A Chat about Grief… that Morphs into one about Death Rebecca Coleman joins Bernadine to chat about grief. Layers of grief the represent what she is experiencing currently in her life. However, as these things go, one conversation morphs into another and by the end of this program they are looking at the issue of death: facing it, planning for it. I…

Theatre for Living with David Diamond David Diamond joins Bernadine on ReThreading Madness to discuss his Theatre for Living Workshops. TFL, as the website states, is about empowerment. Taking the living organism, which is a community, and providing a platform for its expression to create “creative, community-based dialogue.” It sounds esoteric unt…

Post Traumatic Growth: Joanne Green Style Joanne R. Green joins Bernadine on ReThreading Madness to talk about what inspired her book: By Accident: A Memoir of Letting Go. Joanne shares her journey through a variety of personal losses: mom, sister, father, brother and struggles like anorexia and cancer. In the midst of all that it was a car sliding…

Tools for Change and Employing Forgiveness Rhonda Parker Taylor talks about how she learned how to support herself and cultivate meaning in the relationship she had with herself after the murder of her son. In that she used writing as a tool for change. Rhonda tells us about her journey and her fictional book Crossroads and her workbook coming out …

Art and Peer Support at the Coast Mental Health Resource Centre. Bernadine heads down to Coast Mental Health Resource Centre on Seymour St in downtown Vancouver and speaks with folks about the Art Studio which is open to anyone with a mental health challenge. Betty Yan tells us about the Peer SupportTraining Program that Coast Mental Health has dev…

Pathologizing Trauma Trigger Warning: Description of sexual assaults. Andrea takes us on a journey through what her childhood, in the 60s and 70s, was like coping with sexual assaults from several males around her from a very young age both in and outside her family. Like other women growing up in this era, she was assaulted, blamed for it, and the…

Coping with Mental Health Challenges with JaneA Kelley JaneA Kelley has throughout her life gathered mental health diagnoses. She has Bipolar 2, PTSD, and ADHD. JaneA candidly talks about these diagnoses; what they mean to her; how they complicate or add to her life; and how she copes with them. She talks about finding herself at rock bottom and th…

Can't Eat Love with Leslie Davis Leslie Davis’ life moved through a haze that didn’t include her own feelings. After what she has deemed an Emotional Tsuunami, she developed a means of accessing her feelings, sorting through them, and then accepting them. For decades now, this process has proven to be a powerful healing tool. Join us as Leslie desc…

Door knobber Diagnosis: Misdiagnosed Borderline Personality When a client drops a therapeutic bombshell as they are leaving a session, counselors call this a “door knobber”. Lynn came to talk with Bernadine about her experience with the Borderline Personality and the door knobber that her therapist laid on her at the tail end of a phone conversatio…

Dispelling Myths about the BC Mental Health Act with Rob Wipond It is so very often that we hear misinformation about the BC Mental Health Act. It is so widely held and believed in some of our BC communities, that if you check yourself into a psych ward voluntarily you can leave when you want and you can refused any treatment that you feel won’t wo…

Mad Pride Cabaret Vancouver 2024 Have you ever stepped into a room and had a bunch of mad people celebrating the chance to freely be who they are? Well that is what Mad Pride is. In 2024, Vancouver celebrated Mad Pride through the Connection Salon at the Gathering Place downtown. And this program not only talks with three of the performers at Mad P…

Randy Tait on Recovery and Ceremony If you had gone to the 33rd Annual Women’s March it would have been hard for you to miss Randy Tait in his red jacket with matching red John Fluevog shoes. He circled the crowd bestowing eagle down on the heads of elders, guardians, and organizers. Randy is from the Nisga’a / Gitksan Nation. He has made Vancouver…

When it is a Therapist who Experiences Therapy Abuse and Exploitation She came on RTM to talk about her own experience of therapy abuse and exploitation at the hands of her psychologist. But she is unable yet to do so using her name. Why? Because she is also a psychologist who fears retribution for speaking out. She chats with Bernadine about her e…

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,…

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 inc…

Jason Fareas on Addiction and Recovery From his website, 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"…

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.By ReThreading Madness Radio

