Episodes

Part 2 THE CONCLUSION Kelly Sutliff is a Licensed Professional Counselor, advocate, speaker, and the Founder and Executive Director of Kelly’s K9s, Tails of Courage, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing highly trained personal protection dogs to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault at no cost. With over 20 years of experience in the mental health field, Kelly has dedicated her career to helping others heal, rebuild, and rediscover their strength. Her work as a psychother...

Part 1 Kelly Sutliff is a Licensed Professional Counselor, advocate, speaker, and the Founder and Executive Director of Kelly’s K9s, Tails of Courage, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing highly trained personal protection dogs to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault at no cost. With over 20 years of experience in the mental health field, Kelly has dedicated her career to helping others heal, rebuild, and rediscover their strength. Her work as a psychotherapist, combined...

What happens when the career that defined your identity suddenly disappears? This week on The Suffering Podcast, we sit down with Erik Malmstrom, whose life journey is one of loyalty, loss, resilience, and rediscovering purpose after unimaginable change. Raised in the tight-knit neighborhood of Crum Lynne in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Erik grew up surrounded by generations of family, lifelong friendships, and a home filled with both love and chaos. As a child, he often found himself in the m...

But this episode isn't about crime. It's about redemption. After serving his sentence and walking out of prison, Richie faced the challenge that countless formerly incarcerated individuals know all too well: rebuilding a life from the ground up. Rather than allowing his past to define his future, he chose a different path—one built on perseverance, accountability, resilience, and personal transformation. In this powerful conversation, Richie shares his experiences with prison, organized crime, s...

In this episode of The Suffering Podcast, host Kevin Donaldson sits down with licensed psychologist Dr. Dorothy Novitskie to analyze one of the internet's most controversial conversations: Jubilee's "Surrounded: 1 Cop Vs. 20 Criminals." Unlike a typical reaction video, this episode dives beneath the surface of the debate to explore the psychology, trauma, emotions, and lived experiences driving every exchange. As the discussion unfolds, Kevin offers a unique perspective as the very police office...

Dave Velasquez grew up in chaos long before he ever wore a badge. Raised in Minnesota in a home consumed by addiction, instability, and repeated trauma, his childhood was defined by survival. With an absent father and a mother battling severe substance abuse and suicide attempts, Dave spent his early years moving from place to place, never knowing what “normal” looked like. At just 15 years old, he was abandoned and left behind — until one family connected through the Police Explorer program ste...

Samuel Taveras’s story begins before he ever had a chance to speak. Born prematurely at just six months in a developing country, he spent the first three months of his life fighting to survive through constant medical emergencies and uncertainty. Complications from his birth left him blind in one eye, but the physical challenges were only the beginning. By the age of five, Samuel had already witnessed death, violence, and chaos firsthand including a fatal car crash outside his home and a violent...

Born in Grand Junction, Colorado, our guest’s story begins in the rugged working-class towns of the American West and South—places where grit wasn’t optional, it was survival. Raised in a coal mining family, with both parents working under his grandfather and a father who spent years as a roughneck, he grew up surrounded by hard labor, discipline, and resilience. Life wasn’t always easy. His father battled alcoholism and could be harsh at times, but through the chaos came lessons in toughness, a...

Melony Feliciano is a media executive, producer, distributor, and entrepreneur from New York City. She is the Founder and CEO of B.A.R. TV Show, LLC, a multimedia company specializing in television, film, podcast production, distribution, and media consulting. Since launching B.A.R. TV in 2018, Melony has built a reputation for helping creators, filmmakers, and podcasters monetize and expand their brands across major platforms. She is also the host of the B.A.R. TV Podcast and has grown her medi...

Chris Stoddard’s story doesn’t begin with strength—it begins with survival. Raised in a financially strained household, Chris grew up watching his mother fight tirelessly to keep them afloat, while enduring the chaos of an abusive, alcoholic stepfather. On the other side, love from his biological father was complicated by manipulation and psychological pressure, leaving Chris feeling like the cause of his parents’ divorce and fundamentally broken from a young age. By third grade, he was already ...

Steve Morris is the host of the Peace • Power • & Purpose Podcast. He served his country as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy and later served his community as a police officer working patrol, bringing a leadership style grounded in discipline, accountability, and real-world experience.

On this episode of The Suffering Podcast, we sit down with Robert Ledogar, a former U.S. Marshal, to explore the weight behind one of America’s most historic badges. From the battlefields of Desert Storm to the relentless pursuit of justice on the streets, Robert shares what it truly means to carry responsibility in a profession built on courage, sacrifice, and integrity. This conversation goes beyond the job—it dives into the moments that test your values, the cost of standing up when it matter...

