We sit down with Ralph Bryant – a writer, filmmaker, and mental health advocate who's making waves in Winnipeg's community. Originally from the Bronx, Ralph brings a unique perspective to mental health advocacy, particularly focusing on Black men's mental health through his documentary project "On the Verge."
In this episode, Ralph shares:
His personal journey through mental health challenges, including his hospitalization in 2018
The alarming statistics showing Black youth suicide rates rising faster than any other population in Canada, with Black men four times more likely to die by suicide than Black women
The "Love Notes Campaign" - a citywide initiative Ralph launched on World Mental Health Day, posting words of affirmation and support throughout Winnipeg
How barriers to mental health resources disproportionately affect people of color, with wait times potentially twice as long
The power of personal storytelling as Ralph discusses his documentary "On the Verge," which incorporates real audio recordings from before and during his hospitalization
Ralph's journey from trauma to advocacy shows how personal struggles can transform into community action. His Love Notes Campaign stands as a beautiful reminder that sometimes the simplest acts of kindness can make the biggest difference in someone's day.
As Ralph powerfully states: "There is no more important right for us to be focused on than the right to our mental health."
Connect with Ralph:
Instagram: @ralph_bryant
Email: ralphbryantwriter@gmail.com
Get Involved:
Volunteer for the Love Notes Campaign by messaging Ralph on Instagram
Host a screening of "On the Verge" once it's available
Support mental health initiatives in your community
Episode Transcript:
Stuart Murray 0:00
This podcast was recorded on the ancestral lands, on treaty one territory, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe Cree Oji, Cree Dakota and the Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the matthi nation.
Amanda Logan (Voiceover) 0:19
This is humans on rights, a podcast advocating for the education of human rights. Here's your host, Stuart Murray.
Stuart Murray 0:31
If you look up Ralph Bryant on Instagram, you're going to see that he is a writer, a spiritualist and a mental health advocate, and he has done some interesting things with a love notes campaign, which we're going to talk about, but he's done some interesting things to talk about issues, particularly with black men in Canada, and when we put a human rights lens on what Ralph is involved in, I was thrilled and delighted when he accept my invitation to come on to this podcast. So Ralph Bryant, welcome to humans on rights.
Ralph Bryant 1:02
Yes. Stuart, thank you very much for this opportunity, and excited to be here. So Ralph,
Stuart Murray 1:07
we met at the opening night of Black History Month. Nadia Thompson, who's a personal friend, an amazing community leader, introduced us. But you know, just at this moment what I'd love, Ralph, for those people that are listening to this human zone, right? Podcast, why don't you introduce yourself and explain what you do? So my
Ralph Bryant 1:24
name is Ralph Bryant. I am originally from the United States, but I've been in Canada almost 20 years now, and in Winnipeg just under two years. I am a writer, filmmaker. I'm a creative and most important to this conversation, I am a mental health advocate, and I come to that work not only because of my own story, but my family's stories of three generations that I know of, from my mom and my mother's father, who all struggled with their mental health issues to the point of needing to be hospitalized, and I kind of represent today, kind of two separate projects. One is the love notes campaign, which is a way for us the city and as we hope to expand beyond Winnipeg to give words of affirmation and love and support to people all over the city. It's a public arts project that we launched on World Mental Health Day last October, and we're gearing up to do it again this year. And then my other hat is, I am a filmmaker that's working on a documentary called on the verge, which is looking at my own personal mental health story to expand the conversation around mental health in general, but with a specific lens at the plight of mental health outcomes affecting black Men and boys, and the statistics are pretty alarming, and it is something that we need to pay some specific attention to. And you mentioned Nadia Thompson, who is absolutely extraordinary. And I'm also a member of Black History Manitoba. I've been working on events all over the city this month for Black History Month.
Stuart Murray 3:19
Yeah. Thanks so much for that, Ralph. I appreciate it. And I noticed that, you know, always want to make sure that, out of respect you have Ralph Peter Bryant. Is that your full name that you would like to be called by? You know, when people, when I introduced you, I introduced you as Ralph Bryant, but you know, if you would like to be known as Ralph Peter Bryant, yeah, that's 100% the way it should be.
