Episode 3

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Published on:

16th Jun 2025

Addicted at 15. Imprisoned at 20 and again at 29. Free at 40

At 15, she became a functioning heroin addict.

At 20, she was arrested in a police sting.

At 29, she was ambushed by Thai authorities—and everything she thought she knew about survival was shattered.

In this visceral, emotional, and deeply human episode, Holly Dean Johns opens up about the unimaginable:

📍Growing up in a home that doubled as an escort agency

📍Using heroin with her mother

📍Being betrayed by friends in a drug sting

📍Enduring 7 years in a Thai women’s prison with 120 women in one cell

📍And how a single moment of clarity helped her begin the long journey out of addiction and trauma.

But this isn’t just a story about drugs or jail.

This is a story about choice. About ownership. About building a life after survival mode.


🎙️ What We Talk About:

  • Growing up in chaos while pretending life was “normal”
  • The power of addiction to numb pain—and the cost of that numbness
  • What prison in Thailand really looks like
  • The culture shock of surviving behind bars as a foreign woman
  • What trauma looks like years later—and how it crept up after she got out
  • Why healing often starts after the storm, not during it
  • Her journey from inmate to peer mentor and published author


🔑 Key Takeaways:


“Don’t write people off just because they’ve messed up once—or twice.”
“Addiction isn’t about getting high. It’s about not having to feel.”
“If I can come back from what I’ve been through, so can you.”
“Drugs didn’t destroy my life. Silence did.”


🙌 Why This Episode Matters:

This episode is a masterclass in radical honesty, resilience, and grace.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in a cycle of self-destruction… if you’ve ever judged someone for how they cope…

If you’re trying to understand addiction, trauma, or your own survival mode—you need this conversation.

Because sometimes, survival looks like heroin.

Sometimes, it looks like 22 centimeters of floor space.

And sometimes—it looks like choosing to live, fully, no matter the scars.


💬 Connect with Holly:

📘 Book: Holly’s House: Seven Years in a Thai Prison – Available on Amazon, Audible, Apple Books, and more

🎧 Audiobook – Apple, Spotify, and all major platforms

🌐 Just Google her name and you’ll find her work everywhere.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hollydeanejohns/

Instagram - @hollydeanejohns

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-deane-johns-15b11429b/


🔗 Resources & Links:



🙌 Connect with Leticia:

Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | TikTok | Website


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Show artwork for Survival Mode Disrupted - The Podcast

About the Podcast

Survival Mode Disrupted - The Podcast
Disrupted Unapologetic Conversations about Survival Mode
Survival Mode Disrupted is not just a podcast. It's a rebellion.

A raw, unfiltered space where we finally stop pretending we're fine and start telling the truth—the truth about the trauma we've carried, the identities they had to wear to survive, and the radical decisions we made to break free.

Because here's the deal: survival mode isn’t just a season. It’s a damn identity. One that so many were forced to adopt just to get through life, to stay safe, to stay needed, to stay sane. But eventually, it starts costing you more than it protects. Your peace. Your purpose. Your power.

This podcast is for the disruptors—the people who were told to stay small, stay silent, stay grateful for crumbs… and said “hell no.”

Hosted by Leticia, The Survival Mode Disruptor herself—a trauma recovery mentor, speaker, and woman who has lived through the fires of abuse, betrayal, and breakdown and still chose to rise—this show dives deep into the unapologetic exits from survival mode that no one talks about.

You’ll hear from women (and a few brave men) who walked away from toxic relationships, soul-sucking careers, generational dysfunction, religious trauma, cultural expectations, and the lies they were taught to believe about themselves. Not because it was easy—but because staying would’ve killed something sacred inside of them.

These are the stories of bold pivots, quiet courage, and messy but miraculous rebirths.

Each episode is a conversation—a disruption—meant to wake something up in you. Whether it’s a guest sharing the moment they chose themselves for the first time, or Leticia dropping a truth bomb that makes you question everything you’ve normalized, this podcast is here to shake the foundation of your survival mode identity and replace it with something truer. Something freer.

We’re not here for surface-level self-care tips or fake empowerment slogans.

We’re here to talk about what it really takes to:

Reclaim your voice after being silenced.

Reinvent yourself after being broken down.

Rewrite your story when everyone else wants you to stay the same.

Release the guilt of choosing YOU.

This is for those who are done performing. Done pleasing. Done pretending.

It’s for the ones ready to exit survival mode—not slowly, not quietly, but disruptively and unapologetically.

You won’t leave this podcast the same.
You’ll cry. You’ll rage. You’ll laugh.
You’ll see yourself in every story.
And more importantly, you’ll remember who the hell you are.

Welcome to Survival Mode Disrupted.
It’s not just a podcast.
It’s a movement.
And your exit begins here.

About your host

Profile picture for Leticia Francis

Leticia Francis

I am not here to inspire you—I am here to activate you.

As a Survivor, Keynote Speaker, and Trauma Recovery Mentor, I know what it’s like to fight battles no one sees. I also know that breaking free is possible. My work is about disrupting survival mode, exposing trauma-driven success cycles, and giving women the blueprint to reclaim their lives.

🔹 200+ podcast features & speaking engagements
🔹 Global Women of Choice Award Winner 2022
🔹 Creator of the Survival Mode Exit Plan
🔹 Host of Survival Mode Disrupted Podcast