Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Shanti Das On Mental Health Education, Finding Your 'Happy' Place, Outkast's Cultural Impact + More🦋

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INTERVIEW: Shanti Das On Mental Health Education, Finding Your 'Happy' Place, Outkast's Cultural Impact + More🦋 · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Everybody is DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We are the Breakfast Club. It is Mental Health.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Awareness Month, as it is what we do each and
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: every May May fifth, to be exact, Silence the Shame Day,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: and we have a very special guest, Shanty D. How
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: are you are you feeling?
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: I'm feeling good.
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: Actually, so ten years ago I almost took my own life. Well,
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: it'll be ten years in September, so this is like
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: my year of rebirth, That's what I'm calling it. And
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: I'm in such a good place in space, and I
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: have really accepted being like this mental health advocate and
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: doing this work and not being stressed about going back
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: in the music industry, even though I'm still proud of
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: my boys, Like okayst I just got it going to
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and so it's.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Just it's good. I'm feeling really good. Thanks for asking.
• 0:51
  Speaker 5: Before we get into Silence the Shame Day and Mental
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: Health Awareness Month, I do want to ask you what
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: does Outcast being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: of Fame mean to you?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: You was there, from day one.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: It means everything. They zero. Actually, yeah, plays Ball.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: Was the first record I ever worked, and so shout
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: out to Andre Big, the late Rico A organized noise.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: It's like the holy grail right of music. And so
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: they finally achieved that, and I couldn't be more proud
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: and just to have been there passing out like cassettes
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: doing freak neck and you know the Southern playlist that
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: could be.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Documentary with documentary. Yeah, they were talking about you giving
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: out you have to go get back today.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: It's crazy, Like whenever I see too Short, he was like, yo,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: you gave me that cassette and was like, y'all check
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: out my new group Outcast.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: They're gonna be dope. And we laugh about it all
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the time.
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: Did you know that Outcasts would become the global iconic
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: superstars that they became.
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, you never know, right, but I had the
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: oh on my chest, right, the hell on my chest
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: LA face Outcasts, and I just was really committed and
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: dedicated because I knew that the A was gonna support them.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: It was a different.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: Sound and like you know, in Atlanta, we grew up
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: supporting East Coast rap what's cosp but we didn't really
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: have our own even though we had people like Shaddy,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: they hadn't really received national attention, right, and we will
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: always wear like Dodger's hats or Yankees hats. But finally
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: we could wear like the Falcons, you know, logo in
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: the year and the Braves gear because Big Boy and
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: Drey made that cool.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: And they really brought like.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: Atlanta to the world like Ush's doing now on his tour, right,
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: he bringing the aid to the world. But Outcasts set
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: that up initially and really transform hip hop absolutely. Now,
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: I know they transformed Southern hip hop, but look at
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: like a lot of the artists that are still influential,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: they're still from the South. And so to have been
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: at the forefront of that and been right there with them,
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: like I can't explain it, like it kind of solidified
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: even just me in my journey and what I've been
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: able to contribute to the music cultures.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: Is arguably the greatest hip hop group of all time
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: and one of the greatest group's period in music of
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: all time.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: You know, So when you started the show, you were
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: talking about your rebirth right. You thought about committing suicide
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: ten years ago. Now with this day and age, What
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: do you tell somebody that's possibly thinking the same thing.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: You know, it's stressful.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: You know they're looking at the price of everything going up,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: it's hard to get a job, they're looking at politics,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: and they might feel left out. They might feel like
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: there's no place for them. So what do you tell
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: that person, especially in this social media world where nobody
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: wants to be your friend and it's a very evil place,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: what do you tell that person that individual?
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: First of all, it's like honor your feelings. If you're
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: not feeling good, you gotta acknowledge that right I coin
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: this new little acronym rapping through your problems. The R
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: is being able to recognize those unfamiliar feelings, the A
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: and RAP is acknowledging and accepting right that somebody, right,
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: I don't.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Feel like myself.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: And the P is being able to process through those
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: feelings with a licensed professional counselor or someone you know
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: that can actually help you. Even if you call your PCP,
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: your primary doctor, say I'm not feeling like myself. So
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: you gotta be able to recognize, accept and acknowledge those
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: feelings and understand that you got to protect your peace.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: At all costs.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: You got to be unapologetic right now, more so than ever,
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: because like you said, like we're getting hit in a
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: lot of different directions and people be like, oh, yeah,
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: we all in this together.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Not really, we might be in.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: The same storm, but wean in the same boat, right,
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: and whether it's socioeconomic factors, lack of access to care, like,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: it's not the same, and we can't pretend that it's
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: the same. And I know we have people that you
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: know want to help and do more, but you gotta
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: dig deep inside yourself because even when I was going
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: through my suicidal ideation, I had to dig into my
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: faith in my spirituality, and I had to also talk
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: to people and let people in.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: So that's truly important.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: And then I tell people, you gotta remove things that
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: aren't serving you anymore.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: You can't just be a people pleaser, like let.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: Go of the scrolling, the doom scrolling and all of
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: that and really focus and be present with yourself. And
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: sometimes therapy isn't for everyone, but doing like sound baths
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: or getting out walking, immersing yourself in nature, like all
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: of that really matters. And like for me now, if
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I'm not feeling good because still go through my moments,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: I'll just get up and go outside and take a walk,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: or I'll tell people like, hey, I need a minute,
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: and it's okay. That's your time, that's your mind, that's
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: your body, that's your spirit. So you gotta really take
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: ownership of your mental health and wellness, because every day,
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: y'all is something different. Like I'm like, am I in
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: a movie? Like did that get scripted into something I
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: didn't sign up for? Because it's really scary. And then
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: even seeing yesterday, I know you can't believe everything you
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: see on social media, but I try to go to reputable.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Outlets, right, like the breakfast Club.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: But I saw on one of the other outlets that
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: the federal government is considering like canceling one billion dollars
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: of funding for mental health for students being able to
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: provide additional counselors and that sort of thing in school
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: systems across the nation.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: And that's really scary.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: And we know how mental health is affecting young kids
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: because of this little thing right here, right. And I
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: don't just only I don't only blame social media, but
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: it's a lot of pressure and these kids need the support.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: So y'all, we gotta fight back and fight back in
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: terms of protecting your peace, get the help you need,
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: reaching out to organizations like Silence to Shame. There's a
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: super dope lady I met last week at they accelerate
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: her conference in Miami. Her name is Ashante, and she
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: does a lot of healing, and so she just talked
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: about the importance of like really immersing yourself in these
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: healing practices with everything that's going on right and so
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: I'm recommitting myself right to whatever I'm doing is giving
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: time for Shanti. If I got to set an appointment
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: at three o'clock during the day for Shanty to like
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: step away and take a moment and breathe or get
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: them aside to do something like you just gotta.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: Do it, y'all.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: What do you advise for people to find their happy place? Right?
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: So I realized, like, my biggest happy place is my family, right,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I can cut off. I enjoy watching my daughter's dance.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I enjoy watching my son play soccer, I enjoy talking
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: to the kids cooking.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: So I found my.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Happy place, right. How do you tell somebody to find
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: their happy place where? You know, how do you do that?
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Because it has to be a place where they just
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: let go and release.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: One hundred percent. But think about some of the most
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: joyful times. And I know every body's life wasn't the same.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: To let me start with that. Some people did not
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: have a happy upbringing, and I'm sorry for that, right,
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: and if that was your truth and your journey, But
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: if you did have fun when you were growing up,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: go back to when you were like eight years old,
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: like what.
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: Whatever that mean?
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, what do you and what did you used
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: to do to make you happy?
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: Playing outside? That's why I love grounding so much. I
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: tell the dots that all the time. Take your shoes
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: offespecially now, I just want to take your shoes off,
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: taket socks off, go walking around barefoot in the grass,
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: just run around the yard, your there, ride your bike, Like,
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: think about how joy as you felt as a kid
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: when you simply played outside.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: I was over at my cousin's house the other day
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: and I started playing with the Rube's cue and I
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: was like, yeah, I forgot how much I love this
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: and it had me going for like an hour. But
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: just find things that used to bring you joy.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Get your Bobbie Doll, Jess Herriet.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: Oh, I'm already happy and over, Joey, you gotta find
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: that inner child that is so important. Yeah, I'm glad
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: that you are actually like somebody that can speak who
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: has gone through the whole thoughts of suicide and everything
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: like that, because you had to be going through some
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: real things. It's this guy on social media who is
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: documenting like he's planning to take his own life, you know,
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: and he's documenting every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's on
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: social media. And one of my people who fixed their
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: mess on that's what the mess they sent this person
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: to me. And so he's just every day he's leading up.
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: So he's going around like spending time, spending his last
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: moments with like with his friends and his loved ones
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: and stuff.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: And then nobody stepped in enough.
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: He's not telling them, he's not telling everybody what he's doing.
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: But I'm like, how is how nobody's seeing Like because
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: he's online, he document says, he doesn't delete it, his
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: lives and stuff, he posts them, right, And so he's
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: going to dinner with his people just talking about life,
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: going around the world, talking to strangers about life and
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: things like that. And then just last week, like he
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: went on his date, you know, with a guy or whatever,
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: and then you know, like he had sex with the
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: guy and everything, and he got online to say how
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: great it was. So he's just doing things that like
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: he thinks it would bring him to that list right
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: right before he go and then like he was on
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: Live Happy just like a couple of days ago, and
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: I'm like, so, are you doing this for you know,
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: the clout and some dick or you just you know
• 9:15
  Speaker 6: what I'm saying.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Are you you know what I mean?
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: But it's well in that case real, but this is
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: like his he's like thirty days countdown and it's like
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: he got like nine days left.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: I hope that someone is intervening, Yeah, because if it's
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: out there like that, then somebody in his family or
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: his friend circle should be intervening and having him called
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: nine to eight eight, which is the National Courts's life.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Yes, super important.
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: And that's the thing.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: I'm not being judgmental, but we I hope he knows
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: that his life is important and that help is available
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: if he really is truly hurting that bad, because all
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: he's doing is putting band aids over the situation and
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: what's going on, or he's happy moments could just be
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: band aids if he's really in crisis.
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: Put the phone down, though, Like, how are you documenting
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: something that is so that's leading to.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Sound like help with me, you know it? So I
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: want to ask you this bout suicide.
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: Like sometimes I'm sure you're familiar with the mail robins
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: let them theory, right, which is basically, let people make
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: their own choices whatever they want to do. So sometimes
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: you hear adults complaining, you know, nothing is ever going
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: right for them. They all they're always telling you, you know,
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: about all the bad that's happening in their world. They
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: talk to you about wanting to commit suicide, and you
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: strangely start to understand where they where they're where they're
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: coming from. Oh you know, uh, and you realize encouraging
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: them to get help isn't working. So do you just
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: let those people make their own choices?
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: Like that's a that's a really great question.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: It's a tough question at the same time, you know
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: the thing about it, the reason why with silence of shame,
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: we try to provide as many resources as possible. But
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: you can't make someone do something right that they don't
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: want to do. But you can try to be a
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: positive influence in their lives. And so I've talked to
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: people you know who have been contemplating, and I shared
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: my story. That's why I storytelling is so important and
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: people have to speak up and share their stories around it.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: I don't think you just kind of like relinquish everything
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: and let it go, but you try to be there
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: for them and keep encouraging them as much as possible
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: and putting resources in front of them and showing them
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: how other people have survived, because you know, the last
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: thing you want to do is kind of wash your
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: hands of it, and then you know a week or
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: two later or something happened.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: But then, yes, you're right, But then we also got
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: to protect.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: Our people, so you do it to the extent to
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: your point that you are kind of protecting your peace
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: because again, you know, people have choices, right, God gave
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: man and woman choice, so you can only do so much.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: But and then you know faith comes into play. You know,
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: I'm a woman of faith, and so I'll continue to
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: pray for that person. So yeah, do what you can
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: as much as possible, put the resources in front of them,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: and you know.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Let's hope and pray for the best. But a lot of.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: Times when people are in crisis, they don't know how
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: to get the help right, or they need somebody to say, hey,
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I'll go to the with you, or I'll help y'all walk.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: With you through this process. And you can only do
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: what you can do.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: And you were right.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: So Trump administration did discontinue one billion dollars in school
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: mental health grants, and the grants supported hiring school psychologists
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: and counselors, and it was funded by bipartisan legislation that
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: was passed after the twenty twenty two massacre.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: At you you what is it? You all day? You've
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: all day?
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: You can see a lot of schools.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: Sometimes they might have one counselor for like ten schools,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: and it's like the number of kids that are in crisis,
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Like that's just not enough help and support. And sometimes
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: they're not licensed professional counselors. They just may be social workers,
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: which social workers are great, but oftentimes if these kids
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: need to learn how to get through the crisis that
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: they're in, they need someone that's license right and more
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: of a professional counselor. So you know, y'all got to
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: call your you know, your legislators, you know, talk to
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: your senators, talk to your congressmen and women, and you know,
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: we got to push back on this because we need
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: that funding, right, they need to keep pouring into our kids.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: And it is as you see the suicide rates going
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: up and depression going up or do you see it
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: stabilized or do you see it coming down? With all
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: the mental health talk and all the you know, platforms
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: and places where people have to go.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Now, what do you see?
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: So for what I think the last study that I
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: saw was like from twenty twenty one or either twenty
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: twenty two, and suicide rates, particularly for black youth who.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: Are up thirty percent.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: You know a lot of those studies, they don't happen
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: every single year, right, those large pool of research studies.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: But there has been an end tick, I mean an
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: uptick rather even just two weeks ago, there was a
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: young man in Atlanta who happened to have gone to
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: Palm two years ago, and then some of my other
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: friend's cousins knew him.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: He took his own life.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: You know, so I still see I'm still getting texts
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: and comments about these young people like taking their own lives,
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: and so it's still prevalent.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Are they limited on social media. Is that what they're
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: saying it is, or they're saying lack.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Of resources in the school, or like what are they saying?
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: The reason is I'm always curious because I just feel like,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: you know, when we were growing up, we would we
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: were just as bad, but we just didn't have that
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: social media element where people were constantly going at it.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: I don't think we had the language, nor do I
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: think we had the same spaces to even express those issues.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: Like my dad was dealing with all types of mental
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: health issues that he never talked talked to me about
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: until I was like forty years old.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: But we didn't know how to name it or what
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: to call it.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Is right, But even with all that, it's getting worse.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: It feels like it should be getting better now that
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: your dad could talk, and that I can talk and
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: be open and just could talk. But I feel like
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: it should be getting better, but it doesn't seem like
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: it is.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, I don't know if I can pinpoint
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: it on one particular thing, envy, but I do think
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: it's still a lack of resources in some areas because
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: it's still in underserved communities. People know about it, but
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: they aren't taking that next step. That's why I'm proud
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: I have an announcement. So we created this PSA campaign
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: and it was around black men's mental health and it
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: was called Healing the Spaces between Us and so it
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: was a grandfather, a father, and a son and we
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: just got nominated for Southeast Emmy. Y'all shout out to
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: making Sure Jopringo, who is our creative direct there, and
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: Oak Films who put it together. But you know, we're
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: really trying to push that narrative, especially to you know,
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: young black men and their grandparents and their fathers. Y'all
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: get together and talk about it.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Nothing to be ashamed.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: About, but you got to put your cars out on
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: the table and talk about it.
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: Yesterday in Atlanta or not yesterday the last week with
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: Black Children's Mental Health Day, right yep.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: So two years ago, Senator Anderson in the State of
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: Georgia road a resolution designating May first as Black Children's
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: Mental Health Day in Georgia on behalf.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Of Silence of Shame.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: We'd love to do that in New York. So maybe
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: we could partner with the Mental Health Alliance. Let's do
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: it designate May first in New York State because Again,
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: we're trying to just bring awareness to the problems that's
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: going on, so we can try to you know, cut
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: off those the numbers right that keep increasing for suicides.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, and you know this is Mental Health Awareness Month,
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: and there's always a lot of focus on raising awareness, right,
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: but how do we move past just awareness and start
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: like action steps for actual healing.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: Again, I think you know, you got to meet people
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: where they're at again, you talked about the uncertain times.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: Like part of our we have a mental health toolkit
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: on Silence, toshame dot com, a number of things that
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: you can do to honor the month and to push
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: resources out to the community. So one of the areas
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: we're focusing on is fire and rescue because you know,
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: we're seeing all these natural disasters and things happening in
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: the world. So we're pushing out resources that are targeted,
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: you know, to the firefighters and to people that are
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: out there on the front lines. Also, we did a
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: toolkit for the federal workers. Right, a lot of people
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: that have been let go. I think maybe half of
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: the people that got let go were due to the
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: cuts within this administration, and so we want to talk
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: directly to those that are suffering from a federal employee perspective,
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: letting them know to establish a routine, even though you
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: got let go get your daily routine going, even if
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: it's like looking for that next job, Like establish a
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: routine so you can protect your peace and practice mindfulness
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: and reach out if you need support. So we're trying
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: to target specific subgroups and people within the community, and
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: so you just gotta you gotta be forceful in a
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: way about it, so that we are unapologetic about healing
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: and getting help that we need, but looking at specific
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: groups of people because we can all say we're all
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: in this together. Mental health is important. We know we
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: got to take care of it. But when you talk
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: directly at a specific group of people, I think that's
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: when you start moving the needle and getting people to listen.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Absolutely well.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: How can people if they want to tap in and
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: they want to hear it or more information or they
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: want to help, how can they get involved?
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: First of all, visit our website silences Shame dot com again.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Today is National Silence a Shame Day and we have
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: a campaign.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: It's May fifth.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: We just want people to get five dollars, you know,
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: and the five dollars. I will say, if it's too
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: difficult for you, please save your money, pay your rent,
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: you do whatever you gotta do. But if you can
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: spare five dollars or more, you can text the words
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: silence to seven oh seven O seven O. Also understand
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: that nine eight eight is a free resources out there.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: We recently partnered with the City of Atlanta. Shout out
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: to Mayor Dickens and Courtney English who came together with us,
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: and we're pushing nine eight eight out to everybody that
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: in you know, the city of Atlanta and beyond, and
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: you know, just really trying to make sure that we're
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: pushing as many resources to the community as possible.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: So please support us. Y'all talk about it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: Don't just you know, if you're a young person and
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: you listen to the Breakfast Club and you are, you know,
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: going through something with a friend, talk about it. Don't
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: just like throw some foul stuff on social media about
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: that person. You know, be the bigger person, you know,
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: be unapologetic about healing and letting go the things that
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: don't serve you anymore.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, and one more question, Shanty, there's nobody that protects
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: the piece more than Andre three thousand. Do you think
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: he's even.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Gonna come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: What's the under old pheamony, I say he gonna be there.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: I think he's coming. I will say.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: I call both Big Andre after you know, the announcement
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: came out and Andrea, both of them were so excited.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Drey was really excited.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Okay, so we're gonna we're gonna keep home alive.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, today is silenced, the shame day mental
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: health away in this month.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Of course, we appreciate you for joining us.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: It's the Breakfast Club, Good Morning, wake that ass up
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: in the morning. The Breakfast Club
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: M