Braver Collective

Braver Collective Braver Collective is a healing community built by, with and for survivors of sexual trauma.

How does Ketamine Therapy actually work, and can it help us heal from sexual trauma? Ketamine therapy uses low, controll...
08/20/2026

How does Ketamine Therapy actually work, and can it help us heal from sexual trauma?

Ketamine therapy uses low, controlled doses of a dissociative anesthetic which blocks brain receptors that tell neural pathways to close.

It boosts neuroplasticity which helps the brain heal damaged pathways or build new ones.

Ketamine has been gaining traction for its ability to help with trauma recovery, but deciding to pursue such a powerful treatment is a deeply personal choice.

Survivor and writer, Lea Grover shares the good, the bad, and the unexpected results of using Ketamine therapy in her healing journey in the latest insight article, “Everything I Learned About Treating PTSD with Ketamine.”

👉Read Lea’s full insight article here: https://bravercollective.org/resources/everything-i-learned-about-treating-ptsd-with-ketamine?utm_source=facebook_organic&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ketamine_therapy

Lea Grover is a Chicago-based writer, speaker, and survivor who has spent years documenting her deeply personal journey through trauma and her late husband’s terminal cancer.

Order her powerful, new memoir, “When and Always: A Love Story of Disease and Madness” here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1964495229?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

You can find more of her work at leagrover.substack.com.

08/18/2026

‘“What were you wearing?“ A dress. A shirt and shorts. Who knows? Who cares? I am 13, 12, 11, 10, and he is 30 years older than I am... ’

👉Tap the link in our bio to read Ambrose’s (Ambrose) full story, “Requiem.”

To our fellow survivors: We are not at fault, and the clothes on our bodies never invited our abuse. Our experiences are real, our grief is fully justified, and our healing belongs to us, on our own timeline. (💾 Save this post for the days you need that reminder.)
Ambrose Ravenwood (he/him) is a q***r, autistic, transgender, Jewish 18-year-old writer from the Southern U.S. He spends most of his time petting his girlfriend’s cat, preparing to pursue a degree in Theatre, and getting angry about the government.
Follow Braver Collective for a healing community built by, with, and for survivors of sexual trauma. Learn, share, and heal with us here or at BRAVERCOLLECTIVE.ORG

💜Meet the folks shaping the survivor space at Braver Collective! This powerful group of young survivors, creatives, heal...
08/14/2026

💜Meet the folks shaping the survivor space at Braver Collective!

This powerful group of young survivors, creatives, healers, and organizers is helping us grow our pool of survivor-led resources, shared wisdom, and community insights.

Swipe to meet the 2026 Reflectors ➡️

Andy Quintana Vendrell (she/her) |
Therapist, coach, dancer, , and artist weaving movement + creativity into healing.

August Stephens (he/they) |
Trans, neuroq***r disabled academic researcher, poet, survivor, and visual artist.

Brecken Styles (she/her) |
Law student and q***r neurodivergent survivor advocating for equitable, accessible .

Calista Hennie (she/her) | Substack: Caliberate
Queens-based writer, survivor, and copywriter weaving creative storytelling, personal healing, and digital community into advocacy.

Claire (she/they)
Medical student and patient advocate who is passionate about trauma-informed care.

Deb Coffy (they/she)
Black, Q***r Haitian American reproductive justice advocate, event planner, writer, creative, and researcher.

Gurwant Khabra (she/her) |
Registered nurse and graduate of San Francisco State University, and holds a BA in Public Health from UC Berkeley.

Lauren Ward (she/her) |
Coordinator for Brown’s Sexual Assault Prevention Education Program; artist, mother, and survivor creating bold, tender work rooted in truth and transformation.

Miyanna Clements-Williamson (she/her) | .clements
Therapist blending EMDR, somatic healing, and faith-rooted grounding into survivor support.

Facilitators:

Beth Siegling (she/they) |
Artist, survivor, and Content & Community Engagement Manager, Beth co-facilitates the Reflecting Pool with deep creativity, vision, and care.

Riss Myung (she/her) |
Mind-body coach, artist, and Reflecting Pool co-facilitator guiding survivors back to themselves through grounded, embodied healing practices.

Thank you Reflectors! 🙏

“I come from a long line of age gaps and teen brides.Three generations born within thirty years.And all of the fathers w...
07/24/2026

“I come from a long line of age gaps and teen brides.

Three generations born within thirty years.

And all of the fathers were adult men.

And one hundred years later…nothing has changed.

And no. We weren’t ‘mature for our age.’ We weren’t ‘fast,’ or ‘grown.’

We were just girls.”

👉 Tap the link to read Amanda’s () full story, “Just Girls”: https://bravercollective.org/stories/just-girls

Amanda Izzo is a writer and mixed-media artist from Boston sharing nonfiction narratives to connect with fellow survivors and creatives.

💙Follow for a healing community built by, with, and for survivors of sexual trauma. Learn, share, and heal with us here or at BRAVERCOLLECTIVE.ORG

“My skin is still learning the texture of peace.”Today we are sharing Tren Burton’s survivor story, “The Sentinel.”As su...
07/21/2026

“My skin is still learning the texture of peace.”

Today we are sharing Tren Burton’s survivor story, “The Sentinel.”

As survivors, hypervigilance is how we survived. It is that inner Sentinel standing guard when we needed it most, locking the gates and keeping the pain contained.

But stepping out of survival mode and letting our inner protectors rest can feel terrifying.

To the protector within all of us: it is okay to rest, find peace, and breathe.

To Tren , thank you for your honesty and strength in sharing your story. You are reminding us that our nervous systems can slowly unlearn the fight, reach for pages instead of shields, and find space to breathe again.

🔗 Read Tren Burton’s “The Sentinel” here: https://bravercollective.org/stories/the-sentinel

Tren Burton (they/them) is an emerging multimedia artist, using mixed media and literary techniques to explore life and healing after trauma. They hope to inspire others to reflect on life and grow through adversity and unevolved environments.

“It’s too dangerous,” I said, thinking about the rednecks ⁠who yelled, “What’s that n____r doing here?” ⁠when they saw m...
07/15/2026

“It’s too dangerous,” I said, thinking about the rednecks ⁠
who yelled, “What’s that n____r doing here?” ⁠
when they saw me and Greg hike Big Tujunga Wash. ⁠
We ran for our lives through the thicket as if we ⁠
were runaway slaves and they were pattyrollers. ⁠
I also thought about the innuendoes around me hiking ⁠
with other boys. You kept us up half the night during ⁠
the campout on the mountain, crying to go home. ⁠
Did you fear I would mo**st you in your sleeping bag? ⁠
Although nine years would pass before I came out, ⁠
those incidents shocked me with the realization ⁠
of the perils of being Black and q***r in America.⁠
⁠
We are sharing this powerful reflection from award-winning writer André Le Mont Wilson. ⁠
⁠
This collection of André’s work examines a series of hikes he took forty years ago when his overlapping identities as Black and Q***r caused negative experiences for him. ⁠
⁠
André is a Black Q***r poet and writer who won the 2022 Newfound Prose Prize for his chapbook Hauntings, published in 2023. ⁠
⁠
His work on Q***r survivors of sexual abuse and violence has appeared in Beneath the Soil, RFD Magazine, Isele Magazine, Quiet Lightning, Genre: Urban Arts Q***r People of Color Anthology No. 2, and Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora. ⁠
⁠
🔗 Read André’s body of work at https://bravercollective.org/stories/blocked-path-cisco-wilderness⁠
⁠
👉🏿Get his upcoming chapbook "Landfill" here: https://www.salon-des-refuses.com/catalog/p/wilson⁠
⁠

Pride is about revolution, revelation, and giving yourself the gift of love’s permission. But it’s also about ensuring t...
06/30/2026

Pride is about revolution, revelation, and giving yourself the gift of love’s permission. But it’s also about ensuring there are spaces where LGBTQIA+ survivors feel fully seen, understood and supported.

That is why, at Braver Collective, we protect and reclaim the space required for LGBTQIA+ survivors to exist loudly, tell their stories, and find healing—all year round.

