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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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Therapy

The Challenge of Seeking Asylum with Alice B

November 30, 2015 by ssradmin

This episode of Safe Space Radio features Alice B, an asylum-seeker from Burundi who now lives in Portland, Maine. She talks about her work to support and empower women who have faced cultural silencing and endured trauma in both Burundi and the U.S. Alice and Anne explore ways that refugees might be connected with therapists …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health, Sexuality, Social Justice, Waiting Room Project - Psychiatry Tagged With: asylum seekers, Immigration & Refugees, Legal System, mental health, Refugees, refugees and asylum seekers, Sexual assault, Therapy, Trauma

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

Restorative Yoga for Mental Health with bo Forbes

January 30, 2013 by ssradmin

This episode of Safe Space Radio features psychologist, yoga teacher and author bo Forbes talking about how restorative yoga and breathing exercises can restore balance to the nervous system. Coming to yoga from a solid background in clinical psychology, and work as a talk therapist, bo describes the way that moving away from verbal processing …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: body work, clincial psychology, healing, meditation, pranayama, Therapy, Yoga, yoga for depression

Yoga for Trauma Survivors with Dave Emerson

December 19, 2012 by ssradmin

This episode with Safe Space Radio features yoga teacher and author Dave Emerson, who co-wrote Overcoming Trauma through Yoga about the development of “trauma-sensitive yoga.” Dave discusses how trauma is held in the body, and can be addressed through the body, often in conjunction with talk therapy.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: body memory, meditation, Therapy, Trauma, trauma sensitive yoga, yoga for trauma, Yoga therapy

Self-Care and Intergenerational Mental Illness with Beth Erlichman

October 17, 2012 by ssradmin

This Safe Space Radio episode features personal trainer Beth Erlichman, whose mother and daughter both live with mental illness. Beth describes how her experiences growing up with her mother transformed the way she supported her daughter after a psychotic break, and how internal family systems therapy helped her befriend the young, frightened parts of herself …read more »

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Filed Under: Family and Lifecycle, Mental Health Tagged With: daughter, families, internal family systems, major mental illness, mental illness, mothers, Parenting, psychiatric care, psychosis, Therapy

PTSD in the Intensive Care Unit with Nancy Andrews

May 2, 2012 by ssradmin

Safe Space Radio interviews film-maker Nancy Andrews about her experience as a patient in the surgical ICU. Upon her release from the hospital, Nancy noticed that she kept having “weird experiences,” which her doctor recognized as post-traumatic stress disorder. Nancy’s film, On a Phantom Limb, explores the horror and disorientation of being an ICU patient. …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: control, hospitalization, ICU, intensive care unit, Medical Trauma, mental health, PTSD, surgery, the ICU and PTSD, Therapy, Trauma

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

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

Stigma and Being Bipolar with Deb McCarthy

May 18, 2011 by ssradmin

An interview with Deb McCarthy, the author of the blog Living in Stigma. Deb describes her experience of feeling written-off by the mental health system after multiple psychiatric hospitalizations and 77 ECT treatments failed to help her. After being willing to try anything that might help her, she met a new psychiatrist who took a …read more »

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Filed Under: Mental Health Tagged With: bi polar, bipolar disorder, isolation, living with mental illness, living with stigma, major mental illness, medical encounter, mental health system, mental hospital, mental illness, patient doctor relationship, psychiatric care, psychiatric hospital, psychiatric treatment, psychiatrists, stigma, Therapy, trust

Gender Role Non-Conformity with Frank Brooks

April 20, 2011 by ssradmin

Frank Brooks is a doctor of clinical social work who studies gender role non-conformity, particularly the link between gender role non-conformity in boys and the risk of suicide. Frank describes his experiences of feeling different and facing prejudice as he grew up. He now works with families with gender role non-conforming kids to help them …read more »

