Safe Space Radio: Recent Episodes
Safe Space Radio
Safe Space Radio is the show about subjects we’d struggle with less if we could talk about them more. We combine storytelling with empathy and expertise to foster courage in navigating challenging conversations and combating shame and stigma. Our new miniseries is Can We Talk?
How hard is it to feel lonely when everyone around you seems to be part of a happy couple? Safe Space Radio talks to psychiatrist Amy Banks to find out what social isolation does to our brains, and some concrete things we can do to strengthen our ability to connect.
The post Loneliness and Your Brain with Amy Banks appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
“What if global warming isn’t only a crisis. What if it’s our best chance to build a better world?” Naomi Klein Reports of wildfires, hurricanes, and extinctions are frightening, yet we rarely hear people talking about the mental health impact of these changes. This hour long show explores how coping with the mental health impacts ...read more »
The post Climate Courage appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
“Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.” George Eliot This hour-long show is about the mental health benefits and challenges of saying a good goodbye at the end of life. Through stories, we explore different facets of goodbyes, including why so many of us avoid saying goodbye even ...read more »
The post Saying Goodbye appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Courage is the choice to act even when we feel afraid. It forces us to confront fear, shame, and stigma—and to feel our own strength. This hour-long show is about how accessing our own courage also supports our mental health and well-being, exploring the experience of living with mental illness—such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorder—as a kind of “courage boot camp.” ...read more »
The post Profiles in Mental Health and Courage appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
The experience of violence is shaped by shame and silence. We’ll hear stories about how silence and shame define the experience of violence for everyone involved: the victim, the perpetrator and the bystander, with a special focus on white bystanders and racist violence. We explore how violence is dehumanizing, and leads survivors to blame themselves. We also hear about the forces that make it difficult for victims and bystanders to ...read more »
The post From Violence to Voice appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Many white parents have never learned how to talk about race and racism with their kids. Silence perpetuates racism—but it can be hard to know how to start. This hour-long program is about talking to white kids about race and racism: how white parents, families, and teachers can learn to show up for racial justice ...read more »
The post Talking to White Kids About Race & Racism appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode is about loneliness: what it is, why so many of us feel it, and the surprising toll loneliness takes on our physical and mental health. The health effects of chronic loneliness are akin to smoking 15 cigarettes every day—it literally shortens our lives. Yet it can feel vulnerable to name it when we feel lonely. ...read more »
The post Loneliness appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This hour-long program is about asking for help: why it’s so hard to admit when we need something from another person, and the surprising effects that sharing our vulnerability can have on our mental health. The episode explores how shame and stigma can prevent us from asking for what we need, why we tend to underestimate the generosity of others, and how asking can make us feel ...read more »
The post Asking For Help appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
We all make mistakes. Knowing how to mend our relationships is vital to the mental health of our families and communities. This episode is an exploration of apologies: why saying “I’m sorry” can be difficult, and how we can get better at repairing the relationships that matter the most. Through stories, this show addresses apologies ...read more »
The post Apologies appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Matthew Sanford is a yoga teacher focused on trauma recovery. Matthew was paralyzed from the chest down at age 13 in a car accident that killed his father and sister. As a teen, he was encouraged to “overcome the silence” of his paralyzed body. He learned that he could listen to his body instead, and ...read more »
The post Yoga For Trauma with Matthew Sanford appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Social worker Layne Gregory shares strategies for navigating the subject of sex and sexuality that she used with her own kids and gives 6 basic principles that are important for kids to understand.
The post Talking To Kids About Sex & Sexuality with Layne Gregory appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Ellen Jennings’ son is living with high-functioning autism. She talks with Anne about the long and difficult path to his diagnosis, and about the many ways she has had to push for him to get the services he needs and help him thrive.
The post Advocating for a Child with Autism with Ellen Jennings appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode revisits Safe Space Radio’s 2014 interview with Bobby Payzant, an inmate at the Maine State Prison. He discusses the crime for which he is serving time, and his work as a hospice volunteer, giving care to inmates dying in prison.
The post Prisoners and Hospice with Bobby Payzant appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode revisits Anne’s 2012 conversation with Meredith Hall about her pregnancy at age 16. Meredith remembers being shunned by her family and school and forced to give the child up for adoption. Her memoir, Without a Map, explores how silence can be an impediment to healing.
The post Stigma and Teen Pregnancy with Meredith Hall appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Episcopal priest Carl Russell talks about the childhood sexual abuse he experienced at the hands of his family’s own priest. He remembers the catalyst on his own path to healing: a radio story about sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese. At 72 years old Carl decided to press charges, and broke a silence that had ...read more »
The post Breaking the Silence with Carl Russell appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Doula and birth educator Leah Deragon of Birth Roots talks about her struggles with postpartum depression and anxiety. She discusses the many unrealistic expectations new mothers face, and how normal it is to struggle in ways that aren’t often discussed.
The post Navigating Postpartum Depression with Leah Deragon appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Glenn Close talking about her relationship with her sister Jessie, who is bipolar, and how they are working together to advocate for people living with major mental illness.
The post Mental Illness and Stigma with Glenn Close appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sheila Heen is on faculty at the Harvard Negotiation Project. She discusses how she and her husband—who have opposing political beliefs—navigate their relationship and communicate respectfully when they disagree. She suggests that when we listen receptively, we actually become more persuasive.
The post Loving Across the Political Divide with Sheila Heen appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This hour-long special is about the unspoken challenges of caring for a family member with dementia. The show explores the experience of ambiguous loss, where the person is both here and not here at the same time. ...read more »
The post Still Here: Caregiving and Dementia appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Poet Catharine Murray describes how writing helped her heal from unspeakable loss—the death of her 6 year old son. She shares three poems that illustrate the evolution of her grief and her ongoing healing.
The post Navigating Grief with Poetry with Catharine Murray appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio speaks with violence prevention educator Daryl Fort. He explains how our culture teaches men that they are superior and women that they are inferior—and how these messages work to justify and facilitate the mistreatment of women.
The post Male Sexual Violence and Rape Culture with Daryl Fort appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sandy White Hawk is Sicangu Lakota and a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who was separated as a child from her family and heritage when she was adopted at 18 months old by a white family. She is also one of five commissioners of Maine’s historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sandy discusses the trauma ...read more »
The post Adoption and Return with Sandy White Hawk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
A conversation with Canadian broadcaster Neil McKenty about his struggles with depression and alcohol. He describes his depression as the result of a collision between his negative ideas about himself and the smooth front of success he had constructed for the world to see, and discusses how sharing his vulnerability was the pivotal step to ...read more »
The post Dropping the Front with Neil McKenty appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This show is about the courage of teenagers who come out at a time in life when it is hardest to be different. So many of the legal and social changes in this country that support LGBTQ civil rights are happening because one by one, year after year...read more »
The post Out-Takes: The Unheard Stories of LBGTQ Teens appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Elyn Saks is a law professor and MacArthur fellow who lives with schizophrenia. We discuss how she came to the difficult understanding that she had the illness and needed treatment, and how she was able to achieve personal and professional success, contrary to our popular notions of life with psychosis.
The post Living with Schizophrenia with Elyn Saks appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychiatrist Aaron Lazare talks about the impact of shame and humiliation, and how to repair the damage they cause. He also discusses how shame can complicate the relationship between doctors and patients, and what can be done to reduce it.
The post Shame Between Doctors and Patients with Aaron Lazare appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Navy veteran Meosha Thomas talks about the injuries she suffered in Iraq when her convoy hit an IED, and how she lost and regained her desire to live in the long recovery period that followed. She also talks more about the concept of moral injury, and how she wrestles with guilt over the choices she ...read more »
The post Recovering and Surviving with Meosha Thomas appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Meosha Thomas talks about the trauma of a helicopter crash that killed a close friend, and the PTSD symptoms that followed after she returned home. She also describes the impossible choices she has to make while trying to be both a mother and a soldier.
The post Soldier or Mother? with Meosha Thomas appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
LaRhonda Harris, of the Maine Department of Veterans’ Affairs, talks about changes that have been made in the last decade so that women feel safer and more comfortable coming to the VA for health care. She also talks about leading a book group for women veterans, and how sharing stories of the experience of being ...read more »
The post Care and Community for Women Veterans with LaRhonda Harris appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode is part two of an interview with Kate Weber. In this episode, she discusses the years since her discharge from the army, including her struggle to feel safe in the culture of the VA, her battle with PTSD, and the ways that being in the Oscar-nominated documentary The Invisible War has empowered her ...read more »
The post No Longer Invisible with Kate Weber appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Kate Weber was raped by a fellow soldier within her first weeks of deployment overseas in 1993. She discusses the helplessness and isolation she felt when she discovered that no one, from the staff doctor, to her friends and fellow soldiers, would take her seriously.
The post Reporting and Retaliation with Kate Weber appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Kathy Russin is the Military Sexual Trauma Program Coordinator for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Maine. In this episode she talks about the prevalence of Military Sexual Trauma among veterans, and explains that it is not limited to rape, and affects both men and women. She explains how MST is different from combat PTSD ...read more »
The post Military Sexual Trauma and the VA with Kathy Russin appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Ruth Moore is the namesake of the Ruth Moore Act, a piece of pending legislation which would remove some of the current barriers to treatment and justice for survivors of military sexual trauma. This part of the interview covers Ruth’s path to personal healing after returning from overseas duty, and her choice to share her ...read more »
The post Being Believed with Ruth Moore appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In this episode of Safe Space Radio, Ruth Moore talks about being sexually assaulted by her commanding officer in the Navy, after which she was ostracized and punished for seeking help. Ruth eventually escaped, but as she explains, there are thousands of other young soldiers who are not as fortunate.
The post Alone in the Azores with Ruth Moore appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features Armenian-American photographer and filmmaker Nubar Alexanian. He discusses making a film with his daughter about their journey to their ancestors’ homeland, the site of the Armenian genocide which began in 1915, the silence that surrounds the genocide and how it has impacted his sense of self and his place in the world. ...read more »
The post The Scars of Silence with Nubar Alexanian appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Jungian analyst Don Kalsched helps people work through trauma by exploring the feelings of the characters in their dreams. He explains that because these characters represent the ways our minds have compartmentalized feelings that have been too painful to acknowledge consciously, they can be clues that point us toward healing.
The post Recovering Ourselves through Dreams with Don Kalsched appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features LJ, who has been dealing with Depression for most of his life. He describes living with Depression as a battle with a powerful enemy, and describes the strategies he uses when he is well so that he is better prepared when Depression returns.
