203 items under this folder.
David Idemudia addresses the audience between acts, revealing a newly proposed co-pay fund initiative discussed with Tyler Calabrese aimed at making mental health services more accessible and affordable. He encourages donations toward the cause and briefly navigates a live-stream technical hiccup before introducing the next performer, Dr. Ashley Elliott.
Dr. Ashley Elliott (Dr. Vivid) introduces and performs a creative movement piece set to the song 'Something Has to Break,' using expressive dance as a therapeutic coping tool. She candidly shares her own 'jambalaya of symptoms'—anxiety, major depressive disorder, insomnia, PTSD, and ADHD—before embodying the song's themes of breaking free from the internal voice of anxiety rooted in a difficult parental relationship.
Mert Wolf, a Turkish-American immigrant comedian, delivers a stand-up set weaving together self-deprecating humor about the financial and personal costs of a comedy career, immigrant identity and deportation anxieties, cross-cultural family dynamics, and the chaotic experience of new fatherhood. He closes with a brief, candid acknowledgment that everyone carries inner demons before returning to lighter material.
Felicia Reed takes the stage at SYT Annapolis 2025 to perform her spoken word piece titled 'What If,' introduced by the MC following a comedic interlude. The transcript captures the brief on-stage banter and introduction leading into her performance, though the audio of the poem itself was not captured in the transcript.
Malcolm McFadden briefly takes the mic after an extended spoken-word piece by a textile artist, applauding her performance and reflecting on the 'What If' poem's sweeping vision of societal healing. His short transition comment underscores the communal spirit of the event before moving to the next segment.
Steve Smith, a Tai Chi and Qi Gong instructor, retired combat medic, and retired counselor from Crofton Yoga Wellness, leads the audience through a brief Qi Gong breathing and movement demonstration. He explains the physiological and emotional benefits of the practice — including nervous system regulation, fight-or-flight response management, and the connection between physical relaxation and mental well-being — closing with an encouraging message about self-compassion and the value of lifelong learning.
David Idemudia hosts a brief MC break segment, spotlighting Rizzi, a mushroom-based wellness elixir provided by Yana Wellness, before announcing a short intermission break and introducing the next performer, Lyrical Kingfish.
Lyrical Kingfish (performing under the alias 'Just Ice' / 'Fish') delivers a high-energy spoken word and hip-hop performance of 'Can You Hear Me Out There,' a piece exploring themes of substance use as a coping mechanism and the desperate need to be heard and understood. The segment closes with post-performance crowd interaction, host commentary, and an intermission announcement.
An intermission segment featuring a live musical performance of a love song by an unidentified artist, followed by MC banter, microphone troubleshooting, and a crowd warm-up to welcome the audience back for the second half of the show.
LM Designs 8, a self-described 'healing multi-dimensional artist,' performs two original spoken-word pieces at SYT Annapolis 2025. 'Beam Bright Butterfly' delivers an affirming message of visibility, self-worth, and cosmic empowerment, while 'Pride' celebrates resilience, inner light, and collective elevation over envy and self-doubt.
Raza (performing under the project name Solamente) and Kevin deliver a live acoustic performance of 'In Denial,' an original song exploring the denial stage of grief. Raza briefly introduces the piece by contextualizing it within the five stages of grief framework before performing the emotionally resonant track.
Brown Paper Doll, a member of the 'Rap is Poetry' collective, delivers a raw and layered spoken word piece exploring her lifelong experience with neurodivergence, childhood trauma, rejection, and the intergenerational cycle of emotional harm. She weaves personal narrative and poetry together, ultimately arriving at a message of self-worth and liberation directed at her daughters and herself.
Spoken word artist Artie Fox (Arthur) opens with an impromptu reflection on mental illness and the X-Men as a metaphor for shared human difference, then performs his piece 'This Is Not'—a raw, layered poem navigating suicidal ideation, anxiety, grief, and a hard-won acceptance that 'it's okay not to be okay.'
Zach Sandler, a Broadway musical theater actor and composer known for playing piano in Wicked, delivers a deeply personal spoken-word narrative chronicling three psychiatric hospitalizations related to his bipolar disorder diagnosis, spanning from a manic episode at Yale in 2006 through a third severe episode in DC in 2019, and culminating in the triumphant 2025 premiere of his autobiographical musical 'Inside My Head' at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
MC Malcolm McFadden delivers closing remarks for the 9th annual Speak Your Truth event in Annapolis, expressing gratitude to performers, attendees, organizers Tyler Calabrese and David Idemudia, and vendors, before conducting a multi-item raffle drawing and announcing upcoming SYT events including a Pittsburgh show and an October fashion show in Bethesda.
Spencer White of International Adult Conspiracy opens with an original song titled 'Funeral for an Uncle,' the first of a two-song suite about the loss of family members. The song portrays a funeral gathering with vivid imagery of grief, family reunion, and communal mourning — touching on themes of loss, celebration of life, and the rituals communities use to process death.
Between songs, Spencer White briefly addresses the audience to introduce his second song, 'I Hate Iced Tea.' He explains that the two songs form a suite about two brothers who passed away close together in time, framing the music as a personal narrative of sequential grief and loss.
Spencer White performs 'I Hate Iced Tea,' the second movement of his grief suite about two brothers lost in close succession. The song uses quiet, intimate imagery — iced tea, cologne, giving away possessions — to evoke anticipatory grief, prolonged loss, and the tender, mundane memories that survive death. The performance ends with a heartfelt thank-you to the audience.
David Idemudia and Malcolm McFadden (Justice the Genius Child) co-host the opening welcome for the 8th Annual Speak Your Truth event in Annapolis, introducing themselves to the audience, hyping up the crowd, and orienting attendees to the venue's food and raffle offerings.
Kelsey Lawson takes the stage to represent the Gia Fund (Giovanni Innovation and Arts Fund), a scholarship legacy project honoring her close friend and dance artist Giovanni Malia Powell, who passed away in December 2021. Kelsey shares the fund's mission of supporting young artists through scholarships and innovative project grants, highlighting $10,000 distributed to three students in 2023 and announcing ongoing fundraising efforts.
Janice Lynch Schuster, a poet and mother who has experienced grief, depression, and hospitalization, performs four original poems at SYT Annapolis 2024. Her readings weave together loss, embodiment, love, and the act of writing itself as a means of processing what cannot be left behind.
LM Designs performs an original spoken-word piece titled 'Ancestors Walking, a poem about breaking generational chains, reclaiming personal identity, and drawing strength from ancestral heritage. The segment opens with an MC transition that reminds attendees they are not alone and encourages them to seek support from on-site therapists if needed.
Dana Denise, an Annapolis-based singer-songwriter and co-organizer of the Annapolis Songbird Festival, introduces her work providing storytelling platforms for survivors of abuse before performing her original song 'The Last Thing I'll Think Of.' The song navigates the psychological aftermath of abuse — including hypervigilance, intimacy struggles, and the yearning for inner freedom — drawing directly from her personal experience as a survivor.
An artist performing under the name 'Brown Paper Dog' delivers a raw spoken-word piece for Women's History Month, weaving personal experiences of late-diagnosed ADHD, lifelong identity masking, childhood trauma, and the journey toward self-worth. Her performance blends candid autobiographical context with poetic verse addressing neurodivergence, rejection, and the message of self-liberation passed on to her daughters.
David Idemudia serves as MC between performances, offering warm appreciation for the previous performer's emotional delivery and transitioning the audience to the next act with an impromptu slow-clap moment and playful crowd engagement.
