ReThreading Madness
Bernadine Fox
Bernadine Fox brings a rare and powerful combination of lived experience, long-term disability rights advocacy, and creative insight to her role as host and producer of ReThreading Madness, the award-winning radio show and podcast that dares to shift how we think about mental health.A recipient of the 2022 Courage to Come Back Award, Bernadine is a white settler of Scottish, Irish, and French heritage with a familial connection to the Tsuut'ina nation. She has spent over 30 years advocating for those with lived experience of mental health challenges including survivors of trauma and therapy harm. She is an intersectional feminist, artist, and author of Coming to Voice: Surviving an Abusive Therapist—a memoir that confronts the devastating misuse of power in therapeutic relationships.Bernadine is not a clinician, but she is a deeply informed mental health advocate with firsthand knowledge of trauma, CPTSD, and disability. Her background includes decades of work as a support worker for survivors of severe childhood trauma, a trauma consultant, and public speaker. She has led expressive arts groups in collaboration with Richmond Mental Health and Gallery Gachet, where she also served on the board and helped publish The Ear magazine. She has served on the board of such organizations as Kickstart (Disability Arts and Culture) which focused on breaking down barriers to creative access for people with disabilities.What sets Bernadine apart as a radio host is her unwavering commitment to telling the truth—even when it's uncomfortable. She doesn't shy away from difficult conversations; she invites them. With compassion and clarity, she brings forward voices that are often silenced, challenges harmful narratives, and explores the messy realities of mental health, trauma, and recovery.ReThreading Madness is more than a show. Under Bernadine's guidance, it's a platform for unfiltered, survivor-centered dialogue—one that refuses to pathologize trauma and instead builds community through shared truth. RTM won the Breaking Barriers CRABO award through the NCRA. Bernadine currently lives in the forest with two cats, raises her grandchild, and continues to create, speak, and advocate for a world where mental health care is ethical, accessible, and just.ReThreading Madness is produced and aired on the ancestral and unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We extend our gratitude and appreciation to the Indigenous people who have been living and working on this land from time immemorial.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 10, 2023 • 1h
Outsider Arts Festival and Haida Storytelling with Giihlgiigaa Todd DeVries
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 annual VOAF from art, to performances and films and then workshops. Then Giihlgiigaa Todd DeVries, a Haida Cedar Weaver and storyteller who learned under Woody Morrison,c comes and tells us a story about the importance of the Mask, Mirror, and the Raven. music by Rocky and the Gems and Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Oct 3, 2023 • 1h
More Than One: Dr. Colin Ross on Dissociative Identities
TRIGGER WARNING: Explicit descriptions of child sexual abuseMore Than One: Dr. Colin Ross on Dissociative IdentitiesDr. 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 schizophrenia and chat about treatment options including medication and ECT.Dr Colin Ross’ biography is so extensive that to do it justice I would be talking for a long time. So let me give you some key points: He is an internationally renowned clinician, researcher, author and lecturer in the field of dissociation and trauma-related disorders. He is the founder and President of The Colin A. Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma in Texas and the Past President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. He is Canadian. He provides treatment, consultation, educational and supervision services and has done so for over 30 years in Texas. He has written 36 books and over 260 papers mostly dealing with trauma and dissociation. And if anyone can talk about Dissociative Identities – it is Dr. Colin Ross. Bernadine and Colin have known each other professionally for – several decades. Dr. Ross wrote the foreword to Fox’s memoir – Coming To Voice: Surviving an Abusive Therapist.Music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Sep 26, 2023 • 1h
A Glimmer of Hope around Recovery with Susi Milne
A Glimmer of Hope around Recovery wieth Susi MilneTRIGGER 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 who tells a story like Susi can and while taking you through her journey to rock bottom she is able to keep us laughing and entranced as she brings us to her their recovery. Beyond recovery, Milne is a sober Canadian artist, philosopher and poet residing on the traditional unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsweilatuth Nations. Known for her drawings, watercolours, and mixed media art pieces, Milne's works range from paintings, paper and textile sculptures and video/photo-based art to poetry/performance art. Milne's eclectic practice is informed through life and work as "Living Art". Her twenty-something year career in the public service, lastly as a senior manager of emergency services is an achievement that she has documented as performance art. A dedicated and picturesque history with several founding artists run centres including a seminal performance curating Sniffy the Rat in the eighties (see same title under CBC Archives) Milne's on-going engagement with the robust Vancouver art community carries into the present day and informs her multi-media practice.Milne has exhibited and performed her artwork and performance/poetry nationally and internationally over the years. Recently her multi-media video presentation QUANTUM SMACK has been included in https://digitalstories.ca/. Milne's work was featured in the IMAPON exhibition SPACE at McBride Park, Vancouver. An on line exhibition PERSONA through IMAPON LOCO MOTO Arts (https://imapon.org/Co-Vid-EO/); features eighteen watercolour/pen and ink paintings that were all sold into private collections during covid.. Daily creative media content is published on her Instagram #tibbedragon777, and on her dedicated Instagram art page #susimilne777artwork.Milne lives gratefully and in the heavenly bliss of her handmade art abode overlooking the seaside of the Pacific Northwest coastal mountain range as she recovers outloud. Music by Shari Ulrich and Tears for FearsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Sep 18, 2023 • 1h
