From Victims to Victors: A Creative Approach to Mental Health Awareness

Arnold Stricker
00:00:00

According to the World Health Organization, mental health is a state of mental well being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well and contribute to their community.

But in the United States, the National alliance on Mental Health Illness estimates that almost one in five adults experience mental health problems each year. In this episode of St.

Louis in Tune, we're going to be talking to representatives from Story Stitchers about their mental health campaign that is done through public service announcements. Welcome to St.

Louis in Tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Mark is on assignment today and we are glad that you've joined us today.

You can listen to previous shows@stluntune.com please help us continue to grow by leaving a review on our website, st luntune.com, apple Podcasts or your preferred podcast platform. And as I talked at the beginning, mental health, everybody has mental health, but sometimes mental health can be just like physical health.

It can be out of whack. And our guests today are part of a campaign called STL St. Louis Story Stitchers.

And you can get more information on them@storystitchers.org and they've been involved in a PSA campaign.

We have Amira Burns, she's project coordinator for the project and intern representative Houston Himes is here to talk about exactly what they've been doing and how long the program's going to be going.

Emeara Burns
00:01:52

Thank you so much for having us.

Houston Himes
00:01:53

How you doing?

Arnold Stricker
00:01:54

Good. So I appreciate you guys being here today.

A lot of people don't know about Story Stitchers so let's first start there and then I want to get into your backgrounds, how you got involved with Story Stitchers. Okay, so what is Story Stitchers?

Emeara Burns
00:02:08

So Story Stitchers is a non profit organization. We're known for our high quality social justice arts. In our creative youth programming, we focus on youth and young adults ages 16 to 25.

And we've created a platform together.

Actually we've created this platform for the last 10 years that give you the opportunity to use their voices, their gifts, their talents, the arts to express themselves and to create like this community healing type of, type of vibe that we got at the center going on now.

Houston Himes
00:02:47

Yeah, for sure.

Arnold Stricker
00:02:48

Add anything to that, Houston?

Houston Himes
00:02:50

Yeah, the best way to describe it is it's non conventional in ways of tackling mental health. Like we're Talking about today gun violence, as she said before.

And we recognize that through art and creativity, we can really mend a community together and put people in situations and positions in which they never thought of before if they were never part of this. So, if anything, we're just opening the door for young kids to recognize their path and creativity while also healing as well.

Arnold Stricker
00:03:23

And what's been the response to your efforts over the course of time? Not just this particular campaign, but over the course of time, what has been the response in the community?

Emeara Burns
00:03:33

Personally, I have seen youth tell them their stories through poetry, through song, through dance. And the communities that we go in are very heavily impacted by these stories because they, too, go through them.

Like, I had a friend that did a poem about a friend that got shot on his way to his bus stop, and there was a mother there that had lost her son at 19 years old, and she cried, and we were able to hug her and uplift her, you know, so it's those type of responses and also just uplifting our community. Like, when we go and do certain songs, it.

I feel like it definitely gives our community hope and helping people to realize that these problems that we face, we can't. We can't beat them alone.

Arnold Stricker
00:04:26

Right?

Emeara Burns
00:04:26

We have to do it together right.

Arnold Stricker
00:04:28

Now for each one of you. How did you get involved with Story Stitchers? A little bit about your background, and why did you get involved with Story Stitchers?

Houston Himes
00:04:36

So I'll go ahead and start. So I met a good friend of mine who's part of Story Stitchers. His name is Tray Don. Shout out to Tray Don. That's my guy.

Emeara Burns
00:04:44

He's also a part of this psa.

Houston Himes
00:04:46

Yes.

Arnold Stricker
00:04:47

Okay. Shout out to him.

Houston Himes
00:04:48

He actually participated in our songs firsthand. So he did the chorus to. What's the name of the song?

Emeara Burns
00:04:53

Victor. Not Victor.

Houston Himes
00:04:54

Victor. Not Victor.

Arnold Stricker
00:04:55

He's not the piano player.

Houston Himes
00:04:56

No, no, no, no. That would be Brandon.

Arnold Stricker
00:04:58

Correct. Okay. Okay.

Houston Himes
00:05:00

But, yeah, I got in touch with Story Stitchers through him. He was just. He recognized how I'm growing in my creativity and ways that I want to express myself.

