Storytelling

The Power of Storytelling in Suicide Prevention: Insights from Stefanie Kirchner | Ep. 134

The Power of Storytelling in Suicide Prevention: Insights from Stefanie Kirchner | Ep. 134

Today we share some profound insights with our incredible guest, Dr. Stefanie Kirchner. We discuss the experiences of suicide survivors by sharing their stories about suicidality and overcoming a crisis in the media. Particularly when it comes to conversations surrounding suicide—a topic often shrouded in silence and shame. Stefanie’s research highlights a unique approach, focusing on the impact of sharing deeply personal stories. By bravely opening up, individuals don't just speak for themselves; they create ripples that can inspire hope and understanding in others who might be struggling.

Shoebox of Memories -- Reflections on Hierarchies of Grief, Decades after Losing a Classmate to Suicide: Interview with Candace Opper | Episode 104

Shoebox of Memories -- Reflections on Hierarchies of Grief, Decades after Losing a Classmate to Suicide: Interview with Candace Opper | Episode 104

What do we mean by “disenfranchised grief.” It’s when your experience of grief is different than the general cultural attitudes about “justified” pain regarding death and loss or “acceptable” mourning practices. Being out of “the norm” in your grief experience often tend to exacerbate the pain as people can feel very alone.

In this conversation, Candace Opper talks about her experience losing a childhood acquaintance to suicide and how this event stayed with her for decades.

Tell a More Powerful Tale -- Shifting the Narrative of Suicide Prevention by Engaging People with Lived Experience: Interview with Bronwen Edwards | Episode 95

Tell a More Powerful Tale -- Shifting the Narrative of Suicide Prevention by Engaging People with Lived Experience: Interview with Bronwen Edwards | Episode 95

Storytellers in suicide prevention have the power to shift culture and change the world in ways other stakeholders are not able to do. Our “voices of insight” have influence and shape others’ understanding on a deep level. People with lived experience seek to stand in solidarity with our research colleagues, policy champions and mental health professionals to embed our deep wisdom in a processes of partnership. In this podcast, I speak with the world renowned Bronwen Edwards, a global authority on the power of lived experience to drive large scale change in suicide prevention. We talk about how we can approach our partners — who may have different values, priorities and points of view — with “compassionate curiosity” so we can “collaborate the big collaboration” (instead of “fight the good fight”).

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Historical Trauma and Historical Healing: Interview with Abigail Echo Hawk | Episode 87

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Historical Trauma and Historical Healing: Interview with Abigail Echo Hawk | Episode 87

Historical trauma is often understood to be multigenerational wounding caused by the cumulative impact of major events inflicted upon a specific cultural, racial or ethnic group. When it comes to research about health and well-being, Western modalities of understanding human experience are limited and biased, further driving disparities and truncated views that can cause even more harm. By contrast, a strength-based, Indigenous framework of understanding resists the narrow view and on-going trauma of colonialism and focuses on restoration and healing. In this interview I speak with a “Storyteller of Health” and epidemiologist Abigail Echo Hawk about her vision of an anti-racist approach to data collection and recovery among tribal communities.

But I Didn’t Say Goodbye -- Helping Families After a Suicide: Interview with Barbara Rubel | Episode 52

But I Didn’t Say Goodbye -- Helping Families After a Suicide: Interview with Barbara Rubel | Episode 52

“Grief is love not wanting to let go.”

When children are grieving a death by suicide, they need the caring adults around them to help them find their way through Wordon’s tasks of mourning:

Task #1: Accept the Reality of the Loss

Task #2: Process the Pain of the Grief

Task #3: Adjust to a World without the Deceased

Task #4: Move on to an Enduring Connection While Embarking on a New Life

In this podcast, I interview Barbara Rubel, author of But I Didn’t Say Goodbye: Helping Families After a Suicide. We walk through specific strategies families and other caring adults can use to support kids bereaved by suicide across many developmental ages.

The Forgotten Mourners — Disenfranchised Grief of Siblings Bereaved by Suicide: Interview with Dr. Lena Heilmann | Episode 46

The Forgotten Mourners — Disenfranchised Grief of Siblings Bereaved by Suicide: Interview with Dr. Lena Heilmann | Episode 46

Author of “Still with Us: Voices of Sibling Suicide Loss,” Dr. Lena Heilmann joins me for our shared reflection on the experience of losing a brother or sister to suicide. We speak about how in this form of loss, siblings experience losing their past, present and future. Lena also suggests many strategies for coping with the grief and trauma of suicide loss.

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Cutting through the Clutter — How to Effectively Get your Message of Suicide Prevention Heard: Interview with Dr. Bart Andrews | Episode 42

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Cutting through the Clutter — How to Effectively Get your Message of Suicide Prevention Heard: Interview with Dr. Bart Andrews | Episode 42

Recently, with major news coverage of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” and celebrity suicide deaths, we are having more conversations about suicide, but are we having the right conversations? Are we telling a more powerful tale? In this episode Dr. Bart Andrews shares his story of deciding to “come out” as a suicide attempt survivor, how he challenges “safe messaging guidelines,” and what he believes are most important suicide prevention messages need to be.

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The Role of Arts in Healing A Conversation with an Indigenous Trauma Survivor & Student of Honor: Interview with Swil Kanim | Episode 36

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The Role of Arts in Healing A Conversation with an Indigenous Trauma Survivor & Student of Honor: Interview with Swil Kanim | Episode 36

…Swil is an indigenous man and a trauma survivor who credits his ability to overcome racism and suffering and become a student of honor to his discovery of the violin in the 4th grade. Join us as he shares his path of finding that healing was his responsibility and that the way he would be true to his journey was through expressing himself musically.

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Brain Science and Storytelling -- Learning about Self-Transformation from Neuroscience, Narrative Psychology & Indigenous Healing: Interview with Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona | Episode 31

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Brain Science and Storytelling -- Learning about Self-Transformation from Neuroscience, Narrative Psychology & Indigenous Healing: Interview with Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona | Episode 31

Well before we had writing and certainly before we had powerpoint, people were sharing stories. When it comes to suicide, we must “tell a more powerful tale” — one of resilience and redemption. When we cultivate stories that describe experiences of coming through unimaginable suicidal despair or suicide grief, storytellers “make meaning” and broader societal changes are possible. In other words, storytelling is good for the storyteller, and when done safely and effectively, it is good for the listener and can powerfully shift culture. In this interview Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona and I talk about the neurobiology and cultural implications of the power of the story to heal.

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A Warrior for Wellness -- One Man’s Epic Battle for Recovery: Interview with Gabe Howard | Episode 28

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A Warrior for Wellness -- One Man’s Epic Battle for Recovery: Interview with Gabe Howard | Episode 28

After listening to many people describe their experiences with suicidal intensity, I and others have come to think about the clash between the will to live and the desire to escape unimaginable emotional pain as an “epic battle” between fierce forces. On one side is the warrior fighting to live, continuing to make future plans and persevering toward health and vitality. At the same time the pain this warrior is battling can be all-consuming.

In this interview we hear from one man about his “epic battle for recovery” and how he bolstered the strength of his inner warrior who fought valiantly for a passion for living. Gabe Howard is not just managing his bipolar condition and hanging on the edge, he is living well. In other words mental illness and mental well-being are two different dimensions.

The Papageno Effect -- What Does it Mean to Promote the Positive in Suicide Prevention?: Interview with Dr. Thomas Niederkrotenthaler | Episode 18

The Papageno Effect -- What Does it Mean to Promote the Positive in Suicide Prevention?: Interview with Dr. Thomas Niederkrotenthaler | Episode 18

What does it mean to "promote the positive" in suicide prevention? 

When we are inundated with discouraging data about increasing suicide rates and tragic stories of suicide loss, our hearts are moved to the urgency of the need to "do something;" however, sometimes we feel hopeless that we can ever get in front of this daunting issue….

When we change the public narrative to hope, connectedness, social support, treatment and recovery we can transform systems from helplessness to inspiration. We don't need to minimize the pain or the social injustice that drives despair to do this….

In this podcast, we hear some powerful insights from Dr. Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, the associate professor for public health, Medical University of Vienna (Austria) about the Papageno Effect and the potentially protective effects of specific positive messaging, especially related to stories of people who live and grow through personal experiences with suicidal intensity.

Storytelling and Suicide Prevention: An Interview with “THE S WORD” Movie Producer Lisa Klein | Episode 3

Storytelling and Suicide Prevention: An Interview with “THE S WORD” Movie Producer Lisa Klein | Episode 3

Effective storytelling is critical to the suicide prevention and suicide grief support efforts. Intimate, vulnerable, inspiring stories let us know we are not alone. Stories of recovery allow us to see a road map before us that leads us out of our despair.

In this podcast we talk with filmmaker Lisa Klein about why storytelling is so critical in effective suicide prevention. She shares with us her jou