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Posts by Katharine Di Cerbo

Katharine Di Cerbo left psychology research to start helping those of us who feel alone, despite lives filled with people, and would enjoy more emotional connection. Download her FREE LISTENING CRAFT GUIDE—based on the techniques she learned as suicide-hotline volunteer—to learn about how skillful listening can help you do just that.

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Why Advice Doesn’t Help When We’re Hurting (and What Does)

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“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we’re listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” ~Karl A. Menninger

I remember my first call like it was yesterday.

I answered the phone, heart beating out of my chest, hand firm on a sheet of local emergency phone numbers.

The voice on the other end was full of… meek embarrassment.

Not exactly what I was expecting.

“Uhh, I’m really sorry… I’m not, uhh… I’m not suicidal…. I just… I just had a …