“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 can actually make us more effective at combating it. We hear stories about the challenge of facing the facts, and emotions including grief, hopelessness, and fear. Finally, we consider how taking action can actually lead us to greater strength, connection, and impact. Safe Space Radio combines compelling storytelling with practical expert guidance to give you the tools you need to find your own courage.                                                          Tips & Strategies for Coping and Getting Engaged (PDF) We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story about climate courage—or a comment for one of our guests—please leave us a voicemail at 617-600-8419.

“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 discuss how initiating a goodbye conversation can make us more emotionally resilient long-term. We combine compelling storytelling with practical expert guidance to give you the tools you need to start your own difficult conversations. Tips & Strategies for Saying a Good Goodbye (PDF) We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story about saying goodbye—or a comment for one of our guests—please leave us a voicemail at 617-600-8419.

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 borderline personality disorder—as  a kind of “courage boot camp.” We also discuss how culturally-imposed silence can enforce shame and make accessing our courage much more difficult. Safe Space Radio combines compelling storytelling with practical expert guidance to give you the tools you need to start finding your own courage.                                                          Tips & Strategies for Accessing Your Courage (PDF) We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story about mental health or mental illness—or a comment for one of our guests—please leave us a voicemail at 617-600-8419.

“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 ce 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 bystander, with a special focus on white bystanders and racist violence. We explore how violence is dehumanizing, and leads survivors to blame themselves. We also hear about the forces that make it difficult for victims and bystanders to speak up.This hour long show is about the power of overcoming shame and silence by telling the truth about violence. Through compelling stories and expert reflection, we explore how finding voice and bearing witness can become part of recovery for both individuals and communities.                                                            Tips & Strategies for Confronting Violence (PDF) We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story about experiencing violence in childhood—or a comment for one of our guests—please leave us a voicemail at 617-600-8419.

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 difference for generations to come. The show explores a wide variety of approaches with kids of all ages. Parents, racial justice experts, and teens all provide perspectives on these necessary and challenging conversations, with a focus on how white parents can actively interrupt the racist messages and stereotypes that children as young as three years old are already starting to pick up. We combine compelling storytelling with practical expert guidance to give you tools to start your own courageous conversations. Tips & Strategies for Talking to White Kids About Race & Racism (PDF) We’d love to hear from you! If you are a parent or teacher, and you have a story about talking to kids about racism—or a comment for one of our guests—please leave us a voicemail at 617-600-8419.

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 risk factors for loneliness, the influence of social media, and how creative approaches to loneliness can leave us more connected and resilient. We also explore why two groups in particular—teens and the elderly—are most at risk for chronic loneliness. We combine compelling storytelling with practical expert guidance to give you the tools you need to start your own courageous conversations. Tips & Strategies for Combating Loneliness (PDF) We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story about loneliness or a comment for one of our guests, leave us a voicemail at 617-600-8419.

<img class=”size-medium wp-image-4556 alignleft” src=”https://safespaceradio.com/wp-content/uploads/AFH-PRX-photo-400×267.jpeg” alt=”” width=”400″ height=”267″ /> 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 of others, and how asking can make us feel seen in both welcome and uncomfortable ways. Finally, we address the complicated experience of wanting to help to someone who can’t or won’t ask for it. We combine compelling storytelling with practical expert guidance to give you the tools you need to start your own courageous conversations. <a href=”https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DM89ZLB” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”> <img class=”alignnone wp-image-4656″ src=”https://safespaceradio.com/wp-content/uploads/Survey-button-400×49.jpg” alt=”” width=”262″ height=”32″ /></a> <h3><a href=”https://safespaceradio.com/wp-content/uploads/AFH-Tips.pdf”>Tips & Strategies for Asking For Help (PDF)</a></h3> We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story about asking for help or a comment for one of our guests, leave us a voicemail at <strong>617-600-8419. </strong> <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/Safe-Space-Radio-118333424910010/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”><img class=”alignnone wp-image-1709″ src=”https://safespaceradio.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/fb1.png” alt=”fb” width=”39″ height=”40″ /></a> <a href=”http://twitter.com/safespaceradio” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”><img class=”alignnone wp-image-1710″ src=”https://safespaceradio.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/twitter1.png” alt=”twitter” width=”39″ height=”39″ /></a> <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/safespaceradio/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”><img class=”alignnone wp-image-2504″ src=”https://safespaceradio.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/instagram.png” alt=”instagram” width=”39″ height=”39″ /></a>

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 #MeToo movement, and the pressure to forgive. It also chronicles the many ways a restorative justice process can change the lives of everyone involved. We combine storytelling with practical expert guidance to give you the tools you need to start you own courageous conversations. Tips & Strategies for How to Apologize Well (PDF) We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story about an apology or a comment for one of our guests, leave us a voicemail at 617-600-8419.  

For the final show of 2016 and this season of Safe Space Radio, we revisit my 2011 conversation with Matthew Sanford. Matthew is a yoga teacher focusing on trauma recovery. He 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, but he learned that he could listen to it instead. Over time, he began to experience his body's silence as a source of strength and connection. He encourages all of us, as we age, to listen to the increasing silence of our bodies in new ways.

This week we go back to 2008 and the second episode of Safe Space Radio to revisit a conversation that remains so important to me: how (and when) to talk to your kids about sexuality. My guest Layne Gregory and I discuss the ways our parents were unable to give us the information we needed on the subject. Layne shares the strategies for navigating the subject of sexuality that she used with her own kids and gives 6 basic principles that are important for kids to understand.