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A holistic therapist addresses the need for and importance ot hope, and offers some of the advice she gives her own clients. Lauren Bittner, who has extensive experience treating anxiety, depression and addiction, speaks compassionately and realistically about the challenges of being human in 2021. https://lauren1bittner.wixsite.com/instillhope

No matter how dark a place you are or have been, and how alone you felt when you were there, there are others who have had similar experiences and made it out. By sharing their stories/experiences they also light a path out for us to follow. Jordan is one such person. He freely shares about his lowest points, knowing that his lived experience is a way to connect with others and show them that recovery is real and possible. Please take 19 minutes to listen.

2020 challenged us on many levels including economic, political, social justice, overall health and mental health. Licensed psychologist R. Kweku Smith joins us for a look back-- while also focusing on what we can do to maintain or restore our mental health as we try to recover and move on from this unprecedented year.

The list of things that feel or are out of our control right now is long. But for most of us, breath is something we can access anytime and breathing consciously is a quick, free and effective form of meditation. Our guest, Ambrose WB, joined us for a casual, honest and potentially-healing conversation about taking and keeping control during this pandemic, and any other time. 19-minute episode. https://skyschools.org/

Last week we observed Veteran's Day. This, and every day, we have the opportunity to help connect with and support the veterans in our lives. In the second of this 2-part episode, we continue our conversation with VA Psychologist Dr. Michael McBride about the challenges vets are having during this pandemic and how civilians can help keep them connected and safe. https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ https://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-benefits/be-there-for-veterans.html

The military veteran world is a culture to itself. While that provides connection on one level, it can cause feelings of disconnect on others. Dr. Michael McBride, a veteran and Veteran's Administration psychiatrist who treats and supports vets with some level of mental-health distress including PTSD and depression. In the first of a 2-part interview, we ask Dr. McBride if the pandemic has impacted his clients' mental health, and what veterans can do to protect themselves and manage their challenges. Next week we'll look at ways civilians, including family and friends can help the veterans in their lives. Thank you for your service and the sacrifices it required. Resource links: https://www.veteranscrisisline.nedt/ https://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-benefits/be-there-for-veterans.html https://servingtogetherproject.org/ https://www.facebook.com/RRHouseMHA/

Living with a mental illness can be quite challenging. Living with and caring for someone with a condition like depression or bipolar disorder, especially a parent, can be "punishing." That's the word this week's guest, Michelle Dickinson, uses to describe being the child (and sometimes caretaker) of a mother with bipolar disorder. It's a candid conversation between two women who understand and experience the impact of growing up with unpredictability, confusion and fear. https://www.michelleedickinson.com/ https://www.michelleedickinson.com/protecting-our-happy/ https://breakingintomylife.com/

We need all the help we can get to deal with the unrelenting blows of 2020. And Mindful Self Compassion offers tools that can help us. This bonus track is a 9-minute guided MSC practice, with Dr. Barbara Moser, a Mindful Self Compassion teacher, mental health and suicide-prevention advocate and retired physician. Feel free to download this so it's handy if/when you need it.

2020 is testing us. Even the most resilient among us are feeling the strain. Our reserves are depleted. Mindful Self Compassion offers tools that can help us help ourselves; taking short, needed breaks to re-ground and re-frame, speaking to ourselves as we would a dear friend, and deep-breathing. Our guest, Dr. Barbara Moser, is a MSC teacher, a fierce mental health and suicide-prevention advocate, and a retired medical doctor. She talks about the times, how MSC can help, and then leads us through two practices, teaching us the simple, proven-effective techniques. It's 24 minutes that could make a lifetime of difference if the tools appeal to you. https://self-compassion.org/ link to BONUS MSC Practice: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/bonus-track-a-brief-mindful-self-compassion-practice Link to Barbara's first episode: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/mindfulness-and-self-compassion-for-these-stressful-times Link to Barbara's MSC site: CompassionMKE.com

In these upside-down and unpredictable times, it can feel like everything is out of our control. That makes tools like mindfulness and self compassion even more important since they are readily-accessible tools that can help us regulate and cope with difficult emotions. And when life finally settles (which it will!) these valuable tools will still be available in our self-care and depression-management toolboxes. Link to more information, exercises and research: self-compassion.org/ Link to research on mindfulness American Mindfulness Research Association: goamra.org/resources/reviewsmeta-analysis/

"How Are You?" It used to be almost a throw-away question, with the expected answer "fine." Not anymore. Between a deadly and lingering global pandemic, contentious and divided election season, civil unrest over systemic racism, job losses and the countless changes to our everyday routines, these are trying times. To put it mildly. Our guest this week, podcast listener Hobbs, says his emotions have never been more mercurial or closer to the surface. Can you relate?

