When the System Fails Twice: Speaking Up, Being Silenced, and Finding Power Again

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In this raw, deeply honest follow-up to Episode 63, I share more of the untold story — the messy middle — of what happened after I first spoke up about my experience with professional harm and systemic failure.

What unfolds is a journey of gaslighting, bureaucratic stonewalling, and a complaint system that not only dismissed the truth — but later turned on me. From regulatory bodies and beyond, I walk you through what it’s like to speak out in a system designed to protect, but that too often silences the very people it claims to serve.

This episode is about:

• 💔 The toll of being dismissed, disbelieved, and re-traumatized
• 🧠 Navigating trauma within a bureaucratic system
• 🔥 The moment I chose not to wait for justice, but to reclaim my power
• 💡 The path forward — from victim to voice, from survival to post-traumatic growth

Whether you've experienced systemic harm in healthcare, mental health, or legal institutions — or supported others who have — this episode is for you.

🎧 Tune in to hear:

• The moment that broke me
• The silence that screamed louder than words
• The cost of speaking up
• And the choice I’m making now — to lead, to advocate, and to help others heal

👉 Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook for behind-the-scenes of what comes next, including my travels, healing in real time, and sharing more about the post-traumatic growth that’s shaping my life and work.

💌 Loved this episode? Please subscribe, share, and leave a review — your support helps this message reach those who need it most.

It’s raw. It’s vulnerable. And it’s something so many of us can relate to — the re-trauma that happens when we turn to the system for support… and find more harm.

I’m not sharing this for sympathy. I’m sharing it because it’s time we stop being silent about the systems that silence us.

And now… I’m choosing something different:
 ✨ To heal out loud.
✨ To walk my talk.
✨ To show you, in real time, what post-traumatic growth can truly look like.

That means I’ll be taking a month off to travel through Europe, shedding more of the old and creating space for the new. Not just personally — but professionally, creatively, spiritually.

🌿 If you want to follow the journey, I’ll be sharing it all — raw, real, and unfiltered — on:

• Instagram 
• Facebook 

Thank you — for witnessing this, for walking beside me, and for believing in the power of healing, even when it’s messy.

With deep love and gratitude,
 Dr. Natalie Green

P.S. If this episode resonates with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. You never know the power of a story… until it helps someone else rise.

If this episode resonates with you then I'd love for you to hit SUBSCRIBE so you can keep updated with each new episode as soon as it's released and we'd be most grateful if you would give us a RATING as well. You can also find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DrNatalieGreen

Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Episode Transcript

Dr Nat Green (00:01):
Welcome to the Growing Tall Poppies Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
Nat Green, and I'm so excited tohave you join me as we discuss
what it means to navigate yourway through post-traumatic
growth and not just survive, butto thrive after trauma.

(00:23):
Through our podcast, we willexplore ways for you to create a
life filled with greaterpurpose, self-awareness, and a
deep inner peace.
Through integrating the manyyears of knowledge and
professional experience, as wellas the wisdom of those who have
experienced trauma firsthand.

(00:44):
We'll combine psychologyaccelerated approaches.
Coaching and personal experienceto assist you, to learn, to grow
and to thrive.
I hope to empower you to createdeeper awareness and
understanding and strongerconnections with yourself and
with others, whilst also pavingthe way for those who have

(01:08):
experienced trauma and adversityto reduce their suffering and
become the very best versions ofthemselves.
In order to thrive.
Thank you so much for joining meon today's episode.
Welcome back to Growing TallPoppies.

(01:28):
Thank you so much for continuingto listen in and to be a part of
our community.
Today I am gonna go a little bitdeeper.
And become a bit more vulnerableand share more of the real story
and the impact of systemic harmfor me.

(01:53):
And I know from all yourbeautiful messages of support
that many of you have alsoshared similar experiences.
So I'm gonna delve deeper.
From where I left off in thatepisode 63 around my own story,

(02:17):
it all started when I sawanother professional who I was
to see for treatment after myprevious disastrous appointment.
When I was asked about theprevious review, I burst into
tears, seemingly out of nowhere,just came out of the blue, and I
thought, oh.

(02:39):
That is not okay.
This meant I had to actuallyacknowledge and speak of what
had happened.
It was raw and confronting andto be honest, made it feel all
the more real.
I've been trying my best forsuch a long time to pretend it

(03:00):
hadn't happened, or to ignore itand hope it would go away.
We all know how that usuallyturns out without going too deep
and revealing too much, let itsuffice to say that I was
encouraged to speak up to make acomplaint to the relevant

(03:21):
association about what hadoccurred, and I did that in good
faith knowing that I always.
Do that for my clients, offeringthem a path where they are able
to speak up if they're not happywith something that's happened

(03:41):
to them.
That actually took me another 12months to get up the courage to
do that.
I knew in my heart what hadhappened and I still questioned
myself.
Second guessed For what purposeit had been done, started to

(04:02):
wonder if it had even happenedor whether I was overreacting.
Yet I knew deep down, and let'sbe honest, not too deep that
what had happened was not rightand certainly not necessary, and
I made my decision to proceedwith the complaint.

(04:25):
And as a health professional, Iweighed things up for so long as
I knew the ramifications ofmaking a complaint for a
professional and the impact thiscould have.
So I knew I had to be absolutelycertain and I was, I followed
due process and did exactly as Iwas instructed.

(04:50):
Little did I know what thatwould mean.
The cost to me of no longerstaying silent, the complaint
was made in a system supposed toprotect people.
I was informed that the personwould get a copy of my complaint

(05:12):
in full, so that definitelyimpacted the depth and the
detail of what I included.
I gave enough information that Ifelt should have meant a follow
up email or contact with me tomake further inquiries to listen
to my story of what had reallyhappened.

(05:34):
From my perspective, yet sadlythat never happened, and this
commenced.
this Systemic crap.
The system's token, six monthlyletters telling me very little
and that the person had beenbrought before them and

(05:56):
counseled the hell did thatmean?
And that this process is verygood for the professionals in
providing them guidance andsuggestions to improve their
practice.
Really, then there werecrickets.
The silence was deafening.

(06:19):
Then ultimately, two years downthe track, it was another token
letter.
Again, very dismissive of theentire situation, and I finally
broke.
I was sick, not being heard.
I rang the contact person on thebottom of the letter, and when I

(06:42):
asked for further information, Iwas stonewalled and told I could
not be provided with any furtherinformation that it had been
investigated, and I would havebeen advised of such in the
beginning.
This was one of my turningpoints and a breaking point all

(07:03):
in one.
I was patronized beyond beliefand spoken down to about, oh,
you still sound upset.
To which point, it was like ared flag to a bull and I lost
it.
I recall swearing at the personon the other end of the phone.

(07:25):
Not my finest moment, but.
In line with the reaction, whichI felt was justified.
And I said, well, you'd be upsettoo if you'd been sexually
assaulted.
To which point I was met withsilence.
Absolute silence.
The silence was deafening, and Isat in my pain again, complete

(07:50):
silence, and then suddenly theperson's tone changed.
Oh.
Perhaps you'd like to submit aformal complaint about this.
Oh my God, are you kidding?
To which point I responded thatthis was exactly what I had done

(08:11):
and it had gotten me nowhere.
I ended up hanging up.
I was so exasperated with asystem that I felt was set up to
protect, yet it was also
doing significant harm.
They hadn't listened,
I felt ignored, dismissed, and as a fellow

(08:35):
professional, I was devastatedby the lack of compassion and
transparency with a process froma complaints perspective.
And I also know from being onthe other side, having seen
colleagues over the years gothrough complaints, processes,

(08:58):
that they're grueling, they'reawful, and they take significant
toll on the professional.
And that there areunfortunately, often vexatious
complaints that are made, whichcaused significant distress to
the practitioner.
And these are dreadfullydistressing and difficult.

(09:20):
But I also knew, however, that Ihad not made the complaint
lightly, and I expected it to betaken seriously and for this to
have been a factor inconsideration when reviewing the
documents.
And this never happened, and itwas minimized and dismissed.

(09:43):
After my phone call, things didstart to progress thankfully.
So whilst it didn't feel like myfinest moment, my speaking up
did start to get some tractionand further investigations
commenced.
And thankfully the overseeingcomplaints body took over and
things began to progress, andthey actually began to see it

(10:08):
for what it was.
And what had happened, and Ireally shouldn't be surprised,
but then came the nextbureaucratic bungle systems set
up from a patriarchal system.
Then became involved and again,the issues were minimized and

(10:29):
stonewalled and things stalledagain.
Then there were excuses and moreforms of systemic abuse and more
systemic bungles than if Irevealed them.
Gee, you'll be completely mindblown and feel like it couldn't
possibly be true yet it is.

(10:51):
Then the best one yet happenedlast year when the very person I
had made a complaint about, putin a formal complaint about me.
And worse still, the body didn'tpick this up and registered as a
complaint about me, and thisgoes on my record.

(11:15):
And to top it all off, theydidn't advise me until
afterwards.
Leaving me no room to evencomment.
There was no room for recourse.
It was just accepted, allowed toproceed without any context Let
that one sink in.
This was probably one of themost challenging moments.

(11:38):
Again, I felt shattered as aresult of having experienced
further system abuse andsignificant harm, and suffered
significant distress, and satwith that for a while, so
distressed beside myself.
Then the rising anger and senseof injustice raised its head

(11:58):
again, as it does for me.
It came up within me and I foundmy voice.
I simply couldn't stay silentagain as a result of a system
that had yet again failed me andundoubtedly failed many, many
others.
It was time.

(12:19):
So I got on that phone again tothe head of legal in the
complaints body.
I spoke up and she listened andarranged an in-person meeting.
So down I went to their headoffice and we had a meeting
where I was able to verbalizeall my concerns at the entire
process from start to current,and they appeared to listen.

(12:45):
They finally left me feelingacknowledged and somewhat
validated, and we even spokeabout legislative changes that
are being recommended to theirsystems.
As a result of my case and mystory, they finally felt like I
could do something positivewithin this shambles of a

(13:05):
system.
Then a year went by moresilence.
More systemic failures becameevident again.
I reached out to my contact inthe system again.
I was acknowledged, and again, Iheard, yes, it's a system where

(13:27):
change moves extremely slowly,and my frustration raised its
head again.
And then I was informed about anoutcome that is far less than
satisfactory.
There's no further action thatcan be taken now and the matter
is finished now.
I have two choices.

(13:49):
I can continue to place myenergy in this direction and be
completely zapped of energy andlife for a sense of validation
and justice that deep down Iknow will never eventuate as a
system has so much red tape andeven when you are believed you
are placated.
Patronized and unlikely to makeany real inroads.

(14:14):
Or I can use my energy increating processes that may not
change the system, but assistothers in navigating this path
and managing the undoubteddistress caused by such systems.

(14:34):
So my mission.
To continue to support thepeople just like you who have
been impacted and damaged bythese systems, to help you know
that whilst you may not feelheard, you have a choice and you

(14:55):
can do the healing regardless.
I realized that while I had beenwaiting for the system to fix
what had happened, I was givingit power over my healing.
So I'm not waiting for anapology that will never come.

(15:18):
I'm not replaying conversations,hoping for a different ending.
I'm not silencing myself toprotect the comfort of those and
systems who've harmed me.
So I'm choosing option two.
And I'm also choosing to takethe matter as high as I can to

(15:39):
the state and federal ministers.
Whilst I understand there may belittle that can change, I'm
still deeply passionate aboutadvocating for systemic change
and feel as though I need toshare my story and provide
suggestions as to how changescan be made at a systemic level.

(16:02):
So others are not experiencingwhat I have.
Systemic change doesn't happenunless someone takes a stand and
provides suggestions and optionsfor improvements based on
professional and livedexperiences.
So I'm okay to embrace myempowered trailblazer and

(16:25):
authentic warrior archetypes andlead the way to create the
change I wish to see in theworld.
Nothing changes.
If nothing changes, and if Iremain silent.
I'm not expecting that of you.
What I can offer to you is thatyou stay as part of this

(16:47):
community and I share myframework, my support with you
to help you navigate.
The harm that's being done, andto go from a place of merely
surviving to thriving.
Again, thank you so much forlistening, for sharing your

(17:11):
special precious time with meand for allowing me to share my
story and for your beautifulmessages of love and support.
I thank you again from thebottom of my heart.
And I'm so grateful that you'rea part of this community, so
continue to rise, stand tall,and be the beautiful, tall poppy

(17:39):
that you are always destined tobe.
Bye for now.
thank you for joining me in thisepisode of Growing Tall Poppies.
It is my deepest hope thattoday's episode may have
inspired and empowered you tostep fully into your

(18:01):
post-traumatic growth, so thatyou can have absolute clarity
around who you are, what mattersthe most to you, and to assist
you to release your negativeemotions.
And regulate your nervous systemso you can fully thrive.
New episodes are published everyTuesday, and I hope you'll

(18:23):
continue to join us as weexplore both the strategies and
the personal qualities requiredto fully live a life of
post-traumatic growth and tothrive.
So if it feels aligned to youand really resonates, then I
invite you to hit subscribe andit would mean the world to us.
If you could share this episodewith others who you feel may

(18:45):
benefit too, you may also findme on Instagram at Growing Tall
Poppies and Facebook, Dr.
Natalie Green.
Remember, every moment is anopportunity to look for the
lessons and to learn andincrease your ability to live
the life you desire and deserve.

(19:08):
So for now, stay connected.
Stay inspired.
Stand tall like the tall poppyyou are, and keep shining your
light brightly in the world.
Bye for.