical or mental health advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your own care. Topic: Kidnapping Survivor, SA Survivor, PTSD After Trauma, Trauma Healing, Stranger Abduction, True Crime, Crime Victim Advocacy If you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast, please fill out a form here: https://form.jotform.com/243366933402153 Please contact [email protected] for any business inquiries! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fausto Castellanos shares his story of surviving childhood SA, grooming, addiction, and years of shame that left him questioning himself and searching for acceptance in relationships, substances, and the people around him. After being abused at 7 years old and again by an adult man while struggling with meth addiction at 14, Fausto spent years trying to outrun what happened to him, eventually reaching a point where his substance use, seizures, and suicidal thoughts left him believing he might not survive. Fausto opens up about finally asking for help, finding sobriety, and experiencing unconditional acceptance from a sponsor who helped him begin confronting the trauma he had carried since childhood. He also shares how becoming a counselor and helping others gave his pain a sense of purpose, but eventually forced him to confront another pattern: tying his worth to how much he could do for everyone else. Today, nearly a decade into his healing journey, Fausto has built a life around trauma recovery, addiction advocacy, mental health, and helping others find hope without abandoning himself in the process. Fausto’s Links: https://www.instagram.com/hopedealerfausto https://www.youtube.com/@HopeDealerFausto https://www.tiktok.com/@hopedealerfausto https://www.facebook.com/faustocastellanoss Resources: Crisis Text Line 741741 RAINN 24/7 confidential support, online chat & hotline 1-800-656-HOPE SAMHSA’s National Helpline (mental health and/or substance use) 1-800-662-HELP (4357) Beyond the Monsters Socials: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthemonsters https://linktr.ee/BeyondtheMonsters Disclaimer: This podcast shares personal experiences and educational discussion. It is not medical or mental health advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your own care. Topic: CSA Survivor, Childhood Trauma, Grooming, Addiction Recovery, Trauma Recovery, Sobriety, Men’s Mental Health If you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast, please fill out a form here: https://form.jotform.com/243366933402153 Please contact [email protected] for any business inquiries! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suzzette grew up in a family where addiction, mental illness, violence, and instability existed alongside a lot of love. Her father struggled with heroin addiction, her mother battled cancer and dissociative identity disorder, and much of what was happening inside their home became normal to her simply because it was all she knew. As a teenager, things reached a breaking point when her father and older brother were arrested, her mother disappeared, and Suzzette and her younger brother were left behind in a home that had been taken over by strangers. Years later, after losing her father, mother, and eventually her older brother, Suzzette began therapy and started looking back at her childhood with a completely different understanding. She had to untangle the complicated reality of loving her family deeply while also recognizing the ways their choices shaped her anxiety, relationships, coping mechanisms, and sense of what was normal. She opens up about the guilt she still carries over believing her father instead of her mother, the grief of losing so much of her family, and what it has taken to unlearn the patterns she grew up believing were normal. Suzzette’s Links: https://www.instagram.com/suzzettewrites https://msha.ke/suzzettewrites https://substack.com/@suzzettewrites Resources: Crisis Text Line 741741 Beyond the Monsters Socials: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthemonsters https://linktr.ee/BeyondtheMonsters Disclaimer: This podcast shares personal experiences and educational discussion. It is not medical or mental health advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your own care. Topic: Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Childhood Trauma, Parental Addiction, Generational Trauma If you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast, please fill out a form here: https://form.jotform.com/243366933402153 Please contact [email protected] for any business inquiries! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.