Meet Sally
— A Voice of Compassion and Courage
With grace, insight, a splash of humor, and a fierce commitment to life, Sally takes us on a journey that is changing lives. Whether writing, speaking, or helping her clients walk one more step, Sally thrills, enlightens, and astonishes as she shines a clear light on the way forward.”
Michael Frick, Founder, speaking.com
Sally Raymond, LMFT, is a practicing, longtime Marriage and Family Therapist in Southern California. She is a speaker, author, and passionate, devoted expert on the topics of life and healthy growth, suicide, and relationships.
With six other therapists, she cofounded Children’s Path Programs, a non-profit dedicated to help children attain their passion and potential. She is also a founding board member of Freedom4Youth, a non-profit dedicated to ending the school-to-prison pipeline for at-risk youth. Through coaching communication, listening, and leadership skills, the organization helps incarcerated or at-risk adolescents evolve out of criminality, gangs and drug addiction into successful students, peer mentors, and true inspiration for their family, friends and community.
Annually pro-bono by teacher invitation, Sally leads eight-week leadership intensives in high school classes where students learn to speak, listen with intention, analyze critically and know how to provide honest, emotionally resonant, helpful feedback. Sally was one of four principals featured in Dialogue Project, an award-winning full-length documentary film dedicated to organically reviving a sense of resonant community in public places. Across the nation, from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., The Dialogue Project sparked spontaneous, positive meaningful dialogue and new connections among casual passersby, and won awards in film festivals. Since her son Jon’s suicide in 1991 while being licensed as a psychotherapist, Sally has directed the precise psychological insight and skills unavailable any earlier to her as a mother toward ‘reverse engineering’ what in Jon’s life experience culminated in such a tragic last choice. The task has taken her as many years as he lived. Now, her book is out, expressly written to help others thrive at every age and avoid the kind of pitfalls Jon fell prey to. With it, Jon’s fate need not be yours–or your children’s. Understanding the new core issue at each stage of development can help children and adults alike better steer towards greater life, wholeness, joy and fulfillment.
Keynote & Workshops
Sally Raymond is available to lecture nationally and worldwide on topics keyed to supporting every life’s growing edge, from birth to old age. She emphasizes the building of hope, growth and life force as a path to resiliency and stability; she empowers others with information that minimizes despair, hopelessness and helplessness that far too often tragically culminate in suicidality.
Sally has built a large speaking topic repertoire around the importance of socio-emotional education (SEL), emotional intelligence (EQ), and personal coping skills. In her talks, she addresses these important topics with equal parts humor, drama, and hard-won wisdom.
“Sally has a great sense of humor and use of words: She shares very personal, poignant stories and pays tribute to others in ways that allow their brilliance and lessons to live on in those listening.”
— Carol S.
"How to Hold On to Hope This Holiday Season:
15 Life-Saving Conversations Every Family Needs Right Now"
This holiday season, too many families will gather around tables filled with tension, silence, or even grief.
But what if, instead of avoiding the hard conversations, we leaned in with love, with honesty, and with hope?
This powerful, timely guide offers:
15 insights I wish I had known before losing my son to suicide
Quotes and takeaways from top mental health experts and advocates
A printable “Conversation Starters That Could Save a Life” checklist
Resources for U.S. and Canadian suicide prevention and support
Whether you're navigating family friction, grief, or simply want to be a safe space for someone struggling—you are not alone. And you can make a difference.
Resource Library
Click the button below to read
Call for Help
9-1-1 – Imminent danger for self and others.
2-1-1 – Centers contacted through this number provide comprehensive services in addiction counseling, affordable housing, Alzheimer’s assistance, child care, debt counseling, disaster relief, donation opportunities, education, emergency food, food banks and soup kitchens, ESL, financial assistance, homeless services, job counseling, parenting programs, psychotherapy, senior citizen programs, suicide prevention, telephone reassurance & care for the elderly, volunteer opportunities, and youth programs.
Suicide Prevention Hotlines
If you are suicidal, remember that most of these people are trained volunteers, not professionals. There is often a range of variability in how you experience the person who picks up. If you sense a mismatch, please thank the person, say goodbye, hang up and immediately call another line. Each number has a set of volunteers ready to answer.
Care for yourself in this self-sorting process by breathing deep and slowing it way down. As you can, focus on systematically relaxing different muscle groups. You are absolutely worth all it takes to find a good (not perfect!) fit for solid support.
Stay open to each person and be honest as best you can. Continue dialing until you reach a helpful connection. Rest. Breathe. Relax. Repeat. Do nothing except stay safe and reach out. Crying is fine. Let all that pain out as it comes. Let all thoughts just pass in, through and out. In a crisis, thoughts often narrow to obsess over worst case hypotheses, which have less than one percent chance of actually being true. Don’t buy in or give them energy. Get help!
