This podcast discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also 911 or 999 or 112 or text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

The recent passing of iconic musician Sinead O'Connor has reignited an important conversation about mental health and the need for compassion, support, and proper care. Throughout her accomplished career, O'Connor was remarkably open about her own struggles with conditions like bipolar disorder and complex PTSD. Her candidness helped break down stigma, but also revealed just how broken our mental healthcare systems remain.

You can read the full article here: ⁠https://markspencer1.substack.com/p/how-sinead-oconnor-showed-us-that⁠

In 2017, O'Connor gave a painful interview about the isolation she felt as someone struggling with her mental health:

“Why are we alone?” she said. “People who suffer from mental illness are the most vulnerable people on Earth. You’ve got to take care of us. We’re not like everybody.”

She also encouraged people to be there for anyone dealing with these issues:

"If you have a family member that suffers from mental illness, care for them, tenderness, love, care for them. Visit them in the hospital, don’t dump them in the hospital and bugger off," she said.

Her words ring true for so many who feel abandoned when they need help the most.

In this extended podcast, I speak frankly about my own struggles and challenges and my mission to take this on the road globally. I explain how I hope to raise awareness and to also provide a space for all of us battling mental health challenges, or even physical health challenges or prejudice of whatever shape or form they take, to support each other as we push to increase the awareness and the support for people struggling.

I also speak about the situation Sinead faced, Her memoir, Rememberings. and what it tells us about the failings in the mental health services. Additionally, I elaborate on how music can be used creatively and cathartically to help us heal, or at least to support and ground ourselves in the absence of any other support services available. Finally, I show you exactly what can be achieved with very little technology to create your own tracks and share a snippet of my latest track, which is called Lost, and is an expression of my emotion after loss and grief. You can purchase the full track here: https://markspencer1.gumroad.com/l/lost?layout=profile

If we honor Sinead properly, we will learn from her openness and her struggles. We will have those difficult conversations about abuse and trauma. We will stop tolerating inadequate mental healthcare. And we will build a society focused on healing, not stigma - one where people's lights are not extinguished too soon. O'Connor deserves that lasting impact. May she rest in the peace she could not find in life.

If you would like to help me take this message on the road and speak worldwide, then please consider buying my original tracks / album https://markspencer1.gumroad.com and join me on https://markspencer1.substack.com/

Follow me at: https://www.youtube.com/@markspencersstars And please share my work widely on your social media networks to help me.

Your support helps fund my global tours to promote mental health, trauma and abuse awareness, and establishing the Spencer’s Stars Foundation (in memory of his Stillborn Son) to aid those with mental health battles, and Street Children in the Philippines and Worldwide to receive the education they miss out on. Thank You.

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