The Rising Beyond Podcast
Are you ready to thrive as you are coming out of a toxic or abusive relationship? Join Sybil Cummin, a licensed professional counselor who has specialized in working with victims and survivors of domestic violence and narcissistic abuse for over a decade and runs a membership community for women on their healing journey. On this podcast you will finally feel understood and your experience will be validated as you learn tangible strategies to handle family court, coparent with your abuser, improve your connection with your children, and heal from the trauma of narcissistic abuse and domestic violence.
The Rising Beyond Podcast
Ep 163: When Power Doesn’t Listen: The Cost of Excluding Survivors from the Conversation
In this episode, I go on a bit of a rant—and for good reason.
When people in positions of power make sweeping decisions without input from the people most affected, the results are often not just ineffective… they’re harmful.
I share a recent example from my own therapy practice, where state-level Medicaid changes made by HCPF (Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy & Financing) have had huge ripple effects—harming my team’s ability to provide care and hurting the very clients those changes were supposed to help.
And unfortunately, this isn’t a one-off issue. It’s a pattern we see all the time in the family court system.
Survivors of domestic violence are rarely invited to the table when reforms are discussed or policies are implemented. Professionals make assumptions, apply blanket solutions, and often ignore the lived experiences of the people navigating these systems every single day.
In this episode, I explore:
- Why top-down decisions without feedback loops cause damage
- How survivors are continuously silenced and sidelined in court processes
- The emotional toll of fighting systems that claim to help—but don’t listen
- Why true change must include the voices of those impacted
Whether you’ve felt powerless in court, frustrated by the mental health system, or just plain angry at the disconnect between what’s needed and what’s delivered—this one’s for you.
Tune in and share your own story. We need more survivor voices in these conversations.
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