The digital age has democratized who gets to tell a survivor story. In the past, media gatekeepers (newspapers, TV networks) decided which stories were "credible" or "camera-friendly." Now, platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels allow survivors to take control of their own narrative.

Step 1: Form a Survivor Advisory Board. Before you write a script or film a video, pay a group of survivors to review your strategy. Ask them: Where is the harm here?

Why does a story work better than a statistic? Psychologists refer to a phenomenon called narrative transportation . When we listen to a compelling story, our brain stops processing it as "someone else's problem" and begins simulating the experience as if it were our own. Neuroimaging studies show that the same regions of the brain activated during a survivor’s trauma are mirrored, to a lesser degree, in the listener’s brain.