Black People Die By Suicide Too

About this episode:
Ms. T-Kea Blackman, MPS, CPRS, RPS, is a nationally recognized, multi-award-winning peer recovery specialist, social entrepreneur, speaker, and author who joins us to discuss the rising rate of suicide in the Black community and the stigma that keeps it hidden. Drawing on her own lived experience of carrying suicidal thoughts since middle school — while excelling academically and personally — she shares how she transformed private pain into public purpose through her nonprofit, Black People Die By Suicide Too.

About our guest Ms. Blackman:
- Nationally recognized, multi-award-winning peer recovery specialist
- Social entrepreneur, speaker, and author
- Graduate of Howard University and Georgetown University
- Currently pursuing her doctorate
- Avid 10K runner and co-founder of a business
- Founder of the nonprofit Black People Die By Suicide Too

What we discuss:
- The rising rate of suicide in the Black community — and why it's under-discussed
- Her lived experience: carrying sadness and ideation since middle school
- Being high-achieving and ambitious while silently struggling
- Navigating her mental health without hospitalization or medication
- How openness broke stigma among her family and peers
- Inside Black People Die By Suicide Too and its support groups
- Why community and peer support save lives
- Balancing healing with ambition — doctorate, running, entrepreneurship

About the nonprofit:
Black People Die By Suicide Too is a nonprofit that holds support groups for people who have attempted suicide, those experiencing suicidal ideation, and anyone carrying these feelings. Its mission is to break stigma and build life-saving community.

A note for listeners:
This episode includes candid discussion of suicide, suicidal ideation, and mental health struggles. Please listen with care for yourself.

Crisis support (U.S.): Call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7. Online chat: 988lifeline.org. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911.

Please follow her Social Media: IG: @t_keablackman

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/t-kea-blackman/

Organization IG: @blackpeoplediebysuicidetoo

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/black-people-die-by-suicide-too/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Black-People-Die-By-Suicide-Too/61560460779550/