Podcasts Health Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry LLP114: How the social relationships of men affects their well being with Dr. Jameson Mercier

LLP114: How the social relationships of men affects their well being with Dr. Jameson Mercier

Published: June 26, 2019, 9:30 a.m.

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Let\'s Talk about Men\'s Social Relationships...

On this week\'s episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry we have Dr. Jameson Mercier, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy. His areas of specialization include Marriage/Family Therapy and fatherhood and this week the Lunch and Learn Community is in for a treat as he comes on to discuss the importance of social relationships for men and what happens when the correct ones are not in place.

As we wrap up the end of men\'s health month I thought it would be extremely important to touch on mental health in men. When we talk about men\'s health month quite often we focus on the big diseases such as prostate cancer, colon cancer, and addiction but I know that I have come across many men who have these poor social habits and how it affects all their relationships.

I talked about this before but as a outpatient clinical specialist one of the top 2 reasons why men would come to see me for an appointment was either someone was dragging them to the office or erectile dysfunction complaints.

A recent journal article noted:

"Social connections can act as a buffer against the impact of stressful or negative life experiences on mental health, the onset of mental ill health, including depression and suicidal behavior and can increase the likelihood of those with mental health problems seeking professional help."

Social relation is defined as the relationship between two individuals and I know that after listening to this episode you are going to come away with a much better understanding of why your male family member acts the way they act.

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Download Episode 114 Transcript

Episode 114 Transcript...

Introduction

Dr. Berry:
And welcome to another episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry. I\'m your host, Dr. Berry Pierre, your favorite Board Certified Internist. Founder of drberrypierre.com, as well as the CEO of Pierre Medical Consulting, helping you empower yourself for better health with the number one podcast for patient advocacy. And this week we end Men\'s Health Month. Again, we\\u2019ve had some amazing guests this month. And I want to touch on a topic that I think gets brush over when we talk about men\'s health, right? And that\'s the mental aspect of it. And most importantly, we\'re gonna be talking about the importance of social relationships in men, right? And when they lack it, what\'s the problem and what happens when they have a good social relationship, right? And when I was thinking about the topic of hand and I was trying to figure out who should we bring on this episode only had a couple people in mind and I was very fortunate enough to get Dr. Jameson Mercier on podcast to really drive home the fact that if our mind isn\'t there, if we don\'t connect. And again this is a very tough topic for men to talk about because when it comes to our emotions when it comes to the mental health when it comes to getting ourselves together for other people, is that something we do willingly. And Dr. Mercier, as a clinical social worker who has a Doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy and he deals with it on the mental health aspect.

I\'ve talked about it all the time wherein medicine, I sometimes have trouble getting my men to open up to me to tell me like, hey, I\'m having these medical related problems. So you can only imagine the difficulty he may be experiencing and not maybe he actually does and experience when dealing with getting men to open up about their mental health wellness and wellbeing. So again, I wanted to kind of give a little quick little bio just so you can understand just how important this guy, Dr. Mercier is for not only discussion but just the topic of mental health in general. So Dr. Jameson Mercier is a licensed clinical social worker. Like I said, a doctor in Marriage and Family Therapy where he got his Ph.D. and family therapy from Nova southeastern university. He also earned a bachelor\'s and master\'s degree in social work from the University of South Florida and Barry University, is areas of specialization include marriage and family therapy as well as fatherhood.

He is a qualified supervisor for the state of Florida for clinical social work, family therapy, and mental health counseling interns. Dr. Mercier provides counseling for families, couples as well as individuals. He consults with businesses, nonprofits, churches, and government organizations. He has been featured in various media outlets including Hot 105, The Miami Herald, The Discovery Channel, Bustle, and Huffington Post. He and his wife own a private practice called Mercier Wellness and Consulting. And ladies and gentlemen, most importantly, especially if you have a kind of been up to speed on everything, he and his wife actually have a podcast as well, which is called The Couple\'s Counsel. And me and my wife had actually had the opportunity to join onto the show and really talk about our relationships and how we deal with growing up with a child with autism. Right. So if you had not had a chance, I will link that episode, link in the show notes as well.

Just like you can get a chance to obviously get in touch with their podcast. You listen to their podcast, subscribe to their podcast here. Me and my wife kind of discuss our journey parenting a child with autism. Of course the theme today is Men\'s Health Month and we\'re talking about mental health. We\\u2019re talking about social connections and relationships and I really wanted to hit this home because again, I\'ve talked about the cancer\'s a lot, right? You know, earlier this month I talked about just making sure they go do their wellness exam. We had doctor Jen who actually hit home erectile dysfunction, sexual health. So again, we\'ve talked about a lot of huge topics when we talk about men\\u2019s health and I figured there was no way I could end this month, a discussion on men\'s health without speaking on the mental health aspect of it. Right? So like always, if you have not had a chance, go ahead subscribe to the podcast and leave a five-star review. Again, I want you to follow Mercier. All of his information will be in the show notes as well. Get on their podcasts, subscribe to their podcast, five-star review their podcasts as well because it\'s actually amazing. And get ready for another amazing episode here on the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry.

Episode

Dr. Berry:
Alright Lunch and Learn community, you just heard another amazing introduction to Dr. Jameson. I\'ve actually had the opportunity to not only meet in internet spirit out, you know, a lot of us get a chance to talk to, also met personally and been able to collaborate on different events here and there and definitely fortunate enough to get this gentleman. A personal actually well-respected on the podcast. Dr. Jameson Mercier, first of all, thank you for coming to the podcast and educating the Lunch and Learn community today.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
It\'s my honor. Thank you for the invite.

Dr. Berry:
So you know, I gave your introduction, which again amazing. Again, it\'s been this running theme that a lot of our guests have our resume that I\'m sometimes in awe of as myself. But for someone who, you know, they read it, they read your bio, what is something that they may not be able to know about you that isn\'t necessarily in our typical bio?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Funny, you should ask I guess a little known trivia or the little known fact I suppose because of the line of work that I\'m in. So mental health counseling, I realize maybe a long time ago, but really a few years ago just how much I needed to be able to do something for myself to be able to disconnect and separate and recharge. And so I am, I want to call myself an avid outdoorsman, but living here in South Florida and the city, there\'s only so much outdoors. (You\\u2019re right.) But I enjoyed being outside. I enjoy camping. As a matter of fact, tomorrow we leave for a camping trip and then we leave for a road trip that involves another week of camping. It\'s going to be a four-week road trip. (Wow.)

So I do that because if you do 8, 10, 12 hours sometime working with people, counseling, mental health medicine, as you well know, you need to be able to separate that and give your mind something to focus on other than people\'s problems and patients who may not be compliant. And so for me, the way I kind of maintain some of my own sanity and my own mental health, getting outside, whether that\'s fishing, whether that\'s just going out by the water or anything, really that\'s something I enjoy and I\'ve started taking the kids, my wife, her dean will join me sometimes. We\'re documenting some of that. Just side notice, a little passion project. We have a new Instagram and YouTube channel that\'s called Creel Adventures.

Dr. Berry:
Okay. Alright. And the links will be in the show notes because I definitely wanna hear about this.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Yeah. And so all that is, is simply, you know, me disconnecting, being out in nature, doing some camping, fishing and just something just to recharge my mental, my emotional so I can come back and