November 15, 2023
I’m listening to an interview on Fresh Air, a syndicated radio show hosted by Terri Gross out of WHYY in Philadelphia. Here’s a summary of the discussion:
Actor Courtney B. Vance was a young actor on Broadway in the 1990s when he received a call from his mother that would tear his world apart: His father was dead, she said, by suicide. Years later, Vance’s godson, a promising college student, would also die by suicide. In the wake of these devastating losses, Vance has focused on peeling back the layers of both his father’s pain and his own struggles as a Black man in America. In a new book, The Invisible Ache, Vance and psychologist Robin L. Smith (who often goes by Dr. Robin) explore the trauma unique to Black men and boys, and address what they see as an urgent need to change the conversation about mental health.
FRESH AIR, 11/15/23
Healing the ‘Invisible Ache’ behind the suicide crisis among Black men and boys
by Tonya Mosley
Here’s a link to the interview online: