Last Day

To commemorate Last Day’s fifth anniversary, we are revisiting the season two finale. This episode was chosen by Jackie – one of the first people to work on the show, and a previous Last Day guest herself. Season 2 Finale! We started this season on a bridge but told you not to get caught up in the romantic notion of saviors and last minute interventions. Suicide isn’t about one moment in time. But if you or someone you love is suicidal, a single moment can be the difference between life and death. So, this week we’re doing a toolkit episode all about crisis response. What do you do when help is needed right now? This week, we role play with a suicide hotline employee, give the Cliff’s notes version of QPR suicide prevention training, and hear about what happens when therapists go on strike. This episode features a host of talented people, including Tara Consolino (director of suicide prevention and substance abuse, Detroit V.A.), Dr. Julie Goldstein Grumet (director, Zero Suicide Institute at the Education Development Center), Dr. John Draper (executive director, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline), Susan Whitney (licensed marriage and family therapist, Kaiser), and Sal Rosselli (president and co-founder, National Union of Healthcare Workers). Resources from the episode: Read up on QPR from the QPR Institute and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center Zero Suicide Institute, their general toolkit, and population-specific toolkits National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Lifeline’s 5 Steps to Help Someone in Crisis #Bethe1To NUHW Kaiser Don’t Deny campaign webpage NUHW Care Delayed, Care Denied white paper Learn more about SB 855 via CapRadio If you or someone you know is struggling emotionally or feeling hopeless, it’s important to talk to someone about it now. Contact one of the resources below for a free, confidential conversation with a trained counselor anytime. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Text line: Text “Connect” to 741-741 The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386 Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/ For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/lastday shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last Day is turning five! From investigating America’s deaths of despair to featuring real-life stories of hope and change, the journey of Last Day has been kinda unbelievable. All the tears! All the laughter! And all of you! We’re so grateful to our loyal listeners who have come along with us for the ride. To celebrate, we are counting down five of our staff’s favorite Last Day episodes of all time. This week, you’ll hear Lina’s story introduced by Wendolyne, Lemonada’s business operations manager. Growing up, Lina Martinez treasured holidays spent with her family. She remembers the food, the ornaments, the dancing, and — above all – her dad, who made everything warmer and brighter. Year round, her dad Luis was her person, her best friend. But when Luis fell ill shortly before Christmas, Lina could already tell her holidays were going to look different from then on. Lina shares with Stephanie what it was like to receive and lose the most important kind of love in her life, and how she makes space for her grief, even during the most “wonderful” time of the year. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/ For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/lastday shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carrie and Joe were college sweethearts who made a picture-perfect family. They worked and saved to pay for their kids’ sports, vacations, and everything in between. Then, after over a decade of marriage, Carrie stumbled upon the secret that compromised everything they built. Carrie shares with Stephanie how her husband’s betrayal left her with absolutely nothing – not a roof over her head, or answers from her life partner about why he deceived her. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Have a story you want to share? Head to bit.ly/lastdaystories to fill out our confidential Google form. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/ For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/lastday shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vinnie grew up in a strict, insular environment that instilled a simple message in him from a young age: who you are is fundamentally wrong. After spending years praying to God to fix him, he finally hit his breaking point. Vinnie talks to Steph about the joys and struggles of coming out in his mid 30s and extricating himself from the Evangelical church. To support Vinnie’s work, check out his website and the essay collection Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Who Came Out Later in Life. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Have a story you want to share? Head to bit.ly/lastdaystories to fill out our confidential Google form. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/ For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/lastday shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After getting engaged, Nikki Vargas was staring down a lifetime of white picket fences, suburbs, and 2.5 kids. And deep down she knew she couldn’t do it. So years into a confining relationship, and even deeper into a love affair with travel and journalism that compromised the future her fiancé imagined, Nikki had to make a life-changing choice. She talks with Stephanie about how, ultimately, that choice might just be the best one she’s ever made. This series is presented by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. MCF supports leaders who work to shift the balance of power in their communities toward working people and families, and who have the vision and capacity for building a truly representative economy. Learn more at caseygrants.org or visit on social media @caseygrants. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Have a story you want to share? Head to bit.ly/lastdaystories to fill out our confidential Google form. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/ For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/lastday shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last Day listeners, today we're sharing with you Stephanie's conversation with Kate Bowler on her show Everything Happens. Kate is a professor at Duke University and someone who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2015 that had already metastasized. She is now in remission, and spends lots of time talking to other people about the fact that everything just, well, happens! To hear more of Everything Happens, head to: https://lemonada.lnk.to/everythinghappens Today, we’re talking about tragicomedy. And isn’t that all of life? The absurdity. The horror. The laughter that somehow cuts through the most difficult of moments. Our guest today, Stephanie Wittles Wachs wrote a beautiful memoir called Everything is Horrible and Wonderful about the death of her brother to an accidental heroin overdose when he was 30 years old. In this conversation, Kate and Stephanie discuss: Loving someone with addiction Grieving a person in public Why it’s okay (and maybe necessary) to laugh in the midst of the worst moments The 6th stage of grief—the manic-investigative stage CW: mention of suicide, drug overdose, death of a sibling Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are few modern photos more iconic than the image of Christine Blasey Ford with her hand raised in the U.S. Senate chamber, vowing to tell nothing but the truth about being sexually assaulted by then-nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. From that moment on, Christine’s life was forever changed, exposing her to vicious hate and shaking the deeply rooted respect for government that had motivated her to come forward in the first place. Now, almost six years later, Christine sits down with Stephanie to give her a look into this new life. She shares how, even though many things got harder for her after her testimony, if she had the choice to do it all again, she would. Lemonada has teamed up with Apple Books to bring you the Lemonada Book Club. The March pick is One Way Back by Christine Blasey Ford. For more details, visit apple.co/lemonadabooks This series is presented by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. MCF supports leaders who work to shift the balance of power in their communities toward working people and families, and who have the vision and capacity for building a truly representative economy. Learn more at caseygrants.org or visit on social media @caseygrants. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Have a story you want to share? Head to bit.ly/lastdaystories to fill out our confidential Google form. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/ For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/lastday shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices