Today’s Guest: Sally Raymond— Psychotherapist, Author, Mother, Advocate

✨ Episode Summary

In this powerful and deeply heartfelt episode of Kim Talks Books, Kim sits down with Sally, a psychotherapist and author whose life and work were transformed by unimaginable loss. Through the devastating suicide of her brilliant son, Sally embarked on a decades-long journey of understanding, healing, and uncovering the stories that would ultimately shape her groundbreaking book.

Sally shares her extraordinary journey from young motherhood to academic achievement, driven by a desire to support and keep up with her gifted child. When tragedy struck, she turned her clinical training inward—becoming her own first client—and began an “anthropological dig” into her son’s life, uncovering critical developmental stories that had gone unnoticed.

Her book, nearly 30 years in the making, blends personal narrative with Erik Erikson’s Ages of Man to reveal how each developmental stage holds essential emotional tasks. When these tasks are disrupted, fractured, or unsupported, the ripple effects can profoundly impact a child’s sense of self, belonging, and hope.

Unlike traditional suicide-prevention books, Sally’s work is a roadmap to making life worth living—from the inside out. Through real stories and practical developmental insights, she offers readers the tools to support children, teens, and adults in building resilience, trust, agency, and emotional safety.

The conversation expands to urgent societal issues: the rising mental-health crisis among young men, the systemic abandonment of social-emotional skills in early education, and the widespread erosion of trust. Sally shares powerful, actionable strategies—including how to talk directly about suicide, how to support someone in crisis, and how to reframe destructive thoughts using neuroscience-based principles.

Filled with honesty, hope, and wisdom, this episode stands as a testament to the human capacity to transform unimaginable grief into meaningful change, guidance, and connection.

📖 Key Themes & Insights From the Episode

• Human Development as a Lifelong Map

• The Ripple Effect of Unfinished Emotional Work

• Suicide Awareness & Direct Conversations

• The Limbic Brain & Worst-Case Thinking

• The Crisis Among Today’s Youth

• The Essential Role of Emotional Skills

• Reclaiming Hope, Help, and Human Value

🌐 Stay Connected

Email [email protected]

Website https://sallyaraymond.com/