About Braving Healing
Where It All Started
Braving Healing is all about the complexities of those who experienced childhood sexual abuse.
This is a partnership between two teams of people who care deeply about this community.
The idea for Braving Healing first came to one of our founders, Luke, on a Friday night. Papers were strewn across the floor as Luke had a vision for how film could be used to tell the stories of survivors and connect them to resources. Luke’s partner, Kat, who is a survivor and one of our founders, was all in.
Next, Luke went to Jeff Preszler, a lawyer Luke had known for several years and had worked with. Luke’s background was in legal advertising, but that had largely been left behind. However, Jeff was one of those few lawyers who seemed to truly care about the client beyond his own bottom line.
After several discussions, Jeff decided to financially back a documentary for survivors.
After several discussions, Jeff decided to financially back a documentary for survivors.
Initially, it was going to be a shorter documentary, perhaps twenty-five minutes.
Kat and Luke began their research and preparation, and then outreach to survivors. Long story shorter, they filmed twenty-three people with dozens of hours of interview footage. At this point, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a twenty-five-minute film.
Kat and Luke knew they couldn’t fit all of the survivors into their documentary. It simply wasn’t possible. Further, there was so much content, featuring both experts and survivors, that they didn’t feel it was ethical to let the footage that wouldn’t make it into the documentary go to waste. They committed to each other to ensure something bigger happened.
Kat and Luke crafted a vision based on what was and wasn’t available online for those who’ve endured childhood sexual abuse. They brought it to Jeff and, in his words, “I know in my gut that this is the right thing to do,” and he agreed to partner with Braving Healing and contribute financial support so that Kat and Luke could bring this to life.
A Message from Kat and Luke
We've had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with Jeff and his team as well as some of their current and past clients. This has allowed us to gauge them through our own skepticism and cynicism. In the end, we really value and respect Jeff and his law firm. That doesn't mean that if you have a case, we're telling you to go hire them. Simply, these seem to be good people who work really hard to do good for their clients. And, they genuinely care.
Sincerely,