Frankie Anne is a multi-talented performer and stand-up comic, opening for comedy greats such as Mike Marino, Craig Shoemaker, Dana Eagle and more. With a diverse career that spans producing and directing shows featuring icons like Tom Bergeron (DWTS), Dee Wallace (ET), and Sam Tripoli, Frankie has also produced Showtime's Live Nude Comedy, which included Whitney Cummings, Chris D’Elia, and Tig Notaro. A former lead vocalist for Big Brother and the Holding Company, Frankie’s stage presence was s...

What does it take to tell the truth about something most people spend a lifetime trying to forget? In this powerful and deeply personal episode of The Suffering Podcast, Kevin Donaldson sits down with co-authors Sherrie Allsup and Dr. Dorothy Novitskie to discuss their new book, A Life Unfolding: Carrying the Secrets of Childhood Sexual Abuse. This conversation pulls back the curtain on what it really means to write from the depths of lived trauma while balancing the responsibility of telling th...

In this deeply powerful and unflinching episode of The Suffering Podcast, Sherrie Allsup sits down with host Kevin Donaldson to explore a reality many live with—but few are able to speak about: the lifelong suffering carried by survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Through raw honesty and hard-earned insight, Sherrie shares her personal journey of survival, healing, and reclaiming her voice after trauma. Together, she and Kevin navigate the emotional aftermath that lingers long after the abuse en...

Shawn Robert Johnson grew up in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where much of his childhood was shaped by poverty, instability, and his parents’ struggles with drug addiction. Basketball became his escape, but when his family could no longer afford the costs of playing, Shawn was pulled into the streets—eventually becoming involved in drug dealing and gang life. In 2006, a violent altercation led to two incidents where Shawn says he acted in self-defense. He was arrested in Pittsburgh, extradited to Ne...

Dr. Michael Zhang is a psychologist and founder of Incumental, a digital platform supporting individuals working to overcome gambling addiction in an era of constant access and widespread normalization. Over years working as a psychologist with individuals and families affected by gambling, he witnessed mounting financial strain, fractured relationships, private battles with shame, and the tension of living a double life. Modern gambling, now embedded in phones, sports media, and everyday life, ...

Austin Julio Broughton discovered his gift for public speaking at just eight years old, when he was selected to memorize and deliver a portion of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. What began as a childhood imitation quickly became a lifelong calling. From that first performance to the present day, he has continued delivering Dr. King’s words, developing a voice rooted in conviction, cadence, and moral clarity. Over the years, Austin has spoken at significant venues and alongs...

Send us Fan Mail On November 28th, 2006, my father took his own life in front of me by a self-inflicted knife wound. I was 15. He was a passionate outdoorsman who loved to hunt, fish, and trap since he was a little kid growing up in East Rutherford. In 2017, my father’s youngest brother, John Miragliotta, attended a suicide prevention walk wearing a name tag that read “Team Buffalo.” He told me about it on my birthday that year while we were sitting by his pool and said he wanted to do someth...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Cohen is a storyteller, podcaster, speaker, and entrepreneur who found unexpected meaning in his father’s journey with dementia. His writing began with the story of his dad’s awakening from his dementia, and the message dad sent that he still appreciated and wanted to live life, an experience that reshaped his perceptions of family, memory, and resilience. In these pages, Cohen draws on a lifetime of lessons from his father’s humor, toughness, and compassion, sharing fami...

Send a text Friendship isn’t built in comfort—it’s forged in pressure, tested in silence, and proven when things get ugly. In this episode of The Suffering Podcast, Kevin Donaldson sits down with Bobby Crudele to break down The 10 Commandments of Friendship—not the Hallmark version, but the real, unspoken rules learned through betrayal, loyalty, growth, and hard-earned respect. This conversation cuts deep into: What true loyalty actually looks like when life falls apartThe difference between ...

Send a text Mike Morgan is a 30 yr medically retired police officer veteran who worked for both the Atlanta & Suffolk County, NY PD's. Approximately 1 yr after retirement, Mike was watching a Shawn Ryan podcast episode featuring guest Eddie Penney, a former Navy SEAL when he realized that the feelings (Anger, rage, depression general unhappiness) he had been experiencing post retirement were some sort of PTSD that he had suffered during the course of his career. Mike knew he needed ...

Send a text Garry Pastore is a seasoned actor whose impressive career spans over four decades in film and television. Most recently, Garry guest starred as Arnold White in the highly anticipated Peacock original series Long Bright River (2025), starring Amanda Seyfried and Nicholas Pinnock. Currently, he captivates audiences in the trending Paramount+ series First Shift (2024), where he plays Valente, a maniacal mob boss. Filming for First Shift will continue in New Jersey through September 2...

Send a text This episode features two long-time Jefferson Township leaders whose careers reflect a shared commitment to student growth, community, and leadership. Jeanne Howe brings more than 31 years of experience in education, beginning as a science teacher and rising through roles including Assistant Principal, Middle School Principal, Assistant Superintendent, and now Superintendent. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from Rutgers University and a Master of ...