Latest / The Breakfast Club / Dr. Alfiee Talks World Mental Health Day, Signs Of Illness, Religion vs Therapy + More

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Dr. Alfiee Talks World Mental Health Day, Signs Of Illness, Religion vs Therapy + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. Breakfast Club morning.
0:04
Speaker 1: Everybody is DJ Envy Angela Yee. Charlomagne the guy. We
0:09
Speaker 1: are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in
0:11
Speaker 1: the building, Charlomagne's Mental Wealth expot in today's Mental Health Day.
0:16
Speaker 1: World Mental Health Day is today ten ten. That's right.
0:18
Speaker 1: We have doctor Alphie Welcome, Hi, thank you, thank you,
0:22
Speaker 1: the real brains and leader behind the mental health expot. Yeah,
0:26
Speaker 1: doctor Alphie bruland Noble, Good morning. How are you this morning?
0:29
Speaker 1: I am We just say blessed the highly favorite blessed
0:31
Speaker 1: black and highly faith black and highly favorite. So for
0:34
Speaker 1: people that don't know what is World Mental Health Day? So,
0:37
Speaker 1: World Mental Health Day was something founded many years ago
0:41
Speaker 1: to give us an opportunity to recognize the importance obviously
0:45
Speaker 1: of mental health. Right. So the issue is, you know,
0:47
Speaker 1: with so much stigma around mental health, particularly in our communities,
0:51
Speaker 1: were gonna keep it real? Um. I think that there
0:53
Speaker 1: was a real push and a desire to make sure
0:55
Speaker 1: that we acknowledge an uplift mental health and have it
0:58
Speaker 1: on the same pedal stone as we do goal health.
1:00
Speaker 1: So every year on October tenth, we recognize and celebrate
1:05
Speaker 1: an uplift and try to have a dedicated day just
1:08
Speaker 1: to focus on mental health conversations to what should we
1:10
Speaker 1: be doing today, Like what's what's the significance of the
1:12
Speaker 1: day outside of like what should we be doing? Yeah,
1:14
Speaker 1: I think exactly what we're doing right now. It is
1:16
Speaker 1: like allowing space for the conversation, you know. And I
1:19
Speaker 1: think we have to start in our homes. Like I said,
1:22
Speaker 1: for us as black people people of color, you know,
1:24
Speaker 1: we don't these are not things that we talk about
1:26
Speaker 1: every day outside of you all, because you do a
1:27
Speaker 1: good job of making sure that we uplift these conversations.
1:30
Speaker 1: But I think one thing we can do is just
1:32
Speaker 1: take a moment and reflect on how are we taking
1:35
Speaker 1: care of our own mental health, what kinds of things
1:37
Speaker 1: that we're doing to take care of our loved one's
1:38
Speaker 1: mental health, what kind of things are we allowing into
1:41
Speaker 1: our space to take away from our mental health, and
1:43
Speaker 1: then just kind of make a plan, like one little
1:46
Speaker 1: thing you can do every day to uplift and center
1:49
Speaker 1: your own mental health and mental health of the people
1:50
Speaker 1: that you care about. That's what we can do. I
1:52
Speaker 1: was going to ask, you know, with everything going on
1:54
Speaker 1: with mental health and police shooting people, police being called
1:58
Speaker 1: for mental health care. What do you think is a
2:02
Speaker 1: better way of doing that, because sometimes, you know, people
2:04
Speaker 1: feel threatened. You know, maybe somebody and their families having
2:07
Speaker 1: a breakdown and they pick up a knife. The family
2:09
Speaker 1: wants to be protected and wants to make sure that
2:11
Speaker 1: that family member is safe, not necessarily shot. So what
2:14
Speaker 1: would you recommend during those times because people are scared
2:16
Speaker 1: the call of police, that's right. So what I'm gonna
2:19
Speaker 1: tell you I appreciate deeply about that question is that's
2:22
Speaker 1: a cultural question, right, because not all communities have that fear,
2:25
Speaker 1: but us, as black people and many other communities of color,
2:28
Speaker 1: they absolutely have that fear. And it's a justified fear.
2:31
Speaker 1: So when we see these things happening in the public eye,
2:34
Speaker 1: we call that vicarious trauma. Even though we haven't experienced it,
2:37
Speaker 1: we're watching someone experience it and we can have some
2:39
Speaker 1: of the same reactions. So in terms of what do
2:42
Speaker 1: we do, there are some innovative programs out there in
2:45
Speaker 1: the world. I know they have it in Washington State.
2:47
Speaker 1: There are a couple of other places where instead of
2:49
Speaker 1: sending out police officers for a mental health crisis, they're
2:53
Speaker 1: sending out social workers, right, And that's the idea, is
2:57
Speaker 1: to send a trained mental health professional out to the
3:00
Speaker 1: emily or out to the location, rather than send a
3:03
Speaker 1: police who are not necessarily trained in how to deal
3:05
Speaker 1: with mental health crises. I think another thing that we
3:07
Speaker 1: can do is we can always be aware of what's
3:10
Speaker 1: going on with our family members because we all know
3:13
Speaker 1: some of those triggers, you know, that impact our family members.
3:16
Speaker 1: We know the kinds of things that we can do
3:18
Speaker 1: to help keep them calm, We know the things that
3:20
Speaker 1: we can do to de escalate sometimes. And if we
3:23
Speaker 1: don't know those things, like how do we deescalate somebody
3:25
Speaker 1: when they're in crisis, when you see them looking at
3:28
Speaker 1: the knife, headed toward to pick it up, how do
3:30
Speaker 1: you bring them back down to a place of peace
3:32
Speaker 1: so that that's not the thing that they go to.
3:34
Speaker 1: And I think if we don't take time to try
3:36
Speaker 1: to really be very conscious about what our triggers are,
3:40
Speaker 1: about what our family members triggers are, about the kinds
3:43
Speaker 1: of dynamics that are happening in our families that can
3:45
Speaker 1: escalate to those kinds of things, it puts us at
3:48
Speaker 1: a disadvantage because stuff will get out of control. Really quickly.
3:51
Speaker 1: So I really do think it is a combination of
3:53
Speaker 1: us advocating as a public for having somebody other than
3:57
Speaker 1: police go out for mental health crises. It is finding
4:00
Speaker 1: other ways to take care of ourselves on a day
4:02
Speaker 1: to day basis, so that you're doing more prevention, right
4:06
Speaker 1: than intervention. It's too late when it's already got escalated
4:09
Speaker 1: and they're reaching for the knife. But if you can
4:11
Speaker 1: help that person learn how to manage emotions, avoid triggers,
4:14
Speaker 1: understand triggers, you can sort of stave off that possibility
4:18
Speaker 1: that you're going to get into those big crisis. You
4:20
Speaker 1: can't prevent them all, but you can certainly try to
4:22
Speaker 1: prevent some of them. I've heard you talk about cultural
4:24
Speaker 1: warning signs for suicide. What are some of those warning
4:27
Speaker 1: sign Absolutely so, I think for us as black people,
4:30
Speaker 1: we have to be conscious of the person is not
4:32
Speaker 1: always going to look depressed and down and sad. Sometimes
4:36
Speaker 1: people are gonna look angry, right, and that consistent, persistent
4:39
Speaker 1: anger is something that we want to pay attention to.
