Dear Katie: Survivor Stories

Ashley-Lauren Elrod is a survivor, board-certified, trauma-informed professional, advocacy and policy consultant, and child abuse prevention leader committed to helping others transform adversity into purpose. She is the founder of the award-winning Visionary Woman Productions and The Maya’s Magic Word Project, an innovative child safety and prevention education framework. Ashley serves in leadership and advisory roles supporting survivor empowerment and child advocacy initiatives. Through storytelling, education, and public speaking, she helps individuals reclaim their voices and create lasting impact. Today, she joins us to share her journey, insights on healing, and the power of turning pain into purpose.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

'If she had asked, would I have told her?'

Living in fear of violence in his own home, young David is faced with an impossible situation. Unable to tolerate the abuse any further, he and his brother make the tragic decision to end the life of their abuser. Waiting in jail and confronted with the prospect of the death penalty, David finds faith and makes the powerful choice to do his time, not let the time do him. 

David Garlock is a successful returning citizen, reentry professional, and criminal justice reform advocate. David and his brother received 25-year sentences in Alabama after taking the life of their abuser. A client of the Equal Justice Initiative, he was released on parole in 2013 after serving more than 13 years and pursuing several educational opportunities while incarcerated.  He subsequently obtained his bachelor's degree from Eastern University and was the Lancaster Program Director for New Person Ministries, a reentry program for people convicted of a sexual offense and other returning citizens. He is a frequent speaker at colleges and universities, criminal and social justice conferences, and community events.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

Jennifer Mondino has been a civil rights lawyer and advocate for survivors of gender-based violence for almost 25 years. She is currently the Senior Director of the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund at the National Women's Law Center. The TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund was launched in January 2018, months after #MeToo went viral. It is the only nationwide resource for people facing workplace sex harassment and retaliation to connect with legal help, and the only legal defense fund that provides dedicated funding for legal representation and media and storytelling assistance in workplace sex harassment and retaliation matters.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

'I didn't want to be known as the girl that this happened to.'

Enjoying Greek life as a young college student, Abby trusts a fraternity brother to walk her home after a late party. Taking his offer of refuge as it begins to storm, she falls asleep in his room. He assaults her in her sleep, and Abby reports him to the police. Over the next few months, she begins a journey of justice, advocacy, and healing. 

Abby is a 20-year-old studying Social Work, and she cares deeply about helping others and giving back to her community. As a survivor, her experiences have shaped who she is and pushed her to turn something difficult into something meaningful. She has contributed to the passing of SB 358, a Kansas bill that removes bail after conviction for high-level offenders, and was also honored to receive the Community Champion Victim Service Award in Wichita. Abby is passionate about making sure people feel heard, supported, and not alone, and she tries to carry that into everything she does.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

Joining us today is Tricia Gray, the CEO and Founder of Aditus Partners and the author of the much-anticipated memoir, A Lotus Legacy. After rising above the tragic loss of her mother to domestic abuse, she transformed her pain into a life of extraordinary purpose—becoming a top-tier healthcare executive and the Governing Board President for Women in Health Administration of Southern California.  Her story is a powerful roadmap for anyone looking to bloom through the mud and redefine their own future. We’re honored to have her here to share how she built a legacy that is truly her own.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She is the host of the When Bearing Witness® podcast and facilitates the When Bearing Witness® Trauma-Informed Storytelling Certification Program. Her work helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

Phoenix's pattern started early: as a teenager, she identified gaps in her own school's education system and set out to fix them. That instinct carried through her Air Force career, where she became the youngest Suicide Intervention Skills Instructor. That leadership turned into reigniting a student veteran association, founding veteran organizations, and serving the two oldest civil rights organizations. She's a mom whose daughter just graduated from a prestigious liberal arts high school, runs a consulting practice focused on civic engagement and education, and has carried her hope to run for office since fifth grade. She’s a biracial Tlingit and Haida tribal citizen, lover of art and fashion, cat mom, and former youth soccer coach.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

Breaking negative emotional circuits is a challenge for many survivors of trauma. This week, we sit down with Laurel Mellin to discuss strategies for rewiring the brain and sitting with negative experiences to emerge into states of joy. 

Dr. Laurel Mellin is a health psychologist and founder of emotional brain training (EBT), a method for rewiring trauma that can be integrated into self-care as well as psychotherapy. She developed EBT during her 42 years as a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and is a New York Times bestselling author. She directs the Solution Foundation, which trains health professionals in EBT, and has a private practice in the method.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Laura Chiodo

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

Returning to the Dear Katie Podcast, Dr. Winnie Li shares more insights on activism, advocacy, and healing. 

Dr. Winnie M Li is an author, activist, and educator. A former filmmaker, Winnie’s life and career trajectory were severely disrupted at the age of 29, when she became the victim of a violent stranger rape in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her debut novel Dark Chapter (2017) is a fictional re-imagining of that assault and its aftermath, from the perspectives of both victim and perpetrator. Her subsequent novels Complicit (2022) and What We Left Unsaid (2025) also address the legacy of trauma, in workplaces and in families.  Winnie’s doctoral research at the London School of Economics explored the emotional labour of ‘public’ rape survivors, and she is now an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham in the UK.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang

'I went in there to be safe... I couldn't protect myself.'

Partying on spring break as teenagers do, Carissa seeks safety among friends after drinking too much. She is taken advantage of in her vulnerable state, assaulted by the group, and recorded. Getting through her healing journey one day at a time, today she advocates and lobbies state legislators to lift the statute of limitations for sexual assault and child molestation. Her passion is speaking for others until they find their voice, and whether it's as a guest speaker or at the state house, she hopes to advocate for our survivors. She wants survivors to know that they too matter and that healing and finding your voice take time.

Host: Katie Koestner

Editor: Evan Mader

Producers: Catrina Aglubat and Emily Wang