Anna Sharpina, a Ukrainian-born military veteran and mental health specialist, delivers a raw and powerful personal narrative spanning immigration, combat deployment, the loss of her fiancé, a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, and a suicide attempt on December 12, 2022. She chronicles her path from her lowest point to recovery — including therapy, a return to purpose helping veterans, and hiking to Everest Base Camp — closing with a meditation on grief, love, and resilience.
David Idemudia delivers brief MC commentary following a moving spoken-word performance, affirming that therapists and mental health workers have often faced personal struggles themselves before entering the field. He leads the audience in a round of applause for mental health professionals and military personnel, and briefly spotlights Tyler Calabrese before introducing the next performer.
Master Sergeant Spencer Tau delivers a raw, personal account of his post-military crisis, describing the overwhelming rage, suicidal ideation, institutional abandonment, and over-medication he experienced after nearly 20 years of service — including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He closes with a meditation on grief, lost peers to suicide, and the painful but necessary transition away from a combat identity toward healing.
David Idemudia, serving as MC, offers a brief reflective interlude between performances, affirming that every person's struggle is unique but that no one is alone. He provides the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline as a crisis resource, then leads the audience through a short guided breathing exercise before introducing the next performer, Dr. Elliott.
Dr. Ashley Elliott delivers a creative movement performance set to Yebba's 'October Sky,' dedicating the piece to her recently deceased aunt. She briefly explains how creative movement — the authentic expression of lived experience through the body and mind — informs her clinical therapy practice before performing.
David Idemudia serves as MC, reflecting warmly on Dr. Ashley Elliott's longtime dedication to Speak Your Truth — including her legendary appearance shortly after giving birth at the first event — and transitions into an uplifting message about the many ways art, music, dance, and movement offer pathways to coping with anxiety, depression, and stress.
Laura Brino performs her original song 'Cactus Moon,' a deeply personal live musical piece about breaking cycles of generational trauma, dedicated to healing her mother, her daughters, and the women in her lineage. In her spoken introduction, she shares her identity as a birth trauma survivor and co-founder of the Songbird Festival, framing the song as an act of intergenerational healing.
Malcolm McFadden shares a heartfelt moment of gratitude with the SYT audience and organizers, revealing that a friend's suicide is among his personal motivations for MCing the event each year. The segment captures a mutual exchange of appreciation between Malcolm and the event founders before transitioning into housekeeping announcements.
Spoken word artist Artie Fox delivers a heartfelt tribute to his recently deceased grandmother, prefacing the poem 'I'm Going Home' with a vulnerable personal account of nearly not attending the event due to grief, and of stepping up to speak at her funeral when no one else could find the strength. The performance weaves together themes of grief, the redemptive power of poetry, and a spiritual journey toward healing and self-acceptance.
David Idemudia hosts a brief intermission, encouraging the audience to take a 15-minute break to grab food, purchase raffle tickets, and visit vendors — including a mention of Joe Gagliardi's glow-in-the-dark painting available for raffle. The remainder of the segment is ambient audio during the break itself.
An unidentified artist performs a live musical intermission set during SYT Annapolis 2024, blending an upbeat, R&B-influenced original song with recurring phrases of 'God bless you' that bookend the performance and create a communal, uplifting atmosphere for the audience.
David Idemudia welcomes the audience back for the second half of Speak Your Truth 2024, engaging in a lighthearted comedic exchange with an offstage voice acting as his 'conscience' before rallying the crowd with announcements about refreshments, raffles, and the upcoming performers.
Daniela Nye, performing under the name Tiger Lily, introduces and performs her original song 'Before You Came Along,' a live acoustic guitar performance written for her children. In her spoken introduction, she shares her experience of childhood abuse in Brazil, lifelong depression, and finding music at age 43 as a coping mechanism and a path toward becoming a better mother.
David Idemudia serves as MC, wrapping up applause for the previous performer and building anticipation for the next act — a theater storyteller — by teasing the theatrical, immersive nature of the second half of the show.
Shannon Garrett performs a chilling dramatic theater monologue titled 'Introduction to the Enemy,' delivered from the first-person perspective of addiction itself — personifying the disease as a controlling, predatory force that isolates, manipulates, and ultimately destroys its victims. The piece culminates in the revelation 'I am addiction, and I command it,' creating a visceral, unflinching portrait of the grip of substance use disorder.
David Idemudia reflects on the emotional weight of the preceding addiction monologue, offering an impromptu group breathing exercise to ground the audience. He articulates how addiction and mental illness disrupt lives and expresses gratitude for the shared humanity present in the room.
Lauren Jewell delivers an unscripted personal narrative about overcoming 12 years of opiate addiction and five years of alcohol dependency, culminating in a sobriety date of August 2019. She shares how post-sobriety anxiety and depression led her to explore mind-body healing — including subconscious reprogramming, movement, and emotional embodiment — as alternatives to pharmaceutical management.
David Idemudia delivers a brief between-acts MC announcement reminding attendees to purchase raffle tickets, noting that proceeds support future Speak Your Truth events, and directing the audience to complete a short feedback survey via QR code for a chance to win a Chick-fil-A gift card before introducing the next performer, Sister Fran.
An unknown speaker identifying herself as 'Sister Fran' performs two original spoken-word poems at SYT Annapolis 2024. The first, 'Battlefield on the Brain,' recounts her 2018 psychiatric hospitalization for OCD and PTSD, drawing on Oprah and Dr. Bruce Perry's trauma-informed framework; the second, 'Onward and Upward,' traces childhood trauma rooted in abuse and charts a healing journey through therapy and spiritual faith.
David Idemudia serves as MC, transitioning between performers after Sister Fran's segment by calling the next name from the lineup. He navigates a lighthearted moment when performer Yelena is not present, joking with the crowd before introducing the next act, Eager Carter Flay.
Carter Flay delivers a candid personal speech about navigating spiritual exploration during the onset of mental illness, describing how impulsive religious behavior intertwined with depression and mood episodes before therapy helped him find stability. He closes with a message encouraging listeners to prioritize grounding and reason, and to recognize how religious language can be misinterpreted by those experiencing mental health crises.
David Idemudia, serving as MC, offers a brief reflective interlude between performers, affirming that it takes courage to speak one's truth and that sharing—whether through song, word, or story—is an act of liberation and connection. He transitions the audience with light crowd engagement before introducing the next segment.
Carly Winter, a high school junior performing at SYT for the second year, performs her original song 'Necessary Evil' — an autobiographical piece about emotional growth, learning not to feel everything so intensely, and embracing change as a path to inner peace. She briefly shares how her memories of seventh through ninth grade felt gray and painful before introducing the song as a reflection on her journey toward a more peaceful state of mind.
David Idemudia energizes the crowd as MC, rallying audience energy and announcing that three more performers remain. He collaborates with a co-host to call the next artist, 'Sensei Steve,' to the stage.
Sensei Steve, a spoken word artist connected to the ''Millennials vs. The World'' podcast, performs two original pieces: ''Humanity,'' a reflection on the loss of basic human kindness and the karmic nature of energy we put into the world, and ''Vices,'' an introspective poem about the seductive pull of unhealthy habits and the personal agency required to overcome them.'
David Idemudia serves as MC between segments, reminding the audience to fill out the event feedback survey via QR code for a chance to win a Chick-fil-A gift card, and announcing that raffle tickets will be distributed to survey completers before introducing the next performer, Eileen Gaffney.
