Recovery Diaries In Depth

Recovery Diaries
  • 5.0 (3)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Welcome to Recovery Diaries In Depth; a mental health podcast that creates a warm, empathic, and engaging space for discussions around mental health, empowerment, and change. Executive Director and podcast host Gabe Nathan brings a unique combination of lived experience with mental health challenges, years of independent mental health and suicide awareness advocacy, and an understanding of the inpatient psychiatric millieu as a former staff member at a psychiatric hospital. This extensive background helps him navigate complex and nuanced conversations with a diverse array of guests, all of whom are vulnerable and engaged; doing their utmost to eradicate mental health stigma through advocacy, storytelling, and open conversation.  Guests who have previously contributed a mental health personal essay read their essays aloud during the podcast and then chat with Gabe about what has changed in their lives since their essays were published on the site. By engaging in deep discussions with people living with mental health challenges like bipolar disorder, trauma histories, addiction issues, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive or eating disorders, Recovery Diaries in Depth further carries out Recovery Diaries' mission to #buststigma by showing people that they are not alone, instead of just telling them. This mental health podcast features guests from all over the world and, while their own personal experiences are unique, the human experience is what unites, inspires, and connects. Subscribe, like, share, and enjoy! Recovery Diaries In Depth is supported in full by the van Ameringen Foundation.

  1. Bipolar, Books, Breakdown; in conversation with Erika Nichols-Frazer | RDID; 208

    4D AGO

    Bipolar, Books, Breakdown; in conversation with Erika Nichols-Frazer | RDID; 208

    Erika Nichols-Frazer joins us today as our guest. She's an old friend of Recovery Diaries, having published three essays with us; Lies Mania Has Told Me, A Double-Edged Sword: Facing the Grief of Miscarriage with Bipolar Disorder, and the essay we're privileged to have her read aloud during this episode, Manic MFA: How My Degree Almost Cost Me My Sanity. While Erika is now a profilic writer, "Manic MFA" was, in fact, the very first time Erika had every written publicly about her bipolar diagnosis, a fact we at Recovery Diaries are very proud of. Erika speaks openly and candidly about her decision to write about the pressures and triggers she was experiencing during her MFA program, and the impact her mental illness and its symptoms of mania had on her relationship with her husband.  Our interview with Erika is expansive and hopeful; covering how women with mental illness are treated in literature, and #irl, how her relationship with food has evolved over the years, where she has been in the early days of her bipolar diagnosis, and where she is now. Erika is thoughtful, insightful, and easy to talk and listen to; we think you'll find our conversation with her illuminating and impactful. She has a lot to say about mental health storytelling, and advice for anyone considering putting pen to paper with a mental health narrative of their own. We're so grateful to Erika for taking some time to talk with us on "Recovery Diaries in Depth." Like our conversations? If you find them helpful and hopeful, chances are someone you love will, too. So share us with someone who needs us, and leave a review to help more listeners find stories that help. About our guest: Erika Nichols-Frazer (she/her) is the author of the memoir, Feed Me: A Story of Food, Love and Mental Illness and the poetry collection, Staring Too Closely. She has two books forthcoming in 2026, the poetry chapbook, Can you see her, the moon? and the short story collection, No One Will Ever Hear You. Erika's work has been published in numerous literary magazines and venues such as HuffPost Personal, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, Emerge Literary Journal, and others. She has an MFA in Fiction from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She lives in Vermont and works at Vermont State University. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they’re always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting wannatalkaboutit.com. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call, text, or chat 988. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    56 min
  2. Manning Up Means Getting Help with Suicidal Thoughts: Chris Russell | RDID; 207

    JAN 26

    Manning Up Means Getting Help with Suicidal Thoughts: Chris Russell | RDID; 207

    Today, Chris Russell is a grounded, hopeful human being who helps others navigate suicidal ideation as a volunteer for the Suicide/Crisis Lifeline. He definitely still has his struggles with symptoms related to his bipolar ii diagnosis, but he is managing his mental health in a way that was inconceivable to him not too long ago, where he was struggling with intense, unmanaged anger, impulsiveness, incessant thoughts of taking his own life. In this moving and heartfelt interview, Chris opens up to host Gabe Nathan, who struggles with many of the same issues Chris does, about his mental illness, how it has impacted his work as an actor, writer, and teacher, and where he was in his mind the night that he finally reached out for help, to what was then the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It wasn't perfect or without frustrations (after all, Chris was 44th in the queue) but it was enough to keep Chris from killing himself, it was enough for him to slowly move towards recovery, to share what he was experiencing with others, to give them the opportunity to give him understanding and support, to feel seen and heard. A chance to start encouraging other men like him to shed their archaic armor and be vulnerable. Chris is an extraordinary human being, volunteering to take calls from people in the throes of suicidality and other psychiatric emergencies, as part of his own recovery, as a way to honor himself and his mother, as a way to give something back. We are so grateful for his strength, his creativity, his openness, and his courage; and we're excited to share this conversation with you. Please share it with someone you love; you'll be glad you did. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they’re always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting wannatalkaboutit.com. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call, text, or chat 988. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    1h 1m
  3. From Hiding To Helping - Schizophrenia Advocate Rebecca Chamaa | RDID; 206

    JAN 12

    From Hiding To Helping - Schizophrenia Advocate Rebecca Chamaa | RDID; 206

    At a recent conference for health advocates from all across the country, our Executive Director and show host, Gabriel Nathan, was reunited with an extraordinary woman and schizophrenia advocate, Rebecca Chamaa. Years earlier, in around 2015, Rebecca had submitted her very first essay, I Have Schizophrenia, about living with mental illness to Recovery Diaries and Gabe, who had just joined the organization as a part-time essay editor, was assigned to work on her piece with her.   It would take ten years for these two mental health advocates to be physically in the same room and share a warm hug and conversation. So, obviously, Rebecca was going to be a guest on Recovery Diaries in Depth! As you can imagine, she and Gabe had lots to talk about. Rebecca revealed during the conversation about how long (very, very long) she hid her schizophrenia from so, so many people in her life, her experiences with therapists and psychiatrists, medication, and stigma. Rebecca is breathtakingly blunt as she explores her education and outreach, training law enforcement officers and psychiatric nursing staff about schizophrenia and how to safely and helpfully interact with people who live with thought disorders.  The highlight of the interview, arguably, is Rebecca's reaction to her now decade-old essay on Recovery Diaries; in quiet disbelief at how honest she was during that time. The piece obviously opened the floodgates for Rebecca, because now she has been published in numerous magazines, journals, and newspapers; she teaches writing and she finds joy in life as a person living with schizophrenia who isn't keeping it from anybody, who isn't ashamed of it, and who isn't staying quiet. Please listen to her wonderful interview and share it far and wide; it might just change how somebody sees people with schizophrenia. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they’re always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting wannatalkaboutit.com. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call, text, or chat 988. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    57 min
  4. Surviving Suicidality in a Wonderful World: Javier Ortega-Araiza | RDID; 205

    12/22/2025

    Surviving Suicidality in a Wonderful World: Javier Ortega-Araiza | RDID; 205

    Javier Ortega Ariza is a compassionate, sensitive writer who has published two essays with Recovery Diaries, including his moving and powerful essay “Surviving Suicidality To Live In A Wonderful World” which explores a "last walk" he took after deciding to die by suicide, and his beautiful decision to stay. Javier reads this essay aloud on this compelling episode of our podcast, "Recovery Diaries in Depth", which explores men’s mental health, suicidality, hope, resilience, and the bravery of mental health storytelling. Javier and Gabe are two men who have personal experience with contemplating suicide and this intimate and vulnerable conversation is well worth hearing, and sharing.  Javier sees writing as "exposure therapy"; going to uncomfortable places in his writing to share hope and connection with others. There is a gentleness about him that is undoubtedly the result of how he has decided to view the world; as wonderful and hopeful. He is challenging self-critical voices in his head and working through doubt and fear every day, and helping others do the same.  In his discussion with Gabe, Javier reflects on what has helped him get and stay healthy; therapy, boundaries, ho‘oponopono, and the not-quite-cinematic text message that arrived mid-walk to remind him of the work and the love that keep him here. Returning to San Miguel years later, he carries the same streets but different eyes, proof that healing isn’t linear and growth can coexist with grief. Javier is a living, breathing reminder that, if you stay, your life can change in ways you never dreamed possible. This important conversation should be shared with anyone you know who may be struggling, and anyone you know who appears, like Javier did when he was at his darkest, to have it all, and may very well be struggling in silence. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more people find stories that keep them here. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they’re always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting wannatalkaboutit.com. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call, text, or chat 988. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    53 min
  5. Living & Thriving with Illogical and Irrational Anxiety: Nicci Attfield | RDID; 204

