Episode Transcript
Tab 3: Transcript
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welcome to silence voices stories of MST
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hosted by Rachel
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Smith this podcast is dedicated to
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giving a voice to military sexual trauma
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survivors each week we'll bring you
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powerful stories of Courage resilience
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and healing join us on this journey to
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create awareness spark dialogue and
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drive change within the military
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community it's time to break the silence
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and amplify the voices of those who have
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been silenced for far too long listen in
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and become a part of a movement that's
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shaping the
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[Music]
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future this is silence voices stories of
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MST hello everyone this is Rachel Smith
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The Host of Silence voices stories of
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MST this is our inaugural episode I'm so
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excited to be here it has been quite the
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ride to get this podcast up and running
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but here we are I do want to say a huge
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huge thank you to our participants
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stepping forward to share the stories of
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just the most awful moments of their
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lives their courage their resilience
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their Grit
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just to sit with me and also talk about
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their walk into healing and into hope
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has been enough to bring me to tears
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sometimes and if there's a moment in
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your day where you can stop and think
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about each of these survivors and what
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they went through and then also sharing
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their stories again please send them
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some positive energy there's also a way
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to reach out on our website silence
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voice voices
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mst.org out these letters they're called
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salute to survivors and the purpose of
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them is to let our guests know that
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their words weren't unheard their
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stories are helping others feel seen and
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heard and the letters are here to let
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each of us know that we're here to
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support each other no one is alone in
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MST even though it feels like like it I
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also would like to put a Content warning
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out there before we dive in our
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discussions can be very triggering to
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some listeners I ask each of the guests
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to share their experiences with MST to
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their level of comfort now that means
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that their level of comfort might not be
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your level of comfort so I encourage you
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if a story does start to raise your
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anxiety or trigger you in any sort of
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way please pause the episode practice
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some kind of self-care we also have
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numerous resources in the show notes so
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if you need to call for example the
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Veterans Crisis Line please call and if
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you feel that you may harm yourself or
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another person please call 911 or go to
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an emergency room right away we will be
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addressing many sensitive topics I
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related to MST so listener discretion is
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advised today is the introduction to the
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show yes but I would love to get your
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feedback so that we can make this
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podcast the best that it can be there is
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a survey that is in the show notes it's
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also available on the website so yes I
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would just love to get your feedback so
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that we can kind of shape the podcast
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into something that is a great resource
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for all that choose to listen whether
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you're a survivor of MST or maybe you're
Why the podcast was created
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a family member or friend of someone
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that is in that situation currently or
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has been in the past and also if you are
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an employee or founder of an
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organization that assist survivors of
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MST or if you're a mental health
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practitioner or work in the social work
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field I would love to have you on the
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podcast just so that we can help explain
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the science and psychology behind sexual
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trauma and how it doesn't affect just
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one person it affects everyone so I
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started this podcast because I truly
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believe in the power of stories and the
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goal of this podcast is to empower MST
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survivors as well as advocate for a
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safer military environment and create
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awareness about this
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issue what led to me starting it was
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actually seeing multiple threads on
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Reddit it was on a female centered
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subreddit and I would see that maybe
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every month or two months or so that a
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young woman would share a post saying
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that a recruiter might have come by the
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school or they had just done a job fair
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and there were several recruiters there
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from each of the services and she would
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ask what's your opinion I'm kind of
Scope and pervasiveness of MST
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interested in joining I either want to
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have the money for college or I just
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want to get out of my town or you know
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similar stories that we all have and
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what was intriguing to me and also very
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saddening was there would be comment
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after comment after comment like raging
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into the thousands of people pouring
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their hearts out of these just
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completely traumatic and awful MST
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stories and it went from the range of
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being harassed daily at work or in the
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field or on deployment or it went on to
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stories of rape stalking attempted
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murder and all sorts of stories and then
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of course we all have seen the stories
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that have made national news but I think
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what really impacted me was even as a
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Survivor I did not know that there were
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this many people impacted by this and a
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lot of the commenters weren't just
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female there were commenters that were
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male there were commenters that have
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since begun to transition after they
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left the military and there were
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commenters that there're somewhere in
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the the non-binary but all that I could
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see was that it affected so many people
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of varying ages from all the services in
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Duty stations all around the world and
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also on ships with the Navy and the
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Coast Guard yes we do see what reaches
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national news but there is stuff
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happening daily to service members
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around the world and personally when I
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joined the military I had you know the
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expectation of danger from deployment
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not my fellow brothers and sisters in
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uniform and I don't think that anyone
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should feel in danger they're supposed
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to be our family in service one of the
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goals is is just sharing the
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pervasiveness of it so that people
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understand this isn't just a a one-off
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problem this is something that is
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systemic another point of this podcast
Creating awareness and driving change
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is to eventually raise money so that
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veterans can get Specialized Care um I
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know my experience isn't Universal but I
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have been treated awfully at the VA and
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I don't think it's entirely the VA
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staff's fault there's just not enough
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people and and more and more people are
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now starting to come forward with with
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MST trauma related uh symptoms and I
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just from my experience they were not
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equipped so I would like to help people
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get Specialized Care so that they can
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get their lives back and you know get
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their strength and power back and and
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move forward and that is such a hurdle
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with this kind of trauma is is being
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able to feel safe within your own body
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and be able to continue with your life
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and not feel like this could happen to
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you again at any
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moment again our ultimate goal is to
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create a platform for survivors
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Advocates clinicians and supportive
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organizations so that we can share
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resources support one another and
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ultimately Drive change with that said
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if you'd like to participate in the
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podcast or know of an organization that
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we should highlight please reach out to
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us via email or social media the email
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address address is info@ silen voices
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m.com I also thought that it would be
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prudent for me to add just some
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definitions and facts and figures about
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MST so that some of our listeners who
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may not be familiar with what MST covers
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you can find out now um and all this
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information is coming from the DAV
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Disabled American Veterans website so
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military sexual trauma MST refers to a
Definition and facts about MST
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service members experience with sexual
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assault or sexual harassment occurring
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at any point during his or her military
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service the following are all examples
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forced or coerced sexual
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encounters sexual encounters perpetrated
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while a person is unwilling or unable to
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give consent inappropriate sexual jokes
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or lwd remarks unwanted physical contact
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that makes you uncomfortable repeated
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sexual advances offers of something in
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exchange for sexual favors it's
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estimated that 1 in three female
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veterans and 1 in 100 male veterans in
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the VA Health Care System reported
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experiencing MST it's also important to
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note that by percentage women are at
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greater risk but nearly 40% of veterans
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who disclose MST to the VA are men the
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symptoms associated with MST are
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post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD and
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other psychological health issues sexual
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assault survivors in both the military
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and civilian populations show a higher
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lifetime rate of PTSD for both men 65%
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and women 49 and a half% VA medical
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record data indicates that in addition
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to PTSD the diagnoses most frequently
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associated with MST among users of VA
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Healthcare are depression and other mood
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disorders and substance abuse disorders
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you also can experience difficulty with
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relationships and social functioning
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veterans who have experienced MS May
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report difficulties with interpersonal
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relationships in some cases the abuse
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triggers trust issues problems engaging
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in social activities and possible
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difficulties with sexual dysfunction
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it's also common to experience emotional
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challenges with guilt shame and anger
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over the trauma many survivors also
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report difficulties finding or
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maintaining work after their military
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service the physical health problems
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associated with MST are sexual
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difficulties chronic pain weight or
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eating problems gastrointestinal
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problems and additionally they may
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experience difficulty with attention
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concentration and memory and have
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trouble staying focused or frequently
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finding their mind wandering another is
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substance abuse which is drug and or
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alcohol abuse and that has a higher
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correlation among sexual assault
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survivors than among nonvictims Studies
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have found drug use including marijuana
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cocaine and other illicit substances is
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up to 10 times as high for victims of
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sexual assault there is also a strong
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association with MST survivors in
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developing certain specific medical
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conditions such as obesity or weight
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loss chronic pulmonary disease liver
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disease and hypothyroidism and mental
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health conditions such as bipolar
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disorders schizophrenia eating disorders
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and post-traumatic stress disorder when
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you listen to the guess on their pilot
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episodes I challenge you to keep this
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list in mind and then listen to all of
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these experiences you would be troubled
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to not find that they're experiencing
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all of these things we've covered
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everything in our interviews from wak G
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to anger to guilt to not wanting to go
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to the gym to substance abuse to
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alcoholism it's all in there so these
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symptoms are very real and even if
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someone does not come forward about what
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what has happened to them they can still
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suffer from all of this so if you notice
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someone in your life that has
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drastically had a personality change and
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they are falling into these behaviors
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keep an eye on them maybe ask if
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everything is okay and even if they
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don't want to talk just let them know
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that you're ready to listen when they're
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ready to
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talk so in the upcoming episodes you can
Expectations for future episodes
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expect some thought-provoking
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discussions there are actually quite a
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few moments where my guests surprise
13:31
themselves with with realizations that
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they make while speaking and then you're
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also going to hear such
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inspiration there are stories here where
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people have been able to turn their
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trauma into something miraculous and
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that is why we're here is to let people
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know that they're not alone and this is
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not the
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end thank you again for listening to
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this podcast sharing these episodes
13:58
sharing our social media posts this is
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our opportunity to make change and I
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truly believe that together we can make
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a difference a huge shout out to Rich C
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breath as well for creating our intro
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and outro music thank you so much for
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this it's wonderful so inspiring another
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thank you to bentur uak she is a podcast
14:23
coach and manager she is absolutely
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wonderful and such a great source of
14:28
information so thank you so much for
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helping me get this off the ground and
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my final thank you is of my very
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supportive family and boyfriend who have
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all been there every step of the way
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through tears Smiles excitement and all
Acknowledgments
14:45
the other emotions that went into
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putting this together thank you so much
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I love you
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all I do also want to put a reminder out
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there that we have an Indiegogo campaign
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that is still running the purpose of the
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campaign is just to raise money so that
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we can keep this podcast going uh we
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need the money for web hosting podcast
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hosting equipment everything that needs
15:12
to make the episode sound clear like
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this uh you can tell unfortunately that
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some of them are a little different just
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because of yours truly learning as she
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as she's doing this but uh I do want to
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make sure that our episodes do have
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professional level quality just so that
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the message is not stopped in any way we
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want these stories to be out there to be
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clear and to have an impact this is what
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the Indiegogo campaign is raising money
15:43
for we're seeking
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$115,000 just for production costs which
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is covering expenses related to
15:50
recording editing and producing high
15:53
quality episodes like I said before also
15:56
for awareness campaigns which is
15:58
promoting the podcast through marketing
16:00
social media and advertising so that we
16:02
can reach a broader audience and
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actually make change towards MST also
16:08
accessibility so that's ensuring that
16:10
our content is accessible to All by
16:13
providing transcripts and subtitles for
16:15
each episode and finally for podcast
16:18
hosting and maintenance which is again
16:21
covering the ongoing costs for hosting
16:24
the Website Maintenance and tech support
16:26
just to keep this podcast running smooth
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smoothly if you look in the show notes
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you will see the link to the Indiegogo
16:33
campaign I would be very grateful if you
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could share that with your network just
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so that we can make this podcast the
16:39
absolute best that it can be and as
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promised I want to give a shout out to
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one of our voice amplifiers Tyler M
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thank you so much for your donation when
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you see our Indiegogo campaign you'll
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see that there are various tiers for
16:53
donors our donors will enjoy different
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perks like thank you cards shout outs
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like the one I just gave behind the
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scenes info and more again I just want
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to say thank you for this opportunity to
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share the stories of so many Brave and
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incredible people stay safe be kind and
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take care this is silence voices stories
17:16
of MST we'll see you in the next
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episode thank you for tuning in to
17:22
silence voices stories of
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MST your support means the world to us
17:28
to keep these important conversations
17:30
going we rely on your
17:32
generosity consider donating to help us
17:35
continue to shed light on this crucial
17:37
issue visit our website at
17:41
www.s silen voices
17:44
m.com to contribute get involved and
17:47
join our community together we can make
17:50
a difference stay tuned for more
17:53
inspiring stories and remember your
17:56
voice
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matters
