Self Care as Selfless Act: Mental Health at the Root of Activism
Activists in the Latinx immigrant community of Los Angeles share what they do to take care of their mental health. The issues these activists work on often impact their personal lives, and people who work in the service of others are particularly at risk of burnout and compassion fatigue. Self-care becomes a “selfless act” when it allows activists to stay healthy and do their work in a sustainable way. Image Credit: Eládio Moraes ...
Radical Therapy
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we bring you a story at the intersection of therapy, healing and social justice. We’ll hear about one therapist’s work to bring the lens of radical therapy and community care into her practice. This piece was produced by the podcast Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center. Featuring: Claudia Morales, therapist at Social Justice Healing Re:Work Episode “Radical Therapy” Credits...
A History of Traditional Root Healing (ENCORE)
In some parts of the world, traditional herbal remedies are the norm. When we think of natural remedies we tend to think of older generations living in remote areas, in far away countries, with little access to modern healthcare. We rarely think about the ancient medicinal plants that might exist in our very own cities. On today’s episode we look at plant and herb medicines through the lens of Michele Elizabeth Lee the...
How the Legacy of Colonialism Keeps Puerto Rico’s Healthcare System in Shambles (Encore)
Almost half of Puerto Rico’s doctors have fled the island over the past decade, leading to a lack of specialists and treatment and incredibly long wait times. And this isn’t just an inconvenience. People are dying from lack of care. Why is Puerto Rico’s health care system collapsing, and why are doctors fleeing the island? We take a look at its deeply dysfunctional private medical system and why attempts to fix it,...
Well Nourished: How Mutual Aid is Transforming Food Security for Single Moms in Ohio (Encore)
Federal food programs, like WIC, face big changes coming out of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Meanwhile, a single moms collective in Ohio holds it down for the single pregnant and parenting people in their community. Motherful’s resource pantry serves their 325-strong membership out of a garage three times a week. We talk to members and founders to learn what’s it’s like to participate,...
The Calling
For Black Maternal Health Week, we celebrate the important work that Black midwives do in their communities. In this week’s show, we’ll hear a conversation about how one woman followed her calling to midwifery in a story brought to us by the podcast Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center. Featuring: Kimberly Durdin, licensed midwife and co-founder of Kindred Space LA and the Birthing People Foundation Music:...
Indigenous Intervention: Using Culture in Indigenous Substance Abuse Treatment (Encore)
This episode was originally published as Culture & Spirituality As Substance Use Treatment in Indigenous Communities. In the late 1990s, psychologist Dr. Joseph Gone, a professor and member of the Aaniiih Gros Ventre tribe, returned home during his doctoral training to the Fort Belknap Reservation in north central Montana. There, he set aside Eurocentric concepts of psychology he was learning in school and instead asked tribal...
Grace Lee Boggs: Sister Revolutionary (Updated Encore)
On today’s program we honor the life and legacy of civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs (June 27, 1915 – October 5, 2015). Through the lens of the documentary film American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs we present a close and personal view of Boggs’ activism. The film plunges us into Boggs’ lifetime of vital thinking and action, traversing the major U.S. social movements of the last century; from...
Flemmie Kittrell and the Preschool Experiment from Lost Women of Science (Encore)
Dr. Flemmie Kittrell was a Black home economist whose research in the field of early childhood education shaped the way we think about child development today. She became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and contributed immensely to programs like Head Start – even though her name is often left out of the history. We’ll hear more about her life and work in a story from the podcast “Lost Women of...
Buried History: The Woman Who Created the Home Pregnancy Test (Encore)
This story was originally produced in 2014, and first aired on Making Contact in February 2024. In 1965 Margaret Crane was a young designer creating packaging for a pharmaceutical company. Looking at the rows of pregnancy tests she thought, “Well, women could do that at home!” and so she made it a reality for potentially pregnant people to be able to know about and take control of their own lives and bodies. But while the design of...
