“I had known the pain, and survived it. It only remained for me to give it voice, to share it for use, that the pain not be wasted.” Audre Lorde The experience of violence is shaped by shame and silence. We’ll hear stories about how silence and shame define the experience of violence for everyone involved: the victim, the perpetrator and the bystan…

“What if global warming isn’t only a crisis. What if it’s our best chance to build a better world?” Naomi Klein Reports of wildfires, hurricanes, and extinctions are frightening, yet we rarely hear people talking about the mental health impact of these changes. This hour long show explores how coping with the mental health impacts of climate change…

“Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.” George Eliot This hour-long show is about the mental health benefits and challenges of saying a good goodbye at the end of life. Through stories, we explore different facets of goodbyes, including why so many of us avoid saying goodbye even in the most life-changing moments. We also…

Courage is the choice to act even when we feel afraid. It forces us to confront fear, shame, and stigma—and to feel our own strength. This hour-long show is about how accessing our own courage also supports our mental health and well-being, exploring the experience of living with mental illness—such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and border…

Many white parents have never learned how to talk about race and racism with their kids. Silence perpetuates racism—but it can be hard to know how to start. This hour-long program is about talking to white kids about race and racism: how white parents, families, and teachers can learn to show up for racial justice in a way that will make a differen…

This episode is about loneliness: what it is, why so many of us feel it, and the surprising toll loneliness takes on our physical and mental health. The health effects of chronic loneliness are akin to smoking 15 cigarettes every day—it literally shortens our lives. Yet it can feel vulnerable to name it when we feel lonely. This show examines the r…

powerpress] This hour-long program is about asking for help: why it’s so hard to admit when we need something from another person, and the surprising effects that sharing our vulnerability can have on our mental health. The episode explores how shame and stigma can prevent us from asking for what we need, why we tend to underestimate the generosity…

We all make mistakes. Knowing how to mend our relationships is vital to the mental health of our families and communities. This episode is an exploration of apologies: why saying “I’m sorry” can be difficult, and how we can get better at repairing the relationships that matter the most. Through stories, this show addresses apologies after the #MeTo…

Matthew Sanford is a yoga teacher focused on trauma recovery. Matthew was paralyzed from the chest down at age 13 in a car accident that killed his father and sister. As a teen, he was encouraged to “overcome the silence” of his paralyzed body. He learned that he could listen to his body instead, and began over time to experience his body’s silence…

Social worker Layne Gregory shares strategies for navigating the subject of sex and sexuality that she used with her own kids and gives 6 basic principles that are important for kids to understand. The post Talking To Kids About Sex & Sexuality with Layne Gregory appeared first on Safe Space Radio.Af Dr. Anne

Ellen Jennings’ son is living with high-functioning autism. She talks with Anne about the long and difficult path to his diagnosis, and about the many ways she has had to push for him to get the services he needs and help him thrive. The post Advocating for a Child with Autism with Ellen Jennings appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

This episode revisits Safe Space Radio’s 2014 interview with Bobby Payzant, an inmate at the Maine State Prison. He discusses the crime for which he is serving time, and his work as a hospice volunteer, giving care to inmates dying in prison. The post Prisoners and Hospice with Bobby Payzant appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

This episode revisits Anne’s 2012 conversation with Meredith Hall about her pregnancy at age 16. Meredith remembers being shunned by her family and school and forced to give the child up for adoption. Her memoir, Without a Map, explores how silence can be an impediment to healing. The post Stigma and Teen Pregnancy with Meredith Hall appeared first…

Episcopal priest Carl Russell talks about the childhood sexual abuse he experienced at the hands of his family’s own priest. He remembers the catalyst on his own path to healing: a radio story about sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese. At 72 years old Carl decided to press charges, and broke a silence that had ...read more » The post Breaking th…

Doula and birth educator Leah Deragon of Birth Roots talks about her struggles with postpartum depression and anxiety. She discusses the many unrealistic expectations new mothers face, and how normal it is to struggle in ways that aren’t often discussed. The post Navigating Postpartum Depression with Leah Deragon appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

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. The post Mental Illness and Stigma with Glenn Close appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

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. The post Loving Across the Political Divide with Sheila…

This hour-long special is about the unspoken challenges of caring for a family member with dementia. The show explores the experience of ambiguous loss, where the person is both here and not here at the same time. ...read more » The post Still Here: Caregiving and Dementia appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

Poet Catharine Murray describes how writing helped her heal from unspeakable loss—the death of her 6 year old son. She shares three poems that illustrate the evolution of her grief and her ongoing healing. The post Navigating Grief with Poetry with Catharine Murray appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

Safe Space Radio speaks with violence prevention educator Daryl Fort. He explains how our culture teaches men that they are superior and women that they are inferior—and how these messages work to justify and facilitate the mistreatment of women. The post Male Sexual Violence and Rape Culture with Daryl Fort appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

Sandy White Hawk is Sicangu Lakota and a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who was separated as a child from her family and heritage when she was adopted at 18 months old by a white family. She is also one of five commissioners of Maine’s historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sandy discusses the trauma ...read more » The post Adoption and R…

A conversation with Canadian broadcaster Neil McKenty about his struggles with depression and alcohol. He describes his depression as the result of a collision between his negative ideas about himself and the smooth front of success he had constructed for the world to see, and discusses how sharing his vulnerability was the pivotal step to ...read …

This show is about the courage of teenagers who come out at a time in life when it is hardest to be different. So many of the legal and social changes in this country that support LGBTQ civil rights are happening because one by one, year after year...read more » The post Out-Takes: The Unheard Stories of LBGTQ Teens appeared first on Safe Space Rad…

Elyn Saks is a law professor and MacArthur fellow who lives with schizophrenia. We discuss how she came to the difficult understanding that she had the illness and needed treatment, and how she was able to achieve personal and professional success, contrary to our popular notions of life with psychosis. The post Living with Schizophrenia with Elyn …

Psychiatrist Aaron Lazare talks about the impact of shame and humiliation, and how to repair the damage they cause. He also discusses how shame can complicate the relationship between doctors and patients, and what can be done to reduce it. The post Shame Between Doctors and Patients with Aaron Lazare appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

Navy veteran Meosha Thomas talks about the injuries she suffered in Iraq when her convoy hit an IED, and how she lost and regained her desire to live in the long recovery period that followed. She also talks more about the concept of moral injury, and how she wrestles with guilt over the choices she ...read more » The post Recovering and Surviving …

Meosha Thomas talks about the trauma of a helicopter crash that killed a close friend, and the PTSD symptoms that followed after she returned home. She also describes the impossible choices she has to make while trying to be both a mother and a soldier. The post Soldier or Mother? with Meosha Thomas appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

LaRhonda Harris, of the Maine Department of Veterans’ Affairs, talks about changes that have been made in the last decade so that women feel safer and more comfortable coming to the VA for health care. She also talks about leading a book group for women veterans, and how sharing stories of the experience of being ...read more » The post Care and Co…

This episode is part two of an interview with Kate Weber. In this episode, she discusses the years since her discharge from the army, including her struggle to feel safe in the culture of the VA, her battle with PTSD, and the ways that being in the Oscar-nominated documentary The Invisible War has empowered her ...read more » The post No Longer Inv…

Kate Weber was raped by a fellow soldier within her first weeks of deployment overseas in 1993. She discusses the helplessness and isolation she felt when she discovered that no one, from the staff doctor, to her friends and fellow soldiers, would take her seriously. The post Reporting and Retaliation with Kate Weber appeared first on Safe Space Ra…

Kathy Russin is the Military Sexual Trauma Program Coordinator for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Maine. In this episode she talks about the prevalence of Military Sexual Trauma among veterans, and explains that it is not limited to rape, and affects both men and women. She explains how MST is different from combat PTSD ...read more » The po…

Ruth Moore is the namesake of the Ruth Moore Act, a piece of pending legislation which would remove some of the current barriers to treatment and justice for survivors of military sexual trauma. This part of the interview covers Ruth’s path to personal healing after returning from overseas duty, and her choice to share her ...read more » The post B…

In this episode of Safe Space Radio, Ruth Moore talks about being sexually assaulted by her commanding officer in the Navy, after which she was ostracized and punished for seeking help. Ruth eventually escaped, but as she explains, there are thousands of other young soldiers who are not as fortunate. The post Alone in the Azores with Ruth Moore app…

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. ...rea…

Jungian analyst Don Kalsched helps people work through trauma by exploring the feelings of the characters in their dreams. He explains that because these characters represent the ways our minds have compartmentalized feelings that have been too painful to acknowledge consciously, they can be clues that point us toward healing. The post Recovering O…

This episode of Safe Space Radio features LJ, who has been dealing with Depression for most of his life. He describes living with Depression as a battle with a powerful enemy, and describes the strategies he uses when he is well so that he is better prepared when Depression returns. The post Taking the Fight to Depression with LJ appeared first on …

Mary Allen Lindemann is co-founder of Coffee By Design in Portland, Maine. She remembers how one coffee shop worked to become a safe place for those with mental illness. Mary Allen is trained in de-escalatation, and she tells a story about using these skills when a staff member became ill. The post Mental Health at the Coffee Shop with Mary Allen L…

Clare Miller is the director of the American Psychiatric Association’s Partnership for Workplace Mental Health. She works with employers to help them do everything they can to identify and treat depression among their employees. We discuss how to reduce the stigma of depression, and the value of people coming forward with their own stories. Clare .…

On this episode of Safe Space Radio Anne talks with Lisa, who shares two dramatically different stories of telling co-workers about her depression. Her experiences highlight the contrast between a work culture that is supportive and one that stigmatizes, and all the consequences that has for the employee. The post Talking about Depression at Work w…

Therapist and former orchestra conductor Susie Melnick talks about how depression has affected her work in both professions. She remembers living through her first episode of major depression, one that she struggled with on and off for decades, and discusses how coping eventually led her to change careers. She talks about treating her patients whil…

Geoff Smith heads L.L. Bean’s Employee Assistance Program, or EAP. He talks about what an EAP can do to destigmatize depression within a company, and why it’s in every employer’s best interest to identify and help workers who are struggling. The post Supporting Employee Mental Health with Geoff Smith appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…

Sara is an Iraqi citizen who fled to the U.S. after her brother’s work for the American forces in Baghdad put her family in danger. She talks about the opaque process of applying to leave, and her complicated feelings when she learned that she would be allowed to pack only two bags. The post Leaving Iraq with Sara appeared first on Safe Space Radio…

Feminist scholar Cynthia Enloe discusses about how women are affected by war and militarization. Her work focuses on sexual violence—and its subsequent silencing—as a repressive political tool, and about international efforts by feminist activists to make the United Nations address this issue. You can read UN Security Council Resolution 1325 here. …

This episode of Safe Space Radio features Catherine Bestemen, Francis F. and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College. She is the author of Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery and has worked closely with the Somali community in Portland, Maine. She discusses the extraordinary resilience of this community, t…

This is the second episode of Safe Space Radio to feature Catherine Bestemen, Francis F. and Ruth K. Bartlett Professor of Anthropology at Colby College and the author of Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery. Catherine has spent her career studying society in both Somalia and Maine, where many Somali refugees have ...read more…

Lawyer Phil Mantis works for the Immigrant Legal Assistance Program, or ILAP, in Portland, Maine. ILAP provides free legal help to people seeking asylum in the United States. Phil explains the difference between a refugee and an asylee, describes the most common reasons asylum cases are denied, and explains how ILAP helps asylees apply successfully…

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 » The pos…

This episode of Safe Space Radio features Anna, who escaped Syria while 8 months pregnant in 2013 and now lives in Maine. She talks about trading the daily threat of bombings and kidnappings for a life of uncertainty as she and her husband applied and waited for asylum—and how the experience changed her understanding of ...read more » The post Leav…

Safe Space Radio talks with Fatuma Hussein of United Somali Women of Maine. She describes the challenges of resettlement for refugees fleeing war in their native countries, which she experienced herself as a teenager. She addresses the presumption that refugees have a negative impact on the state’s economy and culture, and explains her vision for .…

This episode highlights the Maine-Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Safe Space Radio speaks with non-native allies who are working on how to best respond to the needs that the TRC brought to light, and why these issues matter to them personally. The post Non-Native Allies appeared first on Safe Space Radio.…