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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
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Family

Mental Illness and Stigma with Glenn Close

November 7, 2016 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Mental Health Tagged With: Bipolar, Family, mental illness, mental illness in the family, sisters

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

The Scars of Silence with Nubar Alexanian

April 17, 2016 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health, Social Justice Tagged With: Family, geneology, genocide, history, identity, Parenting

The Education of a Child Welfare Worker with Penthea Burns

October 5, 2015 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Social Justice Tagged With: Adoption, child welfare, Family, forced removal, indigenous, maine, Maine Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission, native, Restorative Justice, Trauma, Truth and Reconciliation, Wabanaki

Sudden Humiliation

May 4, 2015 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: Amy, barista, classmates, embarrassment, expectation, Family, hospital, Humiliation, internal family systems, job, mortification, phone call, professional, Sara, Secrets, Shame, silence, stigma, story, storytelling, work, workplace

Poetry and Coming Out (Part 1) with Richard Blanco

March 24, 2014 by ssradmin

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.  

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: art, coming out, Family, gay men, Homophobia, LGBTQ, poetry, queer, Sexuality, writing

Your Untold Stories of Dementia

November 25, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Alzheimers, ambiguous loss, audience, caregiving, Dementia, elder care, elderly, Family, Fronto-Temporal Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, listeners

Connecting with People with Dementia with Steven Sabat

October 14, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Aging, Alzheimers, ambiguous loss, Caregiver, caregiving, caretaker, Dementia, Family, memory loss, mental illness, neuropsychologist

Dementia and Family Secrets with Nancy Sowell

October 7, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Caregivers, conversation, Dementia, Family, grandparents, memory loss, Secrets, Therapy

Having a Child with Schizophrenia with Cheryl Ramsay

September 26, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Addiction & Recovery, community, doubt, Family, mental hospitals, mental illness, Parenting, psychiatric care, schizophrenia, Shame, sons

Sibling Relationships with Susan McHale

February 29, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: america, brothers, competition, Family, family dynamics, Gender, sibling relationships, sisters

Sibling Abuse with Vernon Wiehe

February 15, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: brothers, Emotional Abuse, Family, family dynamics, Parenting, sibling abuse, sibling relationships, sibling rivalry, Siblings, sisters

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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

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

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Safe Space Radio
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