Jennifer Thomas examines the hidden mental health cost of always having to appear strong. For many Black women, chronic racial stress, vigilance, perfectionistic coping, anxiety, depression, grief, and substance use can remain invisible behind high achievement. Good therapy begins by naming the context, not pathologizing survival.

Jillian Eidem introduces Vital Voyage's Teen Suicide Prevention Series with an urgent look at teen mental health, suicide risk, social media pressure, academic stress, substance use, warning signs, and the small acts of connection that can keep young people from feeling alone.

Damon R. Postle, Ph.D., writes with brutal honesty about surviving the suicide death of his brother Matt, the last words between them, missed goodbyes, hospitalization, stroke, and the unbearable silence left when a musician is gone. A raw grief essay about guilt, trauma, love, and staying alive.