Eileen Gaffney delivers her first-ever public poetry reading, performing 'Cloaks, Coats & Christianity,' a raw and unflinching spoken-word piece confronting childhood sexual abuse by trusted community and religious figures in the 1960s. She prefaces her performance with personal context — her age, her cancer survivorship, and her vulnerability as a first-time public reader — before delivering vivid, visceral imagery of violation, cover-up, and lasting trauma.
David Idemudia serves as MC between segments, offering a brief moment of grounding by leading the audience through a breathing exercise called the 'ocean breath' (also referred to as the Darth Vader breath), while affirming that every person's story matters and that no one is alone.
Atlas of the World, an Annapolis-based hip-hop artist, meditation coach, and life coach, performs two original songs — 'Foundation' and 'Deception' — weaving personal narratives about anxiety, fear, racial identity, childhood instability, and self-worth into conscious rap. Between tracks he offers brief spoken word-style reflections on wordplay, fear as 'false evidence appearing real,' and the cultural roots of mental health in Black communities.
An unknown speaker delivers a comedic stand-up set recounting her experience in a psychiatric hold as a 17-year-old — including saving two lives on the unit and being released the day before Thanksgiving with only half her hair corn-rowed by the friends she made inside.
An unknown speaker delivers a candid spoken-word piece about managing multiple psychiatric medications, sobriety, suicidal ideation, and recovering from an eating disorder. He shares how fitness and yoga became tools of self-directed healing, ultimately driving him to become a fitness professional and motivating his recovery by the desire to be a present and healthy father.
An unknown comedian delivers a stand-up set at SYT Pittsburgh, sharing a candid and darkly humorous account of living with bipolar disorder, intrusive thoughts (unwanted thought syndrome), binge eating, and substance use as coping mechanisms. The set moves from self-deprecating jokes about therapy stigma and family dynamics to earnest reflections on hitting rock bottom before finding stability through a new relationship, proper diagnosis, and ongoing mental health treatment.
An unknown speaker (referred to in the transcript as ''Zach'') delivers a darkly comedic stand-up set weaving together deeply personal mental health disclosures: childhood depression, the later revelation that his father''s death was a suicide, his own Ambien overdose in college, a history of talking friends down from suicide, and a strong advocacy for therapy. The set balances raw vulnerability with humor to normalize help-seeking behavior.'
Ben Roy delivers a stand-up comedy set weaving his turbulent upbringing in rural inland Maine — marked by opioid culture, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation — into a pivotal story about a deli worker's parable of 'letting go,' culminating in a reflection on mirror neurons and the biological basis of human empathy and connection.
Felicia, the curator of the 'Serenity' gallery exhibit, opens the My Fit Speaks fashion show by describing how she chose to transform a solo exhibit into a 29-artist collaborative around the theme of serenity, connecting it to the founding mission of Speak Your Truth and NAMI. She closes with a personal reflection on how fashion and self-expression are tied to mental health, identity, and surviving cultural trauma.
The Ethnicity Brand opens the My Fit Speaks runway with a high-fashion walk set to an original hip-hop/jazz fusion vocal performance, celebrating Black feminine power, resilience, and artistic identity under the theme 'Speak Your Truth.'
Mark of the Cheech, a DMV-based streetwear and high-fashion artist affiliated with Sacred Circle Art Studios, presents his original artistic designs on the runway during SYT's inaugural 'My Fit Speaks' fashion show. The segment features an MC introduction, audience energy, and a musical backdrop with themes of legacy, resilience, and carrying on after loss.
Shana Slay Boutique presents a handcrafted fashion runway segment at the 'My Fit Speaks' show, showcasing original painting-inspired garment designs to enthusiastic audience response. The segment features models walking the runway to crowd chants and cheers, highlighting the boutique's signature hand-painted aesthetic.
LM Designs 8 closes out their runway segment with a collection of expressive fashion pieces, including kimonos and vacation-ready boots, accompanied by an acrostic poem titled 'My Ancestors Walking' and original music composed in BandLab. The designer speaks to the multi-sensory, augmented-reality experience layered into the show, framing their work as a holistic expression of identity and energy.
BTF Clothiers sponsors a live music and runway showcase segment during the 'My Fit Speaks' fashion event at Gallery B in Bethesda. An unidentified artist performs original rap/hip-hop over a beat while models walk the runway, blending DC-rooted fashion identity with themes of purpose, hustle, and generational wealth.
An unidentified drummer and performer closes out the segment with reflective remarks on the power of drumming, art, and community, drawing on their personal journey from street performing in DC to appearing on America's Got Talent. They emphasize the importance of mutual support and self-governance within community as a counterweight to systemic neglect of the arts.
The MC delivers a high-energy closing segment, calling for applause to congratulate the cast, supermodels, and designers — particularly BTF Clothiers — before giving a special acknowledgment to Felicia Reed, the gallerist and curator who made the evening possible.
Pre-show holding segment consisting primarily of venue ambience, background music, and filler audio before the main event begins. The transcript captures repeated audience applause cues, a brief musical interlude with lyrical fragments, and extended 'We'll be right back' placeholder loops indicating the stream was live but the event had not yet started.
Dr. Tyler Calabrese opens the 7th annual Speak Your Truth! event by welcoming returning and first-time attendees, acknowledging NAMI as the evening's beneficiary, and sharing a deeply personal story about his brother Tim's battle with a serious mental health struggle — including his own failures as a supportive family member and his journey toward hope through therapy and the SYT community.
Malcolm McFadden (aka Justice the Genius Child) and David Idemudia open the 7th annual Speak Your Truth! event as co-emcees, welcoming the audience to a safe and supportive space for people facing mental health challenges, introducing themselves, and laying out ground rules including a five-minute speaker limit, food and vendor logistics, and a note that authentic self-expression — including strong language — is welcome.
A comedian named Sarom delivers a stand-up comedy set about his experience being diagnosed with Bipolar Type II at age 26, using humor to address stigma around mental illness in the Black community, the trial-and-error nature of psychiatric medication, and the value of therapy.
Victor, a visual artist and graphic designer, shares a vulnerable and candid account of being roughly four months into recovery from addiction and depression, describing how art serves as his primary mode of emotional communication. He reflects on the isolating nature of his mental health struggles and expresses genuine gratitude for the communal atmosphere of the SYT event, noting that being surrounded by people feels like family to him.
Nevin Scully performs a brief original music piece and then speaks candidly about the painful experience of being young, medicated without consent, and not being heard when asking for help. Despite visible nerves and anxiety about performing, Scully shares a vulnerable personal story about feeling unheard and credits a supportive community (Glass House) for giving them the courage to appear.
Carl McRoy Roberts performs an original reggae song titled 'Now Go to Jail,' accompanied by collaborator Gray Smith, addressing crime, violence, systemic injustice, and the importance of steering youth away from destructive paths. The performance draws on Rastafarian and spiritual themes to advocate for peace and personal sovereignty.
Joe Scorzi performs his original live song 'Above the Clouds,' an introspective piece exploring dissociation, helplessness, and the search for escape, delivered with acoustic instrumentation at the SYT Annapolis 2023 event. He briefly addresses the audience before and after the performance, encouraging listeners to find his music on Spotify.
An unidentified clinical psychologist and long-time SYT participant delivers a brief personal introduction — openly disclosing her own anxiety, PTSD, and major depressive disorder — before performing an expressive dance piece to the song 'Breaking Point,' framing creative movement as both a personal and therapeutic tool. The host notes she has attended since the event's first year and once performed days after giving birth, underscoring her deep commitment to the SYT community.
Steve Hall, performing under the artist name Gray Smith, delivers a raw and visceral spoken-word piece drawn from his lived experience of addiction, incarceration, bipolar disorder, and long-term recovery. As CEO of Glass House—a recovery treatment center for artists in Ellicott City—he frames his performance with personal context before diving into a lyrical narrative spanning juvenile detention, IV drug use, suicidal ideation, grief, and eventual resolve.
Patrick Finn delivers a deeply personal spoken-word testimony at SYT 2023, sharing his journey through bipolar disorder with psychotic features, PTSD, an eating disorder, self-harm, gender identity exploration, and multiple suicide attempts, ultimately arriving at a faith-centered understanding of identity and purpose. His narrative threads together loss, spiritual crisis, transgender identity, and Christian faith as interlocking forces that shaped his recovery and self-conception.
David Idemudia offers a brief reflective MC moment encouraging the audience to be open and welcoming, emphasizing that every person's story and path to healing is unique. The segment transitions into light, unscripted banter with Malcolm McFadden about the seven-year tradition of improvised hosting at SYT events.
Tancredi Calabrese, brother of SYT founder Tyler Calabrese, delivers a candid personal narrative about years of high-functioning addiction as an attorney, a near-fatal overdose, felony indictment, and his path to recovery through therapy, NA meetings, family support, and sobriety. He closes with a direct call for audiences to destigmatize addiction and encourage loved ones to seek help.
Sarah Kitlowski shares her personal recovery story, describing how a stranger's 40-year-delayed letter of amends — discovered during her own early days of heroin addiction recovery — gave her the first glimmer of hope she needed. She connects her journey through addiction, mental health struggles, and art-making to her current work owning a mental health facility, framing public recovery as a gift of hope to others.
Hillary Thompson, a poet diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, delivers three original spoken-word pieces exploring childhood, maternal trauma, inner turmoil, and the daily re-discovery of a will to live. She shares candidly that she arrived unprepared to perform and reads from her phone, grounding the segment in raw, unfiltered vulnerability.
David Idemudia hosts the intermission break at SYT Annapolis 2023, directing attendees to purchase raffle tickets, visit vendors, grab food, and mingle, while also acknowledging virtual viewers. The segment is largely filled with ambient silence and repeated countdown announcements as the audience moves freely during the break.
Malcolm McFadden and David Idemudia return the audience from intermission, rallying attendees back to their seats and announcing raffle details — including a wellness basket, gift cards, and a donated artwork piece — before introducing the next performer, Cat Yoder.
Trevor, known as 'Juice Box,' delivers an impromptu spoken word piece on fear and recovery after being asked to fill in for another performer the day before. He reflects on how fear has governed his self-worth and behaviors, and celebrates 375 days of sobriety from drugs and alcohol as evidence that he is actively reclaiming power over his own narrative.
A spoken-word artist performing under the name 'Brown Paper Doll' shares two original poems exploring her late ADHD diagnosis at age 32, rejection sensitivity dysphoria, emotional dysregulation, masking, and the pressure of others' expectations. Between poems she speaks candidly about her journey toward self-understanding, people-pleasing, and learning to embrace her authentic self.
Ramona Monet performs an expressive burlesque dance routine to 'I'd Rather Go Blind,' introduced by the MC as storytelling through art. The performance is framed by the host as a form of healing and expressive artistry, with post-performance audience engagement underscoring dance as a vehicle for emotional release.
Carly Winter, a high-school freshman and songwriter, performs her original song 'Chemicals' — a raw, emotionally vulnerable piece about the lasting psychological impact of being bullied in middle school, disordered eating, and the difficulty of finding motivation to heal. She introduces the song with a spoken reflection on how music became the space where she felt heard and valued.
David Idemudia briefly transitions the audience from Carly's performance into the raffle segment, serving as MC to maintain event momentum with an energetic call to action.
David Idemudia hosts the SYT 2023 raffle drawing, calling winning ticket numbers and distributing prizes including gift cards, a wellness basket, and sponsored items from NAMI and Crofton Yoga. The segment is punctuated by a highlight moment in which vendor Joe Gagliardi (Ethereal Marine Art) presents a donated spray-paint artwork and shares how his work as a Marine veteran and full-time artist serves as a metaphor for moving through depression toward growth.
Spoken word artist Artie Fox performs an original piece titled 'Malabar, using the metaphor of a mental labyrinth to describe the disorienting experience of living inside an overactive, undiagnosed mind. He closes with a personal address to the audience encouraging self-acceptance and the active pursuit of individual happiness.
Aaron Yieldhall, known by the alias 'Scribe,' shares a candid personal story about using music and songwriting as a coping mechanism for severe social anxiety since adolescence, and reflects on a period of deep personal struggle during which an unexpected outpouring of community support revealed how many people cared for him. The segment closes with remarks from the host affirming the courage it takes to speak publicly about mental health.
Stan Kells performs his original rap piece 'War Cry,' an emotionally charged song challenging the stigma around men crying and emotional vulnerability, weaving together themes of unrequited love, grief, community violence, and the exhaustion of giving without receiving. He briefly addresses the audience before and after the performance, shouting out fellow performers and organizers.
Terry the T-Rex closes out the SYT 2023 evening as the final performer, delivering a live guitar performance of 'Emily' by From First to Last, dedicated to a friend he lost the previous year. The segment opens with MC hype remarks acknowledging Carly's earlier acoustic performance, and Terry offers a brief spoken reflection on the mind-heart-mouth connection before playing.
Tyler Calabrese, Malcolm McFadden, and David Idemudia deliver closing remarks for Speak Your Truth 2023, thanking vendors, performers, and the audience for their vulnerability and courage. Tyler expresses gratitude to Malcolm and David for their emcee work, and all three celebrate the collective effort that made the seventh annual event possible.
A brief post-show wind-down segment capturing informal backstage conversation among crew or performers as microphones are exchanged and the event wraps up, followed by several minutes of ambient audio with no structured content.
Pre-show ambient music plays as the audience gathers before the 6th Annual Speak Your Truth Open Mic begins. The transcript reflects automated caption artifacts ('God bless you.' repeated at regular intervals), indicating instrumental or low-vocal background music with no substantive spoken content.
An unidentified emcee delivers a brief pre-show housekeeping announcement to the assembled audience, directing attendees to visit vendors, grab food, and make donations to NAMI before the event begins. The bulk of the segment consists of silent pre-show wait time with auto-generated subtitle artifacts, as the show was delayed due to an outside storm.
David Idemudia serves as MC for the 6th Annual SYT event, welcoming the audience with high energy, recounting the origin story of SYT as a NAMI fundraiser that evolved from a proposed 5K walk into an open mic, and announcing the July 16, 2022 launch of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. He closes with housekeeping logistics and invites Christine from NAMI to the stage.
Christine Russell, representing NAMI Anne Arundel County, briefly addresses the audience to highlight free community mental health resources including the Family-to-Family class, Connection support groups, and spousal support programs, and encourages attendees to donate and get involved.
Filmmaker Brian Morrison presents his documentary 'Bastards Road,' sharing how he used his background in video production to document a Marine veteran's cross-country walk to reconnect with fellow servicemen and fallen comrades' families, exploring PTSD, grief, and the healing power of storytelling. Morrison reflects on his own ADHD diagnosis, his family's emotional silence, and how filmmaking became his primary vehicle for expressing feelings he struggled to articulate verbally.
