A Contagious Smile Podcast
by Victora Cuore; A Contagious Smile, Who Kicked First, Domestic Violence Survivor, Advocate, Motivational Coach, Special Needs, Abuse Support, Life Skill Classes, Special Needs Social Groups
Latest episode
When Life Swallows Magnets
When Life Swallows Magnets
About this podcast
Stop surviving and start thriving. A Contagious Smile is a globally ranked podcast providing a safe haven for abuse survivors and special needs families navigating the journey of trauma recovery. Whether you are healing from domestic violence, narcissistic abuse, childhood trauma, or the daily challenges of disability advocacy, our mission is to turn your pain into power.
Each episode features raw, authentic conversations with survivors, mental health experts, and advocates who share actionable resources for PTSD healing, resilience building, and emotional wellness. We go beyond the struggle to highlight the triumphs of the special needs community, offering support for caregivers and individuals with disabilities who are rewriting their own narratives.
Hosted by Victoria Cuore, an award-winning trauma advocate and survivor, this podcast delivers the "blueprints" for recovery, not just Band-Aids. Join our community to find hope, humor, and the unstoppable spirit needed to rekindle your inner light.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 444 episodes
- Doucheknuckles And Swallowed Magnets With A 24 Hour Pause · 60 minSend us Fan Mail Your body can be calm one minute and in full alarm the next, and when you are already carrying grief, that swing hits harder. We sit down together and talk…
- Douche Knuckles, Door Holding, And The Basics Of Human Decency · 56 minSend us Fan Mail A lot of workplace harassment doesn’t look like a headline. It looks like a manager who talks to you with contempt, coworkers who whisper that you “slept your…
- Verbal Vandalism Echoes Patterns of Abuse In the Workplace · 1 h 16 minSend us Fan Mail Getting “used to it” at work is how abuse survives. We’re wrapping up Domestic Violence Awareness Month by shining a light on a category that doesn’t get enough…
- Verbally Vandalized: When the Job You Love Becomes the Abuse You Survive · 38 minSend us Fan Mail A lot of people can spot abuse at home, but freeze when it shows up at work wearing a badge, a title, or a “joking” tone. We’re talking about workforce abuse…
- Vegetable Pizza Confessions And Real Talk · 53 minSend us Fan Mail Someone can be thriving and still need shower shoes. That one line opens a bigger truth we keep bumping into: when people judge a story from the outside, they…
- Do Men Tinkle And Other Emergency Room Wisdom with Michael Solomon and Victoria Cuore · 34 minSend us Fan Mail The pain wasn’t normal, and pretending it was nearly cost Victoria her arm. We’re unpacking a late-night emergency room run after surgery when stitches that…
- Stitches, Survival, And Smelling Coffee · 36 minSend us Fan Mail 170 stitches, a house that smells like freshly roasted coffee, and a conversation that swings from laugh-out-loud moments to the darkest corners of chronic pain…
- We Learn How Lived Experience Turns Pain Into Practical Healing with Victoria Cuore and special guest Jessie Tylre Williams · 1 h 3 minSend us Fan Mail The hardest part of surviving trauma is not the headline event, it is what comes after: the disbelief, the systems that get it wrong, and the daily work of…
- From Post Op Pain To Purposeful Impact with Victoria Cuore and Michael Solomon · 33 minSend us Fan Mail Over 130 surgeries will teach you who is solid and who is just loud. While Victoria recovers, we talk honestly about what healing looks like right after the…
- Life After Surgery And Life After Abuse · 26 minSend us Fan Mail They got her through surgery, but nobody talks enough about what happens right after the operating room when you’re still foggy, hurting, and being told to get…
- You Are Strong Enough To Leave Abuse Domestic Violence Awareness with Victoria Cuore · 1 h 4 minSend us Fan Mail One hit can flip your whole world, and the scariest part is how fast your brain tries to explain it away. We talk openly about domestic violence, coercive…
- He Brought Lube To A Vow Renewal, yep that's my husband with Victoria Cuore and Michael Solomon · 1 h 8 minSend us Fan Mail He plans a birthday breakfast. Two hours later, we’re standing at a cemetery while Michael pulls out a handmade 12-page scroll, custom silver rings, and asks…
- Turning Pain Into Purpose With Peer Support · 43 minSend us Fan Mail Your worst day can feel huge, right up until real loss snaps everything into focus. We open by sending heartfelt condolences to our friend Monk Sticky after he…
- Hair, Boundaries, And Hard Truths · 37 minSend us Fan Mail A gross joke turns into something unexpectedly honest: what does it look like to take your life back when people have spent years trying to manage how you look…
- Living One-Handed And Refusing To Shrink · 38 minSend us Fan Mail Something as “small” as a haircut can crack open the real conversation: what happens when your body changes and the world thinks it gets a vote. We get personal…
- Claude Racine Velinsky Explains How She Rebuilt Her Life After Postpartum Depression · 52 minSend us Fan Mail Postpartum depression doesn’t politely arrive with a warning label. It can hit like a trapdoor, and our guest Claude Racine Velinsky names the parts many people…
- From Dancer To Mother: Breaking Hustle Culture And Finding Peace with guest Claude Racine · 52 minSend us Fan Mail Support the show
- Grace By Night And The Cost Of Hope with Victoria Cuore and Antonio Sabato Jr · 42 minSend us Fan Mail Grace By Night made us stop, breathe, and feel everything, so we brought Antonio Spider Jr back to talk about what it takes to tell a story that honest. We get…
- Shot In The Line Of Duty With Ret. Sgt. Eric Kocheran, Victoria Cuore and Michael Solomon · 44 minSend us Fan Mail A five minute stop at the office becomes a fight for survival. Retired deputy Eric Cochran answers a knock at the back door of his sheriff’s office and ends up…
- Faith And Fire with Victoria Cuore and Antonio Sabato Jr. · 40 minSend us Fan Mail If you’ve ever felt like the world is getting darker while your own hope gets thinner, this conversation is a jolt of light. We’re joined by Antonio Sabato Jr…
- How Dancing And Self Love Break The Dark Cycle with Victoria Cuore and special guest Antonio Sabato Jr · 40 minSend us Fan Mail Support the show
- The Math Shirt Moment · 42 minSend us Fan Mail The fastest way to understand our show is to hear us do what we do: laugh hard, pivot fast, and still land somewhere real. We start with a brand-new side…
- From 9/11 Responder To Patient Advocate And Trauma Coach with Michael Mackniak, Victoria Cuore and special guest Craig Sotkovsky · 58 minSend us Fan Mail Support the show
- Daniel Ryan Cotler, Victoria Cuore and Michael Mackniak Explains Why Narcissistic Abuse Leaves No Bruises · 58 minSend us Fan Mail Abuse does not have to leave a mark on your skin to change the way you think, remember, and trust yourself. We sit down with Daniel Ryan Cotler, author of…
- Real Talk On Respect with Victoria Cuore and Michael Solomon · 45 minSend us Fan Mail Somebody can be laughing with you one minute and quietly fighting shame the next and that whiplash is real. We start with our usual marriage banter (dogs…
- This Is What It Takes with Michael Mackniak and Victoria Cuore with Special Guest Alison Graham · 57 minSend us Fan Mail “Bounce back” sounds motivating until you’re living with chronic pain, a major diagnosis, or a life event that permanently changes the map. We sit down with…
- Cup Of Mud with Victoria Cuore and Michael Solomon · 36 minSend us Fan Mail “A cup of mud” turns into a whole philosophy tonight. We start with the messy, funny reality of married life: coffee orders that confuse strangers, typing versus…
- This Is What It Takes with Mike Mackniak and Victoria Cuore. With Special Guest 3-time World Record Holder, John GrahamPanic Attacks And Presence · 47 minSend us Fan Mail He could memorize a shuffled deck of cards in 21.5 seconds, compete on a massive Chinese TV stage, and beat world-class opponents with pure focus. Then he found…
- When A Hospital Visit Feels Like A Ticket Line · 37 minSend us Fan Mail A six-hour ER wait time shouldn’t come with a text message like you’re waiting for a table, but that’s exactly where we found ourselves and what happened next…
- We Break Down How Peer Support Builds Trust · 32 minSend us Fan Mail We start with the kind of married banter you can only have when you know each other too well, then we turn toward something bigger: what it means to show up for…
- What If The Real Boundary Is Love · 45 minSend us Fan Mail Some people don’t just accept kindness, they consume it. We’re candid about what it’s like to be the kind of person who will give time, energy, money, and care…