And he got me in touch with Amira and Brandon and some of the other people that are a part of Story Stitchers.

And honestly, being a part of that group has given me the freedom to express myself in ways that I never really thought of before, because I grew up as an athlete for the most part, so that was just the way that I expressed myself. And then after college, I had to find different ways to express myself because I wasn't doing Any sports anymore, primarily baseball.

So I recognized that music and film and poetry was definitely ways that I would love to express myself and bring people together and inspire people through creativity and art and.

Arnold Stricker
00:05:52

Do you realize the importance of that now? But did you get that in school?

Houston Himes
00:05:58

Did I get that in school?

Arnold Stricker
00:05:59

Did you get the music and poetry and express.

Houston Himes
00:06:03

No, actually.

Arnold Stricker
00:06:04

So it's interesting, isn't it, that a lot of times in schools, because of costs, we want to get rid of those programs that allow individuals to express themselves?

Houston Himes
00:06:14

Yes.

Emeara Burns
00:06:14

Yeah.

Arnold Stricker
00:06:15

Okay. Amira.

Emeara Burns
00:06:16

That's actually funny because I learned about Story Stitches through school. Well, really, it was through some friends that I went to school with, but we went to an art school, so.

Arnold Stricker
00:06:29

Okay.

Emeara Burns
00:06:29

You know, we were already doing our thing.

Arnold Stricker
00:06:33

You're at the Visual Performing Arts?

Emeara Burns
00:06:34

Yeah, we were at Central and we were doing, like, talent shows and stuff together. And they were actually the first, like, some of the first youth to ever come to Story Stitchers, like the first Teen Council.

And they invited me one day because they saw that I started doing poetry. And they're like, we need some more poets. And I remember it was like my first poem that I took serious because it was about Mike Brown.

And I was upset because it felt like, you know, the people who our youth look up to are the same people that they're scared to go to for help, you know? So I did that poem and, like, I don't know, from there it's been. It's been me and stories.

Arnold Stricker
00:07:21

The rest is history.

Emeara Burns
00:07:23

Yeah. Like, literally. And that was, like, almost 10 years ago now. It probably be, like 10 years next month, actually. So.

Arnold Stricker
00:07:30

Yeah, let's dig into the program. It's. You have, like, what I would call the main theme. I'm a Victor, not a victim. And the program is about you producing public service announcements.

And some of them are audio. They're mostly videos. And I recorded some. We're going to hear some audio here in a little bit.

And there's poems and just go into this program a little bit when it started, how long it's going to be going.

Emeara Burns
00:07:59

Okay. We started last October. October of 24. It'll go until October of this year. 25th. Yeah. We started off with ideas, really.

We came together every week, once a week for a couple of months, actually, all the way into the end of the year almost.

And we decided what we wanted to talk about because the goal was always to destigmatize getting mental health care for young African American or people of color. You know, that's within our age range. And we started to break down, like, how do we think, you know, what.

What catches our attention when we get on these social media platforms?

Like, how can we make content to captivate an audience that has a very short attention span, you know, And Houston can kind of talk a little bit more about that, I guess.

Houston Himes
00:08:57

For sure.

It was a tedious process, honestly, because when you talk about something as such as mental health, especially within the black community and wanting to destigmatize that, you have to have credible sources and credible information.

So not only in terms of getting the roundtable, of making ideas for songs and poetry and how we can show this through creative terms, we also had to make sure our research was on point, and we had to get in touch with many different communities, many different organizations, and also do our own research in terms of making sure that we know what we're talking about and connect with the community in the most genuine way, but also in the most intellectual way as possible.

Arnold Stricker
00:09:43

And you provide a lot of services. The whole point is awareness. And then if the awareness reveals, like, yeah, I do feel this way. You do provide resources that people can go to, right?

Emeara Burns
00:09:57

Yeah, definitely. We have resources on our website. We're also connected with the mental health board and different partners there. Yeah, it's like a whole.

A whole network of organizations that is behind this PSA with us. We even have the mayor that's behind us, which is great. Just helping to spread that awareness. You know what I'm saying?

And because we realize, too, that sometimes people don't even realize that these. That these resources are there. Like, sometimes people are completely oblivious that these are right here in the city.

So, yeah, they're right there on the website.

Arnold Stricker
00:10:34

And there's a lot of them.

Emeara Burns
00:10:35

Yeah.