Are We Old Yet? Women talking about Aging
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 about their political actions, entrepreneurship, adventures and a future that is as exciting as what they have done so far. Ellen Woodsworth, 75, was born into activism. In 1971 she chained herself in the House of Commons for women’s right to choose and went off to cofound the Wages for Housework movement and got unpaid work in the Canadian census. Later elected the first lesbian city councillor in Canada, she and Clr Anne Roberts chaired the first Canadian Gender Equity Strategy for the City of Vancouver. She is now Co President WILPF, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Canada, speaker and intersectional consultant on cities and Matriarch Women Transforming Cities. Maggie Andrew, 64, is a child of divorce and foster care, by the age 17 she was on her own. She worked up until her early 50s when a corporate takeover had her laid off. Its hard as an older woman to get hired, so instead she bought her favourite craft store essentially creating her own rewarding and challenging job. She has managed to weather COVID but as she nears retirement age she is hoping to sell in the next year or so. Maggie has never married and has no children of her own.Eileen Hoeter, 64, has been many things over the course of her life and throughout it all she consistently shows a fierce passion for life itself. She has worked in the Vancouver Film Industry while simultaneously buying property. Not always easy for a woman even in 1990 – just 30 years ago. She owns several properties here but also has a BnB in Mexico and we are talking to her in the midst of a very busy day for her. Far from being the retired rocking chair woman drinking tea in the sun, these women demonstrate the dynamic contributions women continue to make well into the senior years. Music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Sep 12, 2023 • 53min
Alex Sangha from Sher Vancouver and Isabella Mori on her book Believe Me about mental health and addiction
Alex Sangha from Sher Vancouver and Isabella Mori on her book Believe Me about mental health and addictionBernadine 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 mother, Jaspal Kaur Sangha, and his father, Dalbir Singh Sangha, are of the Sikh faith originally from Punjab, India. Alex has an older and younger brother and a half-brother from his Dad's second marriage. Alex is an award-winning social worker. He has an MSc in Public Administration and Public Policy from the Department of Government from the London School of Economics. He has a Master of Social Work from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as well as a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of British Columbia with a First Class Standing. In addition, Alex has an Associate in Arts Degree from Douglas College in New Westminster, BC and he graduated Grade 12 from Frank Hurt Secondary from Surrey, BC. Alex is the Founder of the Sher Vancouver LGBTQ Friends Society which produced the award-winning documentary - My Name Was January. Alex is the recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada. Alex lives with Bipolar. Then Bernadine talks with Isabella Mori about her third upcoming book, Believe Me, out in the Spring of 2024. Isabella has published two previous books of poetry, A bagful of haiku -- 87 imperfections, and Isabella Mori's Teatable Book. She won the Cecilia Lamont prize for poetry in 2018. Mori also writes short stories, novels and non-fiction, and was a translation contributor (from English to German) in Reading Canada, a profile of Canada's diverse literature commissioned for the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair. She has a Masters in Education and works in the mental health/addiction field. She lives in Vancouver. Believe me is a hybrid text focused on mental health and addiction.music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Aug 29, 2023 • 58min
A Renewed Call for a Mad Pride Revolution on the 20th Anniversary of Hunger Strike: with David Oaks and Debra Nunez from MindFreedom
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 wordsA Renewed Call for a Mad Pride Revolution on the 20th Anniversary of Hunger Strike: with David Oaks and Debra Nunez from MindFreedomBernadine chats with David Oaks and Debra Nunez about his work as a civil rights activist, co-founder and from ED of MindFreedom International based in Eugene Oregon. Mind Freedom is an independently funded nonprofit that actively fights for the human rights of those with lived experience of mental health challenges. It is accredited by the United Nations as a non governmental organization, essentially an NGO with CRS status, which means they are consulted on matters important to mental health. As they say, “MindFreedom International is where democracy is finally getting hands on with the mental health system. They challenge abuse by the psychiatric and drug industry, support psychiatric survivors and mental health consumers and