234: She Woke Up Angry She Survived with Candice Van Dertholen

FINE is a 4-Letter Word · Jun 25, 2026 · 39m

Content Note: This episode includes discussion of domestic violence, a suicide attempt, and complicated grief.

Candice Van Dertholen was a single mother at 22, a corrections officer at a Texas maximum security prison in her twenties, and, at her lowest point, a woman who woke up in a hospital bed angry that she had survived.

She had spent years running toward whatever the moment required — raising three kids alone, taking a corrections job because the pay was better than waitressing, staying in a marriage that turned abusive because the chaos felt familiar. It took a violent car ride with her…