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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
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difficult conversations

Loving Across the Political Divide with Sheila Heen

October 31, 2016 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Conflict, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: communication, difficult conversations, Family, listening, marriage, politics

Hidden Emotions

May 18, 2015 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: difficult conversations, difficult feelings, Hidden Emotions, Shame, stigma, talking

Working with Jealousy

April 27, 2015 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: coworkers, difficult conversations, Friendship, Hidden Emotions, Humiliation, ideal, imposter syndrome, internal family systems, Jealousy, ministers, professional life, psychiatric practice, Secrets, Shame, spirituality, stigma, workplace

Waking Up White (Part 1) with Debby Irving

December 22, 2014 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Social Justice Tagged With: blackness, difficult conversations, education, interracial relationships, race, racial justice, Racism, waking up white, White Privilege, Whiteness

White People On Race with Shelly Tochluk

December 1, 2014 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Social Justice Tagged With: activism, difficult conversations, race, racial justice, Racism, white fragility, White Privilege, Whiteness

Unpacking White Privilege (Part 1) with Peggy McIntosh

November 17, 2014 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Social Justice Tagged With: difficult conversations, race, racial justice, Racism, white fragility, White Privilege, Whiteness

Talking to the Enemy with Laura Chasin

March 11, 2013 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Conflict, Emotions, Sexuality Tagged With: Abortion, abortion clinic shootings, Conflict Resolution, debate, difficult conversations, feminism, mediation, political debate, political differences, right to choice, right to life

Fostering Difficult Conversations with Tim Wilson

March 4, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Emotions, Social Justice Tagged With: apologies, Conflict Resolution, difficult conversations, israel, mediation, middle east conflict, palestine, palestinian israeli conflict, peace efforts, Seeds of Peace, summer camp, teenagers, Teens, youth

High School Friendships with Maria Padian

February 13, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict Tagged With: asylum seekers, difficult conversations, education, Friendship, immigrant, Immigration & Refugees, Refugees, refugees and asylum seekers, School, somalia, students, teenagers

How Health Care Providers Can Prevent Domestic Violence with Cathy Plourde

April 18, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Mental Health, Sexuality Tagged With: add verb, difficult conversations, Domestic Violence, medical encounter, medical practice, medicine, providers, screening, sexual trauma, Trauma, treatment

Speaking Up to Sexism and Violence (Part 2) with Daryl Fort

April 11, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Sexuality, Social Justice Tagged With: bar culture, bystander intervention, bystanders, cat calling, difficult conversations, Domestic Violence, masculinity, me too, metoo, mysogyny, Rape Culture, sexism, sexual violence, Violence

Speaking Up to Sexism and Violence (Part 1) with Daryl Fort

April 4, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Sexuality, Social Justice Tagged With: Abuse, bystander intervention, difficult conversations, masculinity, me too, metoo, misogyny, Rape Culture, sexism, Sexual assault, sexual violence, Violence

Adult Sibling Strife with Jeanne Safer

January 25, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: adult siblings, brothers, communication, difficult conversations, family dynamics, psychotherapy, sibling relationships, Siblings, sibspeak, sisters, tension

Holocaust Survivor Testimonies with Lawrence L. Langer

October 12, 2011 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Emotions, Social Justice Tagged With: communication, difficult conversations, empathy, Holocaust, intergenerational trauma, oral history, storytelling, survivors, survivors guilt, Trauma

Secrets, Confiding, and Health with Jamie Pennebaker

September 28, 2011 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: childhood trauma, communication, confession, difficult conversations, healing, Secrets, Sexual Abuse, Trauma, writing

Telling Difficult Stories with Laura Simms

September 21, 2011 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: difficult conversations, earthquake, Haiti, narrative therapy, natural disaster, PTSD, storytelling, Trauma

Parenting and Cancer with Susan Conley

September 7, 2011 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: art, body, breast cancer, cancer, china, coping techniques, difficult conversations, health, identity, illness, isolation, journaling, living abroad, Parenting, physical health, relationships, Sickness, storytelling, teenagers, Teens, Therapy, treatment, writing, youth

Transgender 101 with Alex Roan

March 9, 2011 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Mental Health, Sexuality Tagged With: community, cross dressing, difficult conversations, female to male transition, FTM, Gender, Gender Fluid, gender variant, language, LGBTQ, sex, sexual orientation, trans, Transgender, transsexual

Suicide Among Gay Youth with Charles Robbins

May 5, 2010 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health, Sexuality Tagged With: coming out, death and dying, difficult conversations, family dynamics, gay teens, LGBTQ, LGBTQ teens, queer teens, queer youth, Shame, Suicide, teenagers, Teens, trevor project, vulnerability

The Suicide of a Close Friend with Mary Clare

April 28, 2010 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: anger, death and dying, depression, difficult conversations, Friendship, internal family systems, intervention, patients, psychiatric treatment, Suicide, Therapy, Trauma

Hospice Chaplaincy with Ellie Mercer

March 31, 2010 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: communication, death and dying, difficult conversations, end of life, fear, Hospice, illness, Sickness, spirituality

The Limits of Therapy with Jeanne Safer

October 14, 2009 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: difficult conversations, doubt, feelings of failure, healing, identity, psychotherapy, Therapy, Trauma

Underage Drinking with Jo Morrissey

May 27, 2009 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: Alcohol, difficult conversations, drinking age, High School, Parenting, Parents, peer pressure, substance abuse prevention, substance use, teenagers, Teens, underage drinking

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Generously supported by:

  • The Annie E. Casey Foundation
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  • The Rines Thompson Fund
  • The Sam L. Cohen Foundation

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