The Trauma Beat - #8 - Louise Godbold

Louise (Lou) Godbold is many things.

She is a silence breaker, a trauma expert, and a non-profit leader. But the title most often associated with Lou in her conversations with the media — and there have been many — is “Weinstein survivor.”

“I speak a lot with survivors of sexual violence, and I speak a lot with those who have that next layer of trauma…where they're exposed to a lot of media interest, not because of who they are, but because of who their abuser is,” Lou says in conversation with host Tamara Cherry. “And that's a very unique situation to live through.”

Lou recalls a three-hour interview she granted for a documentary, during which she disclosed childhood sexual abuse that she had not yet disclosed to her mother. She describes the harmful events that followed, when she (wrongly, as it turned out) assumed that this portion of her interview would make it into the documentary.

Lou provides invaluable insight into how journalists can tell the very important stories of trauma survivors, better. She also has advice for survivors who might be faced with media attention. She discusses the problem of survivors feeling like commodities that are “disposed of” following their interviews. She also explains the physiological impact of trauma, including how repeating one’s traumatic story can lead to long-term physical health problems, and the importance of centering a survivor’s experience throughout the facts-gathering and storytelling process.

“Ask the survivor what works for them,” Lou says. “That is what being survivor centered is all about. That is what being trauma informed is all about.”

Resources:

Do No Harm: A Media Code of Conduct for Interviewing Trauma Survivors: https://psmag.com/ideas/a-code-of-conduct-for-how-media-should-interview-survivors-of-sexual-trauma

Echo Training: https://www.echotraining.org/trauma-training/

Infographic: How to Support Someone Who Has Experienced Trauma: https://www.echotraining.org/support-trauma-survivor-infographic/

Infographic: Trauma-Informed Arrow: https://www.echoparenting.org/dev/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Echo_Arrow_Print_8x11.pdf

Survivor Questions for Reporters: https://www.echoparenting.org/dev/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SurvivorQuestions_Poster_CMYK.pdf

Silence and Omissions: A Media Guide for Covering Gender-Based Violence: https://gbvjournalism.org/

This conversation was recorded in March 2022.

As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.

For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.

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