The Rising Beyond Podcast

Your ex says, “They don’t act that way at my house,” and then the GAL or judge deems that you are the worst parent?

If you’re the parent your child melts down with, you might be blamed for being too soft, too emotional, or too permissive. But what if your child is acting this way because they feel safe with you?

We're diving into the misunderstood dynamics of how children behave differently between two homes, especially when one...

What happens when the world tells you that you need “safety” to heal from trauma, but your life after leaving abuse still feels anything but safe?

We’re talking about felt safety—what it is, why it matters, and how to begin creating moments of it even when post-separation abuse is ongoing.

Sybil talks about:

• The difference between actual safety and felt safety
• Why most trauma therapies rely on safety as a starting point, and what t...

Navigating a high-conflict divorce is overwhelming on its own — but when you're also raising a child with special needs? The legal, emotional, and logistical challenges multiply.

In this important conversation, Sybil sits down with Dr. Susan Bernstein, a Certified Divorce Coach and expert in high-conflict divorce involving children with special needs. Drawing from her experience as both a professional and a mother of a child wi...

Ever look in the mirror and think, “I don’t even know who I am anymore”?

If you've survived a coercive, abusive relationship — or are still dealing with the chaos of post-separation abuse — that feeling isn’t just common, it’s expected. You’ve been in survival mode for so long that things like identity, purpose, and values may feel like luxuries you can’t afford.

But what if reconnecting with your values is exactly what helps yo...

If you’ve ever been told that a psychological test “proved” you were unstable or overeactive in your custody case—while your abusive ex seemed cool, calm, and collected—you are not alone.

In this short but important episode, I’m unpacking why the MMPI and MMPI-2—often used in court-ordered evaluations—can misrepresent survivors of coercive control and domestic violence. These tests were not designed with trauma survivors in mind, an...

How much did financial abuse impact you in your relationship?

We know that over 98% of all domestic violence victims experience some form of financial abuse and that it does not stop once you have left.

So, how can you be prepared for your separation and divorce and be set up to survive in the aftermath?

Because I am not a financial expert AND because I understand the devastation that financial abuse can ...

Are you in need of a little bit of hope?

If you are a survivor of coercive control and domestic abuse (or a professional who works in this space) then hope can often be hard to come by.  

In this episode, I reconnect with coercive control expert, Kate Amber, M.S. after our joint presentation at this year's International Justice Center Conference in San Diego in order to share our reflections from our experien...

If you’ve ever thought, “I should be further along by now,” this episode is for you.
When you’re still navigating post-separation abuse, family court chaos, or co-parenting with someone who continues to hurt you, healing might not look—or feel—like what you expected. You might still freeze when a message comes in. You might still cry in the car before showing up for your kids. And you might believe that means you're not he...

As you heal from the narcissistic abuse from an intimate partner, you might come to this realization - that one of your parents is also a narcissist and has been abusive.

Sometimes this realization is mind blowing and stops you in your tracks forcing you to rethink everything you thought you knew about your childhood and the family you grew up with.

In today’s episode I have a conversation with Katherine Fabrizio,...

Feeling completely burned out from healing? You’re not alone.

In this episode, Sybil dives into a phase of healing that almost no one talks about — the exhaustion that hits after leaving an abusive relationship. If you're feeling numb, unmotivated, or like healing is suddenly impossible… this is for you.
We’ll explore:

• Why burnout happens after you finally find safety
• How the nervous system shifts from fight/flight to fre...

In this episode, I speak with attorney, advocate, and author Meg Groff, whose 40+ years of experience supporting victims of domestic violence have impacted countless families. We dive into the critical missteps attorneys often make in family court, how those missteps put survivors and children at risk, and what needs to change. Meg also shares insights from her powerful new book, Not If I Can Help It, and offers a vision for how le...

You finally left. You survived.

So why do you still feel like you're the one who did something wrong?

We’re unpacking the survivor’s guilt and moral injury that often surface after leaving an abusive relationship—especially when your children are still in contact with the abusive parent, or when you feel like others "had it worse."

We explore:

• The psychological and emotional experience of moral injury
• The guilt of not...

Abusers who use coercive control don’t just manipulate one person—they manipulate everyone around them, including their own children. As a protective parent, whether you’ve left the relationship or are still navigating it, how can you empower your child to recognize manipulation and maintain their sense of self?

In this episode, we dive deep into:

✔️ How coercive control tactics—like triangulation, gaslighting, and emotional withhold...

As you start healing from coercive control and domestic violence within your relationship, it is likely that you will start to have revelations about other relationships in your life.

Patterns and experiences in your family of origin, specifically with your parents may come to the forefront, especially if there was physical or emotional abandonment.  

We welcome Kaytee Gillis, LCSW back to The Rising Beyond Podcas...

Language shapes how we see ourselves, our experiences, and our healing journey. In this episode of The Rising Beyond Podcast, we’re diving into why words matter for survivors of domestic violence—how they can be used to manipulate and harm, and how they can also be reclaimed to empower and heal.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
 ✔️ The power of survivor language vs. the gaslighting words abusers use.
 ✔️ How trauma-in...

Being able to share your experiences of coercive control and domestic violence in a way that is credible is imperative if you are dealing with any larger systems or trying to get support from friends and family.

And this is something survivors of abuse struggle with.

In this episode of The Rising Beyond Podcast we look at not only the importance of sharing a credible story, but the common challenges that survivors...

How often have you felt voice-less and silenced as a survivor of coercive control and domestic violence?

Survivors are voice-less when living in the relationship with their abuser.  They also often do not get a chance to speak their truth in family court or within any other larger systems either.

And so when you are in a place where you want to be heard and decide to make things more public, it is possible that yo...

Supervised visitation and therapeutic visitation are meant to provide safety and structure for children and families navigating complex custody dynamics. But what happens when there are no regulations, inconsistent oversight, and a severe lack of training among those facilitating these visits? In this episode, I share real-life stories, my experiences getting trained, and the major concerns with how these services are currently bei...

Even though you’ve left the relationship, do you still feel embarrassed when you remember the way your ex treated others? Do you find yourself cringing at memories of their public outbursts, apologizing for their past behavior, or worrying that others judge you because of them?

This lingering sense of responsibility is called vicarious shame—when you feel embarrassed on behalf of someone else’s actions, even though you weren’t the o...