
Explore Healing through Storytelling and Podcasting, uncovering how sharing personal stories can transform trauma into powerful narratives that resonate with audiences.
Join us to explore how sharing personal trauma can lead to healing through storytelling and podcasting.
Guest Lenore Rattray, a survivor of a violent crime, discusses her podcast Stand Up 8, where she retells her story of surviving a robbery, kidnapping, and assault. We delve into how healing through storytelling can transform both the storyteller and the audience, and examine strategies for nonfiction authors looking to tell difficult stories, particularly within the true crime genre.
Learn How to Build an Engaged Audience with a Podcast
- How sharing trauma through a true crime podcast can be part of the healing process
- Turning trauma into a true crime podcast from the survivor's perspective
- Author podcasting strategies for structuring episodes and connecting with an audience
- The balance between personal narrative and creating engaging content
- The importance of platform-building for nonfiction authors, including how podcasting can elevate visibility
Lenore Rattray, Storyteller and Podcast Host
Lenore Rattray is a storyteller, trauma survivor, and host of the podcast Stand Up 8, which offers a survivor’s perspective on a violent crime she endured in 1992. She uses her experience of living with PTSD to help others understand post-traumatic growth.
Her podcast is not just about survival; it’s a window into the long-term effects of trauma and how storytelling can be a powerful tool for healing.

Resources to Turn Your Story into Healing Through Storytelling and Podcasting
Highlights from Healing through Storytelling and Podcasting
- The difference between privately writing yourstory and publicly sharing it on a podcast—healing through storytelling in two different formats.
- How overwhelming moments during podcast production can be managed through self-care and mentorship.
- The strategy of attaching themes to each episode, transforming the raw details into something your listeners could relate to and learn from.
- Lenore shares how you can use key attributes of your personality to both survive a crime and make sense of it for your audience.
- How podcasting has helped build Lenore’s platform, allowing her to organise her story and connect with a wider audience in need of inspiration and guidance.
Actionable Steps
Here are three things you can do immediately after listening to the podcast episode to build momentum:
Reflect on Your Unique Story: Take 10-15 minutes to write down key experiences or defining moments in your life that could form the foundation of your nonfiction book. Focus on lessons you learned or insights you gained that could benefit your audience.
Free Write for 10 Minutes: Take a few minutes. Pick one story from your life. Write for 10 minutes, without thinking about grammar or word choice.
Expand on Your Story: Take one sentence from the above story, and expand on that for 5 minutes.

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