In just 21 minutes, you can sample more than a dozen recent episodes of the Giving Voice to Depression podcast. Interviews in this episode focus on mental health during the pandemic and others produced specifically for Suicide Prevention Month. If you're curious about a podcast on depression, whether it would "be depressing," etc. this is an easy way to sample. Thank you for listening. You are not alone. You DO matter. Depression lies. Links to full episodes: 146: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/could-covid-19-finally-destigmatize-mental-illnenss 147: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/147-returning-to-work-saaire-salton 148: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/148-mental-health-on-the-covid-frontline 149: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/149-stigma-v-recovery-bipolar-disorder-pt1 150: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/150-stigma-vs-recovery-bipolar-disorder-part2 151: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/151-putting-the-breaks-on-a-racing-mind 152: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/152-children-and-depression-susan-ringle 153: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/153-how-the-lies-i-believed-lead-me-to-attempt-suicide-1 154: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/suicide-prevention-month-compilation1 155: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/suicide-prevention-month-compilation1 156: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/156-a-plan-to-keep-you-well-and-safe 157: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/157-planning-for-a-possible-mental-health-crisis

We buy all kinds of insurance to protect ourselves. A Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) is "emotional insurance." It can help us recognize when/why we are in A Good Place, warn us if/when we (or our minds) start to wander into Less-Good Places, and can protect us and give us some control in a mental-health crisisi. In this episode, Katrina Copple, an advanced-level WRAP facilitator, continues walking us through the process of making a personalized WRAP plan-- something we create when we're well, to speak to and for us when we are not. links: https://copelandcenter.com/ https://mentalhealthrecovery.com/info-center/ www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/WRAP.pdf

If you are thinking that you don't matter, that you're a failure and a burden and that things will never get better- STOP. Take 21 minutes to listen to a group of people who have had those same thoughts. Some acted on them and lived to regret their attempts. Others came close. ALL are talking to you, offering the powerful message that things can and do get better. TRUST THEM, not depression. Links mentioned in podcast: Columbia Protocol Questionnaire: https://cssrs.columbia.edu/the-columbia-scale-c-ssrs/cssrs-for-families-friends-and-neighbors/ Full episodes with the people featured: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/113-things-can-and-do-get-better https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/114-im-glad-i-survived-jeannine-part-2 https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/a-suicide-attempt-survivors-story-of-hope-mark-henick https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/if-you-see-something-say-something https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/120-instant-regret https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/123-i-didnt-know-what-to-do https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/act-before-a-crisis-maintaining-mental-health https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/crisis-lines-save-lives-corinne-purtill https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/black-mental-health-matters https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/survivor-steve https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/this-is-her-brave

In depression's grip, it can be nearly impossible to believe that you will not always feel like you do right now. That you will reconnect with your worth and live a life worth living. But it's true. As Suicide Prevention Month (or Suicide Prevention Awareness Month) begins, we pulled five interviews from our archives that address misconceptions about suicide, the value of crisis lines, and a real-life reminder that suicidal crises pass. Things can and do get better. Links to the full episodes with each guest are below. Episode links, in order: https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/suicide-myths-and-misconceptions-mark-henick https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/a-suicide-attempt-survivors-story-of-hope-mark-henick https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/national-suicide-prevention-lifeline-dr-john-draper https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/crisis-lines-save-lives-corinne-purtill https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/103-crisis-text-line https://soundcloud.com/givingvoicetodepression/college-depression-justin

If you have experience with depression, odds are you've experienced its dark thoughts: You are worthless. A burden. Your best days are long gone. Your worst will be worse than your terrible now. What's the point? But the fact you just read that is a clue: Depression tells us all the same thing. And that should be cause for doubt it's actually true about you. But since we don't talk about depression and suicide, we each experience it as a private hell. Todays guest, Bob, wants you to know you are not alone, and that the lies aren't true. And that believing them, could literally kill you. Bob speaks of his lowest-low, and shares how, just a few years later, he's living an authentic life "at the starting point of what happiness is really about." There is hope. There is help. You are not alone. Trust someone who knows. Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-TALK (8255) Crisis Text Line: 741-741 Free online mental-health screening and resources: https://screening.mhanational.org/screening-tools Suicide Warning Signs: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/warning-signs-of-suicide/index.shtml https://screening.mhanational.org/screening-tools

It's back to school time. And even though that experience is a very-different one this year because of the COVID pandemic, some things are the same. One is the fact that there will be students who experience depression. And if their parents are a potential source of support (emotional and/or financial) they may need to be informed. But how? What if you're afraid they'll dismiss you or tell you to deal with it yourself? That was one college student's fears when he wrote GVTD asking us to do an episode about how to have that discussion. So here are some tips from a therapist on how to best approach the subject.

Depression is a mental illness that affects how we think, feel and act. Those who have made the effort to learn the symptoms or warning signs still often expect depression to look like sadness. But that leads to us missing the opportunity to help many who present differently. Like children. In this episode, therapist Susan Ringle, who works with and helps children and their families as a registered play therapist, shares her behind-the-scenes expertise and tells us what to look for in children who don't have the words to tell us what's going on in their minds and bodies. Mental Health America self-screening tools: https://screening.mhanational.org/

A Giving Voice to Depression podcast listener, who had never spoken publicly about his history or struggles, shares several powerful and memorable metaphors for the experience of living with depression. Wait for the spreadsheet comment- it alone is worth the 16 minutes it takes to listen to this episode!

You don't have to have depression to be familiar with the cycles of negative thoughts; self shame, blame, doubt and self-criticism. Guest and author Dr. Steven C. Hayes explains how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help "get out of your mind and into your life." In his workbook by that name, Dr. Hayes defines the ACT process as one that hinges on the distinction between pain and suffering." In it, and this episode he helps us "learn to let go of your struggle against pain, assess your values, and then commit to acting in ways that further those values." It's 21-minutes that could help you regain control over your controlling thoughts. https://stevenchayes.com/about/