I want to start with something honest.

When I sent you the first edition of this newsletter a few weeks ago, I wasn't sure what to expect. A very high open rate and zero unsubscribes told me something I genuinely needed to hear. That the people who found their way here actually want to be here.

So, thank you. It means more than you know.

This month something shifted. I can feel it. And I wanted to share it with you before I share it anywhere else.

Built To Be Broken — the book I had to write

On 5th May I revealed the cover of my new book publicly for the first time.

The response stopped me in my tracks.

Built To Be Broken: Why Empaths Are Targeted By Abusers And How To Heal The Wounds That Made You Vulnerable is available from June 10th. But I want to tell you something about it that I haven't said in any public post.

This is the book I wish had existed when I was in it.

Not because it tells you what abuse looks like. I've written about that already. But because it goes deeper than that. It asks the question I spent years too afraid to answer honestly. Why me? Why did I keep finding myself in these dynamics? What was it about the way I was built, the empathy, the need to fix things, the belief that love meant sacrifice, that made me a target?

The answer, when I finally found it, wasn't shameful. It was illuminating.

Empaths aren’t weak. They aren’t broken. But they carry wounds from early in life, from attachment, from modelling, from moments that shaped how they see relationships, that abusers are extraordinarily skilled at finding and exploiting.

Understanding that doesn't just explain the past. It changes the future.

I wrote this book as a survivor and as someone who has spoken to hundreds of people going through exactly this. The research is there. The honesty is there. And the path forward is there.

It launches June 10th on Amazon. And because you're here, you get to know first.

Pre-order your copy here: amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GZMY9HD6

If this book helps one person understand why they kept ending up in relationships that hurt them, and what to do about it, it will have done its job.

What the last month has looked like

I don't want to turn this into a report. But I do want to share a few things because they feel significant and you're part of why they're happening.

People are finding my audiobooks organically across multiple countries and continents. Europe, North America, Oceania. No promotion. No paid push. Just people searching for something that helps and finding their way to the work. That tells me the message is travelling further than I can see.

The updated Domestic Abuse Against Men course on Udemy had its first learners sign up this month. People saw a post on LinkedIn, enrolled the same day, and the messages that followed reminded me exactly why I left the boardroom to do this instead.

This week I filmed two short videos. One about stop blaming victims of abuse, one about abuse having no gender. And posted them across every channel. The response told me there is a huge audience out there that has been waiting for someone to say these things out loud without apology.

And I wrote something this week that I have never written before. A letter. To the man who might not make it through the night. I posted it publicly at 11pm on Friday and asked people to send it privately to any man they were worried about. No tag needed. Just send it.

That letter exists because my next book, after Built To Be Broken, will be about male suicide. The silent epidemic that connects every single thing I write about. Abuse. False allegations. Family court. Parental alienation. The men who run out of reasons to stay.

I am not ready to say much more about that yet. But I wanted you to know it is coming. And I wanted you to know why.

Something is building. I can feel it. I hope you can too.

Something I Just Started. And I Need Your Help.

This week I launched a movement called Leave No Man Behind.

Buy a copy of Why Didn't You Just Leave Them. Donate it somewhere men in crisis go. A refuge. A prison library. A GP surgery. A barber shop. A court waiting room. Anywhere a man might quietly find it when he needs it most.

Photograph it in that place. Post it and tag me with the hashtag below, or send me a message on any channel directly with the picture/details.

I am building a live map to track every location across every country where a book lands. And I will be sharing that map regularly with national newspapers, TV outlets, and journalists. The bigger this grows the harder it is to ignore.

You are  people who already believe in this mission. If each of you does this once and shares it once we have dozens of pins on that map by next week and lots of posts reaching people I have never reached before.

One book. One place. One man at a time.

Buy your copy here: amzn.eu/d/05NoQy0i

Track the map here: Leave No Man Behind Map

#LeaveNoManBehind

I want to leave you with something practical because that is what this newsletter is for.

Most people who identify as empaths share a handful of patterns that show up consistently in their relationships. See if any of these resonate.

You feel other people's emotions as if they were your own. Sometimes more intensely than the person experiencing them.

You find it almost impossible to say no when someone is in pain, even when saying yes costs you something real.

You have a pattern of being drawn to people who need fixing, rescuing, or saving. And feeling responsible when you cannot.

You dismiss your own needs as less important than other people's without even noticing you are doing it.

You stay in situations long after they stop being good for you because leaving feels like abandonment or failure.

These are not weaknesses. They are the fingerprints of someone who feels deeply and loves generously. But they are also the exact qualities that certain people, narcissists, abusers, manipulators, are wired to find and exploit.

Built To Be Broken is about understanding why that happens. And more importantly, how to stop it.

Pre-order your copy here: amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GZMY9HD6

What is available right now

If you are ready to go deeper before June 10th, everything I have written is available now.

All seven books, signed and personally dedicated by me, are available at payhip.com/JaredWhitakerAuthor. Tell me who it is for and I will write the dedication myself.

My full catalogue is on Amazon at linktr.ee/jwhitakerauthor. Paperback, ebook, and audiobook across all titles.

My Udemy courses, covering domestic abuse, false allegations, narcissism, and misandry, are at the same link. If you are not sure where to start, the Domestic Abuse Against Men course is the place.

Before I go

June is going to be a big month. Built To Be Broken launches on the 10th.

Father's Day is June 21st. And if you know a father who has been through parental alienation, a family court battle, or the particular kind of grief that comes from being separated from your children by a system that was not built for you, a signed and personally dedicated copy of The Forgotten Fathers might be the most meaningful thing you could give him. Available now at payhip.com/JaredWhitakerAuthor.

I will be back in your inbox at the end of June with the Built To Be Broken launch update, more useful content, and whatever else feels worth sharing by then.

Thank you for being here at the beginning of this. It genuinely matters.

Jared

Jared Whitaker Author | Advocate | Survivor