4:41
Speaker 1: That can be a sign of somebody who's just like
4:43
Speaker 1: at their width and I don't want to deal with
4:45
Speaker 1: it anymore. I think as well, what in our community,
4:48
Speaker 1: we don't necessarily talk about being depressed. We're not gonna
4:50
Speaker 1: use those words. We may say things like, you know,
4:53
Speaker 1: I'm just in my feelings, or you know, I don't
4:54
Speaker 1: know what's wrong with me, just something like my mom
4:57
Speaker 1: used to say, nothing wrong with something may right. I
4:59
Speaker 1: think that we also have to pay attention to the
5:02
Speaker 1: ways in which people are discouraged from showing sadness right,
5:06
Speaker 1: because sadness makes you look weak, and so that comes
5:09
Speaker 1: back to this issue of anger. So if somebody is
5:11
Speaker 1: really struggling, they may not tell the people around them
5:14
Speaker 1: that they're feeling sad. What you're going to get instead
5:17
Speaker 1: is maybe they're withdrawn, maybe they're super irritable. You're gonna
5:19
Speaker 1: get these other things. I think some of the signs
5:22
Speaker 1: that are real clear signals when people started giving stuff away,
5:26
Speaker 1: right when they stopped engaging in activities and behaviors that
5:29
Speaker 1: they used to. I have a colleague. He was a
5:31
Speaker 1: friend of a group of my friends, and right before
5:35
Speaker 1: he died by suicide, this is probably twelve years ago,
5:38
Speaker 1: he had some music equipment that he really loved. He
5:40
Speaker 1: started selling the equipment and giving it away, and then
5:43
Speaker 1: within maybe a week he had died by suicide in
5:46
Speaker 1: a park, right, And so when you're seeing a person
5:48
Speaker 1: just sort of their life is just starting to shrink,
5:51
Speaker 1: They're getting more and more isolated. They don't want to
5:53
Speaker 1: be with people, they don't want to do things that
5:55
Speaker 1: they used to do. They're just looking, I'm just kind
5:58
Speaker 1: of flat, right, There's no emotion, don't find any joy
6:00
Speaker 1: in their life. Those are things that I think give
6:03
Speaker 1: us a clear idea that that person may not want
6:06
Speaker 1: to be with us anymore, right, and that they may
6:08
Speaker 1: want to take their life. I was gonna say, but
6:10
Speaker 1: you know a problem with that is is somebody like
6:12
Speaker 1: yourself or even Charlemagne might know the terms. A lot
6:15
Speaker 1: of people don't know the terms. Yes, like you know,
6:17
Speaker 1: I could I could be sad today, you know. I
6:19
Speaker 1: mean I might have woke up speaking to my grandmother
6:21
Speaker 1: and just sad. Yes, that doesn't mean I'm necessarily depressed,
6:23
Speaker 1: or I could wake up being depressed and I'm thinking
6:26
Speaker 1: I'm sad that I don't know if we necessarily know
6:28
Speaker 1: the signs of when people have those problems. You know,
6:31
Speaker 1: I agree one hundred percent. And so what we try
6:33
Speaker 1: to do with our work both with the mental health
6:35
Speaker 1: Alliance and with the a Coma Project, a nonprofit that
6:37
Speaker 1: I founded that focuses on younger people. We try to
6:40
Speaker 1: teach people those signs and symptoms. So I have a
6:42
Speaker 1: really close girlfriend. Her name is Kathy Williams. She lost
6:44
Speaker 1: her son to suicide about twenty two years ago. He
6:47
Speaker 1: was fifteen years old. Tory and Leone Graves as the
6:50
Speaker 1: young brother's name, and she and I would go around
6:53
Speaker 1: the country teaching people. So I'll give you a couple
6:55
Speaker 1: of the signs. I've talked about sadness that's obvious, right.
6:58
Speaker 1: I've talked about irritability that's less obvious. People's eating habits
7:03
Speaker 1: changed drastically, right, So if somebody normally eats a lot
7:06
Speaker 1: and now they don't want to eat anything, or vice versa,
7:09
Speaker 1: that can be a warning sign. It can be a
7:10
Speaker 1: warning sign when you see changes in sleep behavior. They
7:13
Speaker 1: sleep a lot more than they used to, they sleep
7:15
Speaker 1: a lot less than they used to, or they're up
7:17
Speaker 1: all night and sleeping all day, that kind of fatigue.
7:19
Speaker 1: Some of the other signs are people who talk about death.
7:22
Speaker 1: Maybe that's not their death, but they kind of fixated
7:25
Speaker 1: on death as a thing. Those are all things to
7:27
Speaker 1: give you a clue if those things last and they
7:30
Speaker 1: hang around for more than two weeks, Right, So if
7:33
Speaker 1: you're just kind of seeing that offer and on for
7:34
Speaker 1: a two week period, that's when you know that person
7:37
Speaker 1: might need some help. I think the challenge is a
7:39
Speaker 1: lot of us don't take enough time to stop. I
7:42
Speaker 1: always call it knowing your baseline. We don't know from
7:45
Speaker 1: day to day sort of what average is for us,
7:48
Speaker 1: what is neutral for us because we're always sort of moving.