Ralph Bryant 3:37
Yeah, no, I'm definitely Ralph Bryant. That's just the question of being too lazy to take it out of
Stuart Murray 3:44
okay, all right, I love the honesty we're reading through it. Ralph, let's get at it. Yeah. Ralph, so just kind of coming back to some of the things that you mentioned in your introduction. You talked about, you know, mental health issues from a family standpoint, from your own standpoint, you know, can you, I mean, I always look at these questions through again, not a personal lens, although it's up to you, because this is your story, but if you look at it from a human rights perspective, and you know the rights of the human rights of people having the ability to see and receive treatment and be to be respected with dignity, and can you just maybe Share your experience or your family's experience through that lens, please.
Ralph Bryant 4:23
So I would say Stuart that there is no more important right for us to be focused on than the right to our mental health, and that relates to our individual health and the right access to mental health resources. So we have, we live in an incredible country with universal health care, where our physical bodies, you might have to wait a little while, but you can get everything that's happening from you looked at, from your head to your feet. But that is not true for mental health resources and what anyone knows that has tried to access. Mental health resources in Canada is that if you're in the public fear, it takes an incredibly long time, and if you're looking in the private fear, it's incredibly expensive. So in a lot of cases, people who really need mental health resources are choosing between paying them a household bill and accessing therapy you're going through the public sector. As I said, the wait times are long. And there was a study recently that said that the outcomes for folks of color is almost twice as long as the outcome for non folks of color. Now why that is? There are some hypotheses around that. Mostly it's about the resources that are available in neighborhoods of color, as opposed to non neighborhoods of color. And that can be, think was as high as 16 months. So let's say you wait your 16 months and you get into the public system. Now you have to deal with what we know is there's been a history of both the US and Canada, actually in the US, so much institutional racism and warehousing and misdiagnosing, the American Psychiatric Association in 2021 actually put out a formal apology, acknowledging that it is its history allowing racism to impact how it was treating folks of color, specifically black folks, and then on. So even if you access the system, there are these barriers that are preventing you from really getting the care that you need. But if you don't access the system, even just to get over the hurdle of kind of feeling comfortable there is the tremendous stigma and shame and inability to figure out how to ask for help. And I said earlier that my family, you know this, I'm the third generation of my family that was hospitalized. So I was hospitalized in 2018 and I was certainly one of those people that was asking for help, begging for help, looking for resources, and was unable to find them, until the point where I broke and I was someone with resources. I had a great job. I lived in a million dollar house. I had two cars and the dog and two kids, and so I had all of the trappings that one could have the Canadian dream. And I was still unable to find the resources in order to gain help. But more importantly, I was unable to find the words that would allow someone to be able to support me. And unfortunately, in my case, and I think in the case of too many people, I had to be hospitalized to actually begin the process of receiving the help that I needed. So Ralph,
Stuart Murray 8:00
you know, very personal, obviously, respect. Thank you and for sharing. It's always difficult sometimes to hear these stories. They're important to hear what I'm you know, we're going to get to, by the way, in this conversation is the amazing things you're doing to support other people as you go through this. But perhaps just if you're able to sort of talk about, as you say, You're here's somebody who's living the Canadian dream. So meet in a grocery store. Nobody would think twice about anything. You'd have a conversation with you. Hey, Ralph, how's it going? Is there some way that you realize that when you used your term, you kind of hit a breaking point? How did you find yourself at that breaking point? What was the genesis? I guess that caused you to reach that breaking point.
