Surviving Sexual Assault with Shandi Nichelle

WARNING: This episode contains triggering and emotionally activating content.

This month is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and we’re bringing on some voices who are sharing their first-hand experiences of being a survivor and how they’re using their voices to address and amplify how pervasive sexual assault is. Having these conversations is crucial, and this week, we’re starting with Shandi Nichelle.

Shandi Nichelle is the Founder and CEO of FREEWELL, a multifunctional personal care line for active individuals which also supports survivors of human trafficking to get back on their feet. This mission is a by-product of her own experience, and she joins us to talk about her business and her story this week.

Listen in this week as Shandi shares her experience of sexual assault, the shame that comes with assault, how she’s healed, and how she’s helping other survivors heal as well. We discuss Shandi’s relationship with drinking, substance abuse among sex assault survivors, and her passion for helping survivors of human trafficking, and Shandi shares her advice to anybody listening who feels shame after sexual assault and is afraid to speak up.

What You Will Discover:

How Shandi began numbing with alcohol and how she realized she needed help.
What EMDR therapy is and how it was the best thing Shandi ever did for herself after asking for help.
How Shandi found it easier to show compassion to other people than herself.
What coping looked like for her and how she learned to feel empowered.
How Shandi empowers people to do what’s right for them, regardless of what society dictates to them.
The power of connecting with other people who have gone through what you’ve gone through.
Why you are never going to do the work needed to heal for as long as you are in a victim mentality.