7:51
Speaker 1: So if you don't know what neutral is, how do
7:53
Speaker 1: you know when this stuff is going really really great
7:56
Speaker 1: and you're like really really high, or when stuff is
7:58
Speaker 1: really really bad and you're really really We've got to
8:00
Speaker 1: take time to sort of stop and figure out what
8:02
Speaker 1: that baseline is. So hopefully that helps in terms of
8:05
Speaker 1: just some of the things to look for. And you're
8:06
Speaker 1: looking for a cluster, it's not one one day and
8:09
Speaker 1: one the next. This to all of this stuff is
8:11
Speaker 1: kind of clustering together over a period of two weeks.
8:13
Speaker 1: How do you encourage somebody to get help? Because sometimes
8:16
Speaker 1: you are around people and you're like, Okay, this person
8:18
Speaker 1: clearly needs to seek some help, but they don't want to,
8:21
Speaker 1: or maybe you're in a relationship with somebody and they
8:23
Speaker 1: don't want to do therapy with you to try to
8:26
Speaker 1: fix things, how can you say and if they're very
8:29
Speaker 1: resistant to that, what are some things you can do?
8:31
Speaker 1: Hold on, doctor, Let's let's answer that when we come back. Okay,
8:33
Speaker 1: doctor Alphie's here. This is World Mental Health Day ten
8:36
Speaker 1: ten and we're gonna talk more with doctor Alphie when
8:39
Speaker 1: we come back. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning morning.
8:44
Speaker 1: Everybody is DJ Envy and Louis Charlomagne the guy. We
8:48
Speaker 1: all the Breakfast Club. We're joined by doctor Alphie. Today
8:52
Speaker 1: is World Mental Health Day and we recognize everything mental
8:56
Speaker 1: health and we have doctor Alphaie here. Now you you
8:58
Speaker 1: just had a question, right, I was asking how you
9:01
Speaker 1: encourage somebody to get help when you know that they
9:04
Speaker 1: need it, you see those signs, or maybe you're in
9:06
Speaker 1: a relationship and you need to go to help together
9:08
Speaker 1: as a couple. So one thing I always try to
9:11
Speaker 1: encourage people to think about is, you know, I happen
9:14
Speaker 1: to be a person of faith, and I believe there's
9:16
Speaker 1: one entity up there and it ain't me. And so
9:18
Speaker 1: what I try to remember is we can want somebody
9:21
Speaker 1: to do it, but if they don't want it for themselves.
9:24
Speaker 1: We can't make them do it, you know what I mean.
9:25
Speaker 1: And I think some of it sometimes it's hard to
9:27
Speaker 1: accept that. It's even hard for me to accept that
9:29
Speaker 1: as a mental health provider, that people may come in
9:32
Speaker 1: they kind of won't help, but don't really want to help,
9:34
Speaker 1: So they don't really want to do what I'm asking
9:35
Speaker 1: them to do to change things for the better. All
9:38
Speaker 1: I can do is take them where they are in
9:39
Speaker 1: the moment. And I think so that's not the best answer,
9:42
Speaker 1: that's not an answer that makes us happy. But I
9:44
Speaker 1: think they are going to be times when people are
9:45
Speaker 1: just not going to want to do it. They're going
9:47
Speaker 1: to be resistant. Now, for those people who might be
9:49
Speaker 1: on the fence, I think things that we can do
9:51
Speaker 1: is encouraged them by saying things like I will go
9:53
Speaker 1: with you, right even if I feel like I don't
9:55
Speaker 1: necessarily need to help in the moment. I will ride
9:57
Speaker 1: with you to the clinic. I will help you find somebody,
10:00
Speaker 1: will call that person on your behalf. Those are the
10:02
Speaker 1: kinds of things that we can do to demonstrate the
10:03
Speaker 1: people that we believe in the value of it, and
10:06
Speaker 1: we believe in the value of it and the potential
10:08
Speaker 1: of it to help them. I think one other thing
10:10
Speaker 1: we can do is we can demonstrate and be open,
10:13
Speaker 1: like Charlemagne does all the time, talk about how it
10:15
Speaker 1: benefited us. Right, So I went to this person, it
10:18
Speaker 1: helped me a lot. These are the ways in which
10:20
Speaker 1: it helped me. And then the final thing I think
10:22
Speaker 1: we can do is until a person is ready to
10:24
Speaker 1: go to care, we might try to find those kind
10:26
Speaker 1: of tools and resources that we can share with them
10:29
Speaker 1: that they can use to take care of themselves. I
10:31
Speaker 1: believe in meditations or they're all these meditation apps. Some
10:34
Speaker 1: people like affirmation setting intentions, those kind of deep breathing exercise.