Ralph Bryant 8:44
My mental health journey, and talking about my mental health challenges began when I was a kid. So I had a absentee father, detached mother, living in I grew up in the Bronx in New York City, and life was rough. But on top of that, when I was 13, I was sexually assaulted. At that point, everything about my life really changed, and I was no kid, you know, at any age should have to suffer through that, but my surroundings, my community, was incapable of really being able to support me at that time, there were really no resources. In fact, what I experienced from some of my immediate family was blame that I did something to put myself in this position. In fact. You know, my grandmother had said to me at the time that God was punishing me for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Stuart Murray 9:49
Yeah, so Ralph, can I just say, you know, I don't need you to go deeper. I mean, this is traumatic, and I'm not really trying to sort of draw that out. You've laid sure you've created a picture that's pretty clear. Hear about some of the trauma, I'm fascinated when you How did you find your strength through all of that? Well,
Ralph Bryant 10:05
I think that I just want to put a COVID. I think it's important to be sometimes we have these conversations around mental health, and they are, they're a little too clever that you know, like we know we need to change the stigma. And we know that people experience trauma, but I think the more we're able to normalize talking about it, the more we're able to get closer to outcomes
Stuart Murray 10:34
totally fair. Really, I had a very difficult upbringing. You've shared that. Very unfair on bringing you've shared that. And if there's more you would like to say. I just want to because when we get to the Ralph Bryant that I met, you know, a month ago, this vibrant, this incredibly energetic, this person who just exude, you know, sort of a sense of confidence of who you were and what you're about and, you know, and I went on to your social sites to see the amazing work that you're doing. And we're going to, as I said earlier, when we're going to talk about that, because that's really what I want to get to. But you've had so much trauma. You survive something allowed you to survive, some inner strength, something that allowed Ralph Bryant to get to where you are today. Can you share that? I think I
Ralph Bryant 11:15
developed a and maybe you've always had a sense of resiliency. I think that I am stronger than maybe I gave myself credit for, and despite my childhood trauma, I've had a successful career. I went to university, well, yeah, I worked for the National Basketball Association. I've worked on political campaigns. I've worked for Fortune 500 companies. I've done a lot of things. And actually, I think that was the thing that was so kind of jarring about my mental health challenge when I started to struggle six years ago, was that I think I thought, think my way through it, that I could just kind of problem solve my way through it, and I didn't need to ask for help. And I learned that that's not the way to go. It wasn't helpful strategy for me. And so when I got out of the hospital, I wanted to take the same amount of focus and attention and care that made me successful at work and put it to figuring out my own personal story and my narrative around mental health. And as I did that, I recognized that how important it is that we talk about these issues openly and that to be focused on my mental health journey and not focused on how we uplift and create safe spaces for everyone. It just became my mission and my purpose. And I think that it, and it's something that I am always focused on, and it is a daily kind of struggle. But I know that when I look at the person that, or more importantly, we'll talk about the documentary. The documentary is rooted in a series of audio recordings that I took before I was hospitalized and during my hospitalization, and when I listen back to those audio recordings as we're preparing for the project, there is a part of that person that I almost don't even recognize and that I almost can't, you know, it sounds like me, but it isn't me, it almost feels like so I know that. And so when I looking at that person today, I'm really able to see how far I've come. And I think that it is to not figure out how to give back, to not figure out how to support others along their journey. I'm also a father of two teenage boys, and it is incredibly important to me that they have the tools and the resources so that when they hopefully they never have to use them. But I want them to have the same the tools and resources that I didn't have, and the resiliency that they will need to go forth in the world, as you know, young black
Stuart Murray 14:24
men, for sure, and so just on this pivot on that for a second, Ralph, so two young boys,
Ralph Bryant 14:29
not so young anymore. If I called them young, they might be mad at me. So I'm a
Stuart Murray 14:34
father and I'm a grandfather. So, you know, but my two daughters will always be young to me, even though they're wonderful mothers and professionals in their field. But your boys, then young men, are they in the city? They living in the city? Do you are they in Winnipeg? Or what? What sorts of things are they doing? The
Ralph Bryant 14:50
Ara is still in Ontario. I go back and forth every six weeks or so, so I'm going back in a few weeks. And they are incredible. They. They are Honor Roll students, and my youngest son is playing for Team Canada lacrosse. He's 14. And my my oldest son, who's about to be 16, was on the team that won the Kenny Canada national championships in soccer. Wow. So they are truly incredible human beings, and I know that they're going to do great things in the world. Sounds
Stuart Murray 15:30
like they've done great things already. Ralph, it's pretty amazing, right? Yeah, thanks for sharing that. So, Ralph, coming back to you know, when you started to record, you recorded, you say, audio recordings, Ed, you obviously started this project before you were hospitalized, and you have obviously continued on a post being out of the hospital. Let's go back to before you were hospitalized. What were you trying to record? What was your purpose for recording? What were you working on? What was the project?
