Second Stories Podcast

We think of each person’s life as having a “first story,” and a “second story.” Your first story is marked by the setting you were born into: your parents, your community, your level of opportunity, mostly things you can’t change. Your “second story,” is the new chapter you write yourself: your career, your own family, your goals, and your dreams.

Second Stories is dedicated to telling stories of people who had first stories full of hardship and hopelessness, yet were able to change the narrative and write a new one. They’re stories of resilience and hope, but also tributes to the people and experiences and organizations that made it possible for them to start again.

Find each episode here, plus some more information and photos about each of our guests.

Subscribe to the Second Stories Podcast

Second Stories season four is airing this September. You can listen to our three previous seasons here on our site or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and listen using the links below:

Our Response to the Pandemic

This special episode shares more about the pandemic's impact on our work and young people in our community.

Second Stories Season Three

Season Three brings you more stories and a focus on some of the important issues that put young people in vulnerable positions - things like homelessness, abuse, and mental health challenges.

Renee

Renée has a law degree, a masters degree, and a PhD. She also was born into poverty, abuse, and dropped out of college. Hear her story.

Topical Episode: Family Trauma

A former staff member and former guest and her mother discuss family trauma -- what it can mean for young people and the ways families can work to create supportive and understanding places to thrive.

Lucy

Lucy’s story is remarkably normal. She relives something that is familiar for many of us, and forces us not to write off our pain even if it’s “normalized.”

Topical Episode: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Second Story’s senior therapist and another staff member with personal experience talk about PTSD – its causes, symptoms, and the way it affects victims.

Chrystel

Chrystel shares more about how a huge news story for most of us was her actual personal experience, her adolescence, her life, her story.

Topical Episode: Domestic Violence

In this episode our former program manager for Second Story for Young Mothers shares more information about how abuse affects young women while Bree reflects on her personal experience.

Bree

Bree shares her story of how a young woman, in the midst of hardship, chose to keep going, full of tenacity and hope.

Second Stories Season Two

Announcing Season Two with more inspirational stories episodes where we discuss the bigger context of the issues and learn about how they affect our broader community.

Amanda

Amanda pulls her family's experience from the shadows with the belief that her story isn't shameful, but rather a way to show others that hope and healing are possible.

Bonnie

Bonnie’s home was safe in the literal sense of the word. But she was lacking a sense of belonging, and a sense that her feelings mattered.

Second Stories Podcast

Our Response to the Pandemic

Second Stories Season Three

Renee

Topical Episode: Family Trauma

Lucy

Topical Episode: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Chrystel

Topical Episode: Domestic Violence

Bree

Second Stories Season Two

Amanda

Bonnie

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