**Hear Her: Episode 1 - Why Women's Stories Matter | Full Episode

Welcome to the first full episode of HearHER: a podcast where women who have been told to be quiet finally find their voices.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes discussions of abuse, violence, and trauma. Please listen when you're in a safe space, both physically and emotionally.

In This Episode:

Host Dee Donaldson, a clinical psychologist and writer, introduces the mission behind HearHER: to create space for women to speak openly about the harms that have shaped them—without demands for evidence, perfection, or agreement.

From childhood conditioning to workplace microaggressions, from the "Disney Prince" myth to the impossible standards placed on mothers, Dee explores how harm molds women's sense of self, trust, decision-making, and worth.

This isn't just about trauma—it's about what women make from harm: the meaning-making, the reconstruction, the humor, the boundaries, and the quiet or bold forms of agency that emerge.

Key Topics Covered:
• The cost of silence and the relief of being heard
• Intergenerational messaging about women's worth
• Overt violence vs. subtle microaggressions
• How women are conditioned to prioritize others over themselves
• The power of women supporting women
• Why listening is an act of participation

Hear Her offers no requirements for speaking—only voice. Each woman's story is welcomed, not pathologized.

About the Host:
Dee Donaldson is a writer, educator, and clinical psychologist who understands the cost of silence. She's here not as an expert, but as a woman shaped by harm who found healing through other women who listened without trying to fix.

🎙️ Subscribe for more episodes where women speak about their experiences of abuse and silencing in relationships, workplaces, and systems.

💜 If you hear pieces of your own story here, take what resonates and leave what doesn't. You're not required to agree, relate, or analyze—just witness.

#WomensPodcast #SurvivorStories #WomensVoices #Podcast #Feminism #WomenEmpowerment #domesticviolencesurvivors #narcissticabuserecovery #abusesurvivors

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction & Content Warning
1:30 - What is Hear Her?
4:45 - The Cost of Silence
8:20 - Intergenerational Messages About Women
12:15 - Overt vs. Subtle Harm
16:40 - Personal Stories of Microaggressions
19:50 - The Gendered Shape of Harm
23:30 - Women Supporting Women

HearHER is a project of WiseWOMAN Studio and is an educational platform, not therapy, and provides no psychological guidance.

For more educational resources and programs for women recovering from harmful relationships and experiences visit: https://www.wisewomanstudio.com

HearHER centres women’s voices and lived experiences of interpersonal, institutional, workplace, cultural and systemic harm. This introductory episode explains the intention behind the podcast: careful listening, sense-making, and what becomes possible when women are heard on their own terms.

Each episode will feature the story of one woman's experience of harm, how it moulded her life trajectory, and how she has come to understand her experience...told in her own words.

Hosted by Clinical Psychologist, Dee Donaldson for WiseWOMAN Studio.

Launching in February 2026.

HearHER is a project of WiseWOMAN Studio and is an educational platform, not therapy, and provides no psychological guidance.

For more educational resources and programs for women recovering from harmful relationships and experiences visit: https://www.wisewomanstudio.com