10:38
Speaker 1: So just encouraging them with other things that they can
10:41
Speaker 1: do until such time as they're ready to go get
10:43
Speaker 1: that care. Yeah, sometimes people feel like, also, you don't
10:46
Speaker 1: want to desert someone, but it could be destroying you.
10:49
Speaker 1: That's with someone or around somebody who you can see
10:53
Speaker 1: all these different signs, but you feel helpless as far
10:55
Speaker 1: as them not wanting to seek help. So what do
10:58
Speaker 1: you do about that? For yourself? I don't want to
11:00
Speaker 1: desert this person, but I don't feel like there's anything
11:02
Speaker 1: I can really do that's right. So I think you
11:05
Speaker 1: acknowledge that and then you take time to take care
11:07
Speaker 1: of yourself first. And taking care of yourself first might
11:10
Speaker 1: mean you take that person to small doses, right, So
11:13
Speaker 1: it's like you want to be there, you want to
11:15
Speaker 1: offer support, but you I think we can only do
11:18
Speaker 1: it in a way that allows us to take care
11:20
Speaker 1: of ourselves first. I think sometimes we get lost in
11:23
Speaker 1: a lot of us. We want to help that person,
11:25
Speaker 1: we want to save that person, and we destroy ourselves
11:27
Speaker 1: in the process. And I always say, you can't be
11:29
Speaker 1: any good for anybody else if you're not good for yourself.
11:32
Speaker 1: So it's okay to take a step back and say,
11:35
Speaker 1: you know what, I've tried to help. I've tried to
11:38
Speaker 1: give them some ideas. I tried all this stuff you said,
11:40
Speaker 1: doctor Alphie, and ain't they ain't feeling it. So let
11:43
Speaker 1: me just take a step back, and I'll go in
11:45
Speaker 1: at different points when I feel like I can manage it.
11:48
Speaker 1: In that way, you don't drain yourself. You also don't
11:51
Speaker 1: have to feel like you're deserting that person. But you're
11:53
Speaker 1: also giving yourself the opportunity to say, you know, I'm
11:56
Speaker 1: doing everything I can. They don't want to help I
11:59
Speaker 1: can't exists for them. So those are some of the
12:01
Speaker 1: things I would say. You know, this time last year,
12:03
Speaker 1: we did our first ever meal, Wealfax Bowl, and we
12:07
Speaker 1: had the second one this past weekend. Tell them what
12:10
Speaker 1: you feel. The Mental Wealth ex boys, Oh my goodness,
12:12
Speaker 1: the Mental Wealth Expo is a celebration to me, a
12:15
Speaker 1: celebration of black excellence, black health, black togetherness, like literally
12:20
Speaker 1: like just black love, all the things that we as
12:22
Speaker 1: black people need to help build and support our mental health.
12:26
Speaker 1: And I'm so grateful to my heart and you for
12:28
Speaker 1: having the vision and the Mental Wealth Alliance for putting
12:31
Speaker 1: this together and for me what it was, it was
12:34
Speaker 1: just an opportunity to see all kinds of people come together,
12:38
Speaker 1: all with one purpose to uplift and support and name
12:42
Speaker 1: that our mental health as black people is important. To
12:45
Speaker 1: acknowledge that there are things that are unique about who
12:48
Speaker 1: we are. They we've got to pay attention to in
12:50
Speaker 1: terms of our mental health, and to give people an
12:52
Speaker 1: opportunity to see all the different ways we can take
12:55
Speaker 1: care of mental health. So you had people talking about
12:57
Speaker 1: journaling and people talking about writing. You have people talk
13:00
Speaker 1: about the intersection of maternal health and mental health and
13:03
Speaker 1: then you had all these amazing celebrities on stage. I'm
13:05
Speaker 1: gonna tell you really touched me was Gi Herbo at
13:08
Speaker 1: the event, and it was just just listening to him
13:10
Speaker 1: be such a young brother and be so wise about
13:13
Speaker 1: so many things. And I didn't open at that age. Yes,
13:17
Speaker 1: I didn't start going to therapy till thirty six. He's
13:19
Speaker 1: having these conversations at twenty something. Yes, yes, twenty seven
13:22
Speaker 1: years old. So it was just that opportunity for all
13:24
Speaker 1: of us to come together and like love and peace
13:27
Speaker 1: and honesty. Sounds kind of hocky, but harmony around this
13:30
Speaker 1: topic of mental health. So that's what it is for me.
