Content Warning
This episode deals with discussions of Domestic Violence, PTSD, Depression, Schizophrenia & Suicide Ideation.
If you or someone you know is struggling:
- From mental health issues, you can find help at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
- With suicidal thoughts, you can contact the National Suicide Hotline at 988
- With homelessness, you can contact the National Alliance to End Homelessness or Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority for LA residents
- In an abusive relationship, call The National Domestic Violence Hotline, or for Los Angeles Resources
On this special Mental Health Awareness episode of Inspired Belonging on Writing Remix, Daniel & Stephanie Renee Payne talk to the LA-based poet, essayist, visual artist, and documentarian Angela Franklin. Their open and honest conversation leaves Dan and Stephanie nearly speechless. Angela shares her experiences with her late brother who suffered from schizophrenia and homelessness, the challenges of finding help and care in a society that is looking to erase and ignore people with mental health issues, the intersectional complexity that race, gender, and class has on sufferers of mental health problems, as well as the families of these individuals, and what the role of creativity and poetry are in times of grief, pain, and rebuilding.
Angela Franklin shares to poems, the upcoming anthology that her work is part of, 88 Unashamed Black Mental Health Stories, and so much more. This is one of those episodes that stays with you after you listen. Share this with as many people as you can, because we’re all thinking we’re alone on these human journeys when there’s an infinitely deep and beautiful community out there waiting to embrace us all. Embrace each other.
Approximate Rundown
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
01:17 Angela’s Themes and Loss
02:40 Mental Illness and Stigma
04:25 Medication and Street Survival
09:03 Grief Group and Memory
13:22 Defining Belonging
18:26 Rest and Creative Practice
19:20 Stories That Spark Poems
26:27 Unashamed Mental Health
29:38 Homelessness Then and Now
33:26 Trauma and Telling Truth
36:14 Writing as Spiritual Calling
36:59 Writing for Impact
37:46 Why Stories Matter
38:18 Inside the New Book
42:03 Breaking Silence and Shame
44:58 Bravery and Universality
46:00 Poem Smoke Detector Blues
49:15 Poem Schizophrenia on Meth
51:47 Remembering Mark
54:56 Where to Find Angela
59:16 Workshop and Final Thanks
Angela M. Franklin is an author, poet, essayist, documentarian, and visual artist from Los Angeles, California. She holds an MFA from Antioch University. Social justice issues and helping others find their voice are among her passions. Her work has appeared in a variety of anthologies, and she is currently working on a memoir about growing up in Los Angeles, and a book of poetry about her brother’s struggle with mental illness and eventual death because of it.
Preorder: 88 Unashamed Black Mental Health Stories
Explore ’88 Unashamed Black Mental Health Stories,’ a compelling collection of personal narratives highlighting emotional resilience and mental health journeys within the Black community. This book offers powerful insights and inspiring experiences, fostering understanding and awareness. A valuable resource for anyone seeking to learn more about mental health through authentic and impactful stories.
Preorder: 88 Unashamed Black Mental Health Stories
People, Texts & Podcasts Mentioned in the Episode
- Mental Health Awareness Month
- Our House: Grief Support Center
- Amadou Diallo
- 88 Unashamed Black Menal Health Stories
- Skid Row, Los Angeles
- Ralph Elison
- NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
- Border Line Personality Disorder (BPD)
- Inspired Belonging
- Inspired Belonging Poetry Workshop May 30th: Claim Your Story
- Romaine Washington
“What we as writers do, we’re committing spiritual acts, ’cause writing is spiritual. It’s coming out of the subconscious.”
-Angela Franklin
“I’ve learned to start laser-focusing on things that really are compelling and that I’m […] obsess about, that really just dig into me […] and most of those things tend to impact me personally […] [M]y writing encompasses a number of things that bother me […] my poems and essays explore race, mental illness, death, domestic violence, and social justice.”
-Angela Franklin
“A person is not their disease.”
-Angela Franklin
“You know how when you take a, a towel and you wring it, you wring it and twist it to get all the liquid out, right? I think that’s where I am now […] I’m twisting myself, in my soul or in my memories to wring out everything that I want to say about my brother’s passing and how he passed.”
-Angela Franklin
“I think that is what’s getting lost in society today, is people don’t even wanna take the time to understand each other.” -Angela Franklin
“We all should humanize the experiences of all of us so we can see each other, and we don’t have to hide, and it doesn’t have to be remarkable to state that we do have something that we’re contending with in the mental illness space.”
-Angela Franklin
“If I can’t make you feel, I’ve failed as a writer because we need to feel.”
-Angela Franklin
“When we look at the intimacies of who we are, the intimate becomes a universal. We speak to everybody.”
-Stephanie Renée Payne
Episode Reflection Questions:
- Write in order to was all of the shame inside of your mind, body, and spirit away. Take your time because you might need several entries for this job. Be gentle with yourself. Be detailed. Be intentional.
- Write a list of all the things you love about yourself. Don’t stop when you think you’re done. Challenge yourself to keep going. Be specific to you and your being. Be loving. There is no wrong answer.
- Gather with your people, your community, the people that love you and support you the way you’ve always needed, and write small thank you notes to each other. These can be poems, small letters, drawing, stories, whatever you all need them to be. Make it an event.
125. Inspired Belonging: Being Unashamed During Mental Health Awareness Month w/ Angela Franklin
(Transcript)
Join Us
Inspired Belonging Poetry Workshop: Claim Your Story
Come on a poetic journey with Inspired Belonging to reconnect with your authentic self & the stories you’ve always wanted to tell.
The Inspired Belonging approach to writing and workshops is to center care as a way of listening deeply to oneself to articulate experiences with honesty, clarity, and compassion and the strength to write the stories that they know need telling.
Signup & Write With Us: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/inspired-belonging-poetry-workshop-claim-your-story-tickets-1987644646644
This contemplative & generative writing workshop includes:
- A series of original guided writing prompts
- Breathing & Somatic practices
- Grounding exercises
- Experiential sharing of your writing
The goal is to courageously explore where your stories live and hide to name truths that may have felt difficult to hold or express.
Inspired Belonging is Daniel Dissinger & Stephanie Renée Payne, writing instructors at USC and published poets & writers who have facilitated their workshops at national conferences, universities, and corporations. Listen to their Inspired Belonging episodes on Dan’s Writing Remix podcast. Register now to participate in their first Inspired Belonging virtual writing workshop, Claim Your Story.
The theme song is “4 am” by Makaih Beats. You can follow the podcast & all social media: Linktree, join the newsletter/Follow Dan’s Medium & Follow the Substack to watch the full episode videos
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