1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-784-2433 Suicide, Depression and Crisis Hotline
1-800-442-4673 Hopeline – Kristin Brooks Hope Center
1-800-784-2432 Spanish Speaking Suicide Hopeline
1-877-968-8454 Youthline: Teen to Teen Peer Counseling Hotline
1-877-838-2838 Vet2Vet: Veterans Peer Support Line
1-800-472-3457 Graduate Student Helpline
1-800-773-6667 Mothers Post-Partum Depression Hotline
Other Hotlines
1-800-422-4453 National Child Abuse Hotline
1-800-786-2929 National Runaway Safeline
1-800-843-5678 National Hotline for Missing and Exploited Children
1-800-426-5678 Child Find of America
1-866-382-7474 Family Crisis Center
1-866-331-9474 Dating and Young Adult Relationships Chatline
1-800-473-3003 National Hispanic Resource Hotline
1-800-736-9805 Families Anonymous (Addiction and Recovery)
1-888-425-2666 Al-Anon Family & Teens (Addiction and Recovery)
1-800-843-6154 Division of Developmental Learning Disabilities
1-800-662-4357 National Institute Bilingual Drug Abuse Hotline
1-800-656-4673 National Sexual Assault Hotline
1-800-227-8922 Sexually Transmitted Disease Hotline
1-800-799-7233 National Domestic Violence, Child and Sexual Abuse Hotline
1-800-222-1222 Poison Control Center Hotline
1-800-230-7525 Planned Parenthood Hotline
1-800-366-8288 Self Abuse Finally Ends Hotline
1-800-848-9595 Shoplifters Anonymous
1-800-931-2237 Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention
1-800-985-5990 National Disaster Distress Helpline
Online Resources
BEBA supports families to resolve both physical and emotional pre- and perinatal birth and other early trauma while facilitating the development of compassionate relationships, the healthy growth of children, and effective parenting.
A worldwide organization of trained volunteers dedicated to preventing suicide and supporting those who are lonely or depressed. Provides free, immediate, confidential and nonjudgmental support, and also serves as a resource for loved ones desiring to help. Available by telephone, in person, text, letter or e-mail in 10 languages and 41 countries. Onsite, follow the links to the helpline of your choice.
For anyone fearing for his or her personal safety from another, this site features an anonymous, free online threat assessment questionnaire. Retaliation is always possible and scary: whether via divorce or breakup, a student against a school/university, or a person against judicial or public figures. Just fill out this free, automatically scored confidential questionnaire to more objectively assess your actual risk in order to take appropriate action to ensure your safety and well-being.
Information, text or live chat on issues concerning healthy dating relationships for teens, LGBT youth, and young adults.
Safe havens for you and your pets.
The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP): since 1960, professionals and volunteers in over fifty countries work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent suicide. If you feel suicidal or know of someone who is, go online and browse Help for a crisis center near you.
An international program of men helping men reconnect and evolve as mature, accountable and compassionate men living whole, active, empowered lives.
Educational materials, experts’ articles, personal stories, and more to help you cope with depression, grief, suicide, or any mental or emotional difficulty you or your loved one may be experiencing.
An online crisis network with all volunteers trained and certified in crisis intervention.
On demand, instant emotional health & wellbeing for anyone. Go online for anonymous, confidential support.
Provides low- to no-cost bi-lingual prevention, detection and intervention programs for children, parents and families across a full spectrum of problems, from initial parent-child bonding to helping parents and children recover from domestic violence, drug addiction, child abuse or neglect. Also provides referrals, resources and information. Serves Santa Barbara County.
All facets of domestic violence are addressed, including emergency shelter. Serves Santa Barbara County.
Books
Alcoholics Anonymous.The Big Book of AA.
Blauner, Susan Rose.How I Stayed Alive When My Brain was Trying to Kill Me: One Person’s Guide to Suicide Prevention.New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
De Becker, Gavin.Protecting The Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane).New York: Little, Brown and Co, 1999.
Fine, Carla.No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One.New York: Broadway Books, 1997.
Firestone, Robert, and Firestone, Lisa.Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice: A Revolutionary Program to Counter Negative Thoughts and Live Free From Imagined Limitations.Oakland: New Harbinger Publications, 2002.
Hall, Kevin.Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words.New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
Hay, Louise L.You Can Heal Your Life.Santa Monica: Hay House, 1984.
Hay, Louise L.Heal Your Body: The Mental Causes for Physical Illness and the Metaphysical Way to Overcome Them.Carlsbad: Hay House, 1988.
Keirsey, David, and Bates, Marilyn.Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types.Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company, 1984.
Kipnis, Aaron.Knights Without Armor: A Practical Guide for Men in Quest of Masculine Soul.Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1991.
Peter McGugan.When Something Changes Everything.Palm Spring: Potentials Press, 1998.
Oaklander, Violet.Windows To My Children: A Gestalt Therapy Approach to Children and Adolescents.The Gestalt Journal Press, 1988.
Perry, Bruce D., and Szalavitz, Maia.The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog: And Other Stories From A Child Pyschiatrist’s Notebook – What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing.Philadelphia: Basic Books, 2006.
Rosenberg, Marshall B.Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Compassion – Improve the Quality of Your Personal and Professional Relationships.Encinitas, CA: PuddleDancer Press, 1999.
Schneidman, Edwin S.Autopsy of a Suicidal Mind.New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Shapiro, Francine.Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy.New York: Rodale Press, 2012.
Siegel, Daniel.Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain.New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2013.
Siegel, Daniel, and Hartzell, Mary.Parenting From the Inside Out: How a Deeper Understanding Can Help you Raise Children to Thrive.New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2003.
Tolle, Eckhart.The Power of NOW: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.Canada: Namaste Publishing Inc., 1997.
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