Paris Alston: This is GBH's Morning Edition. We hear it all the time: We are experiencing a mental health crisis. In recent years, the use of mental health services jumped by nearly 40% among millions of commercially insured and American adults, according to a recent JAMA Health Forum. Those patients are seeking help for everything from anxiety and depression to substance use disorder and relationship struggles. With that, there's been more of a push to talk about our mental health, and this year we are joining that conversation with a new series called Wake Up Well. Once a month, we'll discuss a timely topic and how it affects our mental health and our community. Partner for this effort is the wellness platform PureSpark, which was founded by Nieisha Deed, who joins us now in the studio. Nieisha, it is so wonderful to have you here. Thanks for joining us.

Nieisha Deed: Good morning. It's so nice to be here. Thanks for having me.

Alston: So first off, tell us more about PureSpark.

Deed: Yeah. So PureSpark is really an organization that's focused on mental health equity, right? We hear about health equity. But this is really focusing on the Black population in Boston and helping them along their wellness journey. So we have a wellness directory. We also share wellness events. We have our own curated wellness events that we do. And on the side I do a lot of speaking engagements.

Alston: And why did you create PureSpark?

Deed: Oh well, I'm going to try to keep this short. One, I'm a person that was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2007. And 10 years later, in 2017, I had my own crisis where I just didn't want to be here anymore. And beyond that, I have four family members that passed away to suicide. And I just got angry and frustrated. If you look at the statistics, just for Black Americans, Black people living in the US, it's stark. A report that was put out by the CDC last year talked about as suicide rates are going down in the US overall, they're starting to see an increase in the Black population, specifically Black men and Black teens, that are going up. So there's so much focus just overall, but I think we have to get more specific because we need the care to kind of look like the people that they're serving.

Alston: And of course, everything that we'll be talking about with the series is for everyone because we all have mental health. But there is this disproportion here that we are also mindful of and wanting to to address. And I'm really excited because we're going to be talking to a number of mental health professionals that cover a range of different topics and sort of building a toolkit for people to use. And of course, our conversations are not meant to be an end-all, be-all. They are not a substitute for treatment. But we do hope these will be a jumping off point. So what are you hoping people will get out of this?

Deed: I'm excited. Just kind of looking at some of the topics, I think that they're going to be able to help a lot of people in really being able to talk to it from not only a lived experience perspective like myself, but also having clinicians and holistic practitioners. It's a collaborative effort. We cannot put all of the effort focused on therapists. We don't have enough therapists. You know, we need people like news anchors and news publications also to get in on this, because this is a serious problem that's affecting all of us.

Alston: So, Nieisha, one thing that we're going to do with each of our guests is ask them to give us an affirmation. So I'm putting you on the spot a little bit here, but I'm going to ask you first to share one.

Deed: Oh, man, I love – first of all, I love affirmations. I guess my affirmation is to trust myself. I think oftentimes people see me as being very confident, and that's because I trust myself. And trusting myself has allowed me to do the work that I do.

Alston: Well, that is Nieisha Deed, who is the founder of PureSpark. Nieisha, thank you so very much. I'm very excited to embark on this journey with you.

Deed: Same. Thank you so much for having me.

Alston: And for our first installment, we are going to be talking about the ups and downs of dating and relationships. And if you would like to chime in on that topic, you can text us at 617-300-2008 or email TheWakeUp@GBHnews.org. And if you or someone you know is in crisis, you can call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. You're listening to GBH's Morning Edition.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

We hear it all the time: We are experiencing a mental health crisis.

In recent years, the use of mental health services jumped by nearly 40% among millions of commercially insured and American adults, according to a recent JAMA Health Forum. Those patients are seeking help for everything from anxiety and depression to substance use disorder and relationship struggles.

With that, there's been more of a push to talk about our mental health, and this year, we are joining that conversation with a new series called Wake Up Well. Once a month, we'll discuss a timely topic and how it affects our mental health and our community.

These conversations are not meant to be an end-all, be-all, nor are they are a substitute for professional treatment. But we do hope they can be a jumping off point.

Nieisha Deed, founder of the wellness platform PureSpark, said talking about mental health is vital — and that starting those conversations is something many people can do.

“Just kind of looking at some of the topics, I think that they're going to be able to help a lot of people in really being able to talk to it from not only a lived experience perspective like myself, but also having clinicians and holistic practitioners,” she said. “It's a collaborative effort. We cannot put all of the effort focused on therapists. We don't have enough therapists. We need people like news anchors and news publications also to get in on this, because this is a serious problem that's affecting all of us.”

Her organization, PureSpark, hosts a wellness directory that helps people find providers, with a focus on Black communities. It also hosts wellness events.

“PureSpark is really an organization that's focused on mental health equity,” Deed said. “We hear about health equity. But this is really focusing on the Black population in Boston and helping them along their wellness journey.”

It’s a mission that comes from Deed’s personal experience with her mental wellness.

“I'm a person that was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2007. And 10 years later, in 2017, I had my own crisis where I just didn't want to be here anymore,” she said. “And beyond that, I have four family members that passed away to suicide. And I just got angry and frustrated. If you look at the statistics, just for Black Americans, Black people living in the U.S., it's stark.”

“I think we have to get more specific because we need the care to kind of look like the people that they're serving,” she said.

To kick off the Wake Up Well series, she shared an affirmation: “I trust myself.”

“I think oftentimes people see me as being very confident, and that's because I trust myself. And trusting myself has allowed me to do the work that I do.”