Unveiling the Tapestry: Trauma, Healing, and Family Secrets with Lisa Nikolidakis

Missing Magnolias

In this episode, prize-winning writer and professor, Lisa Nikolidakis, joins us to discuss her memoir, No One Crosses the Wolf: A Memoir, a brave and unflinching account of survival. Growing up in the shadow of a violent and abusive father, Lisa's childhood was abundant with fear and isolation. Her escape from this toxic environment was only the beginning of her journey. As a young adult, a devastating murder-suicide shatters her world. Lisa as an adult later finds writing as a tool to confront a monstrously complex figure who shaped her life. Lisa’s path for truth and self-discovery ultimately leads her on a trip to Greece where she finds truth in connecting with her heritage and the other half of her family for the first time.

In this discussion, we are able to graze the surface on some complex subjects like the hallmarks of abuse, the corrosive nature of secret keeping in families, the pain experienced by the secondary victims, the importance of self-healing, and what is needed to break these cycles.

Be sure to buy a copy of No One Crosses the Wolf : A Memoir here.

You can follow Lisa on her website and on Instagram.

If you or someone you know is being abused, you can reach out to advocates in the links below:

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: [phone]
• The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386 (for LGBTQ+ youth)
• Childhelp USA: 1-800-422-4453
• National Sexual Assault Hotline: [phone]-HOPE