The Reason This Show Exists - Why are We Really Here?

Mental Health Fuel — How the Experts Stay Positive in a Negative World

We talk a lot about what drains us. Today we talk about what fills us back up. Mental health fuel — the real, research-backed practices that clinical psychologists say can reliably boost your mood, reduce stress, and help you stay positive in a world that keeps trying to pull you under. On this episode of Man Listen, we go to the experts — UCLA Health psychologist Dr. Valentina Ogaryan and Georgetown psychologist Dr. Andrea Bonior — and break down seven tools that are free, accessible, and backed by data. Not motivational fluff. Real fuel. Because you cannot pour from an empty tank. And it's time to fill yours back up. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Are You A Part of The Emotional Renaissance?

We've spent a lot of time lately talking about the weight Black men carry. Today we talk about what's happening when they start to put some of it down. Licensed therapist and mental health advocate Kier Gaines — featured in Essence this week — calls it an emotional renaissance. More Black men are having honest conversations about what they feel. More are learning that strength isn't enduring pain in silence — it's having the courage to challenge why you're carrying so much of it in the first place. On this episode of Man Listen, we sit with that shift. What does it mean? What does healing actually look like beyond the therapist's office? And what does it mean that you're already here — listening — when the world told you to stay quiet? Because healing isn't a destination. And you're already in the renaissance. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

We Need You Here — The Disturbing Rise of Young Black Male Suicide Rates

For the first time since the government began tracking this data, young Black men are now dying by suicide at a higher rate than young white men. The Black suicide death rate climbed 53% in just one decade — ten times faster than the rate for white Americans. This isn't an old statistic. This is happening right now. On this episode of Man Listen, we sit with this data honestly — why it's happening, what the silence has cost us, and what we do about it starting today. We also talk directly to you about the young Black man in your life — your son, your nephew, your little brother, the kid down the street — and why checking on him, even when he acts like he doesn't want it, might be the most important thing you do this week. Because we need him here. We need all of them here. We need YOU here! This episode discusses suicide. If you need support, call or text 988 anytime. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

The Black Tax - The Cost of Being Black and Excellent

On June 14th, a UFC fighter stood on the White House lawn and reduced one of the most accomplished women in American history to a crude gender insult — and the crowd cheered. Michelle Obama. Princeton. Harvard Law. Former First Lady. A life of excellence, dignity, and service. And still — not enough to escape it. That's the tax Black excellence pays. The higher you go, the louder the noise. Because your success is a mirror that shows inadequate people exactly what they are. On this episode of Man Listen, we use this moment as a door into a bigger conversation — about the exhaustion of being excellent and never being enough in the eyes of people who were never going to validate you anyway. About measuring your self-worth by other people's words. And about what Barack and Michelle Obama can teach all of us about building anyway. The validation you've been looking for was never theirs to give. It was yours to build. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

It's Not Your Imagination — The Mental Toll of Black Male Injustice

This episode wasn't planned. The news cycle made it necessary. Two young Black males. Two victims — one dead, one sentenced to 35 years for self-defense. Cyrus Carmack-Belton was 14 years old, shot in the back over four bottles of water he didn't steal. Not guilty. Karmelo Anthony claimed self-defense at a track meet. 35 years. Meanwhile two other teens — one white, one Hispanic — made the same claim. One got 10 years. One got probation. The Marshall Project examined nearly half a million homicides over 34 years. When a Black man is killed by a non-Black civilian, the killing is ruled justifiable almost 17% of the time. For everyone else — fewer than 2%. This isn't an opinion. This is a documented pattern. This episode is about what that pattern does to the Black male mind — and what we do with those feelings so they don't consume us. You aren't crazy. Your feelings are valid. You are not alone. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].