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Braving Healing: The Documentary
What does healing really look like after childhood sexual abuse?
Braving Healing: The Documentary is an invitation into the complex, deeply human journey of healing after childhood sexual abuse.
Told through the voices of survivors, advocates, and experts, this film explores what it means to rebuild trust, identity, and a sense of belonging after the unthinkable.
Runtime & Release Info: Feature-length (64 mins). Premiering November 22, 2025.
Key Voices
The film weaves together nine powerful voices. From survivors like Arthur Lockhart, founder of The Gatehouse (which has served over 20,000 survivors), to experts like psychotherapist Emilia Pacholec, who helps adults overcome complex sexual trauma, and lawyer Jeffrey Preszler, whose firm has helped numerous survivors hold institutions accountable.
Together, they weave the lived experiences and professional insights rarely seen in one film.
Why It Matters Now
Across Canada and beyond, those who endured CSA are confronting powerful institutions while redefining what justice and recovery mean.
Braving Healing arrives at a time when child sex abuse is in the news regularly. However, what is consistently missing is a discussion of what healing means for those harmed.
This documentary pulls back the curtain on the aftermath of the decades of silence, shame, and resilience that follow abuse.
It connects directly to:
- Conversations on institutional accountability in religious and educational settings
- The impact of child sex abuse on victims and society
- Justice reform across North America
- The growing demand for trauma-informed systems of care and reporting
Braving Healing Is More Than A Documentary
It’s the beginning of a larger movement.
Braving Healing is a platform dedicated to empowering those who endured CSA to heal through story, knowledge, justice, and community.
Braving Healing began with a question: What would it look like to truly empower those who endured CSA to take the next brave step in their healing, whatever that may be?
The result is a film that rejects sensationalism. It sits with the messy, human truth of healing and invites audiences to witness courage.
It’s brave, imperfect, and possible.
Contact for Media Inquiries
Kat W Russell and Luke W Russell, Directors
Available for television, radio, podcast, and print interviews
Location: Toronto & Indianapolis
Featured individuals & experts available upon request through media liaison.
Media Angles & Coverage Opportunities
Producers, reporters, and editors may find the following angles particularly timely:
- “The New Language of Healing” (reframing stories beyond trauma and into empowerment)
- “The True Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse” (unveiling the true impact of CSA on the one who endured and society)
- “Accountability and the Institutions That Failed” (exploring paths to justice)
- “Silence and Shame” (understanding why so many speak decades after the abuse)
- “How Storytelling Heals” (how narrative can support the healing journey)