Episode 51

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Published on:

19th Oct 2025

The Fight From Grooming To Grace

Mickey pulls the mask off survival mode and names what too many of us were trained to hide: grooming, child sexual abuse, manipulation, addiction, homelessness, and violence. This is not trauma porn. It is truth, recovery, and responsibility. In this episode, we unpack the patterns that kept her stuck, the moments that cracked the denial, and the choices that rebuilt her life with dignity and power.

  • Unfiltered: Mickey’s early grooming and the cost of silence
  • Identity: Why “strong” became a mask that almost killed her
  • Addiction: Numbing as a nervous system strategy, not a character flaw
  • Abuse: How cycles repeat when trauma goes unaddressed
  • Recovery: Radical honesty, safe community, embodied repair
  • Liberation: What living beyond survival looks like in real time


🎙️ What We Talk About:

  • How grooming hides in plain sight behind “helpfulness” and access
  • The mask of high-functioning survival: working, smiling, dying inside
  • Party culture, methamphetamines, crack cocaine, and the illusion of relief
  • Homelessness, exploitation, and the shame that keeps women silent
  • Family dynamics, unasked questions, and the ache of being unbelieved
  • Naming abuse without self-blame while taking responsibility for healing
  • Rebuilding a life: boundaries, community, and choosing self-respect daily

🔑 Key Takeaways:

“Survival mode felt like running in place. All sweat. No movement.”
“Numbing wasn’t weakness. It was my nervous system begging for relief.”
“Silence protects abusers. Truth protects the next generation.”
“Healing began the day I stopped performing strength and told the whole truth.”



🙌 Why This Episode Matters:

Too many high-achieving women are praised for composure while privately drowning. Mickey’s story confronts that culture head on and gives language to experiences many have been shamed into burying. If you grew up being “useful” instead of being nurtured, or if you learned to wear the smile so no one asked questions, this conversation will feel like oxygen. You are not crazy. You are not alone. You are not beyond repair.

💬 Connect with Mickey:

Mickey Parfitt Smith — Survivor, advocate, and truth-teller.

🔗 Resources & Links:

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Show artwork for Survival Mode Disrupted with Leticia R Francis

About the Podcast

Survival Mode Disrupted with Leticia R Francis
Disruptive 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.

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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