A Community Conversation on Mental Health: Science, Culture, and Healing - Part 1

A Community Conversation on Mental Health: Science, Culture, and Healing

In this special live Zoom panel, Dr. Roland St. Gerard brings together three essential voices in the mental‑health ecosystem — a psychiatrist, a licensed mental health professional, and a social worker — for a powerful, multidimensional conversation on emotional well‑being. Designed for young professionals, leaders, ministers, elected officials, doctors, caregivers, and anyone carrying the weight of responsibility, this episode explores how stress, silence, culture, and expectations shape the mind.

The panel breaks down what happens in the brain during chronic stress, why high‑capacity people struggle to ask for help, and how community, therapy, medication, and faith can work together rather than against each other. Each guest offers practical tools listeners can use immediately, while Roland weaves in cultural insight and spiritual grounding.

This episode also includes an important disclaimer: Dr. Roland St. Gerard is not a licensed mental health professional, and the AAA Resilience Podcast provides information for educational purposes only. The conversation honors the expertise of mental‑health professionals while creating a safe, accessible space for listeners to learn, reflect, and breathe.

If you’ve been strong for too long, if you support others but rarely feel supported, or if you want to understand mental health from medical, emotional, cultural, and spiritual angles, this episode will meet you where you are — and help you take the next step toward healing.

Follow the AAA Resilience Podcast for more Christ‑centered mental‑health conversations. Stay connected to Roland St. Gerard’s books and future releases by following him on Amazon.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning. My name is Dr. Erica Dentley. I'm a board certified psychiatrist working primarily with the veteran population. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

And our social worker, a community-rooted professional who understands systems, resources, family dynamics, and real-world support. Miss Linda Addition, LCSW. Welcome.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Thank you. Thank you. Hello, everybody. My name is Linda Addition. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. I've been a social worker in the field for a little over 20 years, specifically working in mental health. And I am very happy to be a part of the AAA Resilience Podcast. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Thank you and welcome all. So are you ready? Now, when you think about the mental health challenges facing young professionals, leaders, caregivers, and people in high pressure roles today, what stands out to you the most? And that's to all of you.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

I can answer it first if that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Just from my lived experience, I think one of the mental health challenges that we face as young professionals, leaders, and then also as caregivers in different aspects of our lives is burnout. I feel like if we're not able to balance the time between work and family, our social life, community, self-care, and even in some cases, even going to school, I think that can cause a lot of mental health challenges. I think one of the ways that we can kind of minimize that is to be intentional with our time and to set boundaries for the different aspects of our lives that we are involved in. So taking care of our parents, going to school, working, and also making time for our patients. So for me, burnout is one of the biggest challenges for me as a young professional in mental health services.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

I have to agree with just looking at burnout, but also just the challenge of having that balance with family and work and leadership and your faith. And what stands out to me most is really the impact of the pressures. Like, for example, in this time, in this season of life more than ever before, just that there's so much more of an impact from like the political atmosphere that has affected every aspect of our life, whether it be financial, whether it be uh especially financial, but it does cause pressure overall. Um, there's spiritual kind of impacts as well. So I agree that burnout is the end effect of those pressures that are faced, not just in our homes, but it's just overall arching with just the overall um impact of society and where we are right now in these times.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Thank you, Dr. Dudley.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Hi. I think in addition to what the others were saying, is access to care. Um many young professionals have busy lives. And so it's it's sometimes hard to carve out time for the treatment they need and also accessing the resources they need. And so I'm this is why podcasts like this is are very important, so we can give the people the information about where they can try to access care.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Beautiful. Thank you. Well, uh, Dr. Dudley, I have a question for you. So, given that many people today are overwhelmed, anxious, or emotionally exhausted, but they don't always understand what's happening in their brain or body from a psychiatric perspective, what's going on physiologically when someone is under a chronic or under chronic stress?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Thank you for that. That's a wonderful question. So, when someone's under chronic stress andor chronic anxiety, it activates the sympathetic nervous system. So that's the system that's usually inactivated during fight or flight. And that's very helpful if you're going to fight off danger or run away from danger. But it can be detrimental to your physical health at a chronic state when you're not in, you know, fighting off danger or running away from danger. So that's where the emotional state impacts your physical health. So chronic stress, chronic anxiety, chronic activation of the sympathetic system can cause disruption in sleep. It can cause high blood pressure, it can disrupt your blood sugars, it can also cause weight gain. So, once again, this is why podcasts like this are so very important to give the people the education, let them know it's just not just affecting your emotional health, not just affecting your mood, it's also impacting your physical health. So that's why it's very important to seek treatment.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Okay. What are some signs that someone might need a medical support or evaluation?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

