Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Nafis Ricks, a mental health advocate, coach, and collaborator with www.forblackmen.org.

(1:30) Ashanti’s introduction

(3:03) Nafis shares his background, his work as a mental health advocate, his passion for the field of psychology and aspirations to earn a PhD, and how sports and an athletic identity taught him some essential lessons about mental health and vulnerability.

(8:18) Nafis and Ashanti reflect on their childhood: Nafis shares the different types of love and connection he experienced between his mother and father; Ashanti shares his connection with his grandfather and how he yearned for something deeper.

(12:52) Nafis shares some of the moments of his life that caused him to rediscover his sense of self: The passing of his brother; being diagnosed with mental illnesses, and seeing the same warning signs in other men while coaching basketball, and deciding to quit professional basketball.

(17:05) Ashanti and Nafis share the front of their masks, as well as the back.

(19:20) Both men share the ways in which they both feel overwhelmed. Nafis shares how uncovering the whole story of his people is overwhelming; Ashanti shares his worries about his brother who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

(25:15) Ashanti and Nafis both also share similar fears. Nafis fears not fulfilling his purpose and wonders what’s next in his liberation, what’s next after leaving basketball. And Ashanti finds common ground in how he left engineering to leave a deeper legacy, and he feels the pressure to live up to this calling.

(30:22) The men talk about the solutions and work they do to unmask and quell these fears - Nafis reflects on seeing a psychologist, a growing relationship with his girlfriend, and hosting meetings for black men to be vulnerable.

(33:00) We learn more about Nafis’s Zoom meetings, his work with ForBlackMen.org  , and his ability to connect with NCAA athletes on a deep level.

(42:40) Nafis and Ashanti discuss future collaborations and how you can reach out to Nafis.

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Connect with Nafis:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/nafisricks2

Instagram: www.instagram.com/collabmgmt

Email: [email protected]

www.forblackmen.org

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

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Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/branchspeaks

Facebook: www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter: twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch/