The Cost of Witnessing
Content warning: This podcast talks about sexual grooming and harms within faith communities. If you need support, please see the link to support services at the bottom of the show notes.
As I’m not tech-savvy enough… I will be releasing the audio-only version of my podcast! I may get around to updating the videos too, one day. However, you are currently limited to audio.
The Cost Of Witnessing
We often talk about survivors, and rightly so, but rarely do we speak of the cost carried by those who bore witness. Those who saw glimpses of harm but didn’t know what to do. Who were silenced, dismissed, or spiritually gaslit when they raised concerns.
The cost of witnessing isn’t just what someone saw, it’s what they couldn’t unsee.
It’s the questions they lived with, the guilt for not doing more, the fear of speaking out.
The relationships that became strained or shattered when they tried.
Some witnesses carry secrets they were never meant to hold. Others become complicit in systems that punish truth-telling. Many absorbed a kind of secondary trauma, grief, confusion, and helplessness. Over time, their trust in leaders, and sometimes even in their own perceptions, eroded.
Witnessing can fracture faith. It can rupture community.
It can leave people standing in that lonely middle ground between silence and action.
It’s a place that often goes unnamed, but it deserves compassion, clarity, and honouring.
That’s why I’m so grateful to have this conversation with one of my own witnesses , so I can now bear witness to her witnessing.
Today’s episode is the first time I’ve really had space to think about what it’s been like for the witnesses around my story.
And so, I’m honoured to welcome someone who was part of it from the very beginning.
Today’s Guest:
Jane Kennedy is a religious trauma therapist working on Gadigal land in Sydney's Inner West. Jane works with clients recovering from the harm experienced in faith communities and other high control groups such as cults and sects.
She is a co-founder of The Religious Trauma Collective.
Jane has two delightful adult kids and two ridiculous rescue cats. She and her partner spend a lot of time dreaming about how to move to Italy.
Connect with Jane
Website
https://janekennedycounselling.com.au/
RTC website
https://www.thereligioustraumacollective.com/
Insta
https://www.instagram.com/janekennedycounselling/
Support Hotlines:
Link to all support hotlines in NSW, Australia: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/Pages/support-contact-list.aspx
Contact me:
https://www.jaimesimpsoncounselling.au
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