PROTECT | Values Guided Suicide Prevention
HEALING WITH HOPE | A Journey of Mental Wellbeing, Resilience, and Connection
Welcome to PROTECT, a transformative podcast dedicated to nurturing mental well-being, building resilience, and fostering hope. At its core, PROTECT is about the power of human connection—exploring how values like compassion, belonging, and loyalty can become lifelines for those facing challenges. Founded on the principle of Relational Safety, this podcast moves beyond traditional perspectives, asking not “what’s the matter with you?” but “what matters to you?”—empowering both professionals and individuals in their journey to chip away at pain and build strength.
Hosted by Dr. Manaan Kar Ray, an innovator and leader in mental health crisis care with over a decade of experience at Oxford and Cambridge, and now the Director of Mental Health Services at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, PROTECT is changing the way we think about suicide prevention. Each episode blends leading-edge research with person-centered practice, bringing insights that promote hope, purpose, and resilience.
In our new focus, we introduce the STEPS 4 HOPE podcast series—an intimate exploration of suicide prevention through story, metaphor, and values-based connection. This season follows Ari’s Tapestry, a narrative journey through the six STEPS of suicidal distress: FABRIC, THREAD, NEEDLE, TIP, MEND, and FLOW. Each episode blends poetic storytelling, clinical insight, and emotional resonance to help listeners better understand what risk feels like—and how to respond with presence, curiosity, and care. Grounded in the HOPE framework, this series is a companion for anyone seeking to support others through pain, or to reweave their own path forward.
Whether you’re a clinician, caregiver, educator, or someone walking your own recovery journey, this podcast is an essential resource for all those who care deeply about mental health, suicide prevention, and building communities that thrive on connection and kindness.
Further information at www.PROGRESS.guide.
PROTECT | Values Guided Suicide Prevention
73 | Woven Together: Ari's Tapestry
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This episode is a deliberate pause: a chance to gather the threads of Ari’s journey and see the STEPS model as a whole. We begin with the heart of any assessment—the room between two people. We explore relational safety as a felt sense created by presence, tone, pacing, and transparency, and we name the real tension clinicians hold: the story that needs to unfold and the structure we need to make good decisions.
From there, we model a balanced stance—curious, compassionate, and clear—drawing on the posture of motivational interviewing. We show how narrative first honours meaning, and how validity techniques (used gently and transparently) help complete the jigsaw: normalisation, shame attenuation, behavioural incident, gentle assumption, denial of the specific, and symptom amplification.
We introduce B4Now, a simple time-window scaffold (Day 1, Two Weeks, Three Months, Before, Now) that weaves story into structure—especially when time is short or memory is scattered. We name common pitfalls (all heart/no map; all map/no heart; cannon questions; hidden agendas; premature reassurance) and how to repair them.
Then we revisit each phase—FABRIC, THREAD, NEEDLE, TIP, MEND, FLOW—before hearing Ari’s reflection in her own words: continuation is not neat, but it is possible.
We close by previewing what comes next: three practice shifts that deepen STEPS in real-world care—from prediction to prevention, from past to future, and from deficits to assets—alongside four guiding tasks that help us see not just the tear, but the tapestry in motion.
Connect with Assoc Prof Manaan Kar Ray on Linkedin
Follow us on www.progress.guide
