Ryan Stollar taught survivors they mattered. He couldn’t always believe it for himself.

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(RNS) — On June 28, 2026, Ryan Stollar — age 42, writer, child liberation theologian and advocate for children’s rights — died by suicide. The impact of his death has been rippling through my community of survivors and advocates the past few days. I feel intense grief over his loss, as well as mixed feelings about his public legacy and his final words to us. What I know for certain is Ryan helped change my life.

The first time I crossed paths with Ryan was around 2013, when I discovered Homeschoolers Anonymous, which I later learned Ryan had co-founded. I was in my mid-twenties and finding my way out of the Christian patriarchy movement. I was a stay-at-home daughter, which meant I was not allowed to leave home until I married a man my father approved of. I had been homeschooled since kindergarten and isolated for most of my life.

Before I escaped the movement, I felt trapped and was ruminating on ways to kill myself to put an end to the psychic pain. HA, an online community where homeschooled alumni shared their…