13:32
Speaker 1: It's like a vibe. It's like a good space to
13:35
Speaker 1: come and let your hair down and know that you're
13:39
Speaker 1: among people who care about you. You know that people
13:41
Speaker 1: who want to see you succeed, and just have these
13:44
Speaker 1: great conversations about mental health. What do people do after
13:46
Speaker 1: the mental health expot Like for those who came and
13:49
Speaker 1: they want to know the next steps, you know in
13:51
Speaker 1: the journey of healing with what did they do? I
13:53
Speaker 1: think the first thing is like, really, this gonna sound hokey,
13:56
Speaker 1: but this is me. This is the mental health professional
13:58
Speaker 1: in me, really reflect on the things that stood out
14:01
Speaker 1: to you, that were meaningful for you, because I think
14:03
Speaker 1: if you can reflect on those things, that gives you
14:06
Speaker 1: insight into what can I do, what is the next
14:09
Speaker 1: step for me? So for some people, like last year
14:11
Speaker 1: we had folks yoga practitioners. For some folks, they might
14:15
Speaker 1: reflect on, well, that yoga really spoke to me. I
14:17
Speaker 1: never tried that before. Let me go take a yoga class.
14:20
Speaker 1: Right For somebody else that journaling workshop that they did,
14:23
Speaker 1: or writing getting their feelings out on paper and going
14:26
Speaker 1: to buy a journal with some beautiful black art on it,
14:29
Speaker 1: that might be the thing to inspire them. So it's
14:32
Speaker 1: I really think you have to take stock of what
14:35
Speaker 1: was the thing that stood out to you. For many people,
14:38
Speaker 1: the First Family there you go, the First Family of
14:42
Speaker 1: faith having those folks, there are the Roberts, Sarah Jakeson Terray,
14:46
Speaker 1: that might have been the thing. It's like the connection
14:48
Speaker 1: between spirituality and mental health. So if you can determine
14:51
Speaker 1: what was the one thing or what were the two
14:52
Speaker 1: top things that stood out to you in that event,
14:55
Speaker 1: that's your entry point. That's where you need to go
14:57
Speaker 1: because that's what resonates with your spirit and that's what's
15:00
Speaker 1: going to help you begin your journey to mental health. Yeah,
15:02
Speaker 1: even having somebody like Sarah Jay's Day and Pastor Torrey
15:05
Speaker 1: when they have the conversation about, you know, even though
15:09
Speaker 1: they believe in God, then Sarah goes to a therapist,
15:11
Speaker 1: you know, Torrea goes to a therapist. Hearing somebody say, look,
15:14
Speaker 1: yes I believe them God, but I go to therapy.
15:16
Speaker 1: How important is that? You think? It normalizes it? Right?
15:19
Speaker 1: What it says to people is it doesn't have to
15:21
Speaker 1: be either or, and you need somebody like the First
15:24
Speaker 1: Family of Faith, like you said, who are in the
15:26
Speaker 1: public eye, who are very open and honest about their challenges.
