What I've Learnt - Susan Berg

WHAT I'VE LEARNT

On a late October afternoon in 1985, Susan Berg joined her parents and her 16-year-old brother on a family boat trip in Victoria’s Western Port Bay.

It was the family’s second time out in the newly purchased boat. A relaxing afternoon on the water.

But within mere hours of entering the bay, Susan Berg’s life would change forever.

As the sun started to set, the family began to head back to the shore to return to their car and trailer. Within minutes Susan’s brother, Bill, noticed that water was quickly filling the boat.

Soon the family was desperately clinging to the hull of the boat in the chilly water.

Tragically her brother father and mother died trying to swim to safety. Susan survived.

“I blamed myself for Mum and Dad and Bill’s death. I was the person driving the boat at the time that it sank. The fact that I lived and they died, it just felt like it was all my fault,” she recalled.

“A few weeks after the accident, we were getting lots of letters from people who had heard about the accident in the newspaper. I got a letter, which said: ‘You f***ing b*tch, your brother went to help your parents and you left them dead, you wh*re.’ And I guess that, for me, cemented the guilt.”

But after years of trauma, survivor guilt and becoming a mother to her beautiful son Susan has found a deep resilience, hope and now helps others to heal and recover and using her own lessons learned she supports, inspires and thrives.

A real turning point was her determination to swim the English Channel having never been back in the water prior she was determined to use the challenging endeavor to tackle her own demons. A survivor and an inspiration.

Deborah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/what.ive.learnt/
Mind, Film and Publishing: https://www.mindfilmandpublishing.com/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/what-ive-learnt/id153556330
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TQjCspxcrSi4yw2YugxBk
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1365850