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Filed Under: Mental Health, Sexuality Tagged With: Bullying, children, Gender, gender binary, gender nonconformity, genderqueer, LGBTQ, nonbinary, Parenting, puberty, social work, Suicide, teenagers, Teens, Therapy, youth

Trauma, Fear and Denial with Jessica Stern

February 16, 2011 by ssradmin

Research professor Jessica Stern is an expert in the connection between trauma and terrorism. In this interview she talks about her experience following a rape at age 15, and how her story was not believed by the police—resulting in more than 40 other children being targeted. Jessica describes living with PTSD, and experiencing a confusing …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: Anxiety & Fear, childhood trauma, healing, Loneliness, mental illness, police, PTSD, Rape, Rape Culture, Sexual assault, sexual violence, survivors, teenagers, terrorism, Therapy, Trauma, triggering, triggers, Violence

Tantra and Sexual Healing with Betta de Boer van der Kolk

February 9, 2011 by ssradmin

This interview features body psychotherapist Betta de Boer van der Kolk about Tantra as a way to heal from sexual abuse. Betta describes Tantra as an exchange of energy that brings presence, connection, safety and play into sexuality.  She leads the listener in a technique for couples to harmonize their breathing in order to give …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Sexuality Tagged With: body memory, body work, ejaculation, healing, internal family systems, massage, orgasm, Recovery, Sexual Abuse, sexual violence, survivors, tantra, tantric sex, Therapy, Trauma

Aftermath of Sexual Violence with Susan Brison

February 2, 2011 by ssradmin

Philosophy professor Susan Brison survived a sexual assault and attempted murder. She describes the transition from needing to tell the story, to finding the story increasingly boring as she healed—and how group therapy, self-defense classes, and jazz singing all helped her recovery.

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Filed Under: Mental Health, Sexuality, Social Justice Tagged With: assault, healing, Rape, Rape Culture, Recovery, self defense, Sexual assault, sexual violence, storytelling, survivors, Therapy, Trauma

Trauma and the Brain with Bessel van der Kolk

December 22, 2010 by ssradmin

An interview with psychiatrist and trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk about the impact of trauma on the brain. Bessel outlines the way in which traumatic experience in children shapes the development of the brain, and how our brains can get hijacked by triggers that make us feel we are in a life and death …read more »

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Filed Under: Mental Health Tagged With: brain, childhood trauma, developmental trauma, EMDR, healing, internal family systems, neurofeedback, neuroscience, research, Therapy, Trauma, trauma in the body, trauma response, traumatic repetition

Trauma and the Body with Pat Ogden

December 15, 2010 by ssradmin

An interview with Dr. Pat Ogden about working with the body in healing from trauma. Pat uses several clinical examples to describe how she works with the body to help people re-engage the physical defenses that got overwhelmed and shut down during trauma. She describes the process of allowing people to move and tremble and …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: body memory, body work, clinical research, healing, PTSD, Therapy, Trauma, trauma in the body, trauma response

Trauma and Dissociation with Janina Fisher

November 24, 2010 by ssradmin

An interview with psychologist Janina Fisher about dissociation in the face of trauma. Janina describes “structural dissociation” as the process where parts of our Self respond to traumatic experience not only with Fight or Flight, but also by terrified freezing, calling for help, and desperately seeking to attach out of fear of abandonment, and total …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: body memory, dissociation, psychology, surviving trauma, survivors, Therapy, Trauma, trauma in the body, trauma response, triggering, triggers

Trauma and EMDR Therapy with Celia Grand

November 17, 2010 by ssradmin

Therapist Celia Grand is an EMDR facilitator and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy trainer with trauma survivors and their partners. Celia blends her expertise in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR) with her extensive experience working with the body in trauma.  She describes three phases of trauma recovery and how EMDR in particular can change the way …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: EMDR therapy, healing, identity, internal family systems, patient experience, psychotherapy, Recovery, relationships, Therapy, Trauma, trauma in the body

Understanding Anorexia and Eating Disorders with Lori Galperin

October 13, 2010 by ssradmin

An interview with therapist Lori Galperin about how to have a non-judgmental relationship to an eating disorder. Lori describes the many roles that eating disorders serve in the life of a young person, and the importance of not getting into power struggles to try to remove it. She highlights anorexia as an attempt to turn …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: anorexia, body image, bulemia, bulimia, diet culture, Eating Disorders, food, internal family systems, mental illness, non judgement, Parenting, teenagers, Teens, Therapy, trauma in the body

The Inner Feelings of Bulimia with Julia Jarvis

September 29, 2010 by ssradmin

Julia Jarvis talks about her struggle with bulimia and her recovery. Julia describes her profound experience with feeling she was bad, and keeping a journal of her daily sins. She credits her recovery with the loosening of a rigid and punitive theology, prozac, and the community she found in Adult Children of Alcoholics.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: adult children of alcoholics, body image, bulemia, bulimia, community, diet culture, Eating Disorders, food, healing, medication, mental illness, Recovery, Shame, theology, Therapy

The Care of Eating Disorders with Patrice Lockhart

September 8, 2010 by ssradmin

Dr. Patrice Lockhart describes her work at the New England Eating Disorders Center at Mercy Hospital. She emphasizes how she tries to help her patients distance their sense of self from the eating disorder, she also describes the key role of family support.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health, Waiting Room Project - Psychiatry Tagged With: anorexia, bulemia, bulimia, diet culture, Eating Disorders, family dynamics, food, identity, mental illness, psychiatric care, psychiatric treatment, Recovery, Therapy

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

The Impact of Cancer on Families with David Treadway

March 24, 2010 by ssradmin

Family therapist David Treadway talks about his struggle with advanced lymphoma. He and his wife and two grown sons wrote a book together, Home Before Dark, about their experiences of dealing with his illness and the possibility he might die. They take an honest look at the differences in their coping styles and some of the …read more »

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: cancer, cancer treatment, coping techniques, death and dying, family dynamics, lymphoma, physical health, Sickness, terminal illness, Therapy, writers, writing

Surviving Breast Cancer with Sheila Cassidy

February 17, 2010 by ssradmin

Sheila Cassidy ran a support group for women with breast cancer, and was then diagnosed with breast cancer herself. She talks about the fear of dying and the ways that emotional support makes a difference.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Mental Health Tagged With: breast cancer, cancer, community, death and dying, diagnosis, illness, physical health, Sickness, support group, Therapy, wellness

Working with Bereaved Children with Joanne Anning

February 10, 2010 by ssradmin

An interview with Joanne Anning about working with bereaved children in England. She describes the incredible resilience of children going through loss and the importance of including children in processes around death, explaining what to expect, and helping them cry.

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Filed Under: Emotions, Family and Lifecycle Tagged With: Bereavement, childhood, childhood trauma, children, community, death and dying, emotions, greiving, grief, loss, loss of a parent, resiliency, Therapy

Dream Work with Chris Beach

February 3, 2010 by ssradmin

This episode of Safe Space Radio features Chris Beach discussing the nuts and bolts of remembering and working with your dreams. Chris describes the power of exploring your first childhood dream, and the possibility of using active imagination with a therapist to have a dialogue with a key figure from your dream.

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Filed Under: Emotions Tagged With: dream work, Dreams, identity, imagination, subconscious, Therapy

Nightmares and Recurring Dreams with Jeanne Safer

January 27, 2010 by ssradmin

Jeanne Safer, Ph.D talks about nightmares and recurring dreams. Jeanne describes the 40 year long relationship she has with a recurring, intensely anxiety-provoking dream. She talks about how disturbing dreams can be a gift, demanding we pay attention to an unknown part of our selves.

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Filed Under: Emotions Tagged With: Anxiety & Fear, dream work, Dreams, dreamwork, identity, nightmares, recurring dreams, subconscious, Therapy

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

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