15:29
Speaker 1: I remember listening to them and just thinking, well, they
15:32
Speaker 1: just like really putting it out there, right. And so
15:34
Speaker 1: I've listened to Pastor Toad talk about parenting and how
15:36
Speaker 1: he parents you know, black black men, and and his
15:40
Speaker 1: own children, his and Sarah's children. And I think having
15:43
Speaker 1: somebody say that somebody you respect, somebody you honor, somebody
15:47
Speaker 1: you value. If they say that, even in that big
15:50
Speaker 1: public eye, they have things that they struggle with and
15:53
Speaker 1: therapy is helpful for them, then that makes it that
15:55
Speaker 1: much easier for each the rest of us to say, oh, well,
15:57
Speaker 1: maybe that's something I can try too. If it work
15:59
Speaker 1: for them, maybe you can work for me. I got
16:02
Speaker 1: a question, Yeah, as far as kids in getting into therapy, Yeah,
16:06
Speaker 1: do you feel like in middle school, high school, even
16:08
Speaker 1: elementary school that there should be some type of therapy
16:11
Speaker 1: in the curriculum where maybe, you know, you know, a
16:14
Speaker 1: couple of kids go out and talks to a therapist
16:16
Speaker 1: just to get from the base of maybe something that's
16:19
Speaker 1: happening that the parents might not know. Yes, that's the
16:22
Speaker 1: simple answer your question. And at the Acoma Project, we
16:24
Speaker 1: have a program that does just that. We don't go
16:26
Speaker 1: into schools, but we have five free sessions of virtual
16:29
Speaker 1: therapy for the sole purpose of introducing people between the
16:33
Speaker 1: ages of thirteen and thirty who've never gone to therapy,
16:36
Speaker 1: to introduce them to therapy. Because you're right, I mean,
16:38
Speaker 1: I think if you don't know, it's like this this
16:41
Speaker 1: this void, and you just kind of fill it with
16:43
Speaker 1: all this stuff, and sometimes what you fill it with
16:45
Speaker 1: is the wrong idea is about what therapy is. But
16:47
Speaker 1: if somebody can introduce you to the concept at a
16:51
Speaker 1: young age, then it normalizes it. So that for the
16:53
Speaker 1: rest of your life, right, even when you have your
16:55
Speaker 1: own kids, you're like, well, I did it when I
16:57
Speaker 1: was in middle school. You can do it too. So
16:59
Speaker 1: I think what we can do with schools is have
17:01
Speaker 1: a curriculum that's culturally relevant, right, that talks about everything
17:05
Speaker 1: we've been talking about today, so that it doesn't seem
17:07
Speaker 1: so weird and distant and like it's only for those
17:10
Speaker 1: people over there, is not for us. So I think
17:12
Speaker 1: you're right, Yes, we could have something like that. I
17:14
Speaker 1: think in some ways people are trying to do that,
17:16
Speaker 1: like little nonprofits like the Acoma Project and Mental Wealth
17:19
Speaker 1: a Lines some of these other folks. But having something
17:21
Speaker 1: streamlined and like a curriculum for that, I think could
17:24
Speaker 1: be really powerful and also too. You know this one
17:26
Speaker 1: thing we discuss the mental health issues that Army veterans
17:29
Speaker 1: are experiencing. So what can this country do the better
17:32
Speaker 1: assist veterans. I think the main thing that we can
17:35
Speaker 1: do is encourage. My father's a retired Navy man. I
17:39
Speaker 1: think one thing we can do is encourage destigmatizing mental
17:43
Speaker 1: illness so that if you are a service person, it
17:47
Speaker 1: is normalized for you to get help within that context.
17:50
Speaker 1: I think sometimes the struggle is I've heard many service
17:52
Speaker 1: people say this, that I can seek the help, but
17:55
Speaker 1: what kind of impact is that going to have on
17:57
Speaker 1: my career? And so having the opportunity to know that
18:01
Speaker 1: normalizing mental health when you go seek help for your
18:05
Speaker 1: own well being, your mental well being, that that's not
18:07
Speaker 1: something that you're gonna get penalized for. That's a part
18:10
Speaker 1: of it, But that only comes from us advocating and
18:12
Speaker 1: continuing to do what you all to doing today, which
18:15
Speaker 1: is normalizing mental health. I think as well, until we
18:18
Speaker 1: get to that point, you know, encouraging our family members
18:21
Speaker 1: who are service members to get help if they need
18:23
Speaker 1: to outside of the military, right, if they need to
18:26
Speaker 1: go to private care, there's nothing wrong with that, right,
18:28
Speaker 1: and that's something that they can keep to themselves. But
18:30
Speaker 1: they're also bettering themselves at the same time, so it
18:33
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be public. I tell people all the time,
18:35
Speaker 1: if you take meds right for your mental health, that's
18:38
Speaker 1: nobody's business but yours. You need to run around telling
18:40
Speaker 1: people you're taking meds. Take those meds to take care
18:43
Speaker 1: of yourself. And I think the same thing is true
18:45
Speaker 1: for mental health for our veterans. If you need to
18:47
Speaker 1: help find the spaces that are not going to judge you,
18:50
Speaker 1: that are going to allow you to be yourself, to
18:52
Speaker 1: get that care and get the help, because that's what's
18:54
Speaker 1: most important at the end of the day. That's right.
