Men & Mental Health Anthology, was the 3rd book in a series published in 2020. In the midst of the worst Pandemic in world history, millions are being laid-off, bodies are being stacked in external freezer due to the overwhelming volume of deaths and hope is in short supply, sixteen men boldly tell their stories of how depression, shame and self-identity had held them hostage BUT NO MORE! One night, God gave me two poems specifically for this moment. I felt the pain of being rejected and the shame of not being able to expression hurt. In that moment, I pinned what God revealed to me, these men had felt. It is a must read for all people. Mental health is not a man thing or woman thing, it’s a human thing.
Mommy’s & Mental Health:Postpartum Blues. Five strong women take off the masks of Shame and Silence, as they talk about the greatest job a woman can have, being a mother. J’Anmetra Waddell starts her chapter with this paragraph,” To understand what Live Past Crazy means, allow me to share my journey of how I lived in crazy, depression, suicide and postpartum.” For millions, her truth is their truth. The first poem God planted in my spirit for this book was birthed out of the tragic story of Andrea Yates. Andrea, diagnosed with postpartum psychosis and schizophrenia; killed all five of her children. On page 32, her story is intertwined in the poem Since Childbirth. The poem troubled my spirit. Each stanza felt heavy to me. On the back cover, one of my most powerful poems closes out this extremely important book. Brokenness to Happiness, a poem of reality, takes the reader from a necessary ugliness, pray to elation. Psalm 27:7 says, “Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me.” Surely, all of these woman were beneficiaries of God’s mercy. Sure, you can be too.
There is No Health without Mental Health is a powerful book that honestly shares the lives of nine women. One story that stands out is about grief. Loss does strange things to many people. Until you walk in their shoes, you really don’t understand their pain. Venessa Abrams, the creator of this series, shares a vivid view of her mental spiral after her beloved brother died. “Despondent, depressed doomed, lost, confused, you name it, that was me,” is how Venessa describes her deepest feelings. Her story ends with one special word, Healing. Just what we all need to be hopeful.