The post Taking the Fight to Depression with LJ appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Mary Allen Lindemann is co-founder of Coffee By Design in Portland, Maine. She remembers how one coffee shop worked to become a safe place for those with mental illness. Mary Allen is trained in de-escalatation, and she tells a story about using these skills when a staff member became ill.
The post Mental Health at the Coffee Shop with Mary Allen Lindemann appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Clare Miller is the director of the American Psychiatric Association’s Partnership for Workplace Mental Health. She works with employers to help them do everything they can to identify and treat depression among their employees. We discuss how to reduce the stigma of depression, and the value of people coming forward with their own stories. Clare ...read more »
The post Coping with Depression at Work with Clare Miller appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
On this episode of Safe Space Radio Anne talks with Lisa, who shares two dramatically different stories of telling co-workers about her depression. Her experiences highlight the contrast between a work culture that is supportive and one that stigmatizes, and all the consequences that has for the employee.
The post Talking about Depression at Work with Lisa appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Therapist and former orchestra conductor Susie Melnick talks about how depression has affected her work in both professions. She remembers living through her first episode of major depression, one that she struggled with on and off for decades, and discusses how coping eventually led her to change careers. She talks about treating her patients while ...read more »
The post Hiding Depression at Work with Susie Melnick appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Geoff Smith heads L.L. Bean’s Employee Assistance Program, or EAP. He talks about what an EAP can do to destigmatize depression within a company, and why it’s in every employer’s best interest to identify and help workers who are struggling.
The post Supporting Employee Mental Health with Geoff Smith appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sara is an Iraqi citizen who fled to the U.S. after her brother’s work for the American forces in Baghdad put her family in danger. She talks about the opaque process of applying to leave, and her complicated feelings when she learned that she would be allowed to pack only two bags.
The post Leaving Iraq with Sara appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Feminist scholar Cynthia Enloe discusses about how women are affected by war and militarization. Her work focuses on sexual violence—and its subsequent silencing—as a repressive political tool, and about international efforts by feminist activists to make the United Nations address this issue. You can read UN Security Council Resolution 1325 here.
The post Women in Wartime with Cynthia Enloe appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features high school senior Eman, who moved to the U.S. in 2015. She talks about leaving her friends and family behind in Sudan and again in Egypt, where she lived for five years. Eman remembers being at the mercy of resettlement organizations, and being elected as class president only ...read more »
The post Arriving in High School with Eman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Taysier moved to Maine from Sudan in 2015 with three of her children. Because of her volunteer work with humanitarian aid agencies in Darfur, Taysier was detained by the Sudanese government, who accused her of spying. In this episode, she tells her story of her escape, and talks about her life since moving to America, ...read more »
The post Fleeing Persecution with Taysier appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Catherine Bestemen, Francis F. and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College. She is the author of Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery and has worked closely with the Somali community in Portland, Maine. She discusses the extraordinary resilience of this community, the impact ...read more »
The post Somali Community in Maine with Catherine Bestemen appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This is the second episode of Safe Space Radio to feature Catherine Bestemen, Francis F. and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College and the author of Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery. Catherine has spent her career studying society in both Somalia and Maine, where many Somali refugees have ...read more »
The post The Roots of Crisis with Catherine Bestemen appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Lawyer Phil Mantis works for the Immigrant Legal Assistance Program, or ILAP, in Portland, Maine. ILAP provides free legal help to people seeking asylum in the United States. Phil explains the difference between a refugee and an asylee, describes the most common reasons asylum cases are denied, and explains how ILAP helps asylees apply successfully.
The post Navigating the Asylum Process with Phil Mantis appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Alice B, an asylum-seeker from Burundi who now lives in Portland, Maine. She talks about her work to support and empower women who have faced cultural silencing and endured trauma in both Burundi and the U.S. Alice and Anne explore ways that refugees might be connected with therapists ...read more »
The post The Challenge of Seeking Asylum with Alice B appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Anna, who escaped Syria while 8 months pregnant in 2013 and now lives in Maine. She talks about trading the daily threat of bombings and kidnappings for a life of uncertainty as she and her husband applied and waited for asylum—and how the experience changed her understanding of ...read more »
The post Leaving Syria with Anna appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This is a particularly intense interview about one woman’s narrow escape from Burundi, after she and her mother gave medical aid to an injured protester. She describes their arrest and interrogation prior to coming to the United States, and what it is like to be here, having never planned to leave her life and dreams ...read more »
The post Escaping from Violence appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio talks with Fatuma Hussein of United Somali Women of Maine. She describes the challenges of resettlement for refugees fleeing war in their native countries, which she experienced herself as a teenager. She addresses the presumption that refugees have a negative impact on the state’s economy and culture, and explains her vision for ...read more »
The post Somali Women in Maine with Fatuma Hussein appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode highlights the Maine-Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Safe Space Radio speaks with non-native allies who are working on how to best respond to the needs that the TRC brought to light, and why these issues matter to them personally.
The post Non-Native Allies appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio talks with Penthea Burns, co-director of Maine-Wabanaki REACH, about her background in child welfare and the difficulty of deciding whether the benefits of removing a child from abuse outweigh the additional trauma of severing family and community ties. Penthea’s work on these issues in Wabanaki communities has led her to a deeper ...read more »
The post The Education of a Child Welfare Worker with Penthea Burns appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features Jamie Bissonette Lewey of the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission (MITSC). She explains her views on Tribal-State politics, and why she believes that the fundamental issue is the difference between how the state and the tribes understand the concept of sovereignty stemming back to the history of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement ...read more »
The post Sovereignty with Jamie Bisonette Lewey appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
George’s biological parents are Passamaquoddy, but he was adopted at birth and raised by white parents in southern Maine. George describes how it felt to visit the reservation for the first time and meet his biological relatives. He talks about how he has grappled throughout his life with the question of whether he really is ...read more »
The post Adoption and Identity with George appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features part 2 of Anne’s conversation with gkisedtanamoogk, one of the five commissioners of the Maine State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In this conversation he talks more about the relationship between the government and the Wabanaki tribes, describes some of the main concepts of his spiritual worldview, and talks about the ...read more »
The post The View From the Shore (Part 2) with gkisedtanamoogk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features gkisedtanamoogk, one of the five commissioners of the Maine Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He shares his reflections on the process now that the findings have been published, and we also speak about the gap between Native peoples’ views and those of mainstream America related ...read more »
The post The View From the Shore (Part 1) with gkisedtanamoogk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with former tribal state representative Donna Loring, who is also a former police chief, an author, and a radio host. She talks with Safe Space Radio about the history of relations between the Maine government and the Wabanaki tribes, and the findings of the Maine Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s multi-year ...read more »
The post Tribes and Government with Donna Loring appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Department of Health and Human Services worker Shawn Yardley. He talks about the Maine Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission, why children are removed from native families at disproportionate rates, and what it’s been like for him, as a white man, to raise three girls with Native heritage.
The post Child Welfare and Native Families with Shawn Yardley appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc is a researcher who studies the impact of stigma on adolescents. Her research has demonstrated that when schools are made safer for LGBTQ kids, they are safer for everyone, including the largest group targeted by anti-gay bullying: straight boys.
The post Making Schools Safe for LGBTQ Teens with Elizabeth Saewyc appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode concludes Safe Space Radio’s series on loneliness, guilt, humiliation, and jealousy with a story that combines all four. We also revisit an earlier interview with Dr. Aaron Lazare about shame and humiliation and how these self-conscious emotions intersect with the feelings we hide.
The post Hidden Emotions appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio looks at the ways children are humiliated in school, both intentionally and inadvertently, and how it can significantly impact the way they feel about themselves well into adulthood.
The post Childhood Humiliation appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Humiliation: that moment when you feel like dirt in someone else’s eyes, which is often so hard to bear that we bury it without ever really putting it to rest. This week Safe Space Radio features two stories from people who felt suddenly exposed and humiliated, and we’ll talk about where things went from there.
The post Sudden Humiliation appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features two stories from people who have experienced jealousy in their professional lives—from the kind of jealousy that makes you feel inferior, to the kind that makes you want to disappear. We explore where it comes from and how to change our relationship to it.
The post Working with Jealousy appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features two stories about common types of guilt, often an emotion that nobody wants to admit to. One story is from childhood, the other from adulthood, and in both the teller hurt someone close to them, and has struggled to repair the damage to that person and to themselves.
The post Guilt When You Hurt Someone appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Part of Safe Space Radio’s series on hidden feelings, this episode features two stories about guilt we might feel when we believe we didn’t do enough at the end of a parent’s life. We hear from people who were troubled by the way they failed to show up for their parents, and discuss the process ...read more »
The post Guilt When a Parent Dies appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In this episode, Safe Space Radio interviews Stanford professor of psychiatry and human biology Herant Katchadourian, author of the book Guilt: The Bite of Conscience, about the urge to confess our guilt, how it can be used as a weapon, and how we can know whether we feel too much of it or too little. ...read more »
The post The Bite of Conscience with Herant Katchadourian appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features stories from two people who carried guilt for decades before finally deciding to confess.
The post The Persistence of Guilt appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
How hard is it to feel lonely when everyone around you seems to be part of a happy couple? Safe Space Radio talks to psychiatrist Amy Banks to find out what social isolation does to our brains, and some concrete things we can do to strengthen our ability to connect.
The post Loneliness and Your Brain with Amy Banks appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features David talking about how he came to understand the origins of a persistent and puzzling loneliness that he’d felt since childhood.
The post Intergenerational Loneliness with David appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Maine Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Sandy White Hawk discusses the ways in which centuries of removing native children from their families have created a pattern of trauma and corresponding struggle that has made ongoing removal of children more likely. She talks about alternative approaches that support families in difficulty and expresses her hopes for ...read more »
The post Disrupting the Vicious Cycle with Sandy White Hawk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In Safe Space Radio’s second conversation with Maine Wabanaki Truth and Reconcilitation Commissioner Sandy White Hawk, she talks about intergenerational trauma and helping white people better grasp what it means to lose your culture.
The post Intergenerational Trauma with Sandy White Hawk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Maine Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Sandy White Hawk talks about being taken for adoption by a white missionary family who believed they were saving her from the poverty of the reservation. She describes the power of being reunited with her tribe at 35, and the deep feeling of belonging and safety she felt as ...read more »
The post Being Out Adopted with Sandy White Hawk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Maine Wabanaki REACH staff members Esther Attean and Stephanie Bailey discuss the experience of giving statements to the Maine Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the hopes they had about what may come of it, and the anxiety of making painful stories public.
The post The Work of Healing with Esther Attean and Stephanie Bailey appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Maria Girouard, Esther Attean, and Stephanie Bailey of Maine Wabanaki REACH. They discuss the process of gathering the untold stories of the many people affected by the longstanding practice of removing native children from their families and their tribes.
