From Survivor to Founder: Kate Crowley-Smith on Recovery, Rebuilding and Hope

In this episode of The Voice of Survivors, host Nicci Heath sits down with Kate Crowley-Smith, Founding Director of Broken to Brilliant.

Kate shares her journey as a survivor of domestic violence, a mother of two, and a health professional with a background in nursing, injury prevention, and trauma-informed education. Together, Kate and Nicci explore why recovery from domestic violence is not a one-off activity in one moment, but a long-term journey that can last years.

The conversation reflects on:

• Why Broken to Brilliant was created by survivors, for survivors
• The importance of long-term, peer-led recovery support
• How programs like Stepping Stones help survivors reconstruct their sense of self
• The reality that healing is not linear and survivors can move between surviving, thriving, and being triggered
• Why lived experience education is critical for systems change, including police education.

Kate speaks candidly about hope, transformation, and why survivors deserve support that helps them move from survival to a life they choose.

Listen to more podcasts

• Women's Voice
• Two women committed to empowering survivors

Read more about Broken to Brilliant in our blog:

• The Launch
• Top Ten Strategies

Thank you

Thank you to Nicci for her passion for hosting this program and to Andrew (Nicci's Hubby) and all the family for your support in recording this podcast.

Karen Jacobsen, our International Patron and the Australian voice in Siri, welcomes and thanks you for listening.

Broken to Brilliant is an Australian not-for-profit charity that domestic violence survivors founded to support fellow survivors to rebuild their lives after abuse.

We know how hard it is, having lived through the trauma of abuse and travelled the long road to recovery. Therefore, we founded the charity to provide hope and strategies to other survivors to make their journey a little bit easier.

Thanks to Sound Engineer Chris McCallum, known as SoundO for our Podcast training.

Thank you to Joanne Helder, a Radio, Podcast & Communications Professional, for podcast training.