Houston Himes
00:10:36

Yes.

Arnold Stricker
00:10:36

There's a lot of resources out there, folks. I want to give you the biggest one. 988- Calling-988. You can call or text 24 7. You can talk to someone who will help you.

If you're having a mental health crisis, know that you're not alone. You can also call the national suicide prevention lifeline. It's 988lifeline.org and also, as was mentioned, the City of St.

Louis Behavioral Health Bureau. You can connect with a therapist there for free, with or without insurance. 3146-571585-34314-657-1585.

Let's listen to one of the PSAs that they have produced here.

PSA
00:11:25

Cloud of visions Fills my mind with fog with sins Infectious towards my inner dialogue can't see past Thoughts of negativity. Reliving the past blinds the beauty of positivity. While I chase the false prophets around me, I'm in a space of separation and duality.

However, my attention is in focus on a decision. Whether I choose tension or righteous ascension, perception is key. To see the real me. Loving the real me brings joy for eternity.

The biggest symptom of self realization was wisdom, which transformed me to become a victor and not a victim.

Arnold Stricker
00:12:14

And I would encourage people to go to storystitchers.org storystitchers.org or call or text 988. So were you guys involved in the production of that? The writing, the videography, all of the above?

Emeara Burns
00:12:34

He actually wrote that piece. That's him.

Houston Himes
00:12:36

I did. I did.

Arnold Stricker
00:12:38

Wow.

Houston Himes
00:12:38

Yeah. And honestly, that was the first poem I ever wrote.

Arnold Stricker
00:12:41

Wow.

Houston Himes
00:12:42

So I think you never knew you.

Arnold Stricker
00:12:43

Had it in there playing outfield, did you?

Houston Himes
00:12:45

Yeah, I didn't know. I will fall in love with writing and it's such a beautiful process and I'm glad I was able to show it during this project.

Arnold Stricker
00:12:53

Wow.

Emeara Burns
00:12:54

Yeah. So like, yeah, we, our team, the interns and the adult artists were there from start to finish.

Like we sat there and wrote out the scripts for the videos. We had the talks with spot content, who helped us shoot the videos, several meetings with them, actually.

And then when they came out, you know, we were there helping them to direct us to direct them.

Arnold Stricker
00:13:19

Right.

Emeara Burns
00:13:19

You know, and it was a fun process and I really think it impacted the youth and let them know that, you know, the message that you have is very important. And. Yeah.

Arnold Stricker
00:13:30

Now you had mentioned some assemblies earlier.

Emeara Burns
00:13:33

Oh, yeah.

Arnold Stricker
00:13:34

So fill us in on what these are like, because I know you did one down at Afton. I kind of saw the video of that one. I think it was Affton.

Emeara Burns
00:13:41

Yeah, Affton High School. So if you want a assembly, you can reach out to us through our website.

You can email me emeara at storystitchers.org that's E M E A R A@storystitchers.org and we could talk about some dates. Usually the assemblies look about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on what you're looking for. Sometimes we do just full out songs and poems and arts.

Sometimes we can sit down and do a podcast with a professional about mental health and let the youth ask questions, have a Q and A at the end, you know, so that people are feeling like they can engage in these conversations. So, yeah, it kind of looks different. It's kind of dependent upon the school, what they're looking for.

But we do have content to fill a 20 to 30 minute show for sure, you know.

Arnold Stricker
00:14:35

How was that received?

Emeara Burns
00:14:36

Oh, man. Affton. They were getting up out of their seats, dancing. Like, the teachers was coming down the aisles. Like, it was amazing to see.

I didn't realize that, you know, sometimes people or students, I should say, really need that break in their day or maybe even in this, in the school year to have that moment where you could just like be refreshed and 100%, you know. Yeah. So it was great to see because.

Arnold Stricker
00:15:02

You had music and dancing and then you interspersed the message within that.

Emeara Burns
00:15:06

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that's the beauty of it is everybody can, like relate to music on some level.

Arnold Stricker
00:15:12

Right.

Emeara Burns
00:15:13

You know, so, yeah, it was. It was fun. It was definitely fun.

Arnold Stricker
00:15:16

That's cool. Let's listen to another one.

PSA
00:15:20

I am a victor, not a victim.

PSA
00:15:23

I'm a victor, not a victim. I am a victor, not a victim.