So some signs that you you're probably are will greatly benefit from medical intervention or treatment from uh therapists if you're having problems doing your work, having problems taking care of things at home, or having difficulty getting along with other people. And this telltale sign is really when someone says to you, I think you should talk to someone. So those are just the basic signs of when you need to seek help. The earlier you seek help, the better. Because as we said, chronic activation of the sympathetic system can cause medical effects that we do not want that people in our community are already battling. So as soon as you have any difficulty, if someone brings it to your attention, please seek help.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

The word burnout was the uh prominent word so far. So, how do you help patients understand the difference between stress, anxiety, and burnout?

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Okay, so another excellent question. So, stress is the emotional and physiological response to external stressors, so things that are actually going on in your life, like a long to-do list, a crisis like losing your job or being diagnosed with an illness, or one of your loved ones being diagnosed with a serious medical illness, or a major change, whether good like having a new baby, or bad, you know, just having to relocate to a new area due to financial strain. So that's stress. So stress is your emotional and physiological response to external things. Anxiety is internalized. That's your thought life. So that is anxiety. Anxiety is the emotional and physiological response to our thoughts. So a lot of what if thoughts, what could go wrong, what if this happens? But both of them, stress and anxiety, will activate the sympathetic nervous system and can cause the medical problems if not treated. Now, burnout is more closely related to stress because burnout is when you're emotionally and physically drained from the stress and anxiety. It's like you're on empty. And that's when you start having feelings like hopelessness. That's when you stress and anxiety can lead into depression. So again, it's very important that you get these things um treated um very early. So whether stress, anxiety, burnout, when you start seeing the symptoms, when people start bringing it to your attention that, hey, something's off, that's the point in time to go speak to someone.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Okay. Good. Thank you. So uh to our licensed therapist, to Dr. Laurel Tate, a lot of high capacity people, leaders, ministers, professionals, their struggle to express emotions or ask for help. So, what makes emotional honesty so difficult for them?

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Yes. Um, I wanted to kind of like piggyback from Dr. Dudley, and then I go right into that. Okay. Um, as she was speaking, I was thinking about the two analogies that I like to use. I like to use, for instance, a balloon. And you know, you blow up that balloon, like the air that fuels that balloon as it gets old, bigger and bigger, it's pretty much like the experiences that you have that it's very hard to handle. So, like your bad feelings and it grows and it grows, whether it's anxiety, whether it's stress, and it's not being handled. And then you just think about a balloon, and if it's not controlled, if the air is not released, then it pops. And for many of us, it pops in different ways. Okay. Um, similar to the volcano, where you know, you deal with things, but then things continue to fester and fester, and then one day it explodes, it erupts, you know, and for many of us, it may be through screaming and shouting, yelling, being aggressive, or it could be internalized where it leads to depression, etc. And there are many ways, there are many different aspects that lead to that anxiety and that stress. So we were talking earlier about, you know, just life and burnout and the responsibilities that young professionals have and caretakers um have in turn and just overall in terms of the pressures. And so I think for um those of the younger generation, they have been taught through society to if you don't feel good or um if something makes you feel upset to talk about it. So we have more coping tools as younger, the younger generation, because they see it social media, talk about your feelings, etc. The concern is mostly like maybe like the older generation, um, because they're not used to therapy and um expressing emotions. It has not really been encouraged um in past times for several different reasons. And so it is now almost giving permission to them, allowing um the atmosphere to be so that whether it's in a small group, faith community, so that they do feel comfortable expressing themselves. Regardless of the generations, I think, even in terms of ministers, the expectations are for them to be strong. They have heard from the Lord, you know, pretty much they should have the answers. And so if they buy into that mentality that they're the anointed ones and I don't want to like lose my um position or how people look at me, um, they would remain like that. However, they too need someone who can they can be transparent with, who they can feel safe with, so that they can also share what's going on. And oftentimes they have burdens. And even in terms of thinking about ministers, there's so many pastors that are dropping out of pastoral, you know, um, positions because of, I believe they they have a hard time finding that community in which they can truly express their true feelings with, and they become burdened, overwhelmed, and they give up. And so there's a need for that. There are a need for um associations where they feel safe and they're not judged, and they can get the help that they can get so that we can be maintained. And I think that that that's what God wants for all of us. Jesus, who is God Himself, came on earth and had 12 disciples, but yet he had three disciples that he huddled with more and he explained things to and talked to more. So each of us, whether you find that in your family community, church community, but we all need a smaller community that we can express our true feelings with.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Thank you. Thank you. All right, so let me move on to our social worker, Miss Linda Addition. Now, you work closely with families, communities, and systems. So, what are some of the real world pressures that people face that impact their mental health?