Laura Pimpo delivers a spoken word piece on behalf of her friend Alyssa, an artist currently doing humanitarian work in Ukraine, connecting the mental health strains of war to broader themes of anxiety, depression, and stigma reduction. She shares a short original poem wrestling with despair and closes with an affirmation that hope can be self-created even in the darkest circumstances.
Carter Flay delivers an introspective spoken word piece in which he discloses his schizophrenia diagnosis and shares a series of wide-ranging personal beliefs — from spirituality and cosmology to social ideals — framing his divergent worldview as a source of identity and wonder rather than deficit. He acknowledges the need for ongoing self-monitoring and community check-ins while inviting the audience to engage with his journey on their own terms.
Gray Smith (Steve) delivers a raw rap performance touching on addiction, homelessness, grief, and recovery, then transitions into a spoken presentation alongside his partner Sarah introducing Glass House Recovery — a Maryland-licensed, Joint Commission-accredited treatment facility designed specifically for artists, musicians, and creatively-wired individuals navigating substance use disorder.
Sarah, co-founder of Glass House Recovery, introduces her treatment facility designed specifically for creative individuals navigating substance use disorder and addiction. She describes how Glass House meets artists 'in their native language' — whether color, music, or writing — drawing on her own personal recovery story where art was the one anchor that remained meaningful.
Patrick Finn, a NAMI Maryland facilitator and peer-to-peer counselor living with bipolar disorder (with psychotic features), PTSD, and a recovered eating disorder, delivers his spoken-word poem 'My Dark Parrot' — a visceral metaphor for intrusive trauma, suicidal ideation, and ultimately resilience — which he originally wrote during a PTSD attack.
Brown Paper Doll, a spoken word artist from Triangle, Virginia, delivers two original pieces exploring identity, emotional authenticity, sensory overload, ADHD, and the exhaustion of masking one's true self for social acceptance. Drawing on personal experiences with her son's sensory processing challenges and her own trauma, she weaves raw, journal-style poetry about loneliness, self-concealment, and the ongoing search for an unrestrained sense of self.
David Idemudia delivers a brief, lighthearted MC check-in between segments, gauging audience energy with a quick crowd question, cracking jokes about pouring water on sleepy attendees, and teasing the availability of coffee and Mr. Pibb at the back before transitioning into a comedy segment.
Joe Gagliardi, a US Marine veteran and stand-up comic, delivers a high-energy comedy set blending self-deprecating humor about his weight, aging, marriage, and post-military life with a brief closing disclosure about living with ADHD. The set serves as a lighthearted energy reset for the audience while weaving in personal identity as both a veteran and a neurodivergent individual.
Janice Hijerica performs three original spoken-word pieces exploring the journey through grief and loss, from the raw weight of pain woven into daily life, to finding small moments of joy that sustain survival, to a final piece titled 'Release' about relinquishing expectation and discovering unexpected hope. Her work traces a personal arc from being overwhelmed by grief to a place of earned acceptance and peace.
David Ross (also known as ''Native Son''), a spoken word artist and therapist, performs two pieces at the 2022 SYT event: the first meditates on legacy, mortality, and the lasting power of words, while the second is a heartfelt tribute to his mother and stepfather''s 20-year marriage, exploring enduring love, sacrifice, and resilience as a model for how to live and love well.'
Kim Kozak, a federal ADA consultant and disability advocate, delivers a brief educational talk on Disability Pride Month, the complexities of ADA accommodation disclosures in the workplace, and her personal journey through two sequential neurosurgeries. She also promotes a Metaverse open-mic platform as an emerging space for performance artists.
Malcolm McFadden leads a lighthearted MC interlude acknowledging the SYT event t-shirt design team—crediting Cassandra Lashway and Aislinn Tinker-Taylor—and attempts to present a shirt to a long-standing behind-the-scenes volunteer named Jasmine, who is momentarily absent from the room.
David Idemudia, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, performs two original spoken word poems at the 2022 SYT event. The first, 'Six Years in the Making,' uses sharp humor and vivid personal anecdotes to demystify ADHD, reframing the condition as a source of improvisational creativity rather than pure disorder. The second, 'Spoken Unheard Words,' shifts to a raw and serious tone, capturing the isolating silence and invisible suffering of mental illness and the stigma that muffles those who struggle.
A brief transitional moment in which a speaker named Heather is introduced and welcomed to the stage by the emcee and audience at the 2022 SYT event. The transcript captures only the crowd call and introduction, with no substantive personal narrative or educational content audible.
Heather, a seven-year NAMI Connection Recovery Support Group facilitator, shares her personal journey with bipolar disorder and anxiety, describing how attending her first NAMI meeting transformed her life and inspired her to give back by co-facilitating weekly peer support groups in Anne Arundel County alongside fellow facilitator Patrick.
Malcolm McFadden brings long-time volunteer Jasmine to the stage for a public recognition of her behind-the-scenes contributions to SYT events, then transitions into a brief MC announcement covering custom T-shirt orders and intermission food/cupcake pricing.
Two emerging artists, Alpha and Scotty A.P., take the stage for back-to-back live music performances at SYT 2022. Alpha performs 'Let It Go,' an original song tracing his mental health journey from losing his mother at 15 through 2020's racial violence, before Scotty A.P. follows with 'Grow,' a track grappling with self-belief, jealousy, and being doubted by others.
A performer named Damaya takes the stage and delivers two original songs dealing with depression, anxiety, and grief — including a raw admission that her grandfather had passed away the previous day. Her performance is emotionally candid, weaving lived mental health experience with impromptu humor and vulnerability, culminating in a second song written at 6am the same morning.
A brief transitional segment in which an emcee wraps up a preceding performance by Damaya and introduces the next performer, Beans Lee, to the stage. No musical content from Damaya is captured in this clip.
Damaya performs original live songs exploring personal experiences with depression and grief at the 6th Annual Speak Your Truth Open Mic in Annapolis. The segment features an unidentified musical artist delivering emotionally resonant original compositions on these themes.
A performer identified as Damaya (or Damar) takes the stage and opens up about living with depression, anxiety, and a manic episode triggered by her grandfather''s passing the day prior. She performs two original songs: one raw, already-written piece about the suffocating grip of depression and anxiety, and a second improvised song written at 6am about a painful relationship — both delivered with vulnerable humor and emotional immediacy.'
Beans Lee, a regular open-mic attendee living with manic depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, Lyme's disease, and chronic pain, delivers a deeply personal set of spoken-word pieces including a reading on the paradox of anxiety and depression, a poem about her 2020 voluntary psychiatric hospitalization ('Sitting'), and a poem about the invisible daily toll of chronic illness and mental health stigma ('Sidelines'). She closes with a candid personal reflection on losing multiple friends to suicide and her gratitude for still being alive.
Atlas of the World (Brian), a 24-year-old Annapolis-based hip-hop artist, performs two original songs — 'Endangered,' a personal narrative about leaving drug dealing behind to pursue music as an act of self-worth, and 'Stepped On,' a politically charged track about racial identity and perseverance. Between songs, he reflects openly on his OCD diagnosis, the challenge of discussing mental health as a young rapper, and his gratitude for a community that accepts his authentic voice.
Liza Roe, spoken word poet and self-identified recovered alcoholic, performs three poems from her catalog: ''Feel It All'' (forthcoming in ''The Egoic Poet''), ''My Demons,'' and ''High On Life'' (from her published collection ''The Sober Poet''). The poems explore emotional suppression, inner criticism, the rejection of comparative culture, and the transcendent joy of sobriety and self-reclamation.'