PSA
00:15:27

I'm a victim and not a victim. Because I take 100% responsibility for the circumstances and conditions of my life.

PSA
00:15:36

Every breath that I take is a reminder that I have purpose. I'm a victor, not a victim. Abundance is my birthright in all facets of my life. Recognizing it makes me a victor, not a victim.

Success is my stepping stone to greatest success. I am a victor, not a victim.

PSA
00:15:55

Being more self aware shielded me from the manipulation of others. I am a victor, not a victim.

PSA
00:16:02

I suffer from anxiety and depression, but I am not controlled by it. I am a victor, not a victim.

PSA
00:16:08

I aspire to inspire triumph over tragedy. I'm a victor, not a victim.

PSA
00:16:15

Even if I have the urge to let my depression take over, I just remind myself that is temporary and not forever. I am a victor, not victim. I'm a victor, not victim. Because I choose to stop the cycle of gun violence by helping Story stitchers.

PSA
00:16:30

I'm a victor and not a victim.

PSA
00:16:33

I'm a victor, not a victim.

Arnold Stricker
00:16:37

That was from Story Stitchers. Being a victor, not a victim about mental health.

And I want to mention that the goal of Story Stitchers is to promote a better educated, more peaceful and more caring region through storytelling. And storytelling is a huge thing. People love to hear stories.

Houston Himes
00:16:57

Yes.

Arnold Stricker
00:16:58

I think we are geared as human beings to receive stories and become a part of things that are told to us and then be able to tell our own story in a variety of ways. And in that particular psa, they talked about gun violence. Had you done a PSA series on gun violence?

Emeara Burns
00:17:18

Yeah, actually, the previous one. Yeah. So I think this is probably Like a third psa.

Arnold Stricker
00:17:24

Okay.

Emeara Burns
00:17:24

Yeah. Then the last one was safe, where we were encouraging. And we still do that at some assemblies too.

But we're encouraging youth and kids to, when you see a gun, step away. Go tell an adult, you know, and to the parents, we're telling them to lock up your guns. Make sure you practicing gun safety.

Because I think it was the summer where we had seen multiple kids accidentally killed from finding guns and playing with them. And, you know, not understanding the severity of this. This item can end your life. Yeah.

Houston Himes
00:18:02

Yes.

Emeara Burns
00:18:03

And it was. It was. It was very tragic. So that was our response to that.

Arnold Stricker
00:18:08

Gotcha. I want to read a couple things.

You know, I love statistics, but I want you folks to understand out there in listener land that you may be a part of these statistics, that in the state of Missouri, Missouri ranks 38th in the prevalence of mental illness and access to care for adults and also for youth. And I want to read off some mental health conditions. We all have mental health, but we want to keep it in a good way.

It's kind of like when people go to exercise or they want to eat health in a healthy way. You know, I consider. It's like you've got mental, you got physical, you got emotional and spiritual health.

You kind of all need to kind of keep in balance. And when they get out of balance is when problems happen.

So we have anxiety disorders, adhd, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, depression, which was mentioned in the psa, disassociative disorders, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, which is very prevalent in our communities, psychosis, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia.

So any of those things and people have been identified, and some people are on medication, and it works for them, and some people go to see counselors, and some people have not even recognized any of those things. It kind of goes back to that initial thing I remember. Alcohol. Anonymous say the very first step is recognizing that you have an issue.

And that's probably a big part of the goal of your PSA campaign, is to let people know that, hey, you know, this happens to people, and you may have this, and now what do you do with it? Was that kind of. When you sat down on your initial conversations, was that springing through people's minds or was that discussed for sure?

Houston Himes
00:19:52

And whenever we had these meetings with each other, we always would start with mental health checks within the group and making sure that we're on point and being completely honest about how we're feeling and making sure it's a safe space that if you're not feeling okay, we can talk about it right here and right now. Because this is the point of the project, and we want to. If we're wanting to de. Stigmatize that within the community, we have to de.

Stigmatize that within the same room. When we're having these meetings now, not.

Arnold Stricker
00:20:19

To press you guys or to reveal any other things about your co workers, but have co workers been helped through this process and. And realizing that, well, hey, you know, I've kind of been hiding this, you know.

Yeah, I do have some of these symptoms, and this has really helped me.

