Shownotes
In this raw, unflinching episode of Survival Mode Disrupted, I’m joined by Dr. Dawnmarie Risley-Childs—a board-certified psychiatrist and survivor of 24 years of domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Dawnmarie doesn’t just bring clinical insight. She brings lived experience. We walk through her story of growing up in a house that looked “fine” on the outside but was a war zone behind closed doors: a psychopathic stepfather, a mother who collaborated and minimized, and a childhood wired around fear, confusion, and survival.
She shares how:
- Chronic exhaustion and PTSD followed her everywhere—even into her medical career
- Ketamine treatment helped with anxiety and rumination… but didn’t touch the buried rage and terror
- Underground psychedelic-assisted therapy (with mushrooms and LSD) opened locked doors in her memory, body, and emotions
- She realized her mother wasn’t just a victim, but an active collaborator in her abuse
- Releasing anger—rather than bypassing it with “forgiveness”—became a turning point in her healing
- She moved from protecting her abusers to protecting herself and her children
And ultimately, we talk about what it means to reclaim your story, your body, and your future after being betrayed by the very people who were supposed to keep you safe.
🎙️ What We Talk About
- How survival mode can feel like permanent exhaustion while you still keep pushing yourself to function
- The “performance review” relationship with her mother and why nothing was ever good enough
- Reading The Body Keeps the Score and finally understanding why her body was screaming
- The difference between ketamine treatment and classic psychedelics like mushrooms/LSD in trauma processing (from her experience)
- How psychedelic medicine can surface stored memories and emotions in a way traditional talk therapy often can’t reach
- The moment she stopped trying to satisfy her mother and chose herself instead
- Writing her book “The Offering: A Physician’s Journey through Abuse, Psychedelics, and the Freedom of Forgiveness” and why she ripped out a whole chapter to write a success chapter instead
- The radical act of forgiving herself—not for what happened, but for carrying shame that was never hers
🔑 Key Takeaways
“Healing is possible. So many people feel broken. But you can heal.”
“I realised I was never going to satisfy my mother—and my life changed when I stopped trying.”
“Psychedelic medicine didn’t erase my trauma. It helped me finally feel the anger and terror I’d been swallowing for decades.”
“My mother wasn’t just looking away. She was collaborating. And I needed to stop protecting her more than I protected myself.”
📖 About the Book – The Offering
Title: The Offering: A Physician’s Journey through Abuse, Psychedelics, and the Freedom of Forgiveness
Dr. Dawnmarie’s book weaves:
- her high-achieving, “on paper successful” life
- the brutal reality of her childhood and young adulthood
- her journey through PTSD, psychopathy, and complex trauma
- and her healing through psychedelic-assisted therapy and self-forgiveness
It’s part memoir, part clinical insight, and part offering to anyone who’s ever felt too broken to heal.
🌐 Connect with Dr. Dawnmarie Risley-Childs
- Book: The Offering: A Physician’s Journey through Abuse, Psychedelics, and the Freedom of Forgiveness
🔗 Resources & Links:
