Episodes

  • When it is a Therapist who Experiences Therapy Abuse and Exploitation

    When it is a Therapist who Experiences Therapy Abuse and Exploitation
    Jun 23 2024
    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 experience of therapy abuse, how her husband sought retribution for the 'affair', how she was treated by the tribunal that processed the complaint against her abuser, and how they put her and her child's safety with their actions.

    In the penalty imposed on her psychologist the board stated " Dr. X, you are here today in front of this panel of the (redacted) Discipline Committee to be reprimanded on your conduct as a Psychologist with respect to the allegations to which you have pleaded guilty today. We trust that you understand the severity of your behaviours. You failed to maintain the standards of the profession and engaged in a romantic and sexual relationship with a former client. Dr. X, we hope that you understand the impact that your behaviour has had on the trust and respect placed in our profession by members of the public. In working with a vulnerable person who had not had time to separate from the therapeutic relationship, your actions crossed the boundary between the personal and professional. Your behaviour was disgraceful, dishonourable and unprofessional." He lost his license to practice for 12 months, had to take two ethics programs and write essays to prove that he understood what he did was wrong, and pay a penalty.

    After the interview, the woman said that "I think the findings would have looked different had I been more capable of seeing what he did to me. Instead I was in full self-blame mode and didn’t want to ruin his life. I defended him and told the (redacted) I was in love with him and we had a relationship. I tried to claim that as I psychologist I knew what I was doing…I did not. I was unaware at that time of all the havoc his actions created and continued to create in my life. Very sad."

    music by Shari Ulrich
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Decolonizing mental health: What is it?

    Decolonizing mental health: What is it?
    Jun 11 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
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Retiring Well with Jake

    Retiring Well with Jake
    Jun 4 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,
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Jason Fareas on Addiction and Recovery

    Jason Fareas on Addiction and Recovery
    May 31 2024
    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".

    Jason has his own podcast, My Madness METHod, 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
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Forced Commitals with Barbara Phillips

    Forced Commitals with Barbara Phillips
    May 21 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.
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • The Correlation between Weight and Child Sexual Abuse with Patty Cabot

    The Correlation between Weight and Child Sexual Abuse with Patty Cabot
    Feb 6 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
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Coping with Grief during the Holidays and Anniversaries

    Coping with Grief during the Holidays and Anniversaries
    Jan 24 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
    Show more Show less
    1 hr
  • Gifts of Madness, David Granirer and Katharine Giovanni

    Gifts of Madness, David Granirer and Katharine Giovanni
    Jan 17 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.
    Show more Show less
    1 hr