Shows
Destigmatize Mental Health PodcastHope In The Valley Series - Episode 1 with Dr. Matthew Beare (Ep.56)Episode 1 of 24: We talk to Dr Matthew Beare about his journey towards becoming an Addiction Medicine Physician and how the landscape has changed. Join us in an honest conversation!About our guest: Dr. Matthew Beare is a double board-certified Family and Addiction Medicine physician and the Program Director for Kern County’s first Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Clinica Sierra Vista. Since joining Clinica in 2016, he’s led the expansion of care for Kern County’s most vulnerable residents, building the region’s first street medicine teams and developing an integrated model of care that reaches th...
2025-11-291h 06
UntangleHow to Have Difficult Conversations. The Art and Science. With Kern BeareToday’s encore episode was from the 2020 election SOS Series, and is titled How to have a difficult conversation. Perhaps relevant now! Our guest, Kern Beare, is the author of the book, Difficult Conversations, the Art and Science of Working Together. He shares strategies to help us have more productive dialogues and to resolve differences when it matters most. Whether in relationship, work, or political conversations, he discusses the importance of dropping our egos, letting go of feeling like we need to be right all the time, deep listening to truly understand the other, and seeing beyond our own st...
2024-11-0542 min
The Real Talk PodcastCombating the Kern Fentanyl Crisis with Dr. BeareAs Kern County Fentanyl crisis continues to plague our area, there are doctors who work tirelessly to help those looking for help with managing their addictions. In this episode, Dr. Matthew Beare explains what Clinica Sierra Vista is doing to combat the Fentanyl crisis from the city to the country and back.
With more than 20 years of connection to the San Joaquin Valley, Dr. Matthew Beare has spent the entirety of his medical career focusing on serving marginalized populations, with special attention given to homeless patients and those who suffer from long term substance use disorders. As...
2023-02-2143 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern BeareWaging Conflict Without Violence: A Conversation with Political Scientist Maria StephanCan nonviolent civil resistance be successful even against the most militarily sophisticated and brutal regimes? My podcast guest this month, political scientist Maria Stephan, says unequivocally “yes." Co-Lead and Chief Organizer at The Horizons Project and the former Director of the Program on Nonviolent Action at the United States Institute of Peace, Maria is the co-author, with Erica Chenoweth, of the award-winning book, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. The result of two years of research — collecting and analyzing data on over 330 major, violent and nonviolent campaigns — the book makes the case for a surpr...
2022-11-1144 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern BeareLooking for the light in each other: A Conversation with Listening Expert, Kay Lindahl.If there's one thing we could all be doing to make the world a better place, it would be to become better listeners. That's why I'm so interested in the work of listening guru Kay Lindahl. Kay is the founder of The Listening Center in Long Beach, CA, and conducts workshops and retreats around the world on the sacred art of listening for religious, spiritual, community and business groups. A Certified Listening Professional and an ordained interfaith minister, Kay is the author of several books on the power of listening, including The Sacred Art of L...
2022-07-2330 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern BeareFrom 'Problems' Journalism to 'Solutions' Journalism: A Conversation with David Bornstein.Like a lot of people, I find the news these days dispiriting. But it’s not just the events being reported that I find depressing, it’s the way they’re being reported: scored with a relentless drumbeat of negativity that makes me feel as if I’m being marched to the edge of an abyss, only to be left there alone to contemplate our increasingly bleak future.They may not think of themselves this way, but journalists are storytellers, and the way they tell their stories shapes how you and I see each other and our world. T...
2022-06-0934 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern BeareFacing our Humanity: A Personal Story.Thinking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine reminded me of a very personal experience I had years ago — one that taught me something about why it's so important to face our own humanity._______________________________Kern Beare is the founder of the Difficult Conversations Project and the author of Difficult Conversations: The Art and Science of Working Together. He also facilitates a workshop based on his book, which is free for non-profit organizations and community groups.
