Episode 154: A Survivor of Sexual Assault Who Now Stands With and Empowers Other Survivors

Trinea Gonczar, survivor, advocate, and Director of Development at Avalon Healing Center, joins The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast to share her incredible story. Trinea is a former gymnast and a survivor of the disgraced doctor Larry Nassar. Trinea spoke during the Larry Nassar case and her victim impact statement went global within hours after she spoke. After that, Trinea explored options for other survivors in the Nassar case and began to realize that even in such a public spotlight, unfortunately there are very minimal resources out there for survivors. In her search, Trinea ended up getting connected to the Avalon Healing Center and seeing the incredible work and impact they are making, decided to join their staff and help other survivors. Trinea’s focus is to raise awareness and to elevate Avalon Healing Center’s business model nationally and globally so that people know of their services before any assault or trauma occurs. 

Trinea was also featured in the HBO documentary “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal”. She speaks nationally about her experience and has received numerous accolades, including ESPN’s 2018 Arthur Ashe Courage Award, the Humanitarian Award from the Foundation for Global Sports Development, the Humura Award from the EDJA foundation, and was named one of Glamour Magazine’s 2018 Women of The Year. Trinea also serves on Michigan State University’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Advisory Board.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• Trinea’s life story;
• The story of how Trinea survived the disgraced doctor Larry Nassar and how she was a part of the army that brought him to justice;
• How she got connected to the Avalon Healing Center and about her work with this incredible organization;
• Trinea’s survivor story and the stories of other survivors she is working alongside it;
• And so much more.

Read Trinea’s powerful articles that we discussed in this episode here:

The Detroit Free Press article

The Insider article

Follow Trinea on Twitter. 

For more information on the Avalon Healing Center, please visit the Avalon Healing Center website. 

The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, iHeartRadio, and everywhere you listen to podcasts.