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…

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 …

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 …

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 p…

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, whe…

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 aga…

988, Forced Committals, and Suicide assessments With the new 988 suicide hotline being launched, Rob Wipond cautions us on some of the pitfalls that can occur with traumatizing impacts on people. Barbara Phillips talks with us about her experience of being forceably committed and then Bernadine Fox walks us through the usual type of Suicide Assessm…

Charlene Hellson/Unpacking the Backpack, Stacy Ashton from Crisis Intervention, and Fraser McKenzie from Coast Mental Health. Bernadine brings you information on several opportunities for education and support. Grandmother, performer, writer, and Indigenous Mental Health Advocate, Charlene Hellson from the Siksika Nation (Blackfoot Confederacy) tal…

Peter, Cathleen, and Janell Morin, from the Tahltan nation, join Bernadine to chat about what happens when Alzheimers grabs hold of a family generation after generation, but mostly to describe their loving care of their mother as she makes this journey. So often we hear of older people with Alzheimers unable to care for themselves and/or plagued wi…

Weetigo on Intergenerational Trauma, Epigenetic Memory, and Superpowers Weetigo is a brilliant 60s Scoop Survivor and band member of the Poundmaker Cree Nation. Bernadine met him through TikTok where he talks about intergenerational trauma and epigenetic memory from the perspective of indigeneity. His intriguing ideas are based on what we know abou…

Outsider Arts Festival and Haida Storytelling with Giihlgiigaa Todd DeVries On ReThreading Madness we chat with the organizers and one of the performers of the Outsider Arts Festival here in Vancouver BC. Kristin Cheung, Executive Director, and Rocky Riobo of Rocky and the Gems give us the inside goods on the what, where, how, and who of this years…

TRIGGER WARNING: Explicit descriptions of child sexual abuse More Than One: Dr. Colin Ross on Dissociative Identities Dr. Colin Ross, world renown expert of Dissociation, and Bernadine chat about Dissociative Identities: what is it, how to look at it, how the world copes with it, and how you can cope with it. In amongst there they compare DID to sc…

A Glimmer of Hope around Recovery wieth Susi Milne TRIGGER warning Talk about alcoholism and substance abuse along with sexual trauma as a young child. Some profanity during spoken word recital. Bernadine chats with the effervescent Susi Milne about their recovery from alcoholism and substance abuse (Oxycodone and Ativan). There is literally no one…

Are We Old Yet? Women talking about Aging. Today on RTM, I talk with three different women all of whom are over 60 years of age and all of whom would agree that our mental health as we age has nothing to do with fashion, interior design, beauty, cooking, or the health and wellbeing of our spouses or children. So, what does it have to do with? It is…

Alex Sangha from Sher Vancouver and Isabella Mori on her book Believe Me about mental health and addiction Bernadine chats with Alex Sangha about Sher Vancouver Gala, Emergence, and IMigrant. Alex Sangha's birth name is Amar Singh Sangha. He was born in Gravesend, Kent, England and raised in Surrey and North Delta, British Columbia, Canada. His mot…

Note: Please access the transcript (see below) so that you can follow along with David as he speaks. A stroke has damaged his ability to talk and at times it is hard to understand his words A Renewed Call for a Mad Pride Revolution on the 20th Anniversary of Hunger Strike: with David Oaks and Debra Nunez from MindFreedom Bernadine chats with David …

The incredible JD Derbyshire who is a writer, comedian, mad activist, performer, playwright, theatre maker, director, inclusive educator and innovator joins Bernadine in RTM. We talk about being mad and the need for individuals who live with mental health challenges to have agency in their lives and to consider coming out. And we laughed… we laughe…

Includes a Trigger Warning Bernadine speaks with Linda Peavac (also known as Emma Stevens) who spoke with us recently about the experience of being an adopted child. Today we are talking about her experience of being exploited by her therapist and her memoir which describes this experience A Fire Is Coming. Therapy Abuse is an under-acknowledged tr…

Lani Elliott is a 60s Scoop Survivor who grew up in foster care in the small town of Abernethy, Saskatchewan. As a child, she dreamed of working in law enforcement, and at the age of 19, joined the RCMP as a special constable, hoping to one day become a regular member of the police force. Unfortunately, Lani’s dreams were shattered when her marriag…

Mad Pride/Connection Salon July 2023 Mad Pride is a global movement of those with lived experiences of the mental health system. It is an opportunity for folks to demonstrate their pride in their mad identity and a reclamation of the terms that have been used to hurt them: mad, nutter, psycho. Mad Pride is celebrated across the globe including Cana…

Peer Connections/Jamie Smallboy/Madness Canada In this program, Bernadine interviews Adam Milne from Peer Connections in Winnipeg and Cindy Jiang from Madness Canada in Toronto about their programming and resources that are made available to people who live with mental health challenges. Madness Canada has also become a hub of archival material reg…

In 1895, the Canadian government banned the Sundance. Intent on destroying the first nation’s way of life and spiritual practices, the colonizers banned various ceremonies and certain practices (like piercing) along withholding sacred objects required for those ceremonies. While this was legally reversed in 1951, it took many years before all First…

Lack of services makes Rose Finlay’s liveable disability life-threatening. Rose Finlay has been a quadriplegic since a swimming accident at 17 yrs broke her neck. She has been a powerhouse working for change as a published author, keynote speaker, model, disability advocate, accessibility consultant, certified holistic health coach and reiki master…

“I am a Transwoman” Jodi Gray, winner of the 2023 Courage To Come Back award in Mental Health, speaks with Bernadine about being a transwoman. Jodi came from a childhood filled with severe abuse and poverty. This led to anxiety and depression that plagued her for decades and cost her jobs and relationships. The hardest relationship for her to lose …

What is it Like to be an Adopted Child? Emma Stevens, author (The Gathering Place and A Fire is Coming) and US domestic adoptee from birth during the Baby Scoop Era, has survived layers of trauma throughout her life. She visits ReThreading Madness and delves into the reality that adoptees face struggling between being the good, adopted child in fea…

Bernadine chats with two women, Jane Bouey and Isabella Mori, who live with Long COVID after a relatively short and mild form of COVID itself. They describe how COVID impacted on their brains and what they experience because of it: brain fog, exhaustion, strange emotional reactions, etc. They discuss whether this is a mental health issue from the i…

Insanity explores the disappearance of Bruce Hill-Tout disappeared during an episode of paranoia generated from schizophrenia in 1998. “Through interviews with her father and siblings, family photos and dramatizations, Hill-Tout tells her brother’s story. But it’s not a mystery. The family doesn’t spend much time in the film unravelling clues. Inst…

Rodney DeCroo’s newly released book “Fishing for Leviathan” (Anvil Press) takes us into his journey through his childhood. “At theatre school they tried to correct my posture and make my diction soft. But I was a razor wrapped in black velvet soaked in possum’s blood.” Anvil writes “these poems are from a writer who has crawled through a mile of br…

What is Structural Violence with Heather Tunold: How it impacts on the residents the DTES The question of Structural Violence came up for me as I listened to Heather Anita Tunold talk about it on a recent panel. She sat down with me to chat about how structural violence impacts on the residents of the DTES here in Vancouver BC. What she described i…

Grandparents (and other relatives) raise the children of other family members at a rate that far surpasses the number of children in our current foster cares system here in BC. In fact, even the government recognizes that they are a largely hidden and unrecognized social service system. On ReThreading Madness Bernadine, a grandparent who raises a g…

This is Part 2 of Bernadine’s chat’s with Irit Shimrat, author, editor, advocate and agitator around her experience of being psychiatrized. Irit has a long history being involved in and critiquing the mental health field - although she would label that differently: health being the misnomer. We address the problems of language, the shadow reports s…

“Bullseye The Clown™ is on a mission to empower those who have lost their hope and belief due to bullying to stand up, speak out and reclaim their authority!” He comes and chats with Bernadine about bullying and what we can do about it. music Shari UlrichBy ReThreading Madness Radio

Bernadine chats with Irit Shimrat, author, editor, advocate and agitator around her experience of being psychiatrized. Irit has a long history being involved in and critiquing the mental health field - although she would label that differently: health being the misnomer. We talk language, consequences to people's lives from being psychiatrized, and…