2022-04-2806 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare"I never thought of it that way." A conversation with journalist and author Mónica Guzmán on how to heal our national divide.Mónica Guzmán is the author of a wise, entertaining, inspiring and fantastically helpful new book called “I never thought of it that way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times.” It's the first book I've read on the subject that actually made me look forward to my next difficult conversation.Mónica's insights and strategies are hard won. In addition to being the chief storyteller for the national cross-partisan depolarization organization Braver Angels, as an individual and a journalist, she's organized and participated in many bridge-building conversations across our political divide. A Mexican...
2022-03-3149 min
The Ten Thousand (10,000) Heroes ShowA Journey of Dialogue, Discord, and Difficult Conversations with Kern BeareHello and welcome to episode 00024 of the Ten Thousand Heroes Podcast. I'm Ankur Shah Delight and today's interview is with Kern Beare I met Kern Beare in the summer of 2020 after seeing a talk posted on the Awakin list. I was immediately impressed by his project – a drive across the country talking to people of radically different political perspectives and ideologies, searching for the seeds of common understanding. It's my kind of dream project, like Michael Ferranti going to Iraq with a guitar. The potential for human creativity and curiosity to overcome the sp...
2022-03-191h 02
Difficult Conversations, with Kern BeareBreaking the patterns of "high conflict": A conversation with author Amanda Ripley.Amanda Ripley is an investigative journalist and a New York Times best-selling author. Her most recent book, and the subject of our conversation, is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. In this interview, we take a deep dive into some of her book's main ideas, including:Why high conflicts are a lot like the La Brea Tar Pits.The four "trip wires" that lead to high conflict, including "the power of the binary."Why often the best thing you can do in a conflict is first "get straight in your own head."How f...
2022-02-181h 08
Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare"Landing in the truth of who you are." A conversation with mindfulness coach Brett Hill.Show NotesWhenever you're perusing the web, you're likely to come across some new discovery about the benefits of mindfulness —a simple form of meditation that psychologists and neurologists have been studying for decades. Simple, but also powerful — proven to strengthen everything from our relationships to our hearts to our immune systems. And that's just the start. No wonder mediation training is now finding its way into everything from kindergarten classes to boardrooms.Despite its growing popularity and benefits, however, most people don't have a mindfulness practice. So I thought a podcast on the purp...
2022-01-2048 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare"It's all about love": Three lessons from crisis intervention expert Joe Smarro on how to de-escalate conflicts.My latest podcast guest, Joe Smarro — featured in the Emmy award winning HBO documentary, Ernie and Joe: Crisis Cops — taught me something about navigating difficult conversations: It helps to be trained in crisis intervention.For 15 years Joe was an officer with the San Antonio, Texas police department. The last 11 of those years was with the mental health and crisis intervention unit. His job: de-escalate dangerous confrontations with those suffering from mental health traumas. It’s the kind of confrontation officers face frequently, and that accounts for one in five people killed by the police. Yet in 11 years, Joe nev...
2021-12-0329 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern BeareA more powerful force: A conversation with ex-CIA analyst Janessa Gans Wilder."It was so clear to me in that moment that the river was the more powerful force. It flowed on uninterrupted, no matter how many bombs went off. The bombs couldn’t affect the flow and trajectory and stillness of that river. It was more powerful than anything going on around it. ~Former CIA Analyst, Janessa Gans WilderJanessa Gans Wilder spent 21 months in Iraq during the war's most intensive fighting as a CIA Intelligence Analyst. Eight months in, "the futility, the violence and the confusion of war" left her feeling drained "emotionally, physically, spiritually." Then came t...
2021-11-0232 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare"There are no things, only relationships." A conversation with author and musician Stephen Nachmanovitch.What can improvisation teach us about the art of life and, more specifically, the art of difficult conversations? Plenty, it turns out. Join me in this provocative and thoughtful interview with Stephen Nachmanovitch — world-class improvisational musician and author of the iconic book Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, and more recently, The Art of Is: Improvising as a Way of Life.A few excerpts from our conversation:"The process of listening presupposes the process of being able to be quiet...In a conversation, if there's a pause of 10 seconds, that’s wo...
2021-10-0428 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare"Just do these three things." A conversation with author/mediator Douglas Stone.Did you know that every difficult conversation is actually three conversations, and two of them we ignore at our peril? Did you know that one of the longest standing national border disputes finally got resolved after two of the adversaries discovered they had one special thing in common? And did you know that by asking three simple questions, you can put your difficult conversation on the road to resolution? Well, get ready to learn about all that and more, because it's just a small part of my conversation with mediation expert Douglas Stone, former associate...
2021-09-1046 min
Difficult Conversations, with Kern Beare"A liberal walked into a gun shop...." A conversation with author Jon Karpilow.Talking to people we seriously disagree with can sound like a recipe for a bad headache and high blood pressure. But does it have to be? Might it instead be a recipe for understanding, connection, and even friendship? To find out, my liberal cousin Jon Karpilow spent seven months working in a gun shop in rural northern California. In this podcast he shares why he did it, what he learned, and if he'd ever, ever, do something like that again. (Spoiler alert: Yes, he would.)Jon's book, A Liberal’s Search For America - Tales From The Gun...
2021-08-1838 min
Sidewalk TalkKern Beare on how to have difficult conversations | Kern BeareDifficult conversations are something that we’ve had to have a lot of over the past four years. But just when it feels like you can’t even listen to someone who believes differently than you anymore, in walks someone like Kern Beare to help you realize maybe we aren’t so divided after all.
On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci talks with Kern, author and creator of the Difficult Conversations Project, all about how to have those difficult conversations in light of everything we’ve been through in the past four years, and really, t...
2021-02-2339 min
The Language of Mindfulness - A Podcast on Conscious Communication by Brett HillEpisode 5 - The Art and Science of Difficult Conversations with Kern Beare"How do we be the people we need to be to have the conversations we need to have." - Kern BeareThis is an amazing story told first hand by our guest Kern Beare (pronounced 'Berry'), who, in coming to grips with Trump's election, decided he was out of touch with some new, unknown reality in America. In a dramatic leap of faith, he and his son packed up and headed out on a month long road trip across the country. The purpose? To have conversations with people on the opposite end of his political beliefs. Listen...
2021-01-1337 min
UntangleKern Beare — How to Have a Difficult Conversation — #4 in the SOS Election Series.Kern Beare is the author of the book, Difficult Conversations, the Art and Science of Working Together. He shares strategies to help us have more productive dialogues and to resolve differences when it matters most. Whether in relationship, work, or political conversations, he discusses the importance of dropping our egos, letting go of feeling like we need to be right all the time, deep listening to truly understand the other, and seeing beyond our own stories. Understanding our implicit triggers and underlying ’stories’ can help us to be more self-aware when we’re in the heat of a difficult discussion or, as...
2020-11-1042 min
Rio Bravo qWeekEpisode 7 - Suboxone: One Film At A TimeEpisode 7 - Suboxone: One Film at a TimeThe sun rises over the San Joaquin Valley, California. Today is April 15, 2020. Viral diseases anyone? The American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) recommended HPV vaccination for clinicians routinely exposed to HPV. This recommendation encompasses the complete provider team, including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, residents, and fellows, and others in the fields of OB/GYN, family practice, gyn-onc, and dermatology. While there is limited data on occupational HPV exposure, ASCCP, recommends that members actively protect themselves against the risks(1). This recommendation on HPV vaccination for...
2020-04-1823 min
How Can I Say This...Difficult Conversations with Kern BeareIt’s a phrase I’ve heard over and over these past few years: there’s no point in trying to talk to them. Them is always the person with whom we have strong disagreements, or it might represent an entire group of people we’ve decided are unreachable. But there is a point; it’s just not what you might think. Our question this episode: how can we get past our surface differences to find our common humanity? My guest is Kern Beare, founder of The Difficult Conversations Project. More information at howcanisaythis.com. Shar...
2020-03-2146 minHow Can I Say This...Bridging Political Divides with Kern BeareIn this debut episode, we jump right into the fray with a conversation about how to bridge the political divide when you're talking with someone who thinks very differently than you do. My guest is Kern Beare, founder of Pop the Bubble, an initiative born in the wake of the 2016 election. After taking a cross-country “conversation road trip” with his son Will to better understand the source of our divide, Kern created a workshop called “Difficult Conversations: The art and science of thinking (and living) together.” He’s been traveling the country leading the workshop since October of 2017. Hosted on Aca...
2018-09-0429 min