Ralph Bryant 15:56
You know, I wish I could remember specifically the light bulb that made me say to, you know, hit record, I know that I was called to do it, and in some ways, you know, it feels like I was caught like that. I was called to do it, knowing that at some point I was going to be making a documentary about mental health, there are some audio recordings of the of the day before I was hospitalized that alludes to that, which is a little bit creepy and interesting. And I thought that I was about to die, and I thought that these recordings would be a way to put people in my mind as I was no longer going to be here, and I had been working on a podcast called black fathers matter at the time, and so I was used to being in front of a mic. And so I had a, you know, a pretty nice microphone sitting next to me in my basement and and so I just, you know, pressed record and got what I got. I know that there was something that kind of motivated me to do that, but a The only thing I can say today is that I know that I was called to do it. What that? And I think it's a great opportunity. It leaves us with a great opportunity to really hear someone in psychosis and someone who was struggling, and also someone who then, you know, kind of goes into the into the hospital, and what the you know, what that experience feels like in, you know, listening to it as, uh, like a play by play,
Stuart Murray 17:43
sure. So this is kind of the the project. And am I right? Is this project? Is it on the verge? Is that the title of this project? On the verge? Yeah. So, Ralph, when you look at this project, I think one of the chapters of this, this documentary you're working on, is, as you just said, it's about you. It's about your personal journey. Yeah, and how has that been for you, to kind of put that down in an audio file? How has that felt for you?
Ralph Bryant 18:07
It's both cathartic and disturbing. And I don't mean disturbing in a negative way necessarily. It's just so interesting done a bunch of creative things. And so as a from a creative lens, it feels very ripe with possibility and opportunity. So when I take myself kind of out of it, and I'm working with a small team on the project, and so as I take when I take myself out of it, and we're just like having a meeting about what files get used and at what point it is, it feels I'm excited by the possibility to have the project grounded in in that audio with Sometimes, though, when I'm listening to it, listen to them enough that I'm a bit detached. But when we decided to do this last year, and I was first listening to them. It took me a it took me a long time to kind of work up the courage to listen, and I wanted to listen to them first before I asked anyone else to listen to them. And so it was difficult but important
Stuart Murray 19:21
that may change, but at this point, the working title is on the verge, yeah, and so, because that has a lot of different connotations, on the verge of what,
Ralph Bryant 19:31
it's actually something that I say in one of the audio recordings, and it actually comes from a old, No, it's not that old, but a movie in the late 90s, Spanish movie called woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and that was one of the first foreign language films that I'd ever seen. And Almodovar, who's the director, is. One of my favorite directors, and although I haven't seen it since, I somehow that, and I think it's one of the, like, you know, best movie titles ever. And so in one of the audio recordings, I'm talking about what's happening to me, and I say that I am a man on the verge of a nervous breakthrough. And so the original title of the project was man on the verge of a nervous breakthrough, and I just shortened it to on the verge
Stuart Murray 20:32
thanks for sharing that. Because what I love about it is it could be and I just, again, love how you've kind of positioned on the verge of a breakthrough. A lot of times, people would say on the verge of a break down, right, right? And so the breakthrough, I mean, that's the positive, that's the moving forward that. And these are, that's my interpretation, yeah. So let's just, you know, kind of talk a little bit about where you're at with on the verge. And then I want to talk about your love notes campaign. Uh, we're
Ralph Bryant 20:59
in pre production on the project. We're organizing audio files, and we are before we shoot, we're going to do a series of community connections around making sure that we have the greatest impact of this project and bring other people in. I mean, my story is kind of the anchor of this, but this is really a broader conversation about, how do we create a resilient mental health community that serves all of us? So we have our script and but we're going to be we have a series of meetings this month and in March where we with community folks and throughout the city and some outside of the city that are working in mental health spaces, working in health care, and asking them to you, kind of laying out our case for the script, but then gaining their investment in the project, which, in the short term, there that feedback will inform our our script, but in the long term, what it will have us allow us to do is when we're ready to actually are doing screenings. Our kind of gift back to those community organizations is to ask them to do a screening of the project with their their constituency, and both the screening and the Q and A and to so that we are really looking at how we broaden the impact of the project. I recently completed a mentorship with an org, a great organization called Story money impact, that is focused on helping documentary filmmakers to amplify the impact we often think about films that, you know, you make a film, it'll go to festivals, and it'll go maybe, if you're lucky, it'll end up in broadcast. And we want those things too, but more importantly, we want, our goal is to do 100 screenings in community, in Winnipeg and in Toronto and and in New York City, so that we are creating small, intimate spaces where you can not only watch the film, but also and talk about the film, but also access mental health resources on the spot. Okay,
Stuart Murray 23:38
so Ralph, let me just ask you, when you talk about you would like this, to go back to these communities and be shared with their constituency. Define, if you can, who is the constituency
Ralph Bryant 23:49
we are naturally on the verge. Will resonate with folks working in the mental health spaces, folks that are working in healthcare, and then organizations that are working in black communities. I think there's also a great opportunity for us to rethink about organize, how we have these conversations in schools where we will have a teacher's guide the teachers can use with their students to in screenings in school, screening so smaller screenings, organizations that are interested in working in unique organizations of that serve people of color and recognizing that, you know, the messages will have to be tweaked a little bit, because what the needs of black men are different from the needs of black women and and the needs of queer folks are unique, and we need to be mindful, and so we'll adjust the we'll be focused on universal themes, but then recognize that we'll create some targeted. COVID question answers and reference material to support a diverse set of populations that will will watch the project.
Stuart Murray 25:11
Yeah, fair enough. Thank you for that, Ralph. You know when I first met you and we chatted, and I talked about this human rights podcast, and you talked about some of the research you shared with me, and one of the pieces you shared was that, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the suicide rate between black men and black women is four times greater for black men. Am I right with that? Yeah, that's what the research shows.
Ralph Bryant 25:33
So that was a study that was done in the US. And to layer on top of that, you know, the suicide rates in Canada of black youth are rising faster than any other population in the in in the country. So between those two, black men are more likely to analyze themselves, and black young people are rates of suicide skyrocketing. So we've got it on kind of both sides of the landscape that we need to be mindful of. Yeah,
Stuart Murray 26:03
it's a shocking I mean, it's just, it's so a bit disturbing. I mean, you know, one is suicide, you know, ideation or suicide attempts, and those that do commit suicide, I mean, it's just very difficult. And so, you know, to see those numbers, you know, the way they are, the number thing is that's important to share. As hard it is and difficult as it is to hear those facts, it's important to share. But of course, the next thing is, you know, what's being done about it?
Ralph Bryant 26:30
I think there's a lot of interest in my project, which is, you know, affirming and great. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the work that Dr Warren Clark is doing University of Manitoba with Afro Caribbean mentorship program, barbershop Talk series. So I think that there are people that are looking at this from as many different lenses as can be. So that's a great start. And we need to continue to figure out how we fund and support projects like that, and then ensure that all new diverse communities have similar projects in which those that are most at risk and those that are facing The stigma the most are able to access, you know, the resources that they will need in order to overcome that stigma and the help that they
Stuart Murray 27:28
and even to let them know that there are resources available, right? I mean, all of that information. So that's fantastic. So Ralph, let's kind of shift to your love notes campaign you launched that, I think, on Mental Health Awareness Day. Let's get into it. What's the campaign about? Where did you launch it, and what did it look like when you first started it?
