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Safe Space Radio

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

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Parents

Guilt When a Parent Dies

April 13, 2015 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: confusion, death, dying, end of life, father, Guilt, mother, Parenting, Parents, relief, secret, Shame, stigma

Intergenerational Loneliness with David

March 16, 2015 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: alone, caregiving, childhood, comforting, Holocaust, inherited emotion, internal family systems, Loneliness, Parents, son, survivor guilt, survivors

Creating Connection with a Child with Autism with Susan Levin

May 12, 2014 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Autism, childhood, Parenting, parenting on the spectrum, Parents, son, spectrum

On Being Outed with Samantha

February 17, 2014 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health, Sexuality Tagged With: advocacy, allies, coming out, High School, LGBTQ, Parenting, Parents, queer, rejection, School, teacher, teenagers, Teens

Frontotemporal Dementia: Complications and Genetics with Melynda

October 28, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: behavioral changes, Caregivers, caregiving, Dementia, eldercare, elders, Fronto-Temporal Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, FTD, healthcare, Parents, Siblings

Caring for a Spouse with Clare Hallward

October 21, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Alzheimers, ambiguous loss, Caregiver, caregiving, death and dying, Dementia, Fathers, healthcare, mothers, Parents

Living With a Parent With Dementia with Liz Havu

September 30, 2013 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Alzheimers, Caregivers, caregiving, memory loss, mothers, nursing homes, Parents, vascular dementia

Difficult Parents and Dementia with Julia Jarvis

September 16, 2013 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Conflict, Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: ambiguous loss, Caregivers, Dementia, father, memory loss, Parents

Dementia in a Holocaust Survivor with Marushka Glissen

September 9, 2013 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Conflict, Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Caregivers, Dementia, intergenerational trauma, internal family systems, judaism, memory loss, Parents, Trauma, world war II

Dementia as Ambiguous Loss with Pauline Boss

September 2, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: ambiguous loss, Caregivers, death and dying, Dementia, loss, memory loss, Parents

Emotional Abuse in Violent Homes with Brie Masselli

April 29, 2013 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: advocacy, childhood trauma, Domestic Violence, education, Emotional Abuse, Parents, resiliency, step-families

Commitment to a Mentally-Ill Parent with Jeneen Interlandi

October 24, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Conflict, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: bi polar, biopolar disorder, Caregivers, daughter, families, father, mental illness, Parents, psychiatric care, treatment

On Having a Mother with Bi-Polar Disorder with Valerie Gamache

September 19, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: ambiguous loss, bi polar, bipolar disorder, daughters, mental illness, Parents, Shame, stigma

Bi-Polar Disorder in the Family with Liz Brenner

September 5, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: ambiguous loss, bi polar, bipolar disorder, families, father, fear, internal family systems, loss, major mental illness, mental health system, Parents, relational trauma, Suicide

Childhood Domestic Violence with Paul LePage

March 28, 2012 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: Child Abuse, childhood trauma, Domestic Violence, Parents, Sexual assault

Telling Secrets with Evan Imber-Black

October 19, 2011 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: children, family dynamics, Parenting, Parents, Secrets, Therapy, trust

Healing on the Blank Page with Diane Morrow

September 14, 2011 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Mental Health Tagged With: art, art for healing, coping techniques, depression, family dynamics, healing, mental illness, mothers, Parents, writing

Privacy and Shame with Janna Smith

June 23, 2010 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: daughter, family dynamics, father, internal family systems, isolation, Parents, privacy, Shame, writer

The Suicide of a Child with Patricia Ellen

April 21, 2010 by ssradmin

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 »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: blame, Bullying, children, death and dying, death of a child, grief, grieving, loss of a child, Parenting, Parents, Shame, sons, Suicide, teenagers, Teens, Trauma

Lesbian Parenting with Jen Hodsden

June 17, 2009 by ssradmin

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.

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Sexuality Tagged With: Bullying, conversation, discrimination, Homophobia, lesbian parents, LGBTQ, LGBTQ families, Parenting, Parents, raising children, relationships, same sex parents

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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