An interview with Rachel Grant about the sexual abuse she suffered as a ten-year-old at the hands of her grandfather, and the work she has done to counteract its lasting impact on her life. Despite her training in psychotherapy Rachel became a coach because she wanted to be able to use her own story as [...]
An interview with Episcopal priest Carl Russell about the childhood sexual abuse he experienced at the hands of the priest of his family’s congregation. Carl tells the story of how both he and his family were groomed for the abuse, as the priest worked to gain his family’s trust and esteem. He also describes how [...]
An interview with child advocate Brie Masselli about 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 [...]
An interview with Dr. Vincent Felitti 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. He reports that just asking patients about the [...]
An interview with yoga teacher, researcher and author, Richard Miller about his adaptation of yoga nidra for use with returning vets 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 [...]
An interview with actress Glenn Close about her sister Jessie’s bipolar disorder, and how the stigma of mental illness impacts whole families. Glenn describes the remorse she feels for not being able to be a more protective older sister as her 9 years younger sister Jessie was growing up. She describes the way
An anonymous interview with Rachel about her son’s severe depression and multiple suicide attempts. Rachel described the precipitous descent into depression that seemed to swallow her previously sunny, confident, artistic boy. She names the terrible and confusing sense of ambiguous loss
An interview with journalist and Harvard Nieman fellow, Jeneen Interlandi about her father’s bi-polar disorder. Jeneen describes the way that her father’s illness went under the radar as alcoholism for most of her childhood. She reports that in his blue collar neighborhood, alcoholism was
An interview with family educator, Valerie Gamache about her relationship with her mother who had bi-polar disorder. Valerie describes her mother’s illness and the frightening ways she could become suddenly violent and then have no memory for the episode. She reports the ways her family tried to keep, “the Big Secret” to the point that [...]
An interview with Alicia Barnes about her brother Josh Barnes who had schizophrenia. Alicia describes his fear that he had brought in on himself, and how much blame and judgment there is for mental illness. She describes his difficulty with taking medication, and how the medicines impacted his creativity and sense of purpose in writing [...]
