A Contagious Smile Podcast
Stop surviving and start thriving. A Contagious Smile is a globally ranked podcast providing a safe haven for abuse survivors and special needs families navigating the journey of trauma recovery. Whether you are healing from domestic violence, narcissistic abuse, childhood trauma, or the daily challenges of disability advocacy, our mission is to turn your pain into power. Each episode features raw, authentic conversations with survivors, mental health experts, and advocates who share actionable resources for PTSD healing, resilience building, and emotional wellness. We go beyond the struggle to highlight the triumphs of the special needs community, offering support for caregivers and individuals with disabilities who are rewriting their own narratives. Hosted by Victoria Cuore, an award-winning trauma advocate and survivor, this podcast delivers the "blueprints" for recovery—not just Band-Aids. Join our community to find hope, humor, and the unstoppable spirit needed to rekindle your inner light.
Episodes
Your gut knows things before your brain can explain them, but how do you tell the difference between real intuition and a loud imagination? We sit down with Danielle Ribbon Clumber, an LCSW trauma therapist in Utah and founder of Willow Medella Wellness, and her husband Nganga Mr. Pishu, a medicine man and practitioner, to talk about mediumship as a lived reality: confusing, validating, and sometimes isolating. With...
One minute we’re hearing, “You can go home,” and the next we’re being warned that leaving in the wrong condition could mean paralysis. That whiplash sets the tone for a raw, honest update from Victoria and Michael after a major spinal surgery that turns into a week of complications, extreme pain, and a crash course in what patient safety really looks like when you’re the one in the bed....
A Father’s Day pedicure turns into a surprisingly tender milestone when my husband walks in convinced it “isn’t for men” and walks out admitting the hot rocks, paraffin, and toe rubs were the best part of his day. We laugh about gifts that are equal parts love and necessity, like replacing a ruined recliner and an air fryer that became a health hazard, then we pivot into the real wins: cuttin...
The fastest way to break a person isn’t always the illness; it’s the system that treats them like a number and calls it “care.” We sit down with veteran attorney and nonprofit leader Michael Mackniak, a nationally recognized mental health advocate and the founder behind the Guardian Model and the Care Coalition, to talk about what actually changes outcomes for people who are stuck in high-nee...
Some people call you a friend, then disappear the second you stop being convenient. We get blunt about that kind of fake loyalty and what it does to your trust, your energy, and your peace. From old work “friends” who vanish to the constant drain of being the dependable one, we talk about how to spot the pattern early and set boundaries without turning cold.
Then we shift to what real love looks l...
A stranger says one word that stops us cold: “hands.” Danielle Worthen Columber has never met us, never heard our backstory, and we give her nothing to work with. Then she describes what she’s sensing and I lift my arm and she realises I’m an amputee. That moment sets the tone for a conversation that’s equal parts psychic medium reading, trauma-informed care, and the kind of grief hones...
The most dangerous abuse is often the kind nobody can photograph. We talk with Daniel Ryan Cotler, author of *Voiceless No More* and founder of the Heal Loudly movement, about the reality survivors describe as narcissistic psychological warfare: coercive control, gaslighting, charm in public, cruelty in private, and the slow collapse of self-trust that makes you question your own reality.
We also get precise ...
A kid who has endured more surgeries than most adults can fathom sits beside a mother who refuses to let trauma be the last word. Then our guest, an actor best known for his work on The Blacklist, steps in with a mix of warmth, honesty, and wildly curious detours that somehow land exactly where they need to: on resilience, meaning, and the small choices that keep you alive.
We talk about Faith’s tattoos...
A few lines of poetry can hit harder than a whole hour of advice, and that’s exactly how we choose to end this one. We wrap up by reading a poem from Faith Cure Solomon that puts a mother-daughter relationship into plain, vivid words: shared humour, shared pain, and a love that doesn’t disappear when life gets messy. If you’re drawn to spoken word, emotional storytelling, and real family bonds, thi...
When you’re trying to keep a loved one safe, get the right diagnosis, or survive a crisis, the healthcare system can feel less like support and more like a test you did not study for. We sit down with attorney and systems advocate Michael Magniak and domestic violence advocate and therapist Victoria Cure to talk about what gets lost between insurance rules, rushed appointments, and the real lives happening out...
She said one word that changed the whole room: hands. Danielle Worthing Columber had never met Victoria before, didn’t know her history, and was doing a true cold read when that detail landed and the camera revealed an amputation. What follows is not a polished performance. It’s a raw, human conversation about validation, grief, and what it feels like when someone names the thing you’ve been carryi...
You’re getting a front-row seat to a special kind of family chaos: we hand the mic to the crew, announce a roast of Michael, and let the night spiral in the funniest way possible. What starts as trip talk and a Stranger Things tour recap turns into a rapid-fire comedy session where nobody is safe, everyone talks over each other, and the jokes land like popcorn. If you love an unfiltered family comedy podcast e...
A schizophrenia diagnosis can feel like your future just collapsed into one terrifying question: what happens now? We talk with Matthew Dixon, founder of MindAid and the first person living with schizophrenia to bicycle across Canada twice, about what it actually feels like when symptoms creep in, intensify, and reshape your identity. Matthew shares the parts people rarely explain, the fear of the unknown, the confu...
“HIPAA” gets blamed for everything, families get shut out, and a loved one in crisis gets reduced to a label and a sedative. We’re not doing that. Michael Makniak and Victoria Cure unpack the real-world misconceptions that derail caregiving and fiduciary decision-making, especially when mental illness shows up as episodes, psychosis, and emergency room chaos.
We talk about why mental health ...
A lot of people say they want survivors to “speak up” until the story gets messy, angry, and specific. We go there. We talk about domestic violence and coercive control the way it actually shows up: not as a single incident, but as a system of fear, manipulation, and escalating harm that can follow you into the ER, the workplace, and the courtroom.
We also zoom out to the global reality of intimat...
Caregiver resilience stories come alive when you laugh through the hard moments. Your body can outpace your mind, and when sciatic nerve pain hits while life demands everything, standing tall means honest marriage talk, real laughter, and asking for help. Join us as we check in from the chaos of caregiving life, navigating trauma recovery one day at a time.
Your body can change faster than your mind can catch up, and...
When Anil Gupta's wife heard "we're homeless," she smiled. That single reaction becomes the foundation for trauma recovery, not from abuse, but from the identity collapse of financial ruin. In the 2008 crisis, Anil lost everything and convinced himself he was a failure. Her belief in him when his own mind wouldn't listen reveals what caregiver resilience truly means. A powerful story on rebuilding identity after dev...
When love alone won't stop the spiral, families need answers. A parent's worst nightmare: substance use disorder and mental illness collide, triggering crisis calls, involuntary holds, and court battles. Trauma recovery isn't just emotional; it's legal. Florida attorney Mark Astor reveals how families navigating addiction, mental health emergencies, and special needs crises can protect their rights and understand th...
One conversation can shake your certainty, even if you’re the type of person who normally needs proof. We sit down and tell the story of meeting Danielle, a therapist who is also a medium, and why what she shared stopped us cold. Victoria is careful about what she reveals publicly, especially when it comes to her grandparents and the kind of grief that never really fades, so when Danielle repeats specific phra...
A schizophrenia diagnosis can feel like your life has been rewritten without your consent, and the hardest part is often the unknown: Will I get better, will I ever feel like myself again, and who will still see me as me? We talk with Matthew Dixon, who answers those questions with uncommon honesty, detail, and calm. He shares what it was like to go from university life to suicidal thoughts, psych ward stays, and ye...
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