The post Breaking the Silence with Maria Girouard, Esther Attean, and Stephanie Bailey appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Maria Girouard and Esther Attean of Maine Wabanaki REACH. They discuss the history of federal and state policies toward Native Americans here in Maine. We focus on the many attempts throughout the years to erase Wabanaki people and their culture, including the practice of removing native children from ...read more »
The post Wabanaki History in Maine with Maria Girouard and Esther Attean appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features multiple stories of relationships between Black and white people, exploring race in personal relationships and some of the common pitfalls that white people fall into—often without realizing it.
The post Race and White Mistakes appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Racial justice educator Debby Irving discusses the interpersonal dynamics of racism—especially in friendships, in “white spaces” like schools and offices, and even around the dinner table. Debby gives concrete suggestions on how to shift these dynamics in useful ways.
The post Waking Up White (Part 2) with Debby Irving appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Debby Irving is a racial justice educator and author of the book Waking Up White. She talks about the way her world was shaken when she began understanding the extent to which her whiteness has been crucial to her success in life. She also details the ways in which her new ability to engage in ...read more »
The post Waking Up White (Part 1) with Debby Irving appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Anti-racism educator Paul Marcus talks about how the history of discrimination by government, banking, business, education, and housing institutions has resulted in enormous disparities in wealth between white and Black communities, and how we can address questions of white guilt and police bias.
The post The System of Racism (Part 2) with Paul Marcus appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Anti-racism educator Paul Marcus discusses how, by studying history, he came to understand racism as a system, and how this understanding shapes his work.
The post The System of Racism (Part 1) with Paul Marcus appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Shelly Tochluk is author of the book Witnessing Whiteness. We talk about how she decided that the most important thing she could do to combat racism was to educate herself and her white peers, to change how they talked about and thought about race.
The post White People On Race with Shelly Tochluk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In the second episode of Safe Space Radio featuring Peggy McIntosh, she talks about the five phases of understanding white privilege, and how white people can use their unearned advantage to work against the system which perpetuates it.
The post Unpacking White Privilege (Part 2) with Peggy McIntosh appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Peggy McIntosh is author of the groundbreaking essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” published in 1988. She talks about how encounters with the sexism of well-meaning men helped her see that she too had blind spots about her own racism. She describes how humbling it was for her to grasp the concept of white ...read more »
The post Unpacking White Privilege (Part 1) with Peggy McIntosh appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Anthropologist and social work student Natasha Wilson talks about being a black woman in mostly-white schools and workplaces. She remembers feeling shunned and avoided, which made it harder to deal with other adversity in her life. She also talks about how these experiences have inspired her research on Post-Traumatic Growth.
The post Race and Place (Part 2) with Natasha Wilson appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Natasha Wilson moved to Maine in 2012 following the tragic death of two of her brothers. She talks about how her experience of racism has been shaped by the different places she’s lived, and how she was unprepared for the alienation and hostility she has experienced in overwhelmingly white states like Iowa and Maine. We also discuss the ...read more »
The post Race and Place (Part 1) with Natasha Wilson appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Peter Hallward is a professor of philosophy at Kingston University. He discusses the connection between anxiety and existentialism. Then author and book reviewer Reeve Lindbergh discusses Susan Cain’s take on introversion in the 2013 book Quiet. We close with a comparative review of apps for reducing anxiety by Rob McGinley Myers of the blog anxiousmachine.com.
The post Angst, Introversion, and Apps with Peter Hallward, Reeve Lindbergh, and Rob McGinley appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Ten-year-old Maiya takes us into the world of childhood phobias, describing what it was like to live with overwhelming anxiety about sickness, and how she found help. Now she is creating a website of fear-reducing games to help other kids who suffer with anxiety.
The post Childhood Phobia with Maiya appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Musician and educator Monica talks about how the intense insomnia that began in her 40′s led her to a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
The post Living with OCD with Monica appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Therapist and mother Valery discusses how she grew to understand her daughter’s difficulty with social situations as the result of severe social anxiety, and her seemingly excessive internet use as a positive and healthy adaptation.
The post Raising a Child with Anxiety with Valery appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Paula Matlins talks about her daily struggle with OCD and panic, and how she is able to operate in the world through rules, medication, perseverance, and thinking about llamas.
The post OCD, Panic, and Llamas with Paula Matlins appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In this episode of Safe Space Radio, psychotherapist Rob talks about his own anxiety, which makes him feel an insatiable need to confess things to those around him, and which can also lead to debilitating panic attacks. He talks about the various therapies he’s tried, including two which have greatly reduced his anxiety in the ...read more »
The post Obsessive Confession with Rob appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Photographer John William Keedy has exhibited his work under the title It’s Hardly Noticeable, depicting different aspects of anxiety via images. John talks about the personal experiences that inform these photos, and how his anxiety has improved.
The post Anxiety in Photos with John William Keedy appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features multiple stories from the lives of parents of children on the autism spectrum.
The post Parenting on the Spectrum appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Nathan Poore talks about how the experience of raising his 11-year-old son, who is on the autism spectrum, has defied his expectations again and again.
The post Autism from a Father’s Perspective with Nathan Poore appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychotherapist Lindy Anton talks about the uncertainty and fear she and her husband have experienced as they’ve watched their 4-year-old son exhibit intermittent signs of autism.
The post Is This Autism? with Lindy Anton appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features a conversation with Susan Levin about her son Ben, who is now 11. She tells the story of discovering his autism, and talks about the ways she blamed herself for his difficulties. She explains the techniques she used to develop a stronger bond with Ben, and how he ...read more »
The post Creating Connection with a Child with Autism with Susan Levin appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Ellen Jennings is the mother of a 19-year-old son with autism. She talks about the winding path that brought them to that diagnosis, about coping with judgment of her parenting, and about advocating for her son to get him the services he needs.
The post Parenting a Child with Autism with Ellen Jennings appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
David Finch is author of The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband. In this episode of Safe Space Radio, he discusses how learning he has Aspergers has helped him to stop blaming himself for the difficulties he had in relationships, and opened up ...read more »
The post Asperger Syndrome and Relationships with David Finch appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Temple Grandin as she vividly describes the various sensory ways that autistic people like herself experience the world differently from the neurotypical majority. She also discusses a number of strategies to help autistic children reach their full potential.
The post Helping Children with Autism to Succeed with Temple Grandin appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features multiple stories from young people about how they came out to themselves and others.
The post Stories from LGBTQ Teens appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In Part 2 of his conversation with Safe Space Radio, poet Richard Blanco talks and reads poems about how he navigates the homophobia in his family and in the world.
The post Poetry and Coming Out (Part 2) with Richard Blanco appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In Part 1 of his conversation with Safe Space Radio, poet Richard Blanco talks about the challenge of knowing he was gay in an unsupportive family.
The post Poetry and Coming Out (Part 1) with Richard Blanco appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sue, a mother of a transgender teen, and Abby, a teacher who advises her school’s Gay-Straight-Trans Alliance, talk about what they’ve learned about supporting the young LGBTQ people in their lives.
The post Parents and Teachers as Allies with Sue and Abby appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
16-year-old Kyle talks about how he went from being bullied in middle school to becoming the face of the Gay-Straight-Trans Alliance in his high school.
The post Getting Beyond Bullying with Kyle appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Transgender teen Aiden talks about how he entered high school as a girl, gradually came to understand that he had always been a boy, and how he made that transformation real.
The post Transitioning with Aiden appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features a conversation with lesbian high schooler Sianna about how she has taken a stand against homophobia in situations where no one else was on her side, and why she’s glad she had to.
The post Speaking Up with Sianna appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Samantha, who was outed as a lesbian to her parents by a teacher at her school. She remembers the turmoil this has created in her life, being rejected by some important people after they learned she was gay, and how that experience has inspired her to be a ...read more »
The post On Being Outed with Samantha appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features a conversation with high school junior AJ, who identifies as gender-neutral. AJ discusses the challenges of not identifying as either a girl or a boy, and the value of finding allies within a new school.
The post On Being Gender-Neutral with AJ appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Dostoevsky scholar Dr. Robin Feuer Miller. She discusses how Crime and Punishment is relevant to the experiences of prisoners today. We also hear stories from listeners about how incarceration, and the stigma it carries, have affected their own lives.
The post Prison Perspectives with Robin Feuer Miller appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features a conversation with psychotherapist Sonia about her experience of arrest and imprisonment for possession of firearms and explosives as an anti-Vietnam War activist. In order to get professional licensure, Sonia waited years to get her record sealed, requiring her to keep her past a secret. She talks about what it has been ...read more »
The post Keeping Incarceration a Secret with Sonia appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Dr. T. Richard Snyder on the work of restorative justice. This approach brings together the victim, the offender and the community of people affected by a crime in order to find solutions that not only work to repair the damage, but build healing for all the parties involved. ...read more »
The post Restorative Justice with T. Richard Snyder appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Bobby Payzant is a hospice volunteer and inmate at the Maine State Prison. In this interview, Bobby talks more about the deep remorse he feels for the man he assaulted, and how he has had to face himself during the many years he has spent in prison. He describes the decision he made to stop ...read more »
The post Prisoners Providing Hospice Care (Part 2) with Bobby Payzant appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features two conversations with people involved in the hospice program within the state prison in Warren, Maine. First we speak with the program’s founder, Kandyce Powell, executive director of the Maine Hospice Council, who talks about the genesis of the prison’s hospice program, her motivation for starting it, and the difference it has ...read more »
The post Prisoners Providing Hospice Care (Part 1) with Kandyce Powell and Bobby Payzant appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features a conversation with public defender Michael Lepie about his work with indigent clients, and why he considers criminal defense to be a civil rights issue. He discusses how he tries to seek outcomes for his clients which won’t completely derail their lives, and the obstacles within the legal ...read more »
The post Defending the Accused with Michael Lepie appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Part 2 of Mike’s conversation with Safe Space Radio about the seven years he spent in federal prison. Mike talks about his experiences participating in a group inside the prison called the Jericho Circle which he credits with teaching him emotional literacy and authenticity. His work with Jericho Circle enabled him to reunite with his ...read more »
The post Imprisonment and Life Transformation (Part 2) with Mike appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features Mike, who spent seven years in a federal prison on a drug conviction. He talks about the circumstances which led to his arrest, including an abusive upbringing and a chemical dependency which began in his mid-teen years. He describes his arrest in a hotel, and the subsequent trial in which the perjury ...read more »
The post Imprisonment and Life Transformation (Part 1) with Mike appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Liz, who spoke with us only three days after her release from prison. She discusses her shame at being arrested, and the experience of exposure and intrusion from a public trial. She also describes the surprising support she received from other women in prison, and the experiences she ...read more »
The post On the Experience of Arrest and Imprisonment with Liz appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Lani Peterson, of the Public Voice Project, talks about her work with formerly incarcerated men and women to help them tell their stories in a way that helps them to make peace with their past and move forward in their lives. She explains the importance of telling a story that is bigger than a narrow focus ...read more »
The post Helping Former Prisoners Tell Their Stories with Lani Peterson appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features multiple stories of dementia from you, our listeners. This collection of ten stories reflects the wide range of experiences and emotions that result from having a loved one with dementia—including frustration and poignant loss, but also warmth, connection, and surprising moments of sweetness. You can watch Scott Kirschenbaum’s ...read more »
The post Your Untold Stories of Dementia appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Bill Verrill, a former banker, now suffers from early Alzheimer’s disease. Bill describes his deep trust in his wife Shirley’s ability to take care of him—and his deepest fears about the toll his illness will take on her life. He remembers letting go of his driver’s license and learning to be more dependent while striving ...read more »
The post Life in the Early Stages with Bill Verrill appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with elder-caregiving expert Carol Bradley Bursack about sibling conflict in the care of a parent with Dementia. Carol reports that most adult children caregivers are still women, and that typically the responsibilities of caregiving fall mostly to one child within a family. This creates the conditions for old resentments, jealousies, and conflicts to ...read more »
The post Sibling Conflicts Around Caregiving with Carol Bradley Bursack appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features Melynda, whose husband has frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Unlike Alzheimer’s, FTD is not first characterized by problems with memory, but by poor judgment and inappropriate behavior. Melynda’s husband, a doctor, began to make errors in judgment by over-prescribing pain medications to his patients, and was incarcerated for these mistakes. After his incarceration, the ...read more »
The post Frontotemporal Dementia: Complications and Genetics with Melynda appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In this episode of Safe Space Radio our host Anne Hallward talks to her mother, Clare Hallward, about her husband John’s diagnosis with dementia, which lasted for 16 years before his death. Anne and Clare remember some of the exasperating and even downright terrifying challenges of caring for John as his illness progressed. They discuss ...read more »
The post Caring for a Spouse with Clare Hallward appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In this episode of Safe Space Radio, neuropsychologist Steven Sabat discusses how he’s been able to find ways of communicating with people with advanced dementia by recognizing and honoring their enduring personhood. He talks about the failure of standard tests of mental ability to register the social awareness of people diagnosed with dementia, and the ...read more »
The post Connecting with People with Dementia with Steven Sabat appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Therapist Nancy Sowell remembers the family secrets that came out as she was caring for her grandmother with dementia, and how the curious distance and even hostility she had always felt from this side of the family began to make sense as her grandmother opened up for the first time. She discusses how dementia can ...read more »
The post Dementia and Family Secrets with Nancy Sowell appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
A conversation with Liz Havu about the experience of caring for her mother, who has both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. She talks about her promise never to put her mother in a nursing home, and how this decision has brought her family together in more ways than one.
The post Living With a Parent With Dementia with Liz Havu appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Frances Randolph’s husband had early-onset Alzheimer’s. In this conversation, she remembers the outgoing man she married and how dementia changed him so much that he became someone she barely recognized, someone who ultimately became violent with her. Frances describes the series of losses inherent in his Alzheimer’s, including the loss of her sense of herself ...read more »
The post Self-preservation for Dementia Caregivers with Frances Randolph appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Julia Jarvis remembers how her relationship with her difficult father has evolved both before and after he got dementia. Julia talks about her struggles to make peace with him, and about the challenges now faced by the caregivers in her father’s life.
The post Difficult Parents and Dementia with Julia Jarvis appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychotherapist Marushka Glissen talks about her mother, a survivor of Auschwitz who now has dementia. Marushka describes how her mother’s experiences complicated her relationships with her own children and husband, and raises the possibility that for some who are haunted by painful memories, dementia may actually provide a bittersweet respite.
The post Dementia in a Holocaust Survivor with Marushka Glissen appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Dr. Pauline Boss discusses the experience of ambiguous loss. Dementia often creates a situation in which a person’s body is present, but the mind is absent. For caregivers, this can generate feelings of ambivalence toward the person with dementia, including wishing for this person’s death as a way to resolve the ambiguity. Dr. Boss says that ...read more »
The post Dementia as Ambiguous Loss with Pauline Boss appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Julie Colpitts is the Executive Director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. In this episode of Safe Space Radio, she discusses how survivors of abuse are often drawn to social service and first responder jobs, and how these roles are connected to the process of recovery. Julie, herself a survivor, discusses choices she ...read more »
The post Abuse Survivors as Caregivers with Julie Colpitts appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Songwriter Michael Skinner used music as a way to heal from the abuse he suffered as a child. Michael talks about his adult experiences with PTSD, his often-frustrating encounters with the mental health system, and his efforts to resist the stigmatizing label of “mental illness.” He also explores songwriting as an important healing tool in ...read more »
The post Recovery Through Music with Michael Skinner appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In this episode of Safe Space Radio, Rachel Grant talks about the sexual abuse she suffered as a ten-year-old and the work she has done to counteract its lasting impact on her life. Rachel became a coach because she wanted to be able to use her own story as a way to help others.
The post Beyond Survival with Rachel Grant appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Child advocate Brie Masselli discusses her own experience growing up in a home with domestic violence. Brie tells the story of running to school to escape her stepfather’s violent outbursts, and how her childhood struggles in and out of school were missed by those who might have helped. Brie speaks about the ways that children ...read more »
The post Emotional Abuse in Violent Homes with Brie Masselli appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Dr. Vincent Felitti talks about his groundbreaking research to show that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s, like abuse, neglect and severe family dysfunction) are correlated not only with mental illness and addiction, but also with physical illnesses like heart disease, lung disease and even auto-immune diseases.
The post Child Abuse and Physical Health 25 Years Later with Vincent Felitti appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Dr. Vincent Felitti talking about his groundbreaking work discovering the high prevalence of child sexual abuse among those who are obese. In his clinic, 55% of patients coming in for treatment of obesity had histories of child abuse. When the patients were asked, many discussed eating as a ...read more »
The post Child Abuse and Physical Health with Vincent Felitti appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Bob Stains of the Public Conversations Project. He talks about the use of restraints on patients in mental hospitals and discusses facilitating a series of conversations in which both the workers who apply restraints and the people to whom restraints have been applied are able to talk about their experiences ...read more »
The post Restraints in Mental Hospitals with Bob Stains appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Laura Chasin, the founder of the Public Conversations Project, talking about her work facilitating a dialogue between leaders of the pro-life and pro-choice movements in Boston after the abortion clinic shootings in 1994.
The post Talking to the Enemy with Laura Chasin appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Tim Wilson is a senior advisor to Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings youth from war-torn countries together for dialogue and mediation at a camp in Maine each summer. Tim describes the way that trust, respect, and communication are practiced at camp to build relationships that can foster peace throughout a lifetime. He remembers ...read more »
The post Fostering Difficult Conversations with Tim Wilson appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Hussein Ahmed, a business owner in Lewiston, Maine. He describes his journey from Somalia, the ten years he spent in refugee camps in Kenya, and the challenges of finding work in the U.S. due to language barriers, cultural uncertainties and religious stereotypes. Hussein is optimistic that with modifications ...read more »
The post Somalis in the Maine Workforce with Hussein Ahmed appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Maria Padian is author of Out of Nowhere, about friendships between Somali and Franco-Catholic high school students in Maine. Maria talks about her own experience with four immigrant grandparents, and how different it is to come here as an immigrant, eager to build a new life, than to come as a refugee, having had to ...read more »
The post High School Friendships with Maria Padian appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Mohammed Dini is Executive Director of the African Diaspora Institute, founder of Portland Forward, and former candidate for state representative. Mohammed talks about his experience moving to Maine at age 13 and learning to identify himself as a Mainer. He also explores the Somali concept of furfurnaan, which means openness, inviting an open-hearted dialogue about ...read more »
The post Talking about Difference with Mohammed Dini appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features psychologist, yoga teacher and author bo Forbes talking about how restorative yoga and breathing exercises can restore balance to the nervous system. Coming to yoga from a solid background in clinical psychology, and work as a talk therapist, bo describes the way that moving away from verbal processing ...read more »
The post Restorative Yoga for Mental Health with bo Forbes appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Richard Miller is a yoga teacher, researcher, and author who has adapted yoga nidra—or deep relaxation practices—for use with vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Richard describes studies done by the Department of Defense showing that yoga nidra can be effective at reducing the symptoms of PTSD, allowing vets to sleep through the night, to ...read more »
The post Yoga for Returning Vets with Richard Miller appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Yoga teacher Deb Cook discusses how a daily practice of yoga can build a sense of safety inside. Deb describes how turning the attention inward on a regular basis creates a feeling of a home inside that one can always return to, and remembers how yoga supported her while grieving her father’s death.
The post Using Yoga to Create Safe Space with Deb Cook appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Yoga teacher and therapist Deirdre Fay talks about her experience of discovering her own trauma history through yoga, which softened her defenses to the point that her body began to relive previously forgotten memories of trauma. She narrates the journey of using yoga to navigate PTSD and how she advocates for and supports survivors now.
The post Yoga for Survivors with Deirdre Fay appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode with Safe Space Radio features yoga teacher and author Dave Emerson, who co-wrote Overcoming Trauma through Yoga about the development of “trauma-sensitive yoga.” Dave discusses how trauma is held in the body, and can be addressed through the body, often in conjunction with talk therapy.