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Thank you. So, for from the family perspective, some of the real world pressures that I've encountered is the dynamics of the family. If a patient doesn't have a family member that's supportive, if the patient has a family member that's against taking medications for whatever reason, whether that's spiritual or cultural, obviously that can have a negative impact on the patient's overall well-being. Um, trying to convince a patient, maybe to even seek out psychotherapy, to learn how to manage their maladaptive behavioral patterns. If the family member is telling them, well, you know, you can't share your private stuff with strangers. All of these are hindering blocks to trying to get that patient in a space where they can begin to adhere to more adaptive thinking and adaptive behavioral patterns, which sometimes might include medication management and psychotherapy. From a community perspective, uh, a lot of lack of resources in the community. A lot of patients are uninsured. A lot of patients are not able to pay for the cost of medications. And even as a social worker, you know, as I am referring them to community mental health centers, which offer sliding scales, sometimes they're a little bit resistant to it. They're not receptive because they don't believe that it is true. And then finally, just from a systems perspective, I think we just need more education in the communities, in the local neighborhood centers to try to educate the families about mental health and teach them some of the symptoms of mental health and how to address the issues from a professional standpoint.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Okay. So, how can communities such as like the churches, the workplaces, and even families become safer spaces for mental health?

SPEAKER_02 13:12

So for me, I think churches, workplaces, um, and families can become safer spaces by incorporating trauma-informed care. I know that's a task that might be a little bit difficult for family members if they're not familiar with the terminology, if they're not in the field of social services or mental health. But I think as social workers, as healthcare providers in the hospital setting, whichever medical facility that we're in, it's up to us to educate the patients and the patient's family on trauma-informed care, on how to be trauma responsive. Um, in the workplace setting, in the church settings, obviously workshops, right? I think trauma-informed is a big thing. Um, and I think just having workshops within the church communities, having um workshops within the workplaces, trainings, just to educate the staff and the congregation about what is trauma, how to deal with trauma and what trauma looks like um is imperative to make um the setting for the patient a safe place.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Good. Thank you. Well, it's uh like to pose a few questions to the panel. Number one, uh, let's talk about stigma, right? Stigma. Why do so many people, especially leaders and caregivers, avoid seeking help?

SPEAKER_00 14:31

So I think sometimes it's the it is hard for them to have be somewhat self-reflective and understand that they need the help. Because sometimes some of these things have been going on for so long, there's not the realization that now it's now become problematic. Because being a busy, like being a busy minister, you do have long to-do lists. You always face crisis because there's always a loss of a member and things of that nature. And so sometimes you just become blind or numb to the pain that's going on within yourself because you relate that to this just part of the job. And so it's not that real realization. So that's why they were saying community is so important. Um, community with your ministry, with other members of your church, with the usher board, with the choir members, with your deacons, with your deaconesses, is the relationship. And just the relationship in and of itself is a safeguard because those people around you will notice things. And if they feel like it's been a relationship that has been growing throughout years, they will feel safe enough to say, hey, you know, I'm noticing uh a change and perhaps you should get help. So I think most of the time it's just the realization. And then as Linda was saying, it's also a problem with access to care. So sometimes it's very difficult if you're not in the healthcare field to understand where do I go next? Like, do I go to my primary care doctor and tell them about this? Will they refer me? And then once they refer me, how long will it take? So I think um there are many factors, but again, podcasts like this, giving the people the information is very helpful so we can give them some starting points of where to go to.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

This has been a very exciting podcast with our three experts in the healthcare field. We will stop this panel now and continue on our next episode. But before we close, I want to speak a blessing over everyone listening: leaders, caregivers, professionals, ministers, parents, and anyone who has been strong for too long. May God calm the storms inside your mind. May He strengthen the parts of you that feel tired. May God surround you with people who support your healing. May God give you courage to rest, courage to feel, and courage to ask for help. And may the knowledge of science, the compassion of community, and the love of Jesus lead you into a season of emotional freedom. If today's conversation helps you breathe deeper or think differently about your mental health, stay connected. Follow the AAA Resilience Podcast for more Christ-centered mental health conversations. And follow Roll and St. Aaron on Amazon for books, taking and future releases. I'll see you on the next episode.