Episodes

  • A Conversation with Jonathan Rogers at 89 on Getting Old and Dying

    A Conversation with Jonathan Rogers at 89 on Getting Old and Dying
    Apr 23 2026
    A Conversation with Jonathan Rogers at 89 on Getting Old and Dying

    Host Bernadine Fox is joined by Jonathan Rogers — animator, artist, former supervising producer at Disney and Marvel, stand-up comedian, and the man she was once engaged to — for a rare and honest conversation about aging, dying, and what remains. At 89, Jonathan reflects on a career that took him from Second City Toronto to NBC to Hollywood, on the childhood sexual abuse that shaped the first part of his life, on losing the ability to draw after more than eight decades as an artist, and on what it feels like when the tangible world begins to fade, the body begins to slow down, when one becomes invisible to the world, and what it feels like to be near the end of a life that was genuinely well-lived.

    Music: Shari Ulrich
    Photo by: Jim Neiss

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    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr
  • The Marks We Miss: Forensics, Trafficking, and the Path to True Trauma-Informed Justice

    The Marks We Miss: Forensics, Trafficking, and the Path to True Trauma-Informed Justice
    Apr 15 2026
    The Marks We Miss: Forensics, Trafficking, and the Path to True Trauma-Informed Justice

    Trigger Warning: This episode contains detailed discussions regarding human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault. It includes forensic descriptions of non-fatal strangulation, and the trafficking of children. We also discuss systemic failures affecting Indigenous and Black communities. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

    Trauma is the primary driver of mental health struggles; Rethreading Madness exists to expose how it happens and, more importantly, how we can survive it

    Host Bernadine Fox speaks with Canadian author and dental professional James Frizzel who is a forensic dental professional with specialized training from McGill University, the Sûreté du Québec, and the University of Tennessee’s "Body Farm." A graduate of Harvard Medical School’s "Train the Trainer" program for human trafficking, he also holds certifications in strangulation prevention and clandestine grave recovery. Drawing on that background, Frizzel discusses the overlooked connections between domestic violence and sex trafficking, the physical and neurological effects of non-fatal strangulation, and why medical and law enforcement systems routinely misidentify or dismiss victims. They also cover the disproportionate impact on Indigenous and Black women and girls in Canada and the US, what a genuinely trauma-informed response could look like from disclosure through to court, the particular harm done to children trafficked within their own families, and the gap between legislation on the books and justice in practice. The conversation also takes in the Epstein files and what communities and professionals need to understand if survivors are going to be better protected.

    Music by Shari Ulrich and Lauren Daigle

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    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr
  • BiPolar Princess: Victoria Maxwell

    BiPolar Princess: Victoria Maxwell
    Mar 11 2026
    BiPolar Princess: Victoria Maxwell

    What happens when a spiritual awakening is mistaken for psychosis? And what if the difference between harm and healing is simply being listened to?

    In this powerful and often funny conversation, Victoria Maxwell joins ReThreading Madness to talk about bipolar disorder, psychosis, stigma, and the fine line between spiritual experience and mental health crisis. A former actor turned internationally recognized theatrical keynote speaker, Victoria shares how a meditation retreat catapulted her into an altered state that was both profoundly meaningful and deeply destabilizing. For years, her experience was pathologized without curiosity—until one nurse asked a single question that changed everything.

    Together, Bernadine and Victoria unpack language reclamation (“crazy,” “mad,” “bipolar princess”), media portrayals of violence and mental illness, workplace stigma, and what happens when leaders model vulnerability from the top down. This episode is honest, nuanced, and unexpectedly humorous—a reminder that lived experience is not a stereotype, and that healing often begins with being seen.

    This episode includes snippets of comedic shows from Danny Docimo from ZaniesComedy and David Granrier from Stand Up For Mental Health.

    Victoria Maxwell is an internationally recognized keynote speaker, performing artist, and mental health advocate who blends three decades as an actor with lived experience of bipolar disorder, anxiety, and psychosis. Named a mental health leader by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, her theatrical keynote That’s Just Crazy Talk has been recognized by the Mental Health Commission of Canada as one of the country’s top anti-stigma interventions. Victoria is also a blogger for Psychology Today and serves as a Lived Experience Strategic Advisor for BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services. Learn more at www.victoriamaxwell.com.

