This Is Actually Happening

When ex-Bunny girl Jayne Gaskin spots the desert island of her dreams for sale online, she decides to risk it all. Trading in their English village home, Jayne and her family relocate to their own private paradise, just off the coast of Nicaragua. And a reality TV crew follows them to film a new show, No Going Back. But soon they all discover that paradise has its secrets. The locals claim the island belongs to t...

After his mother falls in love with Frank, the member of a one-hit-wonder 80s band, a man’s life becomes a roller coaster of neglect, scams, and chaos, but when he turns the camera on the inside of his family, a new world opens he never thought possible. 

Today’s episode featured GJ Echternkamp. If you’d like to reach out to him, you can email at GJActuallyHappening@gmail.com. You can find GJ’s documentary, “frank ...

After losing her entire family at ten years old, a woman’s grief evolves into a self-destructive rage, and as systems of care, punishment and rehabilitation keep failing her, she’s forced to create her own path to healing. 

Today’s episode featured Amy Ronhaar. You can find out more about Amy on her website, www.amyronhaar.com, and you can read more details of her story in her memoir Raising Amy: A Daughter’s Memoi...

Growing up queer, bullied and abused in a heavily religious community, a man tries and to change his sexual orientation through prayer, but as he pieces his life together and heals past harms, tragedy and misfortune raise more questions than answers.

Today’s episode featured Ransom. If you’d like to reach out to him, you can email at Ransomnotes24@gmail.com

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Jason Blalock

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Finally finding love and marriage after feeling unworthy of romance, a woman develops symptoms of a mysterious and debilitating illness, but in the roller coaster of recovery, her husband’s mental illness creates a new level of chaos. 

Today’s episode featured Marabai Rose. To find out more about Marabai, you can find her on Instagram @marabai.rose, and on her website marabairose.com. There you can find links ...

An Indigenous woman from the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation whose grandparents suffered the horrific abuses of the Canadian Indian residential schools finds her own path to healing amidst the ravages of generational trauma on her family and community.

Today’s episode featured Erin Goodpipe. To learn more about Erin and her work, you can find her on Instagram @e_goodpipe. Erin is multidisciplinary artist, educator a...

After being kidnapped by her mother in a custody battle, a woman finds herself cut off and under the thumb of an abusive stepmother, but after years of chaos and yearning, she finally learns the devastating truth.

Today’s guest requested to remain anonymous, but if you’d like to reach out to her, you can email at cracklinghearth1@gmail.com 

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Sara Marinelli

Content...

Endowed with a strong drive from a young age, a woman becomes a workaholic and marries a wonderful man with similar ambitions, but when he faces a failing project, life-long toxic work patterns come to a tragic conclusion. 

Today’s episode featured Trina Colpitts. If you’d like to reach out to her, you can email at 500milesformentalhealth@gmail.com, and you can learn more about her foundation at 500milesformen...

Soon after returning from a long trip abroad, Whit Missildine, our creator and host of the show, suddenly blacked out and entered a non-responsive seizure state, but as he woke up to a new reality, struggling to put himself back together again, the gifts from the show itself offered exactly the medicine he needed.

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits

Content/Trigger Warnings: seizure, medical trauma, explici...

An impromptu hiking trip turns suddenly to disaster.

Producer: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits

Social Media: 

Instagram: @actuallyhappening

Twitter: @TIAHPodcast

Website: thisisactuallyhappening.com

Support the Show: Support The Show on Patreon: patreon.com/happening

Wondery Plus: All episodes of the show prior to episode #130 are now part of the Wondery Plus premium service. ...

Growing up with a sense of heroic duty, a man becomes a cop fighting the drug war, when the sobering realities of his job lead him to profound awakening.

Today's episode featured Neil Woods. You can find out more about Neil by going to neilwoods.net, where you can also find links to his two books: Good Cop, Bad War and Drug Wars, with more about his own experience and about the War on Drugs in Britain. To find out more...

A woman growing up in poverty in Jamaica is abandoned by her mother at an early age, and as her story of unworthiness deepens, she falls prey to a cruel world.  

Today’s episode featured Donna Hayes. Donna has written a memoir that includes further details about her incredible journey called These Broken Roads, which you can find on Amazon. You can also find out more about her on her website, donna-hayes.com a...

After learning to endure a toxic relationship with his father, a man crafts a ‘good life’ filled with the privileges of success, but only when he finds himself on the other side of death’s door does he find out what it really means to be alive. 

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Aviva Lipkowitz

Content/Trigger Warnings: death, cardiac arrest, medical trauma, explicit language

Social Media: ...

Growing up in a family full of secrets, a woman experiences a complex trauma and buries a secret of her own, but after finding her passion in medicine, she is faced with dilemma that brings everything to the surface. 

Today’s guest requested to remain anonymous. But if you’d like to reach out to her, you can email at v2174359@gmail.com.

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Aviva Lipkowitz

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A young woman on a backpacking trip in Bali faces a series of misfortunes, but just as she’s leaving for the next chapter of her journey, her future is thrown into darkness.  

Today’s episode featured Ashley King. If you’d like to reach out to her, you can email at ashleyjenniferk@gmail.com, or find her on Instagram @ashkng.

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Jason Blalock

Content/Trigger War...

A young man looking for a quick way to get rid of student loan debt gambles with his life and nearly pays the ultimate price.

Producer: Whit Missildine

Social Media: 

Instagram: @actuallyhappening

Twitter: @TIAHPodcast

Website: thisisactuallyhappening.com

Support the Show: Support The Show on Patreon: patreon.com/happening

Wondery Plus: All episodes of the show prior to episode #130 ar...

A woman with severe harm OCD encounters the many faces of death and dying but finds renewal in caring for others and ultimately herself.

Today's episode featured Rachel. You can find out more about her on Facebook at fb.com/RachelHillestad.

Content/Trigger Warnings: homicidal thoughts, harm OCD, death, sexual assault, mention of

suicide, suicidal thoughts, explicit language

Producers: Whit Missildine

So...

After tragedy strikes a Vietnamese refugee family, a young man finds his new home in a violent gang, forever marking his life path through acts of destruction and redemption.

Today’s episode featured Quan Huynh. You can read more about Quan’s story in his memoir, Sparrow in the Razorwire - www.sparrowintherazorwire.com. You can also find out more about Quan and

his current work at www.quanxhuynh.com a...

Growing up in a broken home with a loving mother, a woman faces disturbing and routine abuse from her brother, but after it escalates, and the unthinkable happens, the terror never ends. 

Today's episode featured Amy Chesler. To find out more about her and her story, you can find her book on Working for Justice on Amazon. Amy also has her own podcast, What Came Next, which chronicles i...