The post Yoga for Trauma Survivors with Dave Emerson appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features the founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Michael Lee, talking about how yoga therapy can help people to heal lifelong wounds and bring balance to patterns that hold them back in life. Michael suggests that when we experience emotional tension associated with difficult life events, we also experience ...read more »
The post Yoga Therapy with Michael Lee appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Yoga teacher and author Amy Weintraub talks about her own experience of depression and how yoga helped her with depression on all levels—biologically, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Amy also leads listeners through several breathing exercises to help give energy, reduce anxiety and lift mood. You can learn more about her work at www.yogafordepression.com
The post Yoga for Depression with Amy Weintraub appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features therapist Isa Mattei talking about her relationship with her brother, Artie, who had schizophrenia. She describes her mother’s fierce determination not to have Artie institutionalized, which kept him integrated in the family and also sometimes subjected his siblings to chaotic and often frightening interactions—yet Isa felt very seen ...read more »
The post Loving a Brother with Schizophrenia with Isa Mattei appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Rachel talking about her son’s severe depression and multiple suicide attempts. Rachel names the sense of ambiguous loss she feels now that her son lives in a state mental hospital, and how her daily visits to him can bring their own sense of shame and self-doubt. She offers ...read more »
The post Parenting Life-Threatening Depression with Rachel appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Harvard Nieman Fellow Jeneen Interlandi talks about her father’s bi-polar disorder. She describes the painful and extraordinary measures her family had to go through to get him into treatment, including restraining orders, getting him arrested, and hiring a lawyer to broker an agreement to get him to take medicine as a condition of leaving jail. ...read more »
The post Commitment to a Mentally-Ill Parent with Jeneen Interlandi appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This Safe Space Radio episode features personal trainer Beth Erlichman, whose mother and daughter both live with mental illness. Beth describes how her experiences growing up with her mother transformed the way she supported her daughter after a psychotic break, and how internal family systems therapy helped her befriend the young, frightened parts of herself ...read more »
The post Self-Care and Intergenerational Mental Illness with Beth Erlichman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Theologian and academic Rosemary Radford Ruether talks with Safe Space Radio about her son David’s schizophrenia and the challenges her family has faced in supporting him. She questions whether medications have helped or hurt him, and offers a critique of the mental health system which she feels is more interested in warehousing and pacifying people ...read more »
The post Parenting a Son with Schizophrenia with Rosemary Radford Ruether appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio interviews Cheryl Ramsay about her two sons, one with schizophrenia who is in treatment and one with an undiagnosed mental illness and addiction who avoids the mental health system. Cheryl describes the deep self-doubt she feels about whether she somehow could have made a difference at each step of the way. She ...read more »
The post Having a Child with Schizophrenia with Cheryl Ramsay appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio interviews family educator Valerie Gamache about her relationship with her mother who had bi-polar disorder. Valerie describes the ways her family tried to keep the “Big Secret,” to the point that a friend thought her mother had actually died since Valerie spoke so little about her. She also talks about her encounters ...read more »
The post On Having a Mother with Bi-Polar Disorder with Valerie Gamache appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Alicia Barnes talks about her brother, Josh Barnes, who had schizophrenia. Alicia describes Josh’s fears that he had brought mental illness on himself, and how medication impacted his creativity and sense of purpose in writing and playing music. She remembers how stigma kept him from talking about his illness and speaks about becoming involved with ...read more »
The post Having a Brother with Schizophrenia with Alicia Barnes appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Social worker and trainer Liz Brenner talks about the challenges of having a father with major mental illness. Liz describes his suicide attempt when she was 20, and how living with the fear of losing him was a form of relational trauma. She experienced first hand how the stigma and trauma of mental illness resulted ...read more »
The post Bi-Polar Disorder in the Family with Liz Brenner appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Neil McKenty is a broadcast, author, and former Jesuit priest. He talks about how his expectations about aging have matched up with his experiences now, in his 85th year of life. Neil has been a consultant and constant inspiration to Safe Space Radio since its inception in 2008, and this show was aired in tribute ...read more »
The post Aging with Neil McKenty appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features psychologist and researcher Dr. Nancy Kassam-Adams. She talks about children’s medical experiences as a source of PTSD and gives helpful suggestions for how parents can identify trauma in their kids after painful medical procedures or hospitalizations. Nancy described an innovative program to treat adolescent cancer survivors and their ...read more »
The post Pediatric Medical Trauma with Nancy Kassam-Adams appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features Emmy Award-winning television writer and executive producer, Chris Nee, talking about her show, Doc McStuffins. Chris wrote the show in order to help her own son, Theo, who suffers from severe asthma.
The post Childrens’ Fear of the Doctor with Chris Nee appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio interviews film-maker Nancy Andrews about her experience as a patient in the surgical ICU. Upon her release from the hospital, Nancy noticed that she kept having “weird experiences,” which her doctor recognized as post-traumatic stress disorder. Nancy’s film, On a Phantom Limb, explores the horror and disorientation of being an ICU patient. ...read more »
The post PTSD in the Intensive Care Unit with Nancy Andrews appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio interviews psychiatrist Dr. Jim Gilligan, a former mental health director for the prison system in Massachusetts and the author of three books on violence. Dr. Gilligan reports that many of his patients speak about violence as their only means of reclaiming pride or self-esteem. He also observes that punishment tends to generate ...read more »
The post Violence and Shame with Jim Gilligan appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Safe Space Radio interviews playwright Cathy Plourde, Founder of Add Verb productions. Her play, Major Medical Breakthrough, was written to inspire health care providers to screen their patients for domestic violence—especially important since only 10-19% of doctors report that they screen their patients routinely for domestic violence. Cathy gives a thoughtful description of why providers are ...read more »
The post How Health Care Providers Can Prevent Domestic Violence with Cathy Plourde appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Part 2 of Anne’s conversation with Daryl Fort, about ways in which we are all bystanders to social interactions that foster violence against women. Daryl challenges us to see these situations for what they are and to have the courage to intervene. He describes two everyday social situations ...read more »
The post Speaking Up to Sexism and Violence (Part 2) with Daryl Fort appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Part 1 of Anne’s conversation with educator Daryl Fort about the many levels of messages about women’s inferiority to the justification of mistreatment. He describes the ways communities can collude in violence against women, and makes a clear case that jokes and disrespectful language form the foundation and ...read more »
The post Speaking Up to Sexism and Violence (Part 1) with Daryl Fort appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features Maine Governor Paul LePage talking about growing up in a home with domestic violence. Governor LePage describes the moment when he decided he had to leave home: when his father tried to pay him to lie to a doctor about the cause of his injuries. He describes living with the fear that ...read more »
The post Childhood Domestic Violence with Paul LePage appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Drew Wing is Executive Director of Boys To Men, an organization devoted to reducing interpersonal violence by fostering the healthy development of boys. Drew describes their Reducing Sexism and Violence Program (RSVP), which supports teenagers developing empathy for the experience of others, and helps them clarify their potential roles as bystanders who can intervene in ...read more »
The post Reducing Interpersonal Violence with Drew Wing appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Lundy Bancroft is the former co-leader of Emerge, the first batterers treatment program in the United States, and the author of Why Does He Do That: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men. Lundy debunks common myths about male abusers, explaining that violence happens in a larger context of needing control as a form ...read more »
The post The Psychology of Abusive Men with Lundy Bancroft appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Julia Colpitts is Executive Director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Julia affirms that Maine has reached a tipping point, and she discusses relevant legislation in Maine and the importance of engaging men to speak out clearly and powerfully about the necessity of treating women with love and respect.
The post A Culture of Domestic Violence with Julia Colpitts appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Researcher Susan McHale discusses the impact of gender and culture on how siblings view each other, and how this might vary across cultures. Susan explores the way that individualistic cultures foster sibling competitiveness and resentment of favoritism. She reiterates the importance of the sibling relationship as a source of longstanding and as yet poorly studied ...read more »
The post Sibling Relationships with Susan McHale appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Parenting expert Adele Faber is co-author of the best-selling Siblings Without Rivalry and How to Talk So Kids Will Listen. Adele speaks about the importance of listening to and validating kids feelings, especially around their siblings. She uses the analogy of how you would feel if your spouse brought home another spouse you were expected ...read more »
The post Parenting Siblings with Adele Faber appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features author and professor Dr. Vernon Wiehe. He talks about sibling abuse and how it differs from sibling rivalry in a pattern of frequent victimization of one sibling at the hands of another. Dr. Wiehe points out that sibling abuse is even more common that domestic violence or child ...read more »
The post Sibling Abuse with Vernon Wiehe appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Laurie Kramer is a researcher and directs the More Fun with Sisters and Brothers program, which supports kids ages 4-8 getting along with their siblings. Laurie explains that parental attempts at conflict resolution often result in separating the kids. Her program teaches siblings core skills of taking each other’s perspective, managing their own strong emotions, ...read more »
The post Sibling Ambivalence with Laurie Kramer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features an interview with psychotherapist and author Dr. Jeanne Safer, who works on chronic sibling tension and non-communication. Jeanne describes the phenomenon of “sibspeak,” where no real communication takes place except the recitation of grievances, the discharge of obligations, and endless attempts to fix the other person. She encourages siblings to take the ...read more »
The post Adult Sibling Strife with Jeanne Safer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Frank is the father of two boys, and he is also a gay man. In this interview, Frank talks about always wanting children and how he and his husband have taken steps to protect their children from homophobia and find welcoming communities. Frank also describes his experience of finding a surrogate to conceive and bear ...read more »
The post Being a Gay Father with Frank appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychologist and author Dr. Patricia Papernow talks about the challenges of step-family living, including insider/outsider dynamics and the complicated set of losses and loyalty that step-parents can represent for a child. Patricia talks about her book, Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships: What Works and What Doesn’t.
The post Step-Families and Step-Parenting with Patricia Papernow appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Catherine Anderson is a white public school teacher and writer. In this episode of Safe Space Radio she talks about adopting her son Sam, who is Black. Catherine describes her decision to adopt and how she thought she understood racism before parenting. She describes her experience of those “grocery store moments” when she has to ...read more »
The post Interracial Adoption with Catherine Anderson appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Deb Gallagher created her family through “the messy miracle of international adoption.” Deb talks about the homophobia she encountered as a lesbian seeking to adopt a child both domestically and internationally, and the way she had to hide parts of her identity to have any chance at adoption. She describes her grief at bringing a ...read more »
The post International Adoption with Deb Gallagher appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features clinical social worker and birth mother Marilyn Bronzi, who had a child “out of wedlock” in 1966. She remembers the shame of her choice and how she’s made peace with it in different ways over the years. She also describes the experience of reunification with her daughter Lisa, and the ways that ...read more »
The post Giving Up a Child For Adoption with Marilyn Bronzi appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychologist, researcher and author Diane Ehrensaft talks about the psychological experience of parenting children conceived through the assistance of a donor. Diane describes the challenges parents face in coping with “genetic assymetry” between the parents, and fears that disclosing to the child will undermine bonding with the non-biological parent. Diane also speaks of the challenges ...read more »
The post Donor-Assisted Reproduction with Diane Ehrensaft appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features author, adoptee and clinician Joyce Maguire Pavao as she talks about parenting an adopted child. Joyce describes the changing demographics of adopted children, and how adopted children are increasingly older and may have experienced trauma as well as the loss of their birth family. Joyce asserts that “adoption ...read more »
The post Adoption and Parenting with Joyce Maguire Pavao appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Social psychologist and author Susan Newman talks about the stereotypes of and misinformation about only children. Studies show that only children do not suffer from the lack of siblings and even show improved academic achievement. She reports that the stereotypes of being spoiled, bossy, or lonely do not hold up to research. Only children families ...read more »
The post Single Child Families with Susan Newman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Family therapist and author Evan Imber-Black talks about how to tell a family secret thoughtfully and well. She tells stories from her work about the impact of secrets on family members, creating ever widening circles of silence and distance in relationships. Children may not know a secret, but their behavior is nonetheless deeply affected by ...read more »
The post Telling Secrets with Evan Imber-Black appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Professor Lawrence L. Langer discussing his book Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. Professor Langer developed courses on the literature of atrocity to try and help people find a way to imagine the Holocaust, using stories from survivors. He remembers hearing stories of such horror that the teller ...read more »
The post Holocaust Survivor Testimonies with Lawrence L. Langer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Author Art Frank describes his own experience with an early heart attack and later cancer. He describes the way the medical world can be oblivious to the patient’s needs and subjective experience, and the importance of finding your own voice after your body has been colonized by treatment. He offered examples of the ways that ...read more »
The post Illness Stories with Art Frank appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features an interview with author and social psychologist Jamie Pennebaker about his research into the benefits of confiding painful experiences. Jamie suggests that one of the reasons that childhood sexual abuse may be so destructive is because it is so often kept secret. He describes experiments where people are invited to write for ...read more »
The post Secrets, Confiding, and Health with Jamie Pennebaker appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Storyteller Laura Simms worked as a narrative therapist in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. She talks about the power of stories to remind us of what is good inside us.