Emeara Burns
00:20:36

Yeah, actually, within those conversations that Houston is talking about, we were able to hear people out, you know, and sometimes just having somebody to kind of vent to and give you some positive feedback, you know, helps and goes a long way.

But I do feel like it was probably a couple of youth that were really heavily dealing with some type of, excuse me, some type of depression and anxiety. And recently I have seen a few, you know, say that they feel that they have overcome it, you know, in this season.

So that's been, you know, a really good indicator that what we're doing has some type of effect and can potentially help other people, too.

Arnold Stricker
00:21:25

Yeah, I think it's recognizing that there's some triggers, too, like cold weather, you're in your. In your place and you can't get out and because the ice and the cold and, you know, or it's.

The sun never shines in the wintertime, and it really helps, you know, and feeds the depression that some people have. And. Do you guys talk about triggers or things like that at all?

Houston Himes
00:21:46

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And during those talks, that's.

We wanted to be as transparent as we could and obviously not forcing people to, you know, go into too much detail.

But through those conversations, whether it was me talking or listening to other people, I started to realize my own triggers and other people's triggers and how we can talk about that in the most safe way and making sure that people feel comfortable to share that.

Because everything that we say in that room and how we treat each other in that room reflects in the project and how we want to treat others within the community as well. So we understand there's an interconnectedness to mental health and emotional health, spiritual health, like you said earlier.

So understanding others and giving them the platform to speak about their mental health also gives them the freedom to speak about other factors of their health as well.

Arnold Stricker
00:22:41

You have one PSA that talks about two individuals are standing, doing the Dishes. And what struck me was recognizing someone else's pain and discomfort and not really. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.

And, you know, when your friends or your family members are not fine.

Emeara Burns
00:23:01

Yeah.

Arnold Stricker
00:23:02

And they may be saying they're fine.

So how do you talk about, like, maybe reaching out to friends and family when you seen these kinds of things where they're, they're putting up this front and facade.

Emeara Burns
00:23:13

Yeah, that's a, that's good because that's kind of another thing we were trying to do is to help people to see the signs, you know, and like he was saying, like, you've been kind of quiet, like, so obviously this person is very up uplifting and has a high spirit. But sometimes, you know, when people are dealing with stuff, they go internal and, you know, try to deal with things on their own.

So you check on those people. You know, some people are just naturally quiet.

Houston Himes
00:23:45

Right.

Emeara Burns
00:23:46

And want to be alone. So still check on those people. You know, sometimes you're not going to always know. And that's the hard part, too.

You know, sometimes there are signs, but sometimes we can overlook the signs.

And so I think just checking on people and getting to know people, being transparent with people, will help to start those conversations of healing and fun fact. Actually, we chose to do the PSA during the colder months, you know, around, like holiday season.

Arnold Stricker
00:24:17

Right.

Emeara Burns
00:24:17

Because we realized that those are triggers. Some people have lost people, and it's hard around these times. You know, it's cold.

And, you know, some people may deal with homelessness or just don't like the cold period.

Arnold Stricker
00:24:29

Right.

Emeara Burns
00:24:30

You know, so that's another reason why we chose to do the PSA or to release it in the, in the time and that we, that we did.

Arnold Stricker
00:24:38

You know, a lot of people think holidays are fun time, and for a lot of people, it is. For a lot of people, it's misery.

Emeara Burns
00:24:43

Yeah.

Arnold Stricker
00:24:44

And it's a very. It's an intense time in which they wish it would go away.

You know, I would really want to commend you guys and the organization for bringing the topic up, because in previous generations, you like, you don't talk about certain things or, you know, you know, that's somebody else's job, or you have an issue, you got a problem. You know, we're going to ignore that.

The fact that you're talking about these things and bringing them to the surface, it's kind of like splinters that you get in your skin. They will eventually work their way to the surface and you're not, you know, they're there but you can't ignore them. You have to deal with them.

And I think what you guys are producing is just spot on for, for our community and really nationally.

Emeara Burns
00:25:26

Thank you.

Arnold Stricker
00:25:27

It needs to be done. Want to listen to one more here? And this is. I'll set this up.

This is a what I would call someone who is experiencing some issues and someone who is a professional listener.

PSA
00:25:42

So how have you been feeling since our last session?

PSA
00:25:46

Well, I've been feeling cool, I guess.

PSA
00:25:49

You know, being cool and I guess can sometimes hide something deeper underneath. Now, if you have something to share, I'm here to listen.

PSA
00:25:58

Well, life's been crazy. I've been feeling anxious, and it's been hard to talk about it. I just don't want to seem weak.

PSA
00:26:09

You know, keeping your feelings bottled up is a sign of weakness. Being truthful about your feelings is a big step toward managing them. You're doing the right thing by talking about it.

PSA
00:26:19

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

Arnold Stricker
00:26:22

Good.

PSA
00:26:23

Let's keep.

Arnold Stricker
00:26:29

That's St. Louis Story Stitchers. Storystitchers.org for some resources. 988-offers, call or text 247 and talk to someone if you have a mental health crisis.

Or you can talk to 314-657-1585. That's the city of St. Louis Behavioral Health Bureau. One last question here, and it's not really a question.

I want you to speak, both of you, speak to someone out there who you know is having some difficulties, who may not realize what they're going through. What would you tell them?

Houston Himes
00:27:05

I guess I would start Houston, it's okay to feel. That's one thing I will say, especially coming from the perspective as a man.

We tend to hide our feelings because, you know, that's not man like at all. You want to be the tough guy.

You, you want to be very intellectual and you lean upon that side of yourself, but you also suppress the side of yourself by doing that. And nine times out of 10 for men, it's feelings and disregarding how we're feeling. And if there is a red flag internally, we tend to ignore it.

We tend to fight through it. You know, I go to a gym. I'm a frequent gym goer. However, as therapeutic as it can be, it cannot be the complete answer to your problems.

You have to be able to feel the issue and also seek help for that issue as well. So that's the biggest thing I would say, is be okay to feel. Understand that your emotions are going to only speak louder the more you suppress them.

And the only Way you can tone that down is by giving it the attention that it needs and seeking help. And that's totally fine as a man to do so.

Arnold Stricker
00:28:22

That's very, very good advice. Emeara.

Emeara Burns
00:28:24

I would say I was second what Houston said, and I would want people to know that they are, they are worthy of healing, you know, because sometimes we can be really hard on ourselves and not give ourselves that space to heal. But you are worth your healing. You are the journey. It might be hard, but it will be worth it.

And I just want to encourage people to keep going, you know, keep going, find somebody to talk to, find that thing that helps you to release. Like Houston said, you know, these things that we use to cope arts and the gym is not the end all, be all, but it, it does help.

You know, exercise helps, writing, you know, sunlight helps, eating healthy helps. You know, it's all these things that play a big part in our mental health.

And just, just like, like Houston said, like, take some time, look inward, understand your feelings, because sometimes you can't talk about it because you don't understand what you're feeling. So take time and look at it, analyze why did this make me feel this way?

You know, like, really, that simple question can help you come up with a lot of answers so you're worth your healing journey. And please don't. Don't skip out on it. Don't skip out on it.

Arnold Stricker
00:29:50

I want to thank you both for coming in today. That's really great words of wisdom from you both this morning and through the organization.

I think you're doing a wonderful and extremely productive thing for our community. So thank you for coming in.

Emeara Burns
00:30:05

Thank you. Thank you for having us.

Arnold Stricker
00:30:06

You bet. I want to give you more information, folks.

Story stitchers.org Story stitchers.org Want to thank Emeara Burns and Houston Himes for coming in to the studio to talk about the program. Also, anytime that you feel that you are having a mental health crisis, the easiest number to remember is 988. You can call or text 24.

7 and you will get someone to talk to 98 8, similar to 91 1, but it's 9, 8 8. And it's a great thing to utilize. So I encourage you to talk to your friends, listen to what's going on with them.

Maybe you have a family member, maybe you have some friends, maybe even you have some issues that you're kind of suppressing, that they eke out in one way or another in an unproductive way, in an unproductive manner. Think about that and get some assistance. It's okay. And you know I loved what Emeara said at the end there. You, you are worth it.

You are valuable and you need to take care of yourself. That's all for this show and this hour. We thank you for listening.

If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stlintune.com consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast, Podchaser or your preferred podcast or even our website. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow.

I want to thank Bob Berthesel for our theme music co host Mark Langston, who's on assignment, want to thank our guests Emeara Burns and Houston Himes and we thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.

Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy and let your light shine. For St. Louis in Tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.