Protecting Our Children: Spotting Abuse and Empowering Kids' Mental Health
The Lindsey Elmore Show
Lindsey Elmore
5.0 • 529 Ratings
🗓️ 2 July 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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In this deeply moving episode, Lindsay sits down with Laura Evens—friend, mentor, and founder of the Willowfield Foundation—to discuss the traumatic events that changed her family forever. Laura shares the heartbreaking story of her daughter’s sexual abuse and suicide attempt, the hidden dangers of grooming, and the shocking reality that abuse often hides in plain sight. This conversation covers the painful truth about child sexual abuse, trafficking, and the signs parents usually miss. Laura also explains her work with NAMI and the importance of access to mental health support. This episode is a call to action for all of us: to be aware, ask better questions, and protect the most vulnerable in our lives.
Key Takeaways
- Child abuse thrives in silence, secrecy, and “nice” neighborhoods.
- Grooming is subtle, manipulative, and often misunderstood.
- Trafficking and abuse aren’t always strangers or abductions: 90% of abusers are known and trusted.
- Ask better questions as a parent—don’t just ask if they were polite, ask if anything felt uncomfortable.
- Secrets are never safe; surprises are fun, but secrets need to be shared.
- Parents should show up unannounced and trust their gut feelings.
- The Willowfield Foundation provides mental health therapy scholarships for children.
- Forgiveness and healing are daily choices, not one-time events.
Listen in to learn more
01:58 – Laura's background and transition from corporate to mission-driven work
05:16 – The traumatic experience that changed everything
07:25 – Warning signs, grooming, and the importance of adult responsibility
11:56 – Empowering kids to speak up without fear
15:08 – Laura’s work with NAMI and crisis response
16:58 – Founding the Willowfield Foundation and its mission
19:41 – Letting go of guilt as a parent
20:44 – Shocking statistics about abuse and why awareness matters
22:39 – Where to find more information
Resources & Next Steps
- Willowfield Foundation
- NAMI – National Alliance on Mental Illness
- Stewards of Children Training – Darkness to Light
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We have to be responsible. We have to pay more attention. We have to learn. We have to listen to things like this to create awareness, to talk about things that are uncomfortable. Because in the darkness and in the silence is where this abuse thrives. |
| 0:19.1 | Welcome back, everybody, to this week's edition of the Lindsay Elmore show. |
| 0:23.6 | We're doing things a little bit different this week, and that is because my guest is one of the greatest mentors of my life, Laura Evans, and she tells her story so much better than I can. So I'm going to let her introduce |
| 0:44.0 | herself in just a moment. However, I did want to give just a little bit of a trigger warning. |
| 0:51.1 | Today we are going to be talking about mental health and wellness. We're going to be |
| 0:55.3 | talking about PTSD. We're going to be talking about human trafficking and the impact that sexual |
| 1:01.8 | abuse can have on families. So if any of that sounds triggering to you, maybe skip this episode |
| 1:09.2 | and we'll see you next week. |
| 1:11.8 | Laura, Evans, I am so excited to finally have you on the Lindsay Elmore show. |
| 1:19.5 | We're doing this. |
| 1:20.9 | We're finally doing this. |
| 1:23.0 | We are. |
| 1:24.1 | You and I have worked together for several years now and we've been through ups we've been |
| 1:32.5 | through downs you have absolutely seen me at my best and seen me at my worst and loved me through |
| 1:40.0 | all of it prayed me through all of it I am so honored to get to interview you today and to |
| 1:49.2 | truly call you a friend and a mentor. So tell us a little bit about your background. Well, |
| 1:58.3 | thank you so much, Lindsay. You know that I started as a fan girl of yours, |
| 2:02.9 | following the Dr. Lindsay Elmore show and then communicating with you and connecting, and we had |
| 2:09.6 | some things in common. So this is equally a really cool thing for me to be able to talk through |
| 2:16.9 | these experiences and for your audience to hear and the |
| 2:21.1 | impact and the awareness that we can create. So my background is really a professional one for |
| 2:26.6 | some large corporations, brand names that folks may recognize like Jay Crew and Disney. |
... |
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