promote safe and humane and effective options in mental health.” And they have been doing it since the Mad Pride Revolution started in the 1970s as they say on their website in a spirit of mutual cooperation, mind freedom leads a nonviolent revolution of freedom, equality, truth and human rights that unites people affected by the mental health system with movements for justice everywhere.Up until 2012, Oaks was their Executive Director and then he fell from a ladder of fall which broke his neck and left him paralyzed. And I say this, not because it is important to the work he continues to do, but as a segue into understanding that David currently is unable to speak in the manner he once did. However, rather than suppress or silence his very powerful voice, we are interviewing him. His partner Deborah Nunes, will be a part of this interview and you may hear her every once in a while help make clear what he is saying. It is difficult at times to hear him clearly and it may be helpful while listening to close your eyes. However, we have also included a transcript of his interview on our website. If you would like to listen to the interview while reading the transcript, you can do so at www.rethreading madness.ca.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Aug 15, 2023 • 50min
Certified with JD Derbyshire
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 laughed a lot.(music used "It's Alright by Shari Ulrich)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Aug 8, 2023 • 56min
Interview with Linda Pevac author of A Fire Is Coming a memoir about Therapy Abuse
Linda Pevac, author of A Fire Is Coming, shares her experience of therapy abuse. They discuss the power dynamics between therapists and clients, manipulative therapists crossing boundaries, cultic relationships outside of traditional cults, prevalence of abusive therapists, emotional manipulation, navigating a civil lawsuit for therapy abuse, difficulty in obtaining testimonies from other victims, and finding comfort and considering life insurance.
Aug 1, 2023 • 1h
Lani Elliott on Surviving Domestic Violence
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 marriage ended in an unspeakable act of violence that left her with broken legs, homeless, and with two small children to raise on her own. Although starting over was not easy, Lani managed to rebuild her life for the sake of hersons. With the help of various shelters and organizations, Lani was determined to endthe cycle of violence so that she and her children could live happy, fulfilling lives. Today,Lani is an accomplished motivational speaker and travels all over North America,sharing her message of hope and inspiring positive change in those who may bestruggling with the many issues related to domestic violence and sexual violence,including self-worth, and positive mental health. Lani is passionate about giving back toher community, and is involved with several different charities throughout the city ofRegina. Her past accomplishments include working as the Co-Director of InternationalIndigenous Fashion Week Inc., as well as a freelance photographer, a writer and copyeditor for RezX Multimedia Inc., and Co-Producer/Director and Lead Actress for theRegina production of The Vagina Monologues®, the internationally acclaimed play thatnot only raises awareness regarding violence against women, but also empowerswomen who are affected by violence. Lani’s own, personal story and poetry have beenfeatured in Maclean’s Magazine, and has also been featured in three separatedocumentaries, including “The War at Home” by award winning film maker, ShelleySaywell.Currently, Lani’s passion involves giving presentations to young people in schoolsregarding healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, because she strongly believes in the ideathat prevention is better than having to deal with the alternative, and lives with thephilosophy that we need to be whom we needed when we were younger, and hopesthat through her work, one less person will experience violence in their life.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
Jul 25, 2023 • 50min
What is Mad Pride? Connection Salon’s Mad Pride Cabaret with Pierre Leichner, The Human Girl, and 88Wayy
Mad Pride/Connection Salon July 2023Mad 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 Canada, the USA, UK and Ireland. Mad Pride cabarets often include music, poetry, film and theatre created and performed by mad people. The hope has been that this will raise awareness of the poor treatment of those with lived experience, reduce the level of stigma and prejudice they live with daily, and highlight the increasing and widespread use of involuntary commitments and forced treatments. Vancouver’s Mad Pride Cabaret this July was put on by the Connection Salon. Bernadine invites Pierre Leichner from the CS and two of the performers, The Human Girl and 88Wayy, in to chat about Vancouver’s event. Pierre is an academic psychiatrist of 35 years who walked away to become an artist receiving his MFA in 2011. He has been a part of the Connection Salon (a break away group from Gallery Gachet) since its inception. The Human Girl discovered herself during being locked down during COVID and is now happily participating in and producing drag shows and is enrolled in fashion school designing outfits for performances. 88Wayy was born in raised in Lagos Nigeria. He came to Canada at 16 years to go to school and is now employed as a civil engineer. Making rap speaks to his soul and he fills his days with the logic of civil engineering and his nights with music. One of 88Wayy’s songs “One Shot” is included in the programming along with another song by GOLDbard who performed at the event, “Want to Be”.Music by Shari UlrichBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.
