Wellness Wednesday mental health highlights

MPR News host Angela Davis revisits three recent conversations about mental health. A researcher and a shooting survivor talk about the broad impact of gun violence.

Plus, conversations about suicide prevention and how to talk with children about racialized trauma.

Guests:

• Cassandra Linkenmeyer is the training support coordinator for the Minnesota Suicide Prevention Trainer Network, a program that connects trained speakers to provide resources across the state. 

• Sierra Grandy is a motivational speaker, consultant and volunteer with the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI.

• Tommy McBrayer is a survivor of two shootings and the founder and CEO of the Minneapolis nonprofit Don’t Shoot Guns, Shoot Hoops.  

• Jillian Peterson is a professor of criminology and criminal justice and executive director of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University in St. Paul.  

• Resmaa Menakem is a longtime therapist and licensed clinical social worker who specializes in healing racialized trauma. He describes himself as a “cultural provocateur” and is the founder of the Cultural Somatics Institute. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies.” And he is the co-author of “The Stories from My Grandmother’s Hands.”

• T. Mychael Rambo is a regional Emmy Award-winning actor, vocalist, arts educator and community organizer. He’s performed on stages throughout the Twin Cities and the country. And he is the co-author of “The Stories from My Grandmother’s Hands.” 

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Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.