    12/08/2025

    Living & Thriving with Illogical and Irrational Anxiety: Nicci Attfield | RDID; 204

    We are so lucky here at Recovery Diaries to have an international community of special, sparkly people coming to us to share their mental health recovery stories. Today's guest on the show is Nicci Attfield, who lives with anxiety and add. Nicci was born in the UK, and is currently living in South Africa. She has published two personal essays with us, (as has her husband, Jacques!) and it was a true delight to sit down with her and talk about her life as a writer, a neurodivergent person, and someone who is living her best life with mental health challenges.  Nicci opens up about something that any of us who lives with mental illness can identify with; masking. Walking around all day, doing life, engaging in social situations trying to compensate, trying to pass, trying to get through every excruciating moment pretending, pushing through, struggling. It's exhausting. And, for quite some time, Nicci didn't even know what she was masking.  Nicci tried apps, she tried denial, but it ended up being therapy that helped her find her voice; and she hasn't stopped using it. She opens up about what it is like to find her truth and live a life with self-compassion. She also talks openly about being a spouse of someone who has a trauma history and about her unique approach to helping her husband when he is struggling with an often debilitating, abusive internal monologue. Her strategies might just help you navigate hard times with someone you love!  Nicci reads her beautiful and poignant essay, "Anxiety: Irrational, Illogical, Catastrophic and, Eventually; Manageable" and she reflects on who she was and where she was in her life when she wrote it, how her newer diagnosis of ADD has informed and changed her approach to her mental health and herself, and what lies ahead for her. Listen to this warm and engaging conversation between two thoughtful human beings, and share it with someone special in your life. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they’re always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting wannatalkaboutit.com. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call, text, or chat 988. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    59 min
  6. A Black Mental Health Advocate & Survivor Speaks: Jasmin Pierre | RDID; 203

    11/17/2025

    A Black Mental Health Advocate & Survivor Speaks: Jasmin Pierre | RDID; 203

    Jasmin Pierre is the creator of The Safe Place, an award-winning app that offers free and affordable resources centering on Black mental health. Jasmin created The Safe Place for so many reasons-- because, when police respond to psychiatric emergencies and the person in crisis is black, the results can be deadly. Because of the pervasive and dangerous philosophy in many Black homes, like her own, that "what happens in this house stays in this house." Because of cultural barriers fueled by systemic racism and lack of access creating a world where there are precious few Black mental health clinicians, so Black people are stuck with providers who don't look like them, and who, invariably, do not understand their experience. Because so many Black people were brought up to not talk about it. Well, Jasmin's talking about it. And, today, she's talking about it on Recovery Diaries in Depth with our Executive Director and host, Gabriel Nathan. Jasmin and Gabe are old friends, having met in-person at an event almost seven years ago. Their shared passion for mental health reform and revolution, and their mutual affection for each other's creativity and compassion is evident in this genuine conversation that covers so many topics, including crisis response, childhood sexual assault and abuse, the importance of rest and refueling, saying "no", and the carceral realities of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. Jasmin's been a patient, Gabe's been staff, and their shared experience, though extremely different brings nuance and insight to this conversation.  Jasmin has been a fierce advocate for Black mental health and a source of inspiration and hope for many who have been marginalized in so many ways since the beginning of this country. In their conversation, Jasmin and Gabe talk about suicide prevention, specifically as it relates to the Black community. Jasmin speaks about the inherent media bias surrounding the recent death of Kyren Lacy, a former Louisiana State University football player and wide receiver. Lacy's death, and the media maelstrom around it show us that, while we have made improvements in mental health and suicide; for Black people in America, we still have miles and miles and miles to go before we sleep. We are so grateful to Jasmin for everything she is doing to empower, educate, help, and honor through her extraordinary advocacy. Read her powerful essay about her own trauma and childhood sexual abuse; and share her interview far and wide. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they’re always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting wannatalkaboutit.com. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    1h 2m
  7. Police Officer Trauma & PTSD: Officer James Jefferson | RDID; 202

    10/27/2025

    Police Officer Trauma & PTSD: Officer James Jefferson | RDID; 202

    Officer James Jefferson, an 18-year police service veteran and wellness coordinator in Canada, is done with the "blue wall of silence." He speaks openly, candidly, honestly, and earnestly about mental health issues in law enforcement, and the series of events that almost resulted in him killing himself with his service weapon. Why? To help other officers who are struggling, just like he did.  On a wintry night, years ago, James and his partner responded to a homicide-in-progress call. The suspect advanced on the officers, refusing to drop his knife and James and his partner were forced to use lethal force. It was ruled a clean shoot, but that didn't help ease James's mind. He began to fell apart, he began to use drugs and alcohol. He threw caution to the wind, engaging in risky, dangerous behaviors, hoping he would be killed in the line-of-duty and be valorized a hero. He put his gun to is head, like so many other police officers do. Thankfully, James didn't pull the trigger. He got help. And now he's helping others. In our candid conversation with James, we put police culture under the microscope and examine its many faults, how its archaic and stigmatizing attitudes towards mental health contribute to officers, and retired officers, taking their own lives. James knows this world all-too-well and, as a wellness officer, he is part of the change that is so desperately, and we're so grateful that he is. Listen to this engaging conversation, and share it with someone you love; whether they wear a badge or not. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they’re always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting wannatalkaboutit.com. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    53 min
  8. From Squalor and Fear to Thriving and Helping; an Interview with Psychotherapist Sheri Heller | RDID; 201

    10/07/2025

    From Squalor and Fear to Thriving and Helping; an Interview with Psychotherapist Sheri Heller | RDID; 201

    Sheri Heller is many things. She is a psychotherapist, a coach, an interfaith minister, and a supremely talented writer. She is also a trauma survivor, having been raised in the chaos and pain of a home where her mother was suffering from chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Sheri wrote the piece, “An Orphan’s Memorial to Her Dying Mother” and sent it to us, years ago. Our filmmaker, Glenn Holsten, was so moved by the piece that he collaborated with Sheri and animators Sandra & Paul Fierlinger to create a beautiful animated short about her relationship with her mother.  On our podcast, Sheri talks about how creative expression—writing, psychodrama, performance—can open doors to healing. She offers practical markers of readiness, why a stable witness matters, and how to pace work when somatic memory surges past your defenses. We also dig into the broken architecture of mental health care: fragmented services, prohibitive costs, and the patchwork of county policies that make crisis responses inconsistent. Sheri recounts the plainspoken guidance NAMI gave her—advice that balanced compassion with realism—and how it reshaped her approach to caregiving and self-preservation. Her story arrives in the present with a quiet kind of hope: sobriety, a marriage rooted in mutual understanding, a steady practice in Montreal, and the capacity to regulate and re-center when old echoes return. Listen, and share. Conversations like the ones on this podcast can sometimes be hard, but they're always necessary. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider visiting www.wannatalkaboutit.com. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call, text, or chat 988. https://recoverydiaries.org/

    57 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Welcome to Recovery Diaries In Depth; a mental health podcast that creates a warm, empathic, and engaging space for discussions around mental health, empowerment, and change. Executive Director and podcast host Gabe Nathan brings a unique combination of lived experience with mental health challenges, years of independent mental health and suicide awareness advocacy, and an understanding of the inpatient psychiatric millieu as a former staff member at a psychiatric hospital. This extensive background helps him navigate complex and nuanced conversations with a diverse array of guests, all of whom are vulnerable and engaged; doing their utmost to eradicate mental health stigma through advocacy, storytelling, and open conversation.  Guests who have previously contributed a mental health personal essay read their essays aloud during the podcast and then chat with Gabe about what has changed in their lives since their essays were published on the site. By engaging in deep discussions with people living with mental health challenges like bipolar disorder, trauma histories, addiction issues, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive or eating disorders, Recovery Diaries in Depth further carries out Recovery Diaries' mission to #buststigma by showing people that they are not alone, instead of just telling them. This mental health podcast features guests from all over the world and, while their own personal experiences are unique, the human experience is what unites, inspires, and connects. Subscribe, like, share, and enjoy! Recovery Diaries In Depth is supported in full by the van Ameringen Foundation.

Information

  • Creator
    Recovery Diaries
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Recovery Diaries In Depth
  • Show Website
    Recovery Diaries In Depth