Raquel O'Brien is ready to talk.

After a lifetime of repression and denial, the 25-year-old childhood sexual abuse survivor has created the podcast Silent Waves in an attempt to address and heal the traumas that haunt her family.

Abuse survivor Raquel O'Brien has confronted her trauma in her podcast Silent Waves. Credit:Georgina Savage

In one-on-one interviews with her mother and brothers, including ex-AFL star Heritier Lumumba –formerly Harry O'Brien, who sensationally walked away from his career citing health issues in 2016 after calling out a racist culture at Collingwood – Raquel finally exposes the truth behind the family's high-achieving facade.

Making the seven-part series in partnership with Melbourne's Nearly podcast network, and revealing the abuse she suffered at the hands of her older cousin and devastation wrought on the wider family by her unstable, criminal father was a daunting but ultimately cathartic task for Raquel.