The post Telling Difficult Stories with Laura Simms appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Dr. Diane Morrow describes the ways that writing helped her cope with her mother’s severe depression, and how writing can be healing as a process or ritual in itself. For Diane, writing fiction can be create enough distance from pain to allow the listener to resonate with it.
The post Healing on the Blank Page with Diane Morrow appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Susan Conley is author of The Foremost Good Fortune and co-founder of The Telling Room in Portland, Maine. In this interview she talks about coping with breast cancer in China while parenting two young boys, and how writing helped her survive. Susan describes her decision to write as honestly as possible, exposing less-than-ideal parenting or ...read more »
The post Parenting and Cancer with Susan Conley appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features law professor and Macarthur Fellow Elyn Saks talking about her experience of living with Schizophrenia. When diagnosed, Elyn was given a grave prognosis and told that she might never live independently. With the help of psychoanalysis and medication, however, she returned to law school and is now an ...read more »
The post Living with Schizophrenia with Elyn Saks appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
David Moltz is a psychiatrist in Portland, ME. In this episode, David talked about his reasons for going into psychiatry and the things he finds most difficult about the profession and the things he loves. He speaks about the use of power, the difficulty of deciding whether to commit someone to a hospital, how he ...read more »
The post On Being a Psychiatrist with David Moltz appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Writer Christiane Wells talks with Safe Space Radio about her experience living with bi-polar disorder and addiction. Chris spent a decade in and out of psychiatric hospitals while addicted to crack, not taking her medication and struggling with suicidal thoughts. She describes how she found the will to take care of herself and change her ...read more »
The post Bi-Polar Disorder and Addiction with Christine Wells appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Deb McCarthy, the author of the blog Living in Stigma. Deb describes her experience of feeling written-off by the mental health system after multiple psychiatric hospitalizations and 77 ECT treatments failed to help her. After being willing to try anything that might help her, she met a new psychiatrist who took a ...read more »
The post Stigma and Being Bipolar with Deb McCarthy appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features author and trainer Tom Wootton on his transition from “Bipolar Disorder to Bipolar In Order.” Tom describes how current treatment paradigms teach people to view their highs and lows as problems to be gotten rid of, and his belief that it’s possible to stay aware of intense moods ...read more »
The post From Bipolar Disorder to Bipolar In Order with Tom Wootton appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features award-winning journalist Robert Whitaker on how some psychotropic medications may worsen the long term outcomes of people with severe mental illness. Since the advent of psychotropic medication, the numbers of Americans on psychiatric disability has tripled. Rob notes that people with schizophrenia tend to do better in some ...read more »
The post Medicating Mental Illness with Robert Whitaker appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Jean Vermette talks about recognizing that she was female, and taking the risk to share it with the people she loved. She ultimately chose to undergo sexual reassignment surgery and wrote a book, Je Me Souviens (“I Will Remember”) about her experience of MTF genital surgery. Jean describes the process as an example of the ...read more »
The post Transition and Sexual Reassignment Surgery with Jean Vermette appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Frank Brooks is a doctor of clinical social work who studies gender role non-conformity, particularly the link between gender role non-conformity in boys and the risk of suicide. Frank describes his experiences of feeling different and facing prejudice as he grew up. He now works with families with gender role non-conforming kids to help them ...read more »
The post Gender Role Non-Conformity with Frank Brooks appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sexuality educator and mother Sandy Lovell talks about parenting her trans son. As a feminist mother she celebrated his early gender non-conformism, but it never occurred to her that he might be trans. Sandy named parental concerns for her child’s safety, his ability to find love, her grief over losing the daughter, and her struggle ...read more »
The post TransParenting, or Parenting Trans Kids with Sandy Lovell appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Social worker Liam Bechen talks with Safe Space Radio about his identity as a genderfluid trans man. Liam describes the daily challenge of coping with people’s responses to his visible inbetween-ness. He describes moments of fear of violence, but also of his determination to live without shame, and to celebrate the many manifestations of gender ...read more »
The post Genderqueer with Liam Bechen appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Social worker, writer, and queer activist Jen Hodsdon talks about the relationship between the lesbian community and the trans community. Jen speaks about how delicate the relationship can be between two oppressed and marginalized groups, and her intention to speak only about her particular experience. A focus on marriage equality can be divisive because it ...read more »
The post Thinking Through Lesbian and Trans Community with Jen Hodsdon appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Author and gender studies professor Helen Boyd is married to a trans woman. She remembers her early courtship with a man who “occasionally cross-dressed” and how this evolved into loving her partner through her transition. Helen explores what it is like to be perceived now as a lesbian because she is married to a woman, ...read more »
The post Trans Couples with Helen Boyd appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features the founder and president of the first camp for trans youth, Nick Teich. Nick describes many challenges that trans youth face as they grow up, particularly as they enter puberty and begin to develop secondary sex characteristics of the sex that feels wrong to them. Camp Aranu’tiq is ...read more »
The post Camp for Transgender and Gender-Variant Youth with Nick Teich appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Alex Roan is the director of the Maine Transgender Network. Alex defines the terms transgender, transsexual, and cross-dresser, clarifying the difference between sex, gender, gender expression and sexual orientation. He describes his own story of experiencing the gap between his sex and his gender, and his experience of transitioning from female to male.
The post Transgender 101 with Alex Roan appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features radio program director Lisa Bunker talking about her experience of becoming aware that she identified as a woman. Lisa describes feeling like a failure at trying to be a man, and the deep relief of embracing her female identity. She remembers experiences of telling her friends, her workplace ...read more »
The post Male to Female Transition with Lisa Bunker appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Research professor Jessica Stern is an expert in the connection between trauma and terrorism. In this interview she talks about her experience following a rape at age 15, and how her story was not believed by the police—resulting in more than 40 other children being targeted. Jessica describes living with PTSD, and experiencing a confusing ...read more »
The post Trauma, Fear and Denial with Jessica Stern appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This interview features body psychotherapist Betta de Boer van der Kolk about Tantra as a way to heal from sexual abuse. Betta describes Tantra as an exchange of energy that brings presence, connection, safety and play into sexuality. She leads the listener in a technique for couples to harmonize their breathing in order to give ...read more »
The post Tantra and Sexual Healing with Betta de Boer van der Kolk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Philosophy professor Susan Brison survived a sexual assault and attempted murder. She describes the transition from needing to tell the story, to finding the story increasingly boring as she healed—and how group therapy, self-defense classes, and jazz singing all helped her recovery.
The post Aftermath of Sexual Violence with Susan Brison appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This interview is with couples therapist and certified sex therapist Wendy Maltz about the impact of sexual abuse on sexuality, and ways to reclaim pleasure, safety and intimacy. She reports that taking a vacation from sex is sometimes necessary, because when sex feels like an obligation, it can often trigger difficulties from the abuse. She ...read more »
The post Sexual Healing after Sexual Abuse with Wendy Maltz appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with psychiatrist and trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk about the impact of trauma on the brain. Bessel outlines the way in which traumatic experience in children shapes the development of the brain, and how our brains can get hijacked by triggers that make us feel we are in a life and death ...read more »
The post Trauma and the Brain with Bessel van der Kolk appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Dr. Pat Ogden about working with the body in healing from trauma. Pat uses several clinical examples to describe how she works with the body to help people re-engage the physical defenses that got overwhelmed and shut down during trauma. She describes the process of allowing people to move and tremble and ...read more »
The post Trauma and the Body with Pat Ogden appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with psychotherapist Deirdre Fay about the deep relational disruption that is a hallmark of trauma. Deirdre recounts how, as an adult she only became aware of her own trauma in the context of safe relationship. She describes the use of meditation techniques to help a person become aware of traumatic memories, to stay ...read more »
The post Trauma, Attachment and The Body with Deirdre Fay appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Judy Harmon is a psychiatrist and Harvard Medical School professor. She talks about how group therapy for trauma can reduce shame and support survivors to take action that reduces helplessness. Dr. Herman describes the deep shame and isolation that accompany trauma, and how group therapy creates a community where members can give and receive empathy.
The post Group Therapy for Trauma Survivors with Judy Herman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with psychologist Janina Fisher about dissociation in the face of trauma. Janina describes “structural dissociation” as the process where parts of our Self respond to traumatic experience not only with Fight or Flight, but also by terrified freezing, calling for help, and desperately seeking to attach out of fear of abandonment, and total ...read more »
The post Trauma and Dissociation with Janina Fisher appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Therapist Celia Grand is an EMDR facilitator and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy trainer with trauma survivors and their partners. Celia blends her expertise in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR) with her extensive experience working with the body in trauma. She describes three phases of trauma recovery and how EMDR in particular can change the way ...read more »
The post Trauma and EMDR Therapy with Celia Grand appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features therapist, advocate and trauma survivor, Mary Auslander. She discusses the nature of trauma, the ingredients of recovery and what a person can realistically hope for as they heal from trauma. Mary describes giving up her child to adoption after a history of childhood sexual abuse, and the painful ...read more »
The post The Ingredients of Recovery with Mary Auslander appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode features Episcopal priest Margaret Bullitt-Jonas talking about her experience of food addiction. She discusses living with feelings of longing and how she found support in OA.