    Music: I Found Myself/Clendening, It’s Alright/Shari Ulrich, YOY/Siibii

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    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr
  • Systemic Trauma and the Indian Act with Bob Joseph

    Systemic Trauma and the Indian Act with Bob Joseph
    Mar 6 2026
    In this powerful and grounded conversation, Bob Joseph, author of 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, joins Bernadine Fox to unpack the law that has governed Indigenous lives in Canada since 1876.

    The Indian Act was not simply administrative policy. It was a system of control. It defined identity, stripped women of status, imposed elected governance systems, confined communities to reserves, criminalized ceremonies, and enforced assimilation through residential schools. It treated Indigenous peoples as wards of the state and positioned culture itself as something to erase. And while parts of the Act have been amended, it remains in force today.

    Together, Bernadine and Bob explore the deeper question: How does this law connect to mental health? Housing crises. Drinking water inequities. Substance use. Higher incarceration rates. Intergenerational trauma. When children were taken, languages banned, land reduced, and communities fractured, the damage was not incidental. It was structural. The trauma did not begin in families. It began in policy.

    Bob challenges listeners to move beyond guilt toward responsibility. Reconciliation is not sentiment. It requires learning what we were not taught and understanding how law shaped lived experience. If we want to address mental health in Indigenous communities, we must first understand the system that created the conditions.

    Bob Joseph is the Co-Founder and CEO of Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. and has been providing Indigenous relations training since 1994. For over three decades, he has helped thousands of individuals and organizations understand the history, policy, and lived realities that shape Indigenous–non-Indigenous relations in Canada and beyond. His clients include all levels of government, Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions such as the World Bank, and organizations across North America and internationally. An award-winning author of 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, Bob is widely recognized for translating complex legal and historical realities into accessible, practical learning. He has served as an associate professor at Royal Roads University, guest lectured at numerous academic institutions, and facilitated global Indigenous round tables, including a United Nations-connected gathering in Switzerland. His work bridges education, reconciliation, and informed responsibility, equipping Canadians to better understand the lasting impact of colonial policy on Indigenous communities today.

    music by Shari Ulrich

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    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr
  • Historical Mad Voices from Inside the Asylum with Michael Rembis

    Historical Mad Voices from Inside the Asylum with Michael Rembis
    Feb 25 2026
    Historical Mad Voices from Inside the Asylum with Michael Rembis

    What happens when we stop telling the history of psychiatry from the doctor’s perspective and start listening to the people who lived it? In this powerful and wide-ranging conversation, historian Michael Rembis, author of Writing Mad Lives in the Age of the Asylum, joins Bernadine Fox to explore what changes when Historical Mad Voices from Inside the Asylum with Michael Rembis we center the voices of those labeled “mad.” Drawing from firsthand accounts of institutionalization between 1830 and 1950, Rembis reveals a long and often hidden history of resistance, reform, abuse, survival, and self-advocacy. The asylum was never a neutral or purely benevolent space. It was contested from the very beginning. Together, they examine psychiatric power, forced treatment, gendered confinement, trauma pathologization, violence narratives in the media, and the enduring struggle to be heard within systems that claim to help. This episode moves beyond simplistic binaries of “care” versus “control” and instead asks deeper questions: Who gets to define madness? Who holds authority? And what happens when we reclaim our own stories? This is a conversation about history, yes—but also about the present moment, and the ongoing fight for dignity, agency, and community care.

    Music by Shari Ulrich and Sia


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    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr
  • RedThunderwoman/MichellevRobinson on Reconciliation

    RedThunderwoman/MichellevRobinson on Reconciliation
    Feb 18 2026
    Racial Battle Fatigue: Truth, Treaties, and Mental Health with Red Thunderwoman

    Write Up: In this powerful episode of ReThreading Madness, Bernadine Fox sits down with Michelle Robinson, also known as Red Thunderwoman — a Sahtu Dene activist, political organizer, and host of the Native Calgarian Podcast. Together they explore the deep and ongoing intersections between racism, media, mental health, colonial policy, and what Michelle calls “racial battle fatigue.” From land acknowledgments to treaties, from internalized racism to systemic healthcare discrimination, Michelle speaks candidly about the emotional toll of living in a country that still resists truth while claiming reconciliation. The conversation moves beyond surface-level allyship into harder territory: how Indigenous erasure was built into Canadian education, media, and law; how racism shapes mental health outcomes; and how colonial systems continue to police, dismiss, and pathologize Indigenous voices. Michelle reflects on growing up navigating internalized racism, raising a proud Dene daughter in a climate of rising hate, and why mental health conversations cannot be separated from oppression dynamics. This is not an abstract discussion — it is lived reality. But this episode is also about solutions. Michelle outlines concrete pathways forward through meaningful listening, engaging Indigenous voices in good faith, amplifying media accountability, and acting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the National Inquiry’s Calls to Justice. This conversation invites listeners to move past fear-based narratives and into relationship — to see Indigenous people not as caricatures or symbols, but as neighbors, leaders, and full human beings. Honest, challenging, and urgent, this is an episode about what it takes to heal in a system not designed for everyone.

    Music Shari Ulrich
    Photo Michelle Robinson


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    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr
  • After My Mother Died: In Conversation with Christa Ovenell, Funeral Director and End-of-Life Doula

    After My Mother Died: In Conversation with Christa Ovenell, Funeral Director and End-of-Life Doula
    Feb 4 2026
    After My Mother Died: In Conversation with Christa Ovenell, Funeral Director and End-of-Life Doula

    In this episode of ReThreading Madness, Berni Fox is joined by Christa Ovenell, funeral director, end-of-life doula, and founder of Death’s Apprentice, for a deeply honest conversation about death, grief, and what it means to live alongside loss. Speaking shortly after the death of her own mother, Christa reflects on the strange dissonance of grieving personally while holding professional knowledge about dying, funerals, and end-of-life care. Together, they explore what death really looks like beyond movies and platitudes, and why avoiding conversations about mortality often leaves the living more vulnerable. Christa shares how her mother’s final weeks unfolded, how grief collided with the holiday season, and what helped her survive that first raw stretch after loss. The conversation gently challenges cultural habits that rush, sanitize, or silence grief, and instead invites curiosity, ritual, and community. From what not to say to someone who is grieving, to why funerals and gatherings still matter, Christa offers practical, compassionate insights rooted in both lived experience and decades of deathcare work. This episode is for anyone who has lost someone, fears losing someone, or knows they will someday. It’s about making space for complexity, letting grief be what it is, and learning how to show up for ourselves and others when death enters the room. Honest, humane, and quietly radical, this conversation reminds us that facing death more openly can deepen how we live.

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    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr
  • Choosing to Breathe with author Emma Stevens

    Choosing to Breathe with author Emma Stevens
    Jan 30 2026
    Choosing to Breathe with Emma Stevens

    In this episode, Emma Stevens joins Bernadine on ReThreading Madness to talk about what it means to choose life, truth, and selfhood after years of silence, fragmentation, and survival. An adult adoptee raised to feel gratitude rather than grief, Emma reflects on how early relinquishment, adoption, and unspoken trauma shaped her sense of identity and belonging. She speaks candidly about the long internal work of listening to the parts of herself that were forced to stay quiet, and the moment when merely surviving was no longer enough.

    The conversation weaves through themes from Emma’s memoirs, including Choosing to Breathe and The Gathering Place, where she traces her search for truth about her origins and the slow, deliberate process of reuniting a fractured sense of self. Emma describes how identity can splinter when a child learns early that certain questions, emotions, or needs are unwelcome, and how reclaiming wholeness requires welcoming even the most wounded parts back into the story. Her reflections are raw, meditative, and grounded in lived experience rather than abstraction.

    Emma also speaks about her earlier experience of exploitation within a therapeutic relationship, explored in A Fire Is Coming, and how earlier attachment wounds created vulnerability to professional harm. Rather than centering pathology, this episode focuses on agency. On learning to trust one’s own perception, on speaking truth to power, and on choosing to breathe fully into a life that is no longer shaped by secrecy or coercion. This is a conversation for anyone who has felt they were performing themselves for others, and who is ready to begin living from a place that is truly their own.

    You can find Emma’s books on Amazon

    Bernadine’s monologue 50 Years After I Fled can be downloaded at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/fifty-years-after-i-fled-rural-alberta-is-still-failing-to-protect-its-children--69044526

    Music by Shari Ulrich, Omar Rudberg

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rethreading-madness--5675300/support.

    www.rethreadingmadness.ca
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    1 hr