Stories that Save Us with Sharon Fennix
The Nocturnists
Emily Silverman
4.8 • 614 Ratings
🗓️ 26 November 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
Sharon Fennix spent 38 years incarcerated before becoming the hotline coordinator for the Transitions Clinic Network (TCN), where she now supports people returning to the community with empathy, compassion, and lived experience. In this episode, she talks with Emily about reentry, the power of peer support, and the creative life she built inside prison—evolving from seamstress to playwright, director, and storyteller whose productions bridged divides and transformed her own sense of self.
Sharon was a producer for Journeys of Healing: Stories of Resilience and Transformation, a storytelling event presented by the Transitions Clinic Network in Los Angeles in 2025. The event was made possible by a generous grant from the California Health Care Foundation in support of our program, The Nocturnists Satellites.
The Nocturnists is made possible by the California Medical Association and donations from listeners like you.
This episode of Stories from the World of Medicine is sponsored by The Physicians Foundation.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Listeners, if you enjoy the nocturness, then you'll also enjoy Unleashed, Redesigning Healthcare, |
| 0:06.4 | a new podcast about clinician-led innovation on the front lines of care. |
| 0:10.8 | The featured guests are the clinician innovators themselves, their stories, their voices, |
| 0:15.3 | their ingenuity, their commitment to their patients, and their humanity, and even the deeply |
| 0:20.2 | felt gains in their own |
| 0:21.4 | well-being. Unleashed is from our friends at the Dartmouth Institute, one of our sponsors for this |
| 0:27.0 | episode. Learn more in today's show notes or search for Unleashed, redesigning health care |
| 0:32.8 | anywhere you listen to podcasts. Support for the Nocturnist comes from the California Medical Association. |
| 0:40.5 | At the Nocturnist, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with healthcare |
| 0:44.5 | privacy laws. Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality. |
| 0:49.3 | All views expressed are those of the person speaking and not their employer. |
| 0:57.3 | This is The Nocturness. I'm Emily Silverman. |
| 1:01.8 | Today I'm joined by Sharon Phoenix, a hotline coordinator for the Transitions Clinic Network |
| 1:07.6 | and a remarkable storyteller who spent 38 years incarcerated before returning home. |
| 1:14.9 | In today's episode, Sharon speaks with us about how creativity became her lifeline on the inside, |
| 1:21.5 | where she evolved from seamstress to playwright, director, and community leader. |
| 1:27.8 | We also talk about what it was like to reenter society after decades away, |
| 1:32.9 | how peer support from someone with lived experience helped her rebuild her life |
| 1:37.1 | and how she now offers that same support to others through the TCN hotline. |
| 1:42.6 | And her experience co-producing a nocturnous satellites event. |
| 1:47.3 | The event was called Journeys of Healing, Stories of Resilience and Transformation, |
| 1:52.2 | and it was a live show held by the Transitions Clinic Network in Los Angeles in 2025, |
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