The post Food Addiction and Spiritual Hunger with Margaret Bullitt-Jonas appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Jean Fain is a psychotherapist who specializes in eating disorders and chronic dieting. Her book is The Self-Compassion Diet.
The post Self-Compassion and Weight Loss with Jean Fain appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features nutritionist and family therapist Ellyn Satter talking about the feeding relationship between parent and child. Ellyn describes what she calls “Division of Responsibility,” wherein the parent is in charge of the when, where and what of a meal and the child is responsible for the how much and ...read more »
The post The Relational Dynamics of Feeding Your Child with Ellyn Satter appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with therapist Lori Galperin about how to have a non-judgmental relationship to an eating disorder. Lori describes the many roles that eating disorders serve in the life of a young person, and the importance of not getting into power struggles to try to remove it. She highlights anorexia as an attempt to turn ...read more »
The post Understanding Anorexia and Eating Disorders with Lori Galperin appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Julia Jarvis talks about her struggle with bulimia and her recovery. Julia describes her profound experience with feeling she was bad, and keeping a journal of her daily sins. She credits her recovery with the loosening of a rigid and punitive theology, prozac, and the community she found in Adult Children of Alcoholics.
The post The Inner Feelings of Bulimia with Julia Jarvis appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This interview is with therapist Alice Rosen about compulsive eating. Alice describes her own struggle with food, and of experiencing satisfaction for the first time through mindful eating. She speaks about the possibility of trusting our bodies to give us clear messages about what we want to eat.
The post Mindfulness and Compulsive Eating with Alice Rosen appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with therapist and trainer Toni Herbine-Blank about her own struggle with food and body image. Toni outlines the process by which she was able to listen to herself, and get clear that inner beliefs about unworthiness were false.
The post Self-Worth and Food with Toni Herbine-Blank appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Dr. Patrice Lockhart describes her work at the New England Eating Disorders Center at Mercy Hospital. She emphasizes how she tries to help her patients distance their sense of self from the eating disorder, she also describes the key role of family support.
The post The Care of Eating Disorders with Patrice Lockhart appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Janna Smith is an author and social worker. In this episode of Safe Space Radio, she discusses the relationship between privacy and shame. She describes her own struggle over how much to reveal about her father Bernard Malamud, and how to respect both his and her privacy while also confronting her shame about being compared ...read more »
The post Privacy and Shame with Janna Smith appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Brene Brown is the author of Daring Greatly and chair of the graduate college of social work at University of Houston. In this episode of Safe Spcae Radio, Brene talks about shame resilience, and how we can learn to embrace our vulnerability. Brene describes the consequences of denying our vulnerability including clinging to false certainties and ...read more »
The post Shame and Resilience with Brene Brown appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with psychiatrist Aaron Lazare about his work with humiliation and apology. Aaron says that you know you’ve been humiliated when you find yourself rehearsing better and better comebacks that you wish you had said at the time. He states the importance of not acting then when filled with righteous, and often vengeful rage. ...read more »
The post Shame & Humiliation with Aaron Lazare appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Zen teacher Cheri Huber became a student of Zen after her suicide attempt. She describes how Zen led her to awareness of her own self-destructive patterns and allowed her to break from the ruthless voice of self-criticism inside her head.
The post Suicide, Depression, and Zen Meditation with Cheri Huber appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Charles Robbins is CEO of the Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to preventing suicide among gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth. Charles describes the vulnerable time in a young person’s life after they realize they are queer, but before they have found accepting others to share it with. Charles describes his own story of ...read more »
The post Suicide Among Gay Youth with Charles Robins appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Therapist Mary Clare talks about the anxiety, depression and suicide of a close friend. Mary Clare describes how difficult it was to stay close to her friend as she became more depressed, and how helpless and angry parts of her felt that her friend would not stay in treatment. She discusses the agonizing decision about ...read more »
The post The Suicide of a Close Friend with Mary Clare appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Patricia Ellen’s son killed himself when he was fourteen. Patricia describes the process of trying to understand what led up to it, and the signs that were and were not there. She describes the bullying incident at school that she believes led her son to suicide. Patricia movingly describes the many years long process of ...read more »
The post The Suicide of a Child with Patricia Ellen appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Family therapist David Treadway talks about his mother’s suicide, which happened when David was 20.
The post The Legacy of Suicide with David Treadway appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Child psychiatrist Dr. Nancy Rappaport discusses her mother’s suicide, which happened when Nancy was four. Nancy undertakes a detective-like 18 year journey to discover who her mother was, and to understand what she was going through. Nancy describes the terrible consequences when a distorted belief that ones life is expendable, is combined with impulsivity. She ...read more »
The post The Legacy of a Mother’s Suicide with Nancy Rappaport appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with hospice chaplain Ellie Mercer about caring for patients at the end of life. She describes her own childhood in a Christian Science family where illness and death were not talked about, or even treated medically, and the relief of working in hospice, where death can be acknowledged and fears can be addressed.
The post Hospice Chaplaincy with Ellie Mercer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Family therapist David Treadway talks about his struggle with advanced lymphoma. He and his wife and two grown sons wrote a book together, Home Before Dark, about their experiences of dealing with his illness and the possibility he might die. They take an honest look at the differences in their coping styles and some of the ...read more »
The post The Impact of Cancer on Families with David Treadway appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Julie Marchese is the founder of the Tri-for-a Cure, the all women’s triathlon to raise money for women’s cancer. She describes her experiences taking care of her mother when she had cancer, and how that shaped her ability to take charge of her own treatment when she was diagnosed years later.
The post Cancer and the Tri for a Cure with Julie Marchese appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Cathy Kidman about her diagnosis and treatment for ovarian cancer. Cathy tells the story of how she became a stand up comedian while in treatment, and the ways she has used humor to cope with difficult situations.
The post Surviving Cancer with Humor with Cathy Kidman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Pam Mullens talks about living with Multiple Sclerosis. Pam describes the long period of uncertainty until she was definitively diagnosed, and how her symptoms effect her day to day life. Pam describes the paradoxical way in which her illness has invited her to live more in the present in a way that has made her ...read more »
The post Living with Multiple Sclerosis with Pam Mullens appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sheila Cassidy ran a support group for women with breast cancer, and was then diagnosed with breast cancer herself. She talks about the fear of dying and the ways that emotional support makes a difference.
The post Surviving Breast Cancer with Sheila Cassidy appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Joanne Anning about working with bereaved children in England. She describes the incredible resilience of children going through loss and the importance of including children in processes around death, explaining what to expect, and helping them cry.
The post Working with Bereaved Children with Joanne Anning appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Chris Beach discussing the nuts and bolts of remembering and working with your dreams. Chris describes the power of exploring your first childhood dream, and the possibility of using active imagination with a therapist to have a dialogue with a key figure from your dream.
The post Dream Work with Chris Beach appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Jeanne Safer, Ph.D talks about nightmares and recurring dreams. Jeanne describes the 40 year long relationship she has with a recurring, intensely anxiety-provoking dream. She talks about how disturbing dreams can be a gift, demanding we pay attention to an unknown part of our selves.
The post Nightmares and Recurring Dreams with Jeanne Safer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Professional counselor Laura Mazikowski talks about dreams and grieving. Laura tells the story of the death of her brother Roger and two powerful dreams that shaped her experience of his loss.
The post Dreams and Grief with Laura Mazikowski appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychologist Bob Childs talks about developing a relationship with your dreams. Bob describes a pivotal dream and how it shaped his understanding of himself and his professional direction.
The post Creating a Relationship with Dreams with Bob Childs appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Dr. Irwin Goldstein about sexual health including premature ejaculation, bicycle injuries, and erectile dysfunction.
The post Sexual Medicine for Men with Irwin Goldstein appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Gina Rourke and Daryl Fort about Pornography. Gina and Daryl talk about finding a sex-positive, pro-feminist relationship to pornography, that doesn’t deny the realities of violence and subjugation of women that is present in some porn.
The post Pornography with Gina Rourke and Daryl Fort appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Michael Bader, Ph.D about sexual fantasies. Michael suggests that our sexual fantasies work by offering a solution to any guilt and fear that may undermine our relationship to sexuality. He proposes that many—especially men—may use fantasy to cope with concern about hurting their partner, because of caring so much about the partner’s ...read more »
The post Sexual Fantasy with Michael Bader appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Deb Dana is a social worker who works with sex offenders. She talks about what factors contribute to multiple offenses and offers tremendous hope for families where sexual abuse has taken place.
The post Working with Sex Offenders with Deb Dana appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Pelvic floor physical therapist Susan Ramsey talks about effective ways to prevent and treat erectile dysfunction and incontinence after prostatectomy. She talks about helpful exercises and ways to experience intimacy and pleasure regardless of erection.
The post Sex After Prostate Surgery with Susan Ramsey appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sex therapist Ron Feintech talks about what he calls “sexual gridlock,” how intimacy can change in long-term relationships, and offers tips for fostering intimacy and risk-taking.
The post Sexual Gridlock with Ron Feintech appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Rebecca Weinstein is founder of PeopleofSize.com. In this interview she discusses the experience of being a large person in today’s culture. Rebecca states that 90% of her problems come from dealing with other people’s perceptions. She talks specifically about difficulties with the medical profession and receiving shaming and discriminatory comments.
The post People of Size with Rebecca Weinstein appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Neil McKenty talks with Safe Space about his experience with celibacy as a Jesuit Priest. Neil says that priests in training were not talked to or helped in coping with the demands of celibacy. Ultimately he was unable to remain celibate and left the priesthood. Neil has now been happily married for the past 27 ...read more »
The post Celibacy and Failure with Neil McKenty appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychotherapist Dr. Jeanne Safer about her experience struggling with her own wounds that did not heal in therapy. She discusses the impact this had on her sense of self as a therapist.
The post The Limits of Therapy with Jeanne Safer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Richard Schwartz is the developer of Internal Family Systems Therapy. He talks about his decision to get divorced and the process of healing that followed.
The post Divorce with Richard Schwartz appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Documentary filmmaker Roger Amory talks to Safe Space Radio about his inability to quit smoking. Roger talks about feeling like a failure, especially when comparing himself to friends who have quit. He also describes smoking as something that gives him a break from being with people, and how he’s explored replacing that with something else, ...read more »
The post Not Quitting Smoking with Roger Amory appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Couples therapist and workshop leader Dr. Mona Barbera talks to Safe Space Radio about the legacy of divorce. Mona talks about her feelings of confusion and failure after her divorce, her continuing desire to have children, and how she’s tried to learn and change her own patterns of behavior in new relationship.
The post The Legacy of Divorce with Mona Barbera appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Actor Sinead Rushe talks about performance anxiety and feelings of failure. Sinead describes how deeply her confidence in her own creative instincts was shaken when a play that she had written got a bad review and almost nobody came. She talks about how difficult it was to go out each night to a crowd of ...read more »
The post Failure and Performance Anxiety with Sinead Rushe appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Dr. Jeanne Safer discusses her decision not to have children. Jeanne describes the intense internal and external pressure she felt to have kids, and the sense that choosing not to meant she was somehow deficient in her ability to love. She talks about how she came to her decision and affirm that having kids was ...read more »
The post Choosing Not to Have Children with Jeanne Safer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Kathryn Black is author of Mothering Without a Map: Finding the Good Mother Within. Kathryn talks about her own experience with feeling “under-mothered,” and her fear of passing on a painful legacy to her children. She talks about changing and healing her own behavior, and the pervasive cultural fantasy that childhood is perfectible and of ...read more »
The post Parenting Wounds with Kathryn Black appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Medical assistant and doula Martha Tole talks about bad mother anxiety and childbirth. Martha affirms that bad mother anxiety can begin before birth and may continue indefinitely. She describes how so many mothers’ tendency to compare themselves to others and to judge themselves in other spheres of life is especially painful when it comes to ...read more »
The post Childbirth and Self-Judgment with Martha Tole appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Kathryn Landon-Malone is a pediatric nurse practitioner and early childhood psychologist. She talks with Safe Space Radio about attachment parenting and how it can reflect and generate anxiety in mothers.
The post Attachment Parenting and Anxiety with Kathryn Landon-Malone appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Raye Tibbetts is author of The Bad Mother Chronicles and a new blog called Good Enough. In this episode she speaks about intergenerational patterns of painful mothering. She describes the legacy of her mother having given away a child to adoption and the impact that had on her ability to bond with Raye, followed by ...read more »
The post Intergenerational Mothering Struggles with Raye Tibbetts appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Women’s health doctor Amy Gottlieb describes her bad mother anxiety due to her absences from her child necessitated by her training. She talks about how balancing work and family can affect mothering and often results in fears that we are doing both badly. She also names some legislative and employment reforms that are needed in ...read more »
The post Balancing Mothering and Medicine with Amy Gottlieb appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Nicole Chaison is author of The Passion of the Hausfrau about the experience of motherhood as a form of the mythic hero’s journey. She speaks about the courage it took to write honestly about her experiences as a mother and her struggles with both shame and loyalty in deciding to go public with her stories.
The post Mothering as Hero’s Journey with Nicole Chaison appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Writer Ayelet Waldman is author of Bad Mother. In this episode of Safe Space Radio, Ayelet talks about the differences between her and her mother’s generation, and the difficulties of living up to the impossible expectations that fit our ideal of a “good mother.” Ayelet argues that being honest with your children about maternal ambivalence helps ...read more »
The post Bad Mother Anxiety with Ayelet Waldman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Educator Betsy Parsons talks about her decision to come out as a teacher in the public school system in Portland, Maine. She talks about the impact of verbal and physical harassment on gay and lesbian students and how powerfully it affects their ability to learn and to feel safe in school. She now co-leads GLSEN, ...read more »
The post Homophobia in Schools with Betsy Parsons appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Darlene Huntress works for Equality Maine on the impact of denying marriage to same sex couples. Darlene talks about the impact on LGBTQ children when they learn that the cultural fantasy of marriage will be denied to them, and how affirming marriage access for all will play a powerful role in reducing homophobia
The post Marriage Equality with Darlene Huntress appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Jen Hodsden and her 11 year old daughter Soleil talk about the impact of homophobia on their lives, especially on their relationships with friends, other kids, and men.
The post Lesbian Parenting with Jen Hodsden appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychiatrist Dr. Marshall Forstein talks about his own coming out, the impact of homophobic jokes, and the experience of legal marriage in Massachusetts.
The post Coming Out, Homophobia, and Psychiatry with Marshall Forstein appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Reverand Myke Johnson talks from a religious perspective about affirming the sacredness of gay and lesbian people and celebrating their right to marry.
The post Marriage Equality and the Church with Myke Johnson appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Jo Morrissey, program director of 21 Reasons. Jo describes common myths that keep parents from being effective at preventing their kids from using alcohol.
The post Underage Drinking with Jo Morrissey appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Ronnie Katz is the director of substance abuse prevention for the city of Portland. Ronnie describes her own story of getting into recovery and how programs in schools that help kids know who they are and connect with their own feelings help protect them from addiction.
The post Substance Abuse Prevention in Schools with Ronnie Katz appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This interview with Safe Space Radio features child psychologist and researcher Dennis Embry on “Youthanasia,” his name for the policies and practices that result in shorter projected lifespans for younger generations. He looks at the causes of mental health problems, substance abuse, violence, obesity and suicide and shows how the same interventions can prevent all ...read more »
The post Youthanasia with Dennis Embry appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with Dr. Louise Zubrod on the impact of alcoholism on familes. Dr. Zubrod describes the impact of alcoholism on her own family, especially in terms of what couldn’t get talked about, and how she learned to be prepared for anything.
The post Alcoholism in Families with Louise Zubrod appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Gynecologist Dr. Bethany Hays talks to Safe Space Radio about how estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and oxytocin affect sexuality. She puts the importance of hormones in perspective, reminding us that the mind is the biggest sex organ of all.
The post Hormones and Sexuality with Bethany Hays appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Julia Chafets is an education coordinator with Sexual Assault Response Services. She talks to Safe Space Radio about the short and long term impact of sexual assault. She also reflects on how learning about rape can effect young boys and women who have not been assaulted.
The post The Impact of Sexual Assault with Julia Chafets appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sex therapist Stephanie Abate talks about how sex therapy can help couples develop a pleasurable sex life. She describes the qualities essential for good sex, including safety, communication, body positivity, and the belief the sexual pleasure is truly available for all genders.
The post Sex Therapy with Stephanie Abate appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Gina is the owner of Nomia, a sensuality boutique and resource center in Portland, Maine. She gives a historical overview of the Puritan origins of American shame about pleasure and the body, and how women can better understand their own pleasure to experience a fully satisfying sexual relationship with someone else.
The post Masturbation with Gina Rourke appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Interview with Sex Therapist Gina Ogden about how desire is often falsely limited to sexual intercourse, and how desire for sexual connection occurs on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. She says that taking emotional risks with your partner can help to rekindle some of the excitement that can get dulled over years in a ...read more »
The post Women’s Desire with Gina Ogden appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sex therapist Gina Ogden talks about messages in the culture for young women and girls about sexuality. Gina describes how teenagers must integrate both frightening and prohibitive messages about sex and intimacy.
The post Cultural Messages about Sex with Gina Ogden appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Susan Ramsey talks about physical therapy for pelvic pain, especially burning or itching vulvar pain. Susan describes exercises to strengthen and relax the pelvic floor, and how bringing sensation with internal manual work and the use of vibrators can restore pleasurable sex and freedom from chronic pain.
The post Vulvar Pain with Susan Ramsey appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Susan Ramsey is the owner of Holistic Physical Therapy Services. In this episode of Safe Space Radio, Susan describes who is at risk for leakage and why. She leads the listener through a kegel exercise, talks about the health of peeing, and affirms the value of the pelvic floor.
The post Incontinence and Pelvic Floor Strength with Susan Ramsey appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
In this episode of Safe Space Radio, storyteller Judith Black hilariously describes her own experience with menopause and her painful realization that she had “lost her hot.” She retells Snow White from the point of view of the Queen, and gives us a new superhero, Queen Crone, who finds her way to a new and ...read more »
The post Post-Menopausal Sexuality with Judith Black appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychotherapist Mike Elkin suggests that many of us experience a fear of not being good as powerful threat. He describes how this fear plays itself out in couples and parenting relationships, and how we tend to express fear as either anger or guilt. He suggests that the most powerful antidote to fear is turning toward ...read more »
The post The Fear of Not Being Good with Mike Elkin appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Designer and sociologist John Zeisel talks about his work designing residences that optimize brain functioning and relational presence for people with Alzheimers.
The post Anticipatory Dementia with John Zeisel appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Street minister Pastor Mair Honan talks about her work with the homeless in Portland, Maine. She shares some of the inner struggles she has to confront in herself to do this work.
The post Homelessness with Mair Honan appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An anonymous interview with MC about the many ways she can blame herself for difficulties in parenting.
The post Fear of Being a Bad Parent with MC appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Therapist Anne Yeomans talks about going on a vision quest, a four night journey into the wilderness alone without food. Anne describes her encounters with fear and how her sense of connection to the stars and love ones sustained her.
The post Vision Quest and Fear with Anne Yeomans appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Katie Murray talks to Safe Space Radio about losing her 6 year old son Chan to Leukemia. Katie describes her struggle to fight against despair, and the great value of other people asking her to talk about it and not avoid the subject.
The post Losing a Child with Katie Murray appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Sherry Edwards is a community response coordinator at Maine’s York County Domestic Violence Project, Caring Unlimited. She talks about her own experiences and what it takes to ask for help.
The post Surviving Domestic Violence with Sherry Edwards appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Psychologist Dr. Robert Childs specializes in the difficulties and shame that adoptees face in talking to their adoptive families about their biological parents. He addresses the myth that love is all an adoptee needs, and discusses the impact of searching for one’s biological parents as a way to address old fears and grief.
The post Talking to Kids about Adoption with Robert Childs appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
An interview with the Reverend Julia Jarvis on her experiences delivering one and a half pound baby girls at 26 weeks gestation. She discusses her struggle with worrying that somehow it was her fault, and also her struggle with the medical profession over who would make the decisions that would affect her daughters’ lives.
The post Premature Delivery with Julia Jarvis appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features Dr. Sheila Cassidy talking about her experience of being tortured in Chile under Pinochet. She describes the psychological aftermath of torture and how her encounter with her own fear of dying helps her work in patients facing death.
The post Torture with Sheila Cassidy appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Author and radio talk show host Neil McKenty describes his struggle with depression, suicidality and alcoholism. He describes how taking the risk to expose his realness, his vulnerability helped him recover.
The post Depression and Alcoholism with Neil McKenty appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
Hospice doctor Loring Conant describes his personal and professional experiences broaching the subject of someone’s impending death. He reflects on his own experience with dying family members and the forces that make it hard to bring up the subject.
The post Talking About Dying with Loring Conant appeared first on Safe Space Radio.
This episode of Safe Space Radio features family therapist Mike Elkin talking about how the feeling of something being wrong with you can set you up to seek relief in an addiction.
The post Addiction and Shame with Mike Elkin appeared first on Safe Space Radio.