Ralph Bryant 27:49
As I said, in Winnipeg for almost two years, and so originally, I started the love notes campaign as a way for me to get to learn the city, and I was making handwritten notes. My handwriting is awful, but I was making handwritten notes, and I was riding my bike and posting them, you know, wherever I could each each time in a different neighborhood, in public spaces, in public spaces, yeah, so on telephone poles and on coffee shops and with no call to action, no nothing other than a way for me to give a little love back in the city. I think also, it was during the time that I was really beginning to work on the documentary, and I wanted to do something that point. It was very, very intense, and so I wanted to do something that balanced out that intensity by giving something back and doing something that was more fun, more uplifting. And the idea of the love notes came. So originally, I was, just as I said, doing them by hand, and the response was so great, like it was sparked conversations with people that I probably would not have met otherwise. I got some great responses on social on some people who found me on social media and wanted to know more. You know, people who wanted to, you know, receive copies of them that felt like an opportunity to expand that on a little bit of a larger level, when World Mental Health Day was coming, and to get my handwriting out of it so people could actually read them a Couple months before, we did a call to action, to artists, both in Winnipeg and outside of Winnipeg, and to individuals, to ask them to just send us words of affirmation, we ended up with 200 and the goal was that we were going to put up 150 of them from one end of the city to the other, which would COVID. One side with Winnipeg is 100 and 50th anniversary, and that was incredible long, because we put them all up in 24 hours, and we literally went from one side of the perimeter to the other, and from the north Phil donan to to South Osborne, and with the goal of making sure that there were love notes in each of the kind of 15 major communities in Winnipeg, and it was such a powerful experience because we had a small group of volunteers that supported putting them up, and the conversations that we had with people, they were prettier. We did them during the day. It was during a work day, so we started putting them up during morning rush hour. So people were moving and moving throughout the city. And so the reactions really powerful. And we got some, you know, some cool media coverage out of it, you know, is really galvanized us to want to think about how we do it again, do it better, but bring more people into the into the mix, and you get more people talking about mental health, but From a place of positivity, and from a place of affirmations, and from a place of supporting each other and caring for each other, and, yeah, so it's very exciting.
Stuart Murray 31:29
So obviously I saw some of the coverage you got in the local media, which is super positive, amazing. But just can you share, Ralph, is there any one or two anecdotes you could share of things that happened kind of organically as you were doing this and somebody said something, or, you know, you got a reaction from somebody. Share that, if you don't mind, please.
Ralph Bryant 31:49
Yeah. So we my friend Veronica, who's our chief elf, and I were putting up. We did a small wall of under the Osborne street bus station, the underpass, and there was a guy that came up. We were there for longer than we should have been. Because what we didn't know is that during rush hour, people are people are walking. So at one point, that was the place where we stood there for 10 minutes because people wanted to talk about them. And there was a guy that he walked past us said, Good morning, but he was kind of paying attention to what we're doing. And then he came back and and he was welled up a little bit, and he said to Veronica and I, he was like, I've had the worst day already, at eight o'clock in the morning, and just seeing the one of the signs said it's okay to not be okay, and he's like, I'm not okay today. So just seeing that, you guys put that there, it's gonna change how I feel about myself for the rest of the day. And then that sparked a conversation where I was like, So, what's going on? Why are you not feeling okay? He and I taught we kind of took a couple steps away while Veronica was continuing to put the rest of the posters up, and to not go into details, obviously, but, you know, I gave him a hug after he shared with what was going on with him, and then he went on his way, and I went on my way, and I was trying to, at that moment, I was, you know, being very done a bunch of Mental Health First Aid training, so I was really able to be in hold space for him. But then after he left, I broke down because I you don't always know the impact that you're going to have. And even though, every once in a while, still as I'm walking around, I see an old love note that was put up. But I know that those love notes had an impact on people that case, that gentleman, his that impact was big, but I'm sure that there were new responses from folks, big and small. We had five or six folks Direct Message me to ask me to actually send them the love notes electronically. And was really impactful and really powerful?
