What Came Next is intended for mature audiences only.

Episodes discuss topics that can be triggering,

such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence, animal abuse, suicide, and murder.

I am not a therapist, nor am I a doctor.

If you're in need of support, please visit Something Was Wrong.com forward slash resources for a list of non-profit organizations that can help.

Opinions expressed by my guests on the show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of myself or broken cycle media.

Resources and source material are linked in the episode notes. Thank you so much for

listening. Vanessa Riser 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 the media in all facets to curate

healing and offer support to other survivors.

The broken psychomedia team is extremely thankful Vanessa was willing to share with us what she could about her transformative journey and all the awareness that's come from it.

My name is Vanessa Riser. I am a licensed clinical social worker practicing in the states of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Florida.

I grew up in Rockland County, New York.

My parents divorced when I was nine.

I have two younger brothers.

A lot of adversity. My mother was manic-depressive or what they call now bipolar. It was particularly evident she would have a dream

in the springtime. So we sort of developed an understanding that when she would walk out of her bedroom in May

and say, I had a dream, we were like, ah, we're fucked.

Because now she's going to switch into this manic creature who is very artistic.

My mother's an artist.

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