165. Finding Your Voice After Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Survivor’s Journey Through the 4 Stages of Healing. Interview with Leila Reyes

Speaking up can feel impossible when shame has kept you silent for so long. But what if finding your voice was the key to healing?

 

Alejandra Siroka sits down with Leila Reyes, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, to talk about the power of communication in the healing process. Leila shares her journey of confronting her past, reclaiming her voice, and choosing to speak out even when it felt terrifying.

 

How does shame take root in silence? Why do so many survivors of sexual abuse struggle to ask for help? Leila explains how unspoken trauma shapes self-worth and relationships, making it harder to seek support. She also offers a path forward, showing how speaking about painful experiences, whether in therapy, coaching, or personal reflection, can shift the way we see ourselves and the world.

 

Alejandra and Leila also talk about the differences between therapy and coaching, to understand which kind of support might be right when. Therapy focuses on processing past trauma, while coaching helps create a path toward personal growth. Knowing when and how to ask for help can open new doors to healing.

 

This episode is a reminder that healing doesn’t happen in isolation. Words have the power to free us, and finding the courage to speak, even in small ways, can be the first step toward breaking shame’s hold.

 

Quotes

• “It’s not the abuse that’s causing the problem today. It’s your interpretation of the abuse. It’s the meaning that you make about the abuse.” (23:35 | Leila Reyes)
• “If you want to have a different experience, then ask for support. And then you’ll also be the source of being supported.” (24:25 | Leila Reyes)
• “And I’m going to tell you, to be living in a world where I know my inherent value, to be free of the beliefs and the thoughts that I had and the ways of showing up in the world, the ways of relating to people, it’s worth the journey.” (29:22 | Leila Reyes)
• “We need to have compassion for the part of us that went through that experience and the choices that we made even throughout our lives without the awareness that we were living from that interpretation.” (33:41 | Leila Reyes)
• “Shame lives in secrecy, shame lives inside of our bodies, then the way that we can get free of shame is to speak it out loud.” (34:54 | Leila Reyes)

 

Links

Connect with Leila Reyes:

https://leilareyes.com/

 

Freedom from Shame Book: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Shame-Trauma-Forgiveness-Healing/dp/1961347458?crid=2M8Y7ROPA2XAL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZOT7xTbIuKBtna0cK6upPWjhuEp9HXCbhR_lTfEHgw15vHfZqpl9c2dRKMBUvbCQjn87R7QZ5a_Y58GcxkRhp0vaX80gyANUTdZflOjaO6ouzbdJT4Cdau1RYrisJFB8QSErM_n-PNnonTxvRLQrP0rrW8vEhrfJ-mwDWwsOhpcLSMReJWERVSfISH-2ppTREnXvu4QzINpkUZcHaOb8x204kYsADESSzj5ESlMArAQ.oEzj_yZ2iF08reScmR2r1aw3FHVUcno_QMKFwHn3OfA&dib_tag=se&keywords=leila+reyes+freedom&qid=1713215530&sprefix=,aps,142&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=leilareyes0a-20&linkId=f619b77aeadf8c6be794b04919c99020&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

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