Nia, an unknown speaker, performs two original spoken-word poems exploring anxiety, self-doubt, and internal struggle, then spontaneously transitions into an impromptu vocal performance of an uplifting song about elevation, manifestation, and resilience — offering a hopeful counterpoint to the vulnerability of her poems.
A performer going by ''Innocence'' delivers a two-part set: first, a raw spoken-word poem depicting the desperate realities of poverty, addiction, and survival as a young mother; then a reading of her original children''s book ''A Case of the Zachleys,'' a story about self-acceptance and imperfection aimed at building self-esteem in young children. She also shares her personal history of childhood sexual trauma, family estrangement, and four years of sobriety from a dual diagnosis.'
Joy Sherelle Brown, the final speaker of the evening, shares her personal journey living with schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type) — from a first psychotic episode at 18 and two hospitalizations, to channeling her experiences into filmmaking, culminating in her short film 'NOS' premiering at the Real Recovery Film Festival and now streaming on Amazon Prime, with a new feature film in development about borderline personality disorder.
David Idemudia and Malcolm McFadden close out Speak Your Truth 2022 with heartfelt thank-yous to performers, volunteers, vendors, and the live and online audience, followed by a direct donation appeal for NAMI and a closing reminder of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for anyone in need.
An unidentified musician opens the 2021 SYT Annapolis event with a live vocal performance built around the repeated lyrical motif 'you could turn to stone' and 'think of all you know,' setting an introspective and emotionally grounded tone for the evening. The sparse, repetitive phrasing evokes themes of emotional numbness and resilience, serving as a meditative entry point into the night's mental health advocacy programming.
An unidentified musician performs a live vocal set featuring repeated lyrical phrases centered on peace and freedom, running approximately ten minutes. The sparse transcript captures fragmented lyric fragments — 'Give me more,' 'Let all eyes,' and 'fly with peace' — suggesting an ambient or soulful musical performance with themes of aspiration and inner calm.
An unnamed performer delivers a live musical piece titled 'Ruby,' featuring sparse, repeated lyrical phrases centered on a figure named Ruby and themes of longing and unanswered grief. The segment is largely instrumental or ambient following the brief vocal portion, with audience applause punctuating the extended close.
An unidentified artist performs an original live vocal piece titled 'Leftover Dreams,' a hypnotic, repetitive song exploring sleeplessness and the persistence of dreams. The sparse lyrical content — centered on the recurring line 'Maybe I don't sleep / But here's those leftover dreams' — evokes themes of anxiety, restlessness, and the emotional residue of unresolved longing.
Dr. Tyler Calabrese delivers the opening welcome remarks for Speak Your Truth 2021, recounting the event's five-year history as a fundraiser for NAMI Anne Arundel County co-founded with David Idemudia, and setting the tone for the evening by urging the audience to break the stigma of mental illness and reminding them they are not alone in their fight.
Fred Delph, Executive Director of NAMI Anne Arundel County, introduces the organization to the SYT audience, explaining its national structure, local affiliate programs, support groups, education and advocacy services, and calling for volunteers. He shares a personal story about his son's long-term mental illness and reflects on five years of partnership with the SYT event as a powerful vehicle for stigma reduction.
David Idemudia and Malcolm McFadden co-host the welcome and orientation segment for the fifth annual Speak Your Truth! event, reflecting on the event's growth from a one-time fundraiser into a meaningful annual tradition, acknowledging both in-person and at-home audiences, and orienting attendees to the evening's fundraising activities, vendor tables, interactive art canvases, and the ArtFarm donation initiative.
Jackie, a community coach, advocate, and founder of Revealing Colors, delivers a powerful spoken-word performance titled 'Three Decades of Self-Talk' — an unfiltered, age-by-age journey through her mental health struggles from childhood through her 40s. Speaking as her own inner voice at ages 8, 14, 16, 30, and 42, she chronicles hospitalization, self-harm, medication cycles, identity, and ultimately a hard-won self-acceptance, closing with a direct message to the audience about worthiness and help-seeking.
David Idemudia reflects on the preceding spoken-word performance by Julie Larkins, highlighting her message of self-love and independence from external validation. He uses the moment to rally audience support for vulnerable performers, reminding the crowd that no one is alone in their struggles before introducing the next act.
Jillian Amodio, founder of Moms for Mental Health, delivers a candid spoken-word personal testimony about her experience with postpartum depression, culminating in the live reading of a letter she wrote to her husband during her darkest period. She frames the piece as a call to destigmatize maternal mental health struggles and to reassure other mothers that it is okay not to feel okay.
David Idemudia leads a lighthearted MC intermission announcement, directing in-person attendees to food, restrooms, and artwork bidding, while playfully engaging the virtual audience and encouraging them to order pizza to the venue. The segment also points guests toward a 'message of hope for 2021' activity and an art auction.
An unidentified performer plays live ambient/instrumental music during the intermission break, featuring a recurring lyrical refrain about cherishing 'special days' and a sense of longing. The segment serves as a musical interlude between the main acts of the 2021 Speak Your Truth! Annapolis event.
An intermission documentary clip plays during the break, featuring an unidentified individual describing life circumstances tied to substance use and a neighborhood park with a history of gun violence, followed by ambient audio that appears to be music or soundscape with repeated lyrical fragments including 'longing' and 'my heart is sad.' The transcript is heavily fragmented, suggesting significant audio dropout or auto-caption failure during the documentary playback.
A live music performance following the intermission at the SYT 2021 Annapolis event. The transcript captures only automated caption placeholders ('Thank you'), suggesting the auto-captioning system did not detect lyrics or speech, so no substantive spoken content is available for thematic analysis.
Dylan Ignacio, a law enforcement officer and founder of the 'One Less nonprofit, shares his personal mental health journey — including suicidal ideation, a negative therapy experience, and the psychological toll of policing during civil unrest — before introducing his vision of a free, centralized mental health resource hub for first responders.
David Idemudia, speaking as MC between segments, offers a brief but resonant reflection on the importance of finding the right therapist — comparing the therapeutic relationship to finding a well-fitting shoe — before transitioning into lighthearted banter with co-MC Malcolm McFadden about attire, tuxedos, and the event's milestone fifth year.
Christina, a former NAMI facilitator, shares a set of original spoken-word poems written as personal coping tools, each addressing a specific diagnosis: Bipolar Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The poems use vivid, introspective imagery to convey the internal chaos, identity fragmentation, and emotional exhaustion of living with these co-occurring conditions.'
Joe Gagliardi, a US Marine veteran and stand-up comedian from Annapolis, delivers a 13-minute comedy set blending self-deprecating humor about aging, pandemic life, and military service with lighthearted crowd interaction, providing tonal relief between heavier emotional segments at the SYT 2021 event.
Malcolm McFadden delivers brief MC commentary following Joe Gagliardi's set, recapping a humorous self-deprecating joke from Gagliardi's performance before transitioning the audience to the next performer, Jenna.
A speaker named Jenna shares her vinyl scrap art created from recycled boat-graphics materials and speaks about how discovering meditation has been healing in her mental health journey, offering a practical, accessible description of her personal meditation practice and encouraging the audience to explore it.
David Idemudia delivers a brief, lighthearted MC transition segment reflecting on collective pandemic resilience, using humor about the toilet paper shortage as a comedic icebreaker before introducing the next performer, Patrick.
Patrick Finn performs two spoken-word pieces: his own poem ''My Dark Parent,'' a visceral metaphor for bipolar disorder and PTSD written during a PTSD attack, and a poem by his absent friend and NAMI co-facilitator Heather, which explores depression, identity, and collective resilience.'
MC Malcolm McFadden briefly reacts to the previous spoken word performance ('Dark Parent' by Patrick Finn) and reads aloud a remote message from Sally Calabrese, who watched from home and praised the bravery of all performers sharing their personal stories.
18-year-old Annapolis rapper Cam Isaiah shares a candid personal story about lifelong social anxiety, depression, and the isolating experience of never feeling truly accepted, before performing an original rap song written at age 16 about heartbreak and self-reliance. The segment marks one of his first public performances, framed as a full-circle moment of vulnerability and artistic breakthrough.
Malcolm McFadden delivers brief MC commentary between acts, praising first-time performer Cam Isaiah for only being on his second performance, joking with the crowd about backstage perks, and transitioning the audience to the next performer, Stevie J.
Spoken-word artist 'Stevie J' delivers an original poem, 'The Girl You Used to Know,' preceded by a candid personal introduction about her experiences with suicidal ideation, substance use, a BPD and bipolar diagnosis, and ultimately finding recovery during the COVID-19 quarantine. The poem celebrates her transformed identity and imminent move to Charlotte, North Carolina as a new beginning.
Malcolm McFadden serves as MC, transitioning the audience from the previous performer ('Stevie J') with energetic crowd engagement before enthusiastically introducing Dr. Ashley Elliott to the stage. The brief segment captures the live event's electric atmosphere and communal energy.
Dr. Ashley Elliott introduces herself as both a clinician and a person living with anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and chronic illness, before performing an expressive dance to 'Something Has to Break' — a song whose lyrics confront the exhaustion of performing wellness, the weight of societal expectations, and the ongoing struggle to survive while still growing.
David Idemudia offers enthusiastic MC commentary following Dr. Ashley Elliott's expressive dance performance, praising her physical dedication and artistry — noting she performed shortly after giving birth — and highlighting the emotional storytelling conveyed through her facial expressions and movement.
Kim Kozak delivers an impromptu spoken advocacy segment about navigating workplace disability accommodations with mental and physical health conditions, drawing on her background as an ADA consultant and her personal experience with misdiagnosis, neurosurgery, ADHD, GAD, and a self-trained psychiatric service dog. She offers practical, HIPAA-informed guidance on communicating functional capacity deficits to employers rather than disclosing diagnostic labels.
David Idemudia offers a brief MC transition following a preceding dance performance, encouraging the audience to applaud the prior performer (Lydia) while humorously noting the availability of tissues and thanking her for sharing her truth.
Lydia, a Nigerian front-line worker and humanitarian advocate, shares her personal experience of being stranded in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health toll of isolation and uncertainty, and how she channeled her passion for service into volunteering with disabled and mentally ill individuals while calling for stronger institutional support systems for front-line caregivers.
David Idemudia offers brief MC commentary following Lydia's performance, praising her stated purpose of supporting others and transitioning the audience to the next performer, Nia, with lighthearted remarks about the late hour and keeping every voice heard.
Nia, an unidentified speaker diagnosed with Bipolar 2 and ADHD, shares an unscripted, deeply personal account of her mental health journey — including two psychiatric hospitalizations (2017 and 2018 at Shepherd Pratt), self-harm, a prior abusive relationship, and the barriers of insurance-limited therapy access — before reflecting on nearly three years of recovery and growth by 2021.
David Idemudia offers MC commentary following a performer named Nia's story, affirming the reality of trauma and its effects on daily life — including sensory triggers and altered perception — before transitioning the audience to the next performers.
Mikey D'Angelo delivers his first-ever stand-up comedy set, drawing laughs from relatable observations about his job at Enterprise, his expressive father and sharp-witted mother, his love of 90s music, and the exaggerated street personas of his Bowie, MD neighbors. The set is lighthearted and conversational, closing with a genuine moment of vulnerability as Mikey admits he was nervous and improvised the whole thing.
D'Angelo performs a live vocal rendition of 'Without You' by Breakavenger, weaving in a spoken-word piece that draws on his personal experience being incarcerated in juvenile detention at age 13 and frames life's struggles through a NASCAR metaphor — urging the audience to recognize their own inherent worth and race only against themselves.
Malcolm McFadden, the event's MC, steps out of his usual host role to share a deeply personal account of his 2020 pandemic struggles — including contracting COVID-19, a torn Achilles, the death of his grandmother, and job loss — which together triggered an unfamiliar and overwhelming depressive episode. He closes with a direct message of encouragement, especially to Black men, urging the audience to lean on loved ones, speak their truth, and reject the stigma of emotional vulnerability.
David Idemudia delivers closing reflections sharing his own experiences with racial trauma and emotional vulnerability, before affirming to the audience that they are not alone and inviting collective gratitude and a closing meditation to decompress.
Will, a clinician with Amir Mental Health, leads the audience through a guided mindfulness and progressive muscle relaxation breathing exercise, walking participants both in-person and online through a body-scan technique to release tension and return to calm after an emotionally charged evening of performances.
Malcolm McFadden closes out SYT 2021 with warm, humorous remarks, publicly crediting Tyler Calabrese for organizing the event and inviting the community together, before signing off with his signature rule: ''Get the fuck home safe.'' Tyler briefly takes the mic to affirm the audience''s stories as the source of hope and connection that makes the event possible.'
The opening segment of the SYT 2020 Annapolis live stream, hosted by Dr. Tyler Calabrese, serving as a pre-show introduction to the event and its mission of raising mental health awareness in support of NAMI Anne Arundel County. No usable transcript content was recovered from the auto-generated captions for this segment.
David Idemudia delivers opening remarks at the 2020 Speak Your Truth! livestream, introducing himself as a licensed social worker, therapist, and community activist, while expressing gratitude for the event's purpose and encouraging audience members to support one another and utilize crisis resources. Malcolm McFadden is also welcomed as co-MC, with Tyler Calabrese briefly handing off hosting duties to the two.
Malcolm McFadden (Justice the Genius Child) welcomes the audience, shares his personal motivation for joining SYT — the suicide of a close friend — and introduces an upcoming video segment from Lieutenant Steve Thomas, a crisis intervention officer who contracted COVID-19 and transitioned from helper to someone needing help.
Steve Thomas, a law enforcement officer, shares his firsthand account of contracting COVID-19 with bilateral pneumonia and spending seven days in the hospital, including two in the ICU. He describes how emotional support from his ICU nurse, his family, and his department's peer support network were critical to overcoming concurrent depression and achieving both physical and emotional recovery.
Randy 'Preach' Atterson delivers a spoken word performance at the SYT 2020 Annapolis live stream event. The transcript for this segment is unavailable due to auto-caption artifacts (Norwegian subtitle credits replacing actual speech content), so thematic and CHIME-D analysis cannot be derived from transcript evidence.
Following Randy 'Preach' Atterson's spoken word performance, MCs Malcolm McFadden and a co-host reflect on the emotional weight of the piece, connecting its imagery and the phrase 'I can't breathe' to the urgent, ongoing reality of racial injustice and systemic violence. The segment captures an unscripted, emotionally raw moment of collective processing between performers.
Professional skateboarder Chris Haslam shares how the failure of his independent board brand in 2019 thrust him into his first serious experience with depression, anxiety, and isolation — and how the sudden suicide of his friend and fellow skater Ben Ramers became the catalyst for redirecting his brand toward mental health education and advocacy within the skateboarding community.
Malcolm McFadden and a co-MC reflect on Chris Haslin's video segment, discussing the common barrier of feeling one's problems aren't significant enough to share, and emphasizing the importance of speaking out about mental health struggles. They also touch on how losing a friend to suicide can be devastating, and how channeling pain into creative craft can be a powerful advocacy tool.
Local Annapolis visual artist Laura Ther presents two original paintings: ''Out of the Blue,'' a visual representation of intrusive thoughts as a symptom of OCD and anxiety heightened during the pandemic, and ''Still,'' which explores the dual nature of living with mental illness through the multiple meanings of the word ''still.'' The segment ends with a brief host commentary noting the novelty of integrating visual art into the virtual format.'
Malcolm McFadden briefly reacts to the preceding art presentation and transitions the event by introducing the next performer, Renee, with a lighthearted audience-warming chant referencing Australia.
Renee, a blogger, poet, and music industry professional, shares her lived experience with borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. She traces her journey from a childhood marked by abuse and emotional suppression through turbulent early adulthood to transformative psychotherapy and a stable, managed life today.
David Idemudia and a co-host reflect on Renee's preceding testimony about living with bipolar disorder, discussing mood shifts, the impact of going off medication, and how a formal diagnosis brought her clarity. David then introduces the next performer, Dr. Ashley Elliott, a local mental health advocate and artist whose song 'Something Has To Break' addresses addiction, symptoms, and the daily struggle to persevere.
Dr. Ashley Elliott performs an expressive dance to the gospel-inflected song 'Something Has To Break,' channeling themes of spiritual surrender, faith, and breakthrough. The performance uses movement and lyrical repetition to convey the emotional release required for healing and recovery.
A transitional gap between segments during the SYT 2020 live stream, consisting of repeated 'Thank you' cues that likely represent applause breaks, technical pauses, or automated transcript artifacts between performances. No substantive spoken content is present.
Aaron Settichrom performs his original spoken-word poem 'Social Anxiety, a first-person account of navigating social situations while masking anxiety — hiding in corners, faking happiness, and deploying learned social tricks to avoid detection. The poem closes with a hard-won acknowledgment that social anxiety is not an ally, and must be accepted rather than accommodated.
Following a spoken word performance on social anxiety, MCs Malcolm McFadden and a co-host engage in a brief, candid between-act conversation about how social anxiety — while often minimized — can be genuinely debilitating, using relatable humor (e.g., anxiety in large stores like Walmart) before transitioning to introduce the next performer, Reed Chancellor.
Reed Chancellor, comic book artist and author of ''Hardcore Anxiety: A Graphic Guide to Punk Rock and Mental Health,'' shares how his journey through punk and hardcore culture was intertwined with discovering his mental health struggles, ultimately challenging the DIY ethos to advocate for seeking therapy, building a support system, and recognizing that recovery is never something you have to face alone.'
Malcolm McFadden and co-hosts engage in a brief between-segment transition, troubleshooting a technical audio/video issue while discussing Reed Chancellor's book on social anxiety and its personal impact on Malcolm. The segment closes with an introduction of the next guest, comedian Ryan Sickler.
Comedian and podcaster Ryan Sickler shares the origins of The Honeydew Podcast, rooted in his personal philosophy of 'highlighting the lowlights' — finding humor in trauma. He recounts a harrowing personal history including maternal rejection, the loss of his father at 16, and his grandmother's death, framing comedy and therapy as essential tools for survival and resilience.
Malcolm McFadden and a co-MC offer brief, candid reflections on Ryan Sickler's preceding performance, praising the raw honesty and entertainment value of his podcast and storytelling approach before transitioning with light banter about a large water bottle.
Patrick Finn performs his original slam poem 'My Dark Parrot,' a visceral spoken-word piece using the metaphor of an invisible parrot to personify PTSD, intrusive thoughts, and suicidal ideation. Following the poem, Patrick briefly shares that he wrote it during a flashback episode and explains how externalizing his pain through art helps him reclaim control over his trauma.
Following his spoken-word performance, Patrick Finn speaks with the host about the NAMI Connections program, explaining his dual role as a group facilitator and licensed peer-to-peer counselor in Arnold, MD. He describes the program's structure, its inclusive approach to mental health recovery, and shares that he originally sought the group himself when looking for community with others who share similar struggles.
Joe Gagliardi, a US Marine Iraq War veteran, stand-up comedian, and Annapolis resident, shares his personal mental health story — including the death of his sister before his first deployment, unaddressed PTSD, and his journey through EMDR and psychotherapy — before delivering a comedic set touching on quarantine life, parenting, and his past use of marijuana as a coping mechanism. The segment blends candid advocacy for help-seeking (especially among men) with observational humor, closing with an earnest call to reach out for support.
The MCs briefly transition between segments, reacting to a video message from the 'Illuminated Apes' podcast duo (Turtle and Tai) that addresses the male suicide rate and the need for men to embrace emotional wholeness. The hosts riff on the importance of dismantling toxic masculinity and the stigma of men showing vulnerability, with one MC echoing a point he made at a prior SYT event.
A promotional segment for the Illuminated Apes Podcast focusing on men's mental health, encouraging male listeners to engage with mental health conversations and resources. No transcript text is available for this segment.
Maven Eve delivers a live musical performance during the SYT 2020 livestream event. The transcript contains no recoverable spoken or lyrical content, as all entries reflect automated subtitle attribution artifacts rather than actual dialogue or song lyrics.
Malcolm McFadden briefly reflects on Maven Eve's musical performance, praising her vocal emotion and vulnerability. He relates personally to the anxiety of self-recording and emphasizes that raw emotional authenticity is the most important element of any musical performance.
Malcolm McFadden performs an impromptu spoken-word piece titled 'ADD, a humorous yet candid exploration of living with Attention Deficit Disorder. The segment opens with Malcolm and others brainstorming ideas for future virtual open-mic events before Malcolm steps up to fill an unscheduled gap in the program with his original poem, which closes with a powerful message of self-acceptance and identity reclamation.
Malcolm McFadden, serving as MC, briefly reflects on a line from Patrick Finn's preceding performance, praising its wit and using it as a springboard to acknowledge how ADHD creates real daily difficulties. The segment transitions into informal back-and-forth with co-hosts about event logistics, including whether to play Dr. Tammy Miller's mindfulness video.
David Idemudia, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, delivers a spoken word performance titled 'ADD,' exploring themes of mental health, attention, and personal identity through poetic expression. The piece draws on his decade of experience in crisis intervention and advocacy in Anne Arundel County.
David Idemudia, serving as MC, reacts to a preceding spoken-word performance referencing ADHD and pivots to a live open-mic call to the online audience, encouraging viewers to step up and share their stories before transitioning to Dr. Tammy Miller's mindfulness video. Malcolm McFadden is also present and participates in the banter.
Dr. Tammy Miller, a clinical psychologist from Mirror Mental Health in Crofton, Maryland, delivers a brief psychoeducational introduction to mindfulness followed by a fully guided beach visualization exercise, inviting viewers to use breath-focused imagery as a free, accessible tool for stress relief and emotional regulation.
Tyler Calabrese, David Idemudia, and Malcolm McFadden close out the SYT 2020 live stream with warm remarks reflecting on the virtual format, a brief discussion of mindfulness grounding techniques, a shoutout to a friend's artwork, and a heartfelt sign-off emphasizing that viewers are not alone in their mental health journey.