On Living

In conversation with her guest, Dr. Nguyen continues to explore the journey from being derailed by Life to finding one's purpose in life. Jeffrey Descovic lost 16 years of his life to a wrongful conviction. He is now dedicated his life to reforming prosecutorial conduct and fighting to exonerate the wrongfully convicted. Leanh Nguyen will ask him to examine his process of coming to terms with the traumatic blow of his life and finding his way back to the light.

Dr. Nguyen interviews Susan Hoemke, author of the recently published Healing Scarred Hearts: A Family's Story of Addiction, Loss, and Finding Light. The conversation will explore the author's journey back to life after losing her son to drug addiction and her process of finding purpose in writing and activism.

The wound is where the light enters. Dr. Nguyen re-visits this saying by the Sufi poet Rumi as she reviews the work and reflections on trauma that she has presented on the show. Reflecting on the challenges and blows of living, she poses the task as letting the light enter in order to find purpose and meaning to one's existence.

Dr. Nguyen continues to offer her answer to the question of what makes life worth living through an examination of her experience with another survivor of trauma. In this account, she will look at how helplessness and crushing disappointment are managed by turning to a drive toward invulnerability. she will recount how the traumatic loss of control is “survived” by a compulsion to force others to submit to his will or reject him. The fear of rejection and the fight against the uncontrollability of life are expressed through a rigid refusal to acknowledge one’s humanity, and to allow others to offer him their humanity.

Dr. Nguyen will address the question of what makes life worth living via describing her work with a trauma survivor from the Vietnam War. She will speak about the essential, life-saving value of connecting with another human being, as well as the tremendous fears that make the fundamental task of human connection so weighty and elusive to those who have suffered life-destroying disappointment.

The hour is open to questions and reflections from listeners. Dr. Nguyen will take questions from listneners via email or call.

In this episode the host explains the historical and emotional bases to the questions that she poses on the show. She talks about the piece of her personal history as a child of the Vietnam War which led her to work with refugees and trauma survivors. This work led her to the questions and insights about the human struggle for connection that for her life's mission.

In this episode at the end of the pilot run, the host takes stock of her conversations on the show. She shares her reflections and questions about continuing on with the theme. Particularly, she will talk about her reasons for continuing and her hopes for engaging in the question of what makes life worth living.

This episode features Dr. Nguyen in conversation with a fellow human rights advocate. I n a previous episode, their conversation focused on examining the assumptions and aspirations behind the concept of human rights. Here, Leanh Nguyen and Carol Prendergast discuss the motivations that underlie the work of human rights. In particular, they reflect on the personal factors that drive their work, and how the advocacy for others may both help overcome as well as replicate the original personal wounds in their individual history.

In this episode, Dr. Nguyen will be in conversation with a veteran teacher. She will interview her guest about her experience teaching in NYC public school. They will discuss the values and intentions that are implicit in the mandate for Elementary School education in the United States. The purpose of this conversation is to glean insights into what the current culture values of the foundation of childhood learning.

This episode will feature an interview with Jay Rodriguez, a Grammy-nominated musician. A consummate and multi-faceted artist, her guest has been described as producing sounds that contain “perfectionism kissed by chaos.” Dr. Nguyen will discuss with him the marriage between making music and living life, and the commitment to being open to the sounds and fury of life.

Join in this intimate and educational conversation about the notion of human rights. Dr. Nguyen and Carol Prendergast, an international human rights advocate, will review the history of the human rights movement and discuss the underlying assumptions and hopes about the rights and protections that humans are entitled to. Dr. Nguyen and her guest will also reflect on the personal evolution in their trajectory in the professional work.

This episode explores the changing definitions of family and the current view of the best interest of the child in the contemporary, post-modern culture, as practiced in matrimonial law and adjudicated in Family Courts. In the interview of her guest, a practicing divorce attorney and a leader in the field of matrimonial law, Dr. Nguyen discusses key legal cases that reflect the questions and aspirations that our society currently holds about what makes a family, who is deemed a parent, and what a child needs in order to thrive.

Dr. Nguyen will speak with her guest about his experience as an immigrant and a musician in NYC. The conversation will cover his experience of being persecuted in his native country, struggling in NYC as an immigrant, gaining political asylum, and living his passion for music.

In this episode Dr. Nguyen is in conversation with Jeffrey Deskovic, who was exonerated after serving 16 years in prison and went on to dedicate his life to fighting for the wrongfully convicted. Their conversation will discuss the mission of his Foundation for Justice, but will also explore the triumphs and losses of his journey back to society after his release from jail. Together Dr. Nguyen and her guest will examine the process through which he found his life's purpose and will explore the meaning of survival and heroic.

In this episode Dr. Nguyen continues the conversation with a former patient, who overcame the legacy of childhood abuse and adult-onset trauma. The conversation will explore the psychological injuries of abuse, the key challenges and factors in facilitating his return to being human, and his insights into the therapeutic process of recovery. Dr. Nguyen and her guest will also dialogue on aspects of their working relationship that were mutually transformative and facilitated their respective growth.

In this special episode Dr. Nguyen will engage in a conversation with a former patient. A gay man who had suffered childhood abuse and homophobic persecution in his native Argentina, Julian escaped to New York to seek freedom and safety. His work with Dr. Nguyen lasted several years and helped him weather the trauma of telling his life history during the asylum application process, an HIV+ diagnosis, illegal immigration status, and, most wrenching of all, the de-humanizing legacy of his traumatic past. The conversation will re-visit the crucial stages in their work together and examine the notions of living with trauma, survival, intimacy, hate, and the struggle as well as beauty of becoming human after having been robbed of your mind and violated in your body.

In this 2nd episode, Dr. Nguyen continues to lay the foundation for the conversation about what it means to be human, by talking about psychological trauma. She will take the listeners through the psychic landscape of the traumatized mind, detailing the capacities that have broken down and describing the fears and un-expressed longings that keep the traumatized individual in a deadened, stagnant way of being. In particular, she will speak of how trauma interrupts meaning-making and the sense of purpose, how the desire for human closeness and trust in human connection are abandoned in favor of self-sabotage and alienation, and how creativity and intimacy are put in the service of confirming loss and damage rather than generating opportunities for growth and faith. Dr. Nguyen will engage with callers in discussing the effects of trauma, and exploring the psychological capacities and accomplishments that we all ordinarily pursue and take for granted.

In this opener episode Dr. Nguyen explains the premise of the show and the importance of asking the question of what makes us human. She explores the qualities and struggles that distinguish our human existence and make us who we are. How do our daily concerns separate us from other species? From one another? What makes us humans that special? What do our struggles say about our values? What do our fears say about our deepest desires? What do we reach for when we talk about that quality of human? Does the world currently support our strivings? In this conversation, Dr. Nguyen will speak of her work with trauma survivors as a way to illuminate the importance of asking these questions. She also invites the listeners to share their own reflections on the topic and their own struggles with the task of being human. This opener episode lays the grounds for the conversations to come and for Dr. Nguyen's belief in the importance of questions as a means to connect.