11 GIU 2024 · Decolonizing mental health:  What is it?  Norman Leech, is currently the Executive Director for the Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, and was the Executive Director for Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre from 2016-2023. He still works to change the fact that Indigenous people are “over-represented in most negative social health indicators, whether homelessness, incarceration, crime victims, children-in-care, poverty, missing, murdered, income, suicide, life expectancy, and on and on.” (Conference Board of Canada)  Norman is from the T’it’q’et community of the St’at’imc nation but was born and raised in East Vancouver. “He draws on his experiences as a recovering alcoholic/ addict, computer nerd, inter-generational survivor, and spiritual explorer to inform his current work.” (Conference Board of Canada).   Norman chats with Bernadine about what it is and why it is important today to look at mental health from a decolonized perspective.  He also delves into its origins, who can benefit from it, and where you can find it.  Music by Shari Ulrich

4 GIU 2024 · Retirement with Jake   Jake is 64 years old. He is retiring in one month.  As he is reaching what is what some called the golden age, his life blows up.  He is evicted from an affordable residences so that his landlord’s parents can move in.  He is in the middle of moving from a disability pension to a regular pension and is not really sure what his income will be.  He is drowning in paperwork and he learns that one of his daughters is about to get married and give birth to his first grandchild.  Consequently, on top of everything, he must move.  Because of the absorbent rents in Vancouver BC he chooses to move to be closer to his daughter in Ontario.  Jake’s whole life is about to change.  He talks with us about what that looks like and how it is impacting on him. It’s Alright, Shari Ulrich, These Lines, Shari Ulrich, Something to Live For, Barney Bentall, I Gotta Go , Bary Bentall, 

31 MAG 2024 · Jason Fareas on Addiction and Recovery From his https://eight19product.com/, Jason describes himself as having an unstable childhood although he is very clear that he was a loved child by the adults in his life.  He talks about the development of his addiction and then his involvement in the drug trade.  On his podcast, he shares his "journey from addiction to recovery". Jason has his own podcast, https://eight19product.com/, where he provides a "weekly autobiography of a young man from Northern California’s Central Valley, and a look back on his participation and influence over the 1990s methamphetamine epidemic. He sorts through decades of descent into addiction and mental illness and how self-realization, acceptance, and unconditional love eventually saw him to recovery." Bernadine and Jason engage in an intimate discussion about where he came from to where he is now.  Just a quick look at his photo will tell you just how heartwarming was this discussion.  Join us.  Music by Shari Ulrich 

21 MAG 2024 · Forced Committals with Barbara Phillips Barbara has had several forced commitals and a long history of taking psychiatric meds.  She opens up with Bernadine about those commitals what worked, what didn't, what left lasting scars and physical impairments.  

6 FEB 2024 · The Correlation between Weight and Child Sexual Abuse with Patty Cabot Patty Cabot joins us to talk about her experience of weight loss via coming to terms with the sexual abuse in her childhood. She is the author of "Not That Girl". Music by DG Adams, Robbie Robertson, Meaghan Trainer, and Shari Ulrich

24 GEN 2024 · Coping with Grief during the Holidays and Anniversaries Jennifer O’Brien is grief-experienced. What does that mean? For starters, she has experienced several of her immediate family, including parents, siblings, and husband dying. In working through her grief she created a journal. That journal was published: The Hospice Drs Widow and won numerous prestigious awards. She speaks with Bernadine about grief. Especially grief around holidays and anniversary dates. And she shares what her tools for getting through those dates. Music by David Laronde, Edith Wallace, and Shari Ulrich

17 GEN 2024 · Gifts of Madness with Kagan Goh, Stand Up for Mental Health with David Granirer, and Forgiveness with Katharine Giovanni Today’s program includes interviews with Kagan Goh about a multi-media exhibition he is curating called the Gifts of Madness. As the Penticton Art Gallery states, "Gifts of Madness" is an upcoming mental-health themed exhibition at the gallery run by Ignite the Arts, part of a powerful collaboration with Tempest Theatre & Film Society, Voices with Impact, Connection Salon, Gallery Cachet, the Community Arts Council of Vancouver and Workman Arts' "Rendezvous with Madness" Festival. The exhibit's goal is to celebrate "Mad Pride," a movement that embraces the challenges and experiences of mental health and its multifaceted natures, from negative to positive. David Granirer talks about his upcoming performance at the Lightness of Being on Jan 24th and his program Stand Up For Mental Health™ gives programs and classes throughout North America and Australia, everywhere but the Vancouver, B.C. area. And as he says “Our shows look at the stand up comedy side of mental health, mental illness, recovery, and surviving the mental health system.” Katharine Giovanni talks about her new book, “The Ultimate Path to Forgiveness: Unlocking Your Power “ giving us insight into the process of forgiveness and why it might be important for some of us to look at it.

2 GEN 2024 · Haida Storytelling with Giihlgiigaa. Todd DeVries, Giihlgiigaa, invites us in to hear about indigenous storytelling: how and where it is told, how it is learned and passed on, and its importance in the Haida culture. He tells us about the Raven, in the beginning and gives us a Haida Prayer. He explains the Haida concept of time and the seven time periods that are referenced that reach from the present time to the past that goes back thousands upon thousands of years.

19 DIC 2023 · Consent: Its Misuse as a Weapon and a Shield in Therapy Abuse TRIGGER WARNING: Talk about Therapy Abuse, Sexual assault, and what is consent. Some of this material may be very difficult and we ask that you do what you need to take care of yourself in this hours. RTM discusses consent between adults around therapy abuse where and, in particular, when is a “yes” not a “yes”? It feels like we just got it settled that “no means no”. In this program we ask that you to stretch your cognitive thinking to consider when a yes is not a yes. It may seem too much to ask – but it will make sense by the end of this program why it is important for us to do this. We also discuss BCs new Health Professional and Occupation act regulating our Drs and other health professionals and it’s last revision which seems to provide some protection for victims of therapy abuse but still is questionable along with the problems that can occur with the 2-3 year interval between termination and initiating an intimate relationship with a former client that has been adopted by several association and societies offering professional memberships to therapists.

12 DIC 2023 · Rape Culture and the Long Road to Healing Trigger Warning: This hour includes descriptions of sexual assault, rape, and victim-blaming. Lenny Gagnon’s whole world turned up-side-down when her father died in a mill accident when she was 6 years old. At 7 she was groomed and then sexually assaulted by the neighborhood pedophile. And she was raped again at 15. When she reported the last one, the cop who interviewed her also assaulted her. At the hearing, she was grilled and shredded about her character (swearing and sexual history [ie rape]) and based on that the judge refused to go ahead with charging her rapist because he didn’t believe she was of chaste character. Second wave feminists had yet to fight to ensure that victims of sexual assault were treated with care and dignity at police stations and in courtrooms. The trauma Lenny experienced caused depression which ultimately led to her being given anti-depressants and then eventually one that caused her to experience mania. Because of the mania, she was put on neuroleptics or anti-psychotics which caused other debilitating side effects. After decades of being on these medications she finally found a psychiatrist who would wean her off these drugs and help her as she transitioned to CBD oil with THC. Today, Lenny is healthy, living her best life with her loving partner Tom. Lenny is a story of survival and victory. Music by Shari Ulrich and Lyndsey Ell