18:56
Speaker 1: Or We appreciate you joining us today on Mental Health
18:59
Speaker 1: Dayreciate doctor alph so much because you know you can
19:02
Speaker 1: You can have the vision like I can have division
19:03
Speaker 1: for the mental wealth of lines, but you need somebody
19:05
Speaker 1: to help you execute it. That's doctor Alphie. Know well,
19:07
Speaker 1: you can have division for the mental wealth expot but
19:09
Speaker 1: you got to have somebody who can execute it for you.
19:11
Speaker 1: That's doctor Alphie. So I thank you so much. Oh
19:14
Speaker 1: my god, thank thank you so much. Thinking you know,
19:16
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you before we get into rumors
19:17
Speaker 1: because this is going to be one of the topics.
19:20
Speaker 1: Some of Kanye West friends are saying they feel he's
19:22
Speaker 1: in the midst of a psychiatric episode, and we're going
19:24
Speaker 1: to talk about that. But as an expert, yes, you know,
19:27
Speaker 1: what would you say about that? And what would you
19:29
Speaker 1: say can be helpful? I think it's a challenge because
19:34
Speaker 1: Kanye says these things that are so outlandish When I
19:37
Speaker 1: look at it and I'm like clearly something is not right.
19:40
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying is so I don't want
19:41
Speaker 1: to say that all of his problems have to do
19:43
Speaker 1: with whatever kind of mental health struggles he's having, but
19:46
Speaker 1: I do think we owe we have to kind of
19:48
Speaker 1: take a step back from me and give him a
19:50
Speaker 1: little bit of grace because he has the diagnosis, so
19:53
Speaker 1: clearly there is something going on. So when I see
19:55
Speaker 1: these like really wild outlandist in like the White Lives
19:58
Speaker 1: Matters T shirts and all that, I think to myself,
20:00
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if that's necessarily him just
20:02
Speaker 1: pulling a stunt. I wonder how much of that has
20:05
Speaker 1: to do with his mental health. And when you're in
20:07
Speaker 1: the public eye like that. We had a conversation about
20:09
Speaker 1: that at the expo. Being in the public eye, it's
20:12
Speaker 1: almost like there's no filter. So for many of us
20:14
Speaker 1: will make those mistakes, right, somebody else will bipolar disorder,
20:18
Speaker 1: will make a mistake. The world doesn't see it because
20:20
Speaker 1: they're not famous. So I think there's this perfect awful
20:23
Speaker 1: storm of he's going through some of these episodes, and
20:27
Speaker 1: he's in the public eye, and so there's nowhere to
20:29
Speaker 1: hide it. You know what I'm saying it's all out there.
20:31
Speaker 1: So what my wish for him is that somebody would
20:34
Speaker 1: be able to wrap their arms around him and just
20:37
Speaker 1: kind of pull him back a little bit and say, look, man,
20:39
Speaker 1: let's get this stuff under control first and then you
20:42
Speaker 1: can go out there and be a genius. But until
20:44
Speaker 1: he has that, I think we're going to continue to
20:46
Speaker 1: see what we've been saying. So in my opinion, as
20:48
Speaker 1: you know you as an expert and somebody who's been
20:51
Speaker 1: in this space a long time, I think Kanye needs
20:54
Speaker 1: a lot more support. Okay, well, doctor ALPHI, we appreciate
20:58
Speaker 1: you for joining us this morning. Thank you. I appreciate
21:00
Speaker 1: being here. We shout all of you, and we got
21:01
Speaker 1: rumors on the way it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning,