Safe Space Radio

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 » The post Self-Care and Intergenerational Mental Illness with Beth Erlichman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Theologian and academic Rosemary Radford Ruether talks with Safe Space Radio about her son David’s schizophrenia and the challenges her family has faced in supporting him. She questions whether medications have helped or hurt him, and offers a critique of the mental health system which she feels is more interested in warehousing and pacifying people ...read more » The post Parenting a Son with Schizophrenia with Rosemary Radford Ruether appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

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 » The post Having a Child with Schizophrenia with Cheryl Ramsay appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

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 » The post On Having a Mother with Bi-Polar Disorder with Valerie Gamache appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Alicia Barnes talks about her brother, Josh Barnes, who had schizophrenia. Alicia describes Josh’s fears that he had brought mental illness on himself, and how medication impacted his creativity and sense of purpose in writing and playing music. She remembers how stigma kept him from talking about his illness and speaks about becoming involved with ...read more » The post Having a Brother with Schizophrenia with Alicia Barnes appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

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 » The post Bi-Polar Disorder in the Family with Liz Brenner appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Neil McKenty is a broadcast, author, and former Jesuit priest. He talks about how his expectations about aging have matched up with his experiences now, in his 85th year of life. Neil has been a consultant and constant inspiration to Safe Space Radio since its inception in 2008, and this show was aired in tribute ...read more » The post Aging with Neil McKenty appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This episode of Safe Space Radio features psychologist and researcher Dr. Nancy Kassam-Adams. She talks about children’s medical experiences as a source of PTSD and gives helpful suggestions for how parents can identify trauma in their kids after painful medical procedures or hospitalizations. Nancy described an innovative program to treat adolescent cancer survivors and their ...read more » The post Pediatric Medical Trauma with Nancy Kassam-Adams appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This episode features Emmy Award-winning television writer and executive producer, Chris Nee, talking about her show, Doc McStuffins. Chris wrote the show in order to help her own son, Theo, who suffers from severe asthma. The post Children’s Fear of the Doctor with Chris Nee appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

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 » The post PTSD in the Intensive Care Unit with Nancy Andrews appeared first on Safe Space Radio.