- This Is What It Takes with Michael Mackniak and Victoria Cuore with special guest Daniel Ryan Cotler. Healing Loudly After Narcissistic Abuse · 57 minSend us Fan Mail Support the show
- Somebody Has To Say It Podcast: Are Our Words Making Us Meaner Than We Think with Mike Macknaik and Victoria Cuore · 49 min · Season 1 Episode 2Send us Fan Mail “Literally” might be the most abused word in the English language, but our real problem is bigger than a few annoying phrases. We start out laughing about the…
- What Legacy Are You Really Building · 49 minSend us Fan Mail The scariest thing you can do in a family built on masks is tell the truth out loud. We sit down as Michael and Victoria and talk through a chain of stories that…
- BRAND NEW PODCAST SOMEBODY HAS TO SAY IT WITH VICTORIA CUORE AND MIKE MACKNIAK · 49 min · Season 1 Episode 1Send us Fan Mail Electronic medical records were supposed to make healthcare simpler. Instead, we’re watching patients get buried under repeated intake forms, duplicated…
- When The Likes Fade, The Truth Stays · 52 minSend us Fan Mail A seven-hour surgery is one thing. The days after can be the real test, especially when your body reacts, your pain is off the charts, and you’re trying to get…
- Mediumship Without The Movie Magic · 55 minSend us Fan Mail Your gut knows things before your brain can explain them, but how do you tell the difference between real intuition and a loud imagination? We sit down with…
- Surgery, Setbacks, And Self-Advocacy · 38 minSend us Fan Mail One minute we’re hearing, “You can go home,” and the next we’re being warned that leaving in the wrong condition could mean paralysis. That whiplash sets the…
- His First Pedicure Michael's Father's Day · 39 minSend us Fan Mail A Father’s Day pedicure turns into a surprisingly tender milestone when my husband walks in convinced it “isn’t for men” and walks out admitting the hot rocks…
- How The Guardian Model Rebuilds Mental Health Care · 32 minSend us Fan Mail The fastest way to break a person isn’t always the illness; it’s the system that treats them like a number and calls it “care.” We sit down with veteran attorney…
- We Cannot Keep Pouring Into People Who Never Pour Back · 43 minSend us Fan Mail Some people call you a friend, then disappear the second you stop being convenient. We get blunt about that kind of fake loyalty and what it does to your trust…
- When A Medium Nails The Details with special guests Danniel Worthen Cullumber and Gvnage Mishipeshu · 1 h 12 minSend us Fan Mail A stranger says one word that stops us cold: “hands.” Danielle Worthen Columber has never met us, never heard our backstory, and we give her nothing to work…
- This Is What It Takes with special guest Daniel Ryan Cotler, Psychological Warfare In Intimate Relationships · 58 min · Season 1 Episode 5Send us Fan Mail The most dangerous abuse is often the kind nobody can photograph. We talk with Daniel Ryan Cotler, author of *Voiceless No More* and founder of the Heal Loudly…
- Amir Arison: The Kind of Human the World Needs More Of · 1 h 3 minSend us Fan Mail A kid who has endured more surgeries than most adults can fathom sits beside a mother who refuses to let trauma be the last word. Then our guest, an actor best…
- Amir Arison Beyond The Blacklist: Why Faith's Poetry Touched His Heart · 2 minSend us Fan Mail A few lines of poetry can hit harder than a whole hour of advice, and that’s exactly how we choose to end this one. We wrap up by reading a poem from Faith Cure…
- Care Coalition Caregiving Guests of Kellan Fluckinger · 52 min · Season 1 Episode 4Send us Fan Mail When you’re trying to keep a loved one safe, get the right diagnosis, or survive a crisis, the healthcare system can feel less like support and more like a test…
- A Medium Names The Missing Hand · 1 h 12 minSend us Fan Mail She said one word that changed the whole room: hands. Danielle Worthing Columber had never met Victoria before, didn’t know her history, and was doing a true…
- What A Roast Reveals About How We See Ourselves · 46 minSend us Fan Mail You’re getting a front-row seat to a special kind of family chaos: we hand the mic to the crew, announce a roast of Michael, and let the night spiral in the…
- Schizophrenia And The Long Road Back · 53 minSend us Fan Mail A schizophrenia diagnosis can feel like your future just collapsed into one terrifying question: what happens now? We talk with Matthew Dixon, founder of MindAid…
