132: Loving someone with suicidal thoughts: Interview with Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW

Episode 132: In today's interview, Stacey and I talk about how she drew on her personal and professional experiences to write a book for families, friends and parents of someone who is suicidal. She talks about why and how families can create support teams, when and why it might not be appropriate to reach out to others, and how to navigate reaching out even when the suicidal person doesn't want you to. We talked about how to find support on social networks like Facebook. She talks about how friends and family can feel manipulated by a suicidal loved one, even if the suicidal person isn't being manipulative. Throughout the interview, Stacey speaks to families AND social workers. For example, in her book she takes the classic therapy phrase "active listening" and suggests that for families we call it "brave listening." I love that. Active listening is so professional. If you're listening to your kid or your partner or your parent talk about how they don't want to live any more, you're brave listening... that's what it is. You can read a transcript of today's interview at https://socialworkpodcast.blogspot.com/2022/12/Freedenthal2022.html You can connect with other social workers at the Social Work Podcast Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/swpodcast, or follow the Twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/socworkpodcast.