Stuart Murray 34:21
Yeah, no, it's incredible. And, you know, what a great initiative. And, you know, doesn't it really sort of speak volumes about simplicity and thoughtfulness. Are sort of two powerful messages. And I think the love notes campaign, it's going to sort of organically find a real sense of growth, I'm sure Ralph in in, you know, next year, and as more people hear about it, and as you get more people involved, and you know, maybe you'll step aside and let somebody else with maybe a little bit of handwriting, kind of right, come to the posters. So it's all good.
Ralph Bryant 34:49
So this year, we're goal. We want to take that idea a little bit further, and we're just at the beginnings of connecting with arts organization. Throughout the city and asking them to partner with us by hosting what are called Love ins, which are basically like inviting people to come and either write an app write a word of affirmation that will become a love note, or design love notes themselves. So we love to have a diversity of people from all over the city, and love notes look and feel different with our and our goal is to have one of those love ins in each of the 15 communities Winnipeg, again, so that you communities can really take ownership determine where they should go and based on what they know about their specific neighborhoods, and really bring people in to the process a little bit more. And I think you know, because this is a public arts initiative, it will also allow us to celebrate the amazing arts organizations that there are in the city. Yeah, it's
Stuart Murray 36:03
fantastic. I love the idea and whatever we can do through our humans on right social to promote it. Ralph, you'd be delighted. It would be amazing listen as the kind of the you know, the chapter of our conversation starts to draw to a close, let me just ask you that somebody who's listening to this podcast and wanted to get involved, whether it's the love notes campaign, or whether it's assisting on or helping. With respect to your documentary The Verge, is there a way that they can get involved, or is there some way they can go to a site to get involved? Or what advice would you give to anybody listening to say this resonates with me. I'd like to, I'd like to have make a difference.
Ralph Bryant 36:39
Yeah, so they can absolutely reach out to me at my Instagram feed. Is Ralph underscore Bryant. My email address is Ralph Bryant, writer@gmail.com we will absolutely need volunteers for the love notes project. Our goal is to, this year, have a community lead in each of those 15 neighborhoods that will help make sure that the post can manage the elevens and make sure that the posters go up on the day. So we'll be raising some funds for that. And you know, would love it, if any of your listeners would like to take on some of those community lead projects positions. And then with the documentary, we are again, same places where people can reach me. The best thing that people could do at this point is to connect to support by hosting a screening. Once we get to that point, we're raising money for the documentary as well. And if it's a you know, someone that as a community organization or works at a school or a university that would like to be more involved by bringing the project into their spaces. That would be absolutely amazing.
Stuart Murray 37:52
That's fantastic. Again. Thanks for sharing all of that. Ralph, typically, you know, kind of the last throw to you as a guest. Is there anything I didn't ask you that you wanted to have a chance to talk about on this podcast.
Ralph Bryant 38:03
I thought you did a great job asking me everything. But I think the thing that I would say that is most important is the first line of defense for mental health isn't the hospitals or the therapists or the institutions that do this work, it is your friends and your family and your immediate community. And so if you have someone in your kind of circle that is, you know you're not sure how they're doing, or they've expressed to you that they're struggling a little bit. It's imperative that you check in and be a presence, even if they get annoyed at you, even if they say everything is fine, because at some point they will, you know, maybe be ready to open up. It takes a little bit of time sometimes for people to get to that place, but we need to be our brothers and sisters keeper when it comes to mental health, so that we can stop people from getting past that point. So you know, let's look out for each other, Let's support each other, and let's be there for each other. Can't think
Stuart Murray 39:19
of a better way to wrap up this conversation. Ralph Bryant, you've done amazing work. You continue to do amazing work. Your journey is quite spectacular. Thank you for sharing, and thank you for being a guest on humans on rights. Yeah,
Ralph Bryant 39:31
I appreciate you, and I thank you for the opportunity.
Matt Cundill 39:35
Thanks for listening to humans on rights. A transcript of this episode is available by clicking the link in the show notes of this episode, humans on rights is recorded and hosted by Stuart Murray, social media marketing by Buffy Davie, music by Doug Edmond. For more, go to Human Rights hub.ca, produced and distributed by the sound off media company.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai