A Man Who Lived the Cycle — and Chose to Break It
My name is Joe Nehls.
I survived emotional incest, deep childhood trauma, and years of silence.
I later became a sex offender — and the cycle continued.
Until it didn’t.
For more than 15 years, I’ve:
- Worked through recovery, faith, grief, and accountability
- Had hundreds of conversations with other offenders
- Seen the same patterns repeating like a family curse
- Spent my life documenting the cycle so others don’t repeat it
- Built SOAR as a platform for healing, truth, and prevention
- Started the MotherMade project to break generational silence
- Begun producing the documentary The Making and Unmaking of a Sex Offender
My story is not an excuse.
It’s a map.