Swipe through to witness these powerful stories of survival and reclamation, because healing requires collective visibility. 🤍
Braver Collective is a healing community built by, with, and for all survivors of sexual trauma. We’re here to help each other heal. Follow Braver Collective for more free, 24/7 survivor-written stories, insights, and resources.
***rSurvivors

For so many of us, sexual trauma leaves an imprint that extends far beyond memory.It lives on in our bodies as anxiety, ...
06/29/2026

For so many of us, sexual trauma leaves an imprint that extends far beyond memory.

It lives on in our bodies as anxiety, shame, hypervigilance, somatic discomfort, or fragmented and incomplete memories.

At times, we might find there are very few words at all—only sensations, reactions, or felt shifts that are difficult to explain.

Our nervous systems are holding onto these "unfinished processes"— experiences that were too overwhelming for us to fully move through at the time, and that our brains continue to seek resolution beneath the surface.

Because of this, our healing often requires more than cognitive understanding or verbal processing. It calls for approaches that can meet the full complexity of our brain-body system.

🧠𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?

In a recent article titled, "Brainspotting for Survivors of Sexual Trauma: Trusting the Brain-Body’s Capacity to Heal," Asuna Osako, LCSW, RDT () breaks down how this somatic, neuro-experiential therapy helps us identify, process, and release trauma by locating specific points in our visual field.

It is based on the understanding that where you look affects how you feel. These specific eye positions, called “brainspots,” connect directly to the deeper emotional and physiological material trapped in our nervous system.

Instead of traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting works from the “inside out,” allowing those deeper, nonverbal layers of our experience to come forward and resolve in their own way. Our bodies already hold the capacity to do this.

For more support:

❤️‍🩹 To dive deeper into Brainspotting or find a certified practitioner, click to read Asuna's full piece: https://bravercollective.org/resources/brainspotting-for-survivors-of-sexual-trauma
🫶We’re building what we’ve always needed as survivors. A place to grieve. A place to heal. A place to find your healing path. Follow for more vetted resources and survivor-written insights and stories.
Asuna Osako, LCSW, RDT (she/they) is a licensed clinical social worker, registered drama therapist, and Brainspotting practitioner in New York City. They provide therapy to adults in NY and NJ through her private practice, Gentle Depth Therapy, supporting BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and TCK communities in processing relational, developmental, and intergenerational trauma.

Here, we don’t have to tidy up our stories. We don’t have to wrap our experiences in a silver lining just to make it dig...
06/25/2026

Here, we don’t have to tidy up our stories. We don’t have to wrap our experiences in a silver lining just to make it digestible or inspirational for the rest of the world.

We can just bring the mess, the anger, the confusion, the quiet ache, or whatever it is we are carrying.

What we’ve discovered together is that right in those exact moments of breaking, a quiet hope can slip in. Healing happens in places we never expected, simply because we don’t have to carry it alone anymore.

When we speak our hardest truths here, they land in a circle of people who simply see us, because we see ourselves.

In this feature of “Survivor Voices from the Archive: Vol. 5,” we are holding space for 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 and everything in between. :white_heart:

Holding space and deepest gratitude for our survivor and ally authors: Reid Pinckard, Janet Goldblatt Holmes, Melanie Canales, Jamie Gray-Moss.

"I know it’s just a jacket and it doesn’t have a conscience or feelings or even pronouns but it felt like yet another gi...
06/17/2026

"I know it’s just a jacket and it doesn’t have a conscience or feelings or even pronouns but it felt like yet another girl he hurt and got away with. The last piece of 19 year old me and her innocence and hope peeled apart fiber by fiber, opened up entirely, with nothing to show for it.

I miss my jacket. My brother got me that jacket. We aren’t even close, and somehow that adds another layer to it. I have so many photos of me in that jacket, even one of my headshots. I’ve been trying to shop for another denim jacket but it just seems wrong. Like she deserves to be honored better for her sacrifice than to be replaced so callously.

I miss my jacket."

✨ Read "In Memory of a Denim Jacket" by Isabela Estrada: https://bravercollective.org/stories/in-memory-of-a-denim-jacket ✨

About the Author: Isabela Estrada is a New York-based actor, artist, and former survivor advocate whose work explores the intersection of sexual violence and the arts.

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