Welcome to Betrayal Trauma Recovery. This is in June.

June is back this week to tell her story about what happened with the abusive situations

that she encountered and then her current separation and going through divorce.

And this story is really difficult, so a trigger warning for those of you who are especially dealing with clergy right now who don't understand the situation.

We've got a severe situation going on with June.

So as she shares her story, take deep breaths and remember that she is on her way to safety and

we'll get there eventually. But getting to safety is a journey.

Also before we start, I want to talk about how women first start this journey. Also, before we start, I want to talk about how women first start this journey.

They don't think their husbands are abusive.

They think, okay, we've got this problem, like he's got an anger problem, or he has a pornography

problem, or whatever it is that they think.

And so the trauma symptoms aren't as bad.

So trauma symptoms are lower because a woman thinks that the situation is manageable or that things can get better.

And then as she learns more and realizes that it's abuse and starts to try to confront the abuser

and the abuse gets worse, then the trauma gets worse.

And then when you set a boundary around the abuse and it doesn't stop, but it escalates

due to the boundary, then the trauma becomes even worse.

So for listeners, just know that when you embark on this journey,

it's likely going to get a lot worse

before it gets better, but there's no way around it. You have to go through that pain in order to get to safety. So if you start down this path of setting boundaries and things get worse, just

know that that is expected and that you can do it, that you are brave, that you are strong.

And I don't want anyone to think when they embark on this,

...