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Safe Space Radio

The show about subjects we'd struggle with less if we could talk about them more.

  • Mental Health
    • Bad Mother Anxiety
    • Depression in the Workplace
    • Eating Disorders
    • Facing Fear
    • Feelings of Failure
    • Homophobia
    • LGBTQ Teens
    • Living With Anxiety
    • Living with Dementia in the Family
    • Living with Life Threatening Illness
    • Living with Mental Illness
    • Mental Illness in the Family
    • Medical Trauma
    • Parenting Kids on the Spectrum
    • PTSD Among Women Veterans
    • Refugee Women
    • Substance Abuse in Families
    • Suicide
    • Transgender Issues
    • Trauma
    • Writing as a Way to Heal
    • Yoga and Mental Illness
  • Social Justice
    • Child Abuse
    • Homophobia
    • LGBTQ Teens
    • Life After Incarceration
    • Maine Wabanaki TRC
    • PTSD Among Women Veterans
    • Race and White Privilege
    • Refugee Women
    • Somali Refugees in Maine
    • Transgender Issues
    • Violence Against Women
  • Family
    • Bad Mother Anxiety
    • Contemporary Families
    • Living with Dementia in the Family
    • Living with Life Threatening Illness
    • Parenting Kids on the Spectrum
    • Sibling Conflicts
    • Substance Abuse in Families
  • Emotions
    • Bad Mother Anxiety
    • Child Abuse
    • Facing Fear
    • Feelings of Failure
    • Living With Anxiety
    • Living with Life Threatening Illness
    • Shame
    • Stories of Hidden Emotions
    • Talking About Difficult Subjects
    • Writing as a Way to Heal
  • Sexuality
    • Female Sexual Difficulties
    • Men’s Sexual Difficulties
    • Recovery from Sexual Trauma
  • Conflict
    • Child Abuse
    • Life After Incarceration
    • Maine Wabanaki TRC
    • PTSD Among Women Veterans
    • Refugee Women
    • Somali Refugees in Maine
    • Talking About Difficult Subjects
    • Trauma
    • Violence Against Women
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The Science of Empathy

Safe Space Radio broadcasts courageous stories to foster empathy and understanding in our listeners and in the culture as a whole.

Our shows are designed to foster a culture of empathy, understanding, and safety for those with mental health challenges, and combat all forms of stigma and silencing.

Research shows that storytelling is an effective method for teaching complex ideas, building trust, and forming connection (Soule and Wilson, 2002). A 2007 study by neuroscientist Paul J. Zak suggests that compelling stories can literally change brain function by triggering the release of neurochemicals like oxytocin, which increases empathy, compassion, and willingness to help others.

Empathy is our ability to share and understand another person’s feelings. The more empathy we feel, the more able we are to build connection and participate in community. Empathy pushes us to help others, and it helps us build compassion for ourselves and our own emotions.Psychologist Daniel Goleman and Paul Ekman talk about three kinds of empathy:

Cognitive empathy is the ability to imagine what another person is thinking—basically, the ability to imagine a perspective outside of our own and communicate using that knowledge.

Emotional empathy (or affective empathy) is the ability to share in the feelings of another person, sometimes literally feeling other people’s feelings in our own bodies.

Compassionate empathy takes empathy a step further and motivates us to do something. We not only feel for another person, but take action to help them.

Safe Space Radio & Empathy

We published an article in Academic Psychiatry that looked at one year of research on the impact of using our podcasts with third year medical students to foster empathy and reduce stigma. That article can be found here:
Data from past listener surveys show that:

  • 82% of listeners feel an increase in empathy after hearing a show from the Can We Talk series (2019)
  • 92% of listeners agree that the show helped them identify with the storyteller’s feelings—Out-Takes (2016)
  • 91% of listeners want to learn more about the subject—Out-Takes (2016)
  • 83% of listeners felt inspired by the stories—Parenting a Child With Autism series (2014)
  • 100% of listeners felt increased understanding of the challenges Native communities face—Maine-Wabanaki State Truth and Reconciliation Commission series (2015)

Safe Space Radio’s series of healthcare webinars is currently the subject of a research study on fostering empathy in medical students at Maine Medical Center.

Resources on Empathy

Empathy & Relationships

  • How to Be More Empathetic
    Claire Cain Miller—The New York Times
  • The Evolution of Empathy
    Frans De Waal—Greater Good
  • Developing Empathy Lesson Plan
    Teaching Tolerance
  • The Limits of Empathy
    Adam Waytz—Harvard Business Review
  • In a Divided World, We Need to Choose Empathy
    Jamil Zaki—Greater Good

Empathy & the Self

  • How to Cultivate More Self Compassion
    Allison Abrams—Psychology Today
  • Exploring Compassion: a meta-analysis of the association between self-compassion and psychopathology
    Angus MacBeth & Andrew Gumley—Clinical Psychology Review

The Science of Empathy

  • The Science of Empathy
    Helen Riess—Journal of Patient Experience
  • The Neuroscience of Empathy
    Christopher Bergland—Psychology Today
  • The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science
    Ed. Emma M. Seppäla et al
  • The Toronto Empathy Questionaire 
    R. Nathan Spreng et al—Journal of Personality Assessment
  • Why Inspiring Stories Make Us React
    Paul J. Zak—Cerebrum

 

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Generously supported by:

  • The Annie E. Casey Foundation
  • The Lucy R. Sprague Charisma Fund
  • The Equity Fund
  • The Fleming Family Foundation
  • The Hope and Grace Fund
  • Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
  • The Lerner Foundation
  • The Matthewson Foundation
  • The Pinkerton Foundation
  • The Pink House Foundation
  • The Rines Thompson Fund
  • The Sam L. Cohen Foundation

We Can Talk About it!

We gratefully acknowledge that the images on this website are used by permission from photographers on Unsplash.

contact us

Safe Space Radio
44 Exchange St. Suite 200
Portland, ME 04101

info@safespaceradio.com

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