{"id":1226,"date":"2022-01-03T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T23:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2025-02-18T00:40:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T00:40:52","slug":"black-mental-health-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2022\/01\/03\/black-mental-health-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Mental Health Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last night, I found myself deeply saddened by the suicide death of Cheslie Kryst, the 2019 Miss USA hailing from North Carolina whose post-pageant life included working as a lawyer, diversity specialist, model, and correspondent for the Extra<\/strong><\/em> television program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrity deaths tend to hit hard because while most of us never knew this<\/strong><\/em> star decedent or that<\/strong><\/em> one personally, the nature of multi-media, especially social media pages that allow us to follow celebrities as if we are in their inner circle, serve to make many of us feel like we are a part of the family or clique. Such is why the outpouring of shock after Kryst’s passing at the age of 30 is filled with comments like \u201cshe was so young,\u201d \u201cshe was so gorgeous,\u201d \u201cshe was so talented,\u201d \u201cshe was so smart,\u201d \u201cshe seemed to have everything going for her\u201d and similar expressions of grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What some seem to overlook is Kryst \u201cwas so depressed and despondent,\u201d thus, her final Instagram post, \u201cMay this day bring you rest and peace,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> shows what this talented young Sister was craving\u2014peace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kryst was a graduate of the University of South Carolina and the Wake Forest Schools of Law and Business<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While reading more about her life early this morning, it is clear that Kryst was dealing with many of the same stressors that have hurt so many people around the globe as the Coronavirus Pandemic has radically altered how we live and relate from a social standpoint. It also seems clear that like many lawyers before her, that the vicissitudes of the profession, coupled with the sexism and harassment that she already had been candid about in her public advocacy for equality for women, may have played some part in her melancholy as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney Kryst worked on workplace diversity and sexual harassment claims, while dealing with harassment much like far too many women in colleges and workplaces across America<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recall with my own deal of melancholy that over the past 27 years, I have lost five friends\u2014three Black males and two white males under the age of 40\u2014to suicide. The last two, a lawyer colleague named Jason Savitz, and my former personal trainer and client Andrew Giba, still haunt me because I was among the last folks to see them alive; Jason sat in my office for about 20 minutes late one Friday evening talking about World War II era history with me after a long week in court and at the end of our conversation, casually mentioned that he had several new books on the Holocaust in his adjacent office that I should take and read. The next day, our landlord and fellow lawyer, John Kenny, called with the news that Jason had hanged himself at his apartment\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for my trainer, Andrew, my last meeting with him was on a Friday, too, as we met to discuss a legal matter that was troubling him. Two days later, as I went to my office to get some work done on a Sunday, his girlfriend was on my office steps sobbing uncontrollably and, when I finally was able to calm her down enough to tell me what was wrong, she told me that Andrew had shot himself in the foyer of their shared home\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the years, I have asked myself several times whether there were any signs that I should have picked up in those last convos, signs that may have helped me to help them? Each time I conclude that the personal Hell that these friends were enduring was endured in solitude, with smiles affixed upon their faces, so as to \u201cwear the mask\u201d that the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar described so long ago. A mask that we all have worn to varying degrees, from time to time, as we have been socialized to just \u201csuck it up,\u201d or \u201cfaith it til you make it,\u201d when, what many of us have needed (or still need) is well trained medical help to assuage those mental demons that attack each and every human being at some point or another within a life’s span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I pray this morning for the soul of Ms. Kryst and comfort for her family and friends, I implore anyone who may be reading these words while actively contemplating suicide to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255! There, you will find professionals who can help you in your crisis situation\u2014and help you locate mental health care providers in your area!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Requiescat in Pace, Attorney Cheslie Kryst\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night, I found myself deeply saddened by the suicide death of Cheslie Kryst, the 2019 Miss USA hailing from North Carolina whose post-pageant life included working as a lawyer, diversity specialist, model, and correspondent for the Extra television program. Celebrity deaths tend to hit hard because while most of us never knew this star decedent or that one personally, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[623,624,622],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-black-mental-health","tag-cheslie-kryst","tag-miss-usa","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1227,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions\/1227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}