AFSP Podcast Channel
Welcome to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Podcast Channel, the official podcast home for Strong Talk, Ask Dr. Jill, and Elevating Voices—three unique series focused on mental health, suicide prevention, and health equity.
Strong Talk is hosted by Vic Armstrong, AFSP’s Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement. Each episode features in-depth conversations with mental health experts, advocates, and leaders about the challenges and solutions to making mental healthcare accessible to all.
Ask Dr. Jill features Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, AFSP’s Senior Vice President of Research, answering real mental health questions with the latest scientific research and help from fellow experts in the field.
Elevating Voices is a roundtable discussion series hosted by Vic Armstrong. Each episode brings together members of diverse communities to uncover the unique mental health challenges they face, and discuss strategies for solving them.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is America’s leading suicide prevention organization and the largest private funder of suicide prevention research, with local chapters in all 50 states., D.C. and Puerto Rico. AFSP offers education, loss support, and advocacy programs and events nationwide, including the Out of the Darkness Walks. You can learn more at AFSP.org.
For other forms of support, including resources for survivors of suicide loss, what to do if you’re worried about someone, and guidance if you’ve survived a suicide attempt, visit AFSP’s Get Help page: afsp.org/get-help
If you or anyone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for free, 24/7, to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Episodes
36 episodes
Elevating Voices: The State of Mental Health Across LGBTQ+ Communities
The LGBTQ+ community isn’t a monolith. It includes people from different generations, genders, races, classes, and experiences, each with their own relationship to mental health care. In this episode, host Vic Armstrong brings together three ad...
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Strong Talk: Growing Up Between Two Cultures with Sahaj Kohli
Our first impression of mental health often comes from family and culture. But what if that impression doesn't work for you? How can you adopt a healthier relationship with mental health while maintaining a connection to your culture?In ...
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Ask Dr. Jill: How Traumatic Brain Injury Can Impact Mental Health
Although a traumatic brain injury can profoundly change someone's life, it doesn't have to be the end of the story. In this episode, Dr. Jill speaks with Dr. Lisa Brenner, a Board-Certified Rehabilitation Psychologist and leading expert on trau...
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Strong Talk: Grieving Is More Than Sadness With April Simpkins
Grief is a complex emotion, and for many people, it can often be accompanied by feelings like shame or guilt. But grief can also co-exist with positive emotions like joy — and that’s okay. Everyone grieves differently, and grief can look differ...
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Strong Talk: How to Make Real Connections in a Digital World With Shahem Mclaurin
Mental health conversations are becoming more common in the Black community, but systemic barriers still limit access to care.In this Black History Month episode, host Vic Armstrong speaks with Shahem McLaurin — a Black, genderqueer, lic...
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Elevating Voices: Generational Healing in the AAPI Community
When parents and children are raised in different cultures, they often have very different relationships with mental health—a generational gap that can make communication and understanding difficult. In this episode, host Vic Armstrong speaks w...
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Strong Talk: Social Media Isn't Therapy with Shani Tran
If you’ve been on social media lately, you’ll notice more and more mental health professionals sharing advice. And while much of it is helpful, it raises an important question: where’s the line between content and care? Today, Vic s...
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Ask Dr. Jill: Are AI Chatbots Dangerous for Teens?
Do you know how many teenagers use AI chatbots for companionship? It’s more than you think. Today, Robbie Torney, Senior Director of AI Programs at Common Sense Media, tells us about his research and why his organization rates the use of chatbo...
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Elevating Voices: Men Do Cry, if You Let Them
We’ve all heard the saying: “men don’t cry.” In today's Elevating Voices roundtable, we hear from three men who prove that being vulnerable and showing emotion is not only acceptable, but healthy.Dan Egan, who lost his father to suicide...
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Strong Talk: Supporting Black Youth with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman
A few years ago, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman learned that a growing number of young, Black people were dying by suicide. To learn more, she and the Congressional Black Caucus empowered a working group of experts to publish a landmark re...
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Ask Dr. Jill: Can Suicide Actually Be Prevented?
When Dr. Jill started researching suicide 40 years ago, the consensus in the scientific community was that suicide could not be prevented. Now we know that this is false. In this episode, Dr. Jill and AFSP Senior Manager of Research and Dissemi...
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Strong Talk: When Mental Health Care Gets Lost in Translation with Dr. Pierluigi Mancini
Most of the mental health care provided in the United States is in English. Yet many people in the US don’t speak English fluently. So, what happens when they need help? That’s the problem our guest, Dr. Pierluigi Mancini, has been solving sinc...
Strong Talk: From Pain to Purpose: Transforming Lived Experience into Suicide Prevention Advocacy
Join the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement Victor (Vic) Armstrong, MSW, for a conversation with Founder and Executive Director of Wellness Action Recovery, Inc., Fonda Bryant. In this e...
Strong Talk: Building a Path to Suicide Prevention in the Construction Industry
In the latest episode of Strong Talk podcast, AFSP Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement Victor (Vic) Armstrong, MSW, talks with AFSP Minnesota Chapter volunteer Ray Stenglein about mental health and suicide prevention in the...
Strong Talk: Mental Health Court: A Conversation with Judge Ginger Lerner Wren
The podcast is now in session! Join the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement Victor (Vic) Armstrong, MSW, as he speaks with Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren about her role as the pioneer of Americ...
Strong Talk: Bringing Faith-Based Suicide Prevention to Africa
In this episode of the Strong Talk, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement Victor (Vic) Armstrong, MSW, speaks with Pastor Dr. François Tchidjé about their shared experience in a unique ...
Strong Talk: Asian in America with Richard Lui
As the first Asian American male to anchor a daily, national cable news show (at CNN Worldwide), Richard Lui knows what it’s like to achieve great success while occupying space in a complex cultural environment. In this episode of Strong Ta...
Strong Talk: Funny Feelings (Part 2) with J.B. Smoove
We all know him as Leon, the outspoken and hilarious character on Curb Your Enthusiasm, his appearances in the Barbershop and Spiderman film series, Real Husbands of Hollywood, and as a wildly talented comedi...
Strong Talk: Funny Feelings (Part 1) with J.B. Smoove
We all know him as Leon, the outspoken and hilarious character on Curb Your Enthusiasm, his appearances in the Barbershop and Spiderman film series, Real Husbands of Hollywood, and as a wildly talented comedi...
Strong Talk: Man to Man
In this episode, in recognition of Men’s Mental Health Month, Vic and his guest Keon Lewis discuss why men are often unwilling to talk about mental health, the need to create more safe spaces to address men’s mental health concerns, and the uni...
Strong Talk: Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
In this episode, Vic and his guest, Pata Suyemoto, discuss her lived experience and the unique challenges in seeking mental health care for Asian Americans and how it all motivated her to become a nationally recognized DEI expert.
Strong Talk: Keris Myrick - Owning It
In this episode Vic and his guest, Keris Myrick, discuss her journey as she has utilized her lived mental health experience to propel her to a career as an advocate and change agent in the field of mental health.
Strong Talk: Tia Dole - The Journey to 988
In this episode of Strong Talk, Vic and his guest, Tia Dole, discuss her role as Chief 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Officer with Vibrant Emotional Health. You’ll hear about the successes and challenges of 988 and what it could mean in the li...
Strong Talk: Akemie Jones - A Day in the Life
In this episode Vic and his guest Akemie Jones discuss the role of working in a crisis receiving center, the importance of creating a trauma informed culture and incorporating the voice of lived experience in day to day operations.
Strong Talk: Philip Cooper - Second Chances
In this episode, Vic and his guest, Philip Cooper discuss Philip’s journey through addiction, incarceration, and reinvention and how this influenced him to find his purpose in helping other men re-enter society after incarceration.Sign ...