[Content Warning]: Discussions and descriptions of a firsthand account of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, animal cruelty, and religious manipulation within a controlling family system.

For years, the world knew Elishaba Doerksen’s father only as "Papa Pilgrim", the patriarch who led his family of fifteen children deep into the Alaska wilderness, cut off from roads, neighbors, and anyone who might ask questions. What the world didn’t know was what was happening inside that isolation.

In Part One of this two-part conversation, Elishaba sits down with Jan Broberg to share, in her own words, what it was like to grow up as the oldest of fifteen siblings under her father’s total control, the religious manipulation that kept the family bound to him, the abuse she endured for years, and the slow, careful process of recognizing, as an adult, that none of it was ever her fault.

This is not an easy listen, but it is an honest one. Elishaba speaks with remarkable clarity about how abuse takes root, how faith can be twisted into a weapon, and how even inside the worst circumstances, small moments of truth can plant the seed that eventually grows into freedom.

Part One ends at the turning point — the moment Elishaba decided she could not stay another day. Part Two picks up with the escape itself and the long road that followed.

Elishaba is the author of Out of the Wilderness, and today she speaks around the world as an advocate for survivors of abuse.

Where To Find Elishaba:
Out of the Wilderness: Escaping My Father's Prison and My Journey to Forgiveness – Buy It On Amazon
Insta: @elishabadoerksen

If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or suicidal ideation, please access the resources below:

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call/Text 988
National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) : 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
National Alliance for Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264

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🌐 JanBrobergFoundation.org
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[Content Warning]: Discussions of childhood sexual abuse, domestic abuse, suicidal ideation

Leanne Sheargold spent 25 years as a teacher before a stroke at 28 left her relearning how to walk, write, and dress herself. Decades later, on an ordinary evening, when her husband went through her phone, cracks opened in a marriage she hadn't yet let herself see clearly. In this episode of Trauma Interrupted, Leanne tells Jan Broberg how her body carried a childhood secret for 52 years, what happened the night she finally left her marriage, and how she rebuilt her life as a quantum healing practitioner who now helps other women release trauma stored in their own bodies.

They talk about the slow, hard-to-name shape of financial and emotional control, what it means to become a “chain breaker” in your own family line, and why Leanne calls herself lucky that her memories waited until she was ready to hold them. She also shares the book that helped her finally understand her body's symptoms, why she chose a gentler healing modality after months of intensive EMDR, and one simple grounding practice you can try today.

This is a conversation about the wound, the work, and the way forward; about naming what happened, setting boundaries with people who won't, and choosing, morning by morning, to come home to your own body.

Where To Find Leanne:

Her Website: PureGoldHolisticWellbeing.com
Leanne’s Insta: @leanne_sheargold
Pure Gold Holistic and Wellbeing Insta: @puregoldholisticwellbeing
Leanne’s Facebook: @Leanne.Sheargold
Pure Gold Holistic and Wellbeing Facebook: @PureGoldHolisticWellbeing

Mentioned Resources:
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or suicidal ideation, please access the resources below:

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call/Text 988
National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) : 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
National Alliance for Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264

🎧 LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE
🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎵 Spotify
▶️ YouTube

❣️ JAN BROBERG FOUNDATION
🌐 JanBrobergFoundation.org
🫂 Survivor Circle (free community)
⏳ T.I.M.E. Program
🔎 SPOT6
📖 The Jan Broberg Story (book)
🗞️ Newsletter

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[Content Warning]: Discussions of coercive control, financial abuse and exploitation, isolation, dissociation; non-graphic mentions of child sexual abuse and sexual assault by a partner, suicidal ideation

Sarma Melngailis was a Wharton-educated entrepreneur who built New York City’s first upscale raw vegan restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, and the wellness brand One Lucky Duck. From the outside, she had it all. Then she met a man online who, over five years, siphoned her business, her savings, her mother’s money, and ultimately her sense of self, a slow-motion collapse she now recognizes as textbook coercive control.

In this conversation with Jan Broberg, Sarma, author of her memoir The Girl with the Duck Tattoo, talks about how a predator uses “data mining” to learn your fears and dreams before ever meeting you in person, what it feels like to dissociate into what she calls a “zombie state,” and why she believes intelligence and openness make people more vulnerable to manipulation, not less. She also opens up about being diagnosed with autism at 51, the arrest that she says ultimately set her free, and her frustration with how her story was mangled in the Netflix docuseries Bad Vegan.

Jan and Sarma talk through the mechanics of coercive control, isolation, gaslighting, financial exploitation, and the confusion and fear that keep someone locked in place long after their instincts are screaming at them to leave. It’s a conversation about how brilliant, accomplished people get pulled into these dynamics, and how they find their way back to themselves.


Buy Sarma’s Memoir: The Girl with the Duck Tattoo: A Memoir
TheGirlWithTheDuckTattoo.com

Where to Find Sarma:
Insta: @sarmamelngailis
Substack: @sarmamelngailis

Mentioned Resources:
Mariana Van Zeller’s works: MarianaVanZeller.me

If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or suicidal ideation, please access the resources below:

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call/Text 988
National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) : 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
National Alliance for Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264

🎧 LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE
🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎵 Spotify
▶️ YouTube

❣️ JAN BROBERG FOUNDATION
🌐 JanBrobergFoundation.org
🫂 Survivor Circle (free community)
⏳ T.I.M.E. Program
🔎 SPOT6
📖 The Jan Broberg Story (book)
🗞️ Newsletter

📲 CONNECT
📷 Instagram
🎶 TikTok
✍️ Share Your Story

💌 Fan Mail

Support the show