According to our guest, Cary Valentine - Turn your doubts inside out. Rearrange the letters in the word doubt and you come up with “to bud.” Which is to grow and to blossom. So the doubts and insecurities are not what they appear to be.

The guiding point is that the doubt is our friend and not our enemy. It’s trying to help us realize and actualize our potential, our gifts, our passion and our desires.

For most Americans, the 2020 presidential election is a big source of stress. For Black America, 71% of Black adults said this election is a source of stress, compared with 46% four years ago. Add to that the racial turmoil in our cities, the unsteady economy and climate change that has fueled widespread wildfires and other natural disasters... If election-related stress is getting to you, there are steps your can take to relieve it!

Emotional Wellness is critical to our well-being and health! The more you act on your feelings and emotions, the more reliable they become. Being emotionally well doesn’t mean that you’re happy all the time, but that you’re self-aware and able to shift and move as a way to feel better. Being emotionally well leads to a happier and more blissful life, and also allows you the opportunity to attain your full potential. You can do it! Happy Emotional Wellness Month from Black Mental Matters!

It’s very easy to suppress or hide our feelings when there’s so much else going on in our lives. With distractions coming at us from every direction, it’s important to quiet the noise and check in with ourselves. Too often we forget to pause our busy lives to reset and reflect. During the month of October, we celebrate Emotional Wellness Month which reminds us to prioritize our mental health and personal well-being.

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month—a time to share resources and stories in an effort to shed light on this highly taboo and stigmatized topic. We use this month to reach out to those affected by suicide, raise awareness and connect individuals with suicidal ideation to treatment services.

If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call 911 immediately.

If you are in crisis or are experiencing difficult or suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273 TALK (8255)

If you’re uncomfortable talking on the phone, you can also text TALK to 741-741 to be connected to a free, trained crisis counselor on the Crisis Text Line.

Grief can be one of the most intense emotions of the human experience. It can leave us feeling drained and depressed. You may be grieving about anything you've lost, whether it's a loved one or a job. If your grief is severe, you may need extra help to heal and move on. Understanding that loss is a natural part of life and learning to accept the loss are the best ways to begin coping with it. Vince and Makeba discuss this important topic and share tips on how to heal...

Studies have shown that People with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other civilians approached or stopped by law enforcement. Individuals with untreated severe mental illness are involved in at least 1 in 4 and as many as half of all fatal police shootings. By dismantling the mental illness treatment system, we have turned the mental health crisis from a medical issue into a police matter.

Simply put, hope is a belief — a knowing — that things will get better... Millions of Americans have found themselves underemployed and jobless in this pandemic. Tens of thousands have lost loved ones to this virus. Countless people are living with uncertainty, stress, and loneliness brought on by the coronavirus. That’s in addition to the myriad other problems individuals face, even without a pandemic. No matter what you are going through, ask yourself: What other hardships have you endured in your life? Then remind yourself: You’re still standing — you survived those previous struggles. Let that give you HOPE that you will also come through these current times.

During this trying time of Covid-19 and the uncertainty surrounding all of us, we want to encourage all to not only survive, but thrive! We talk with special guest Tammy Nordheim on strategies we can employ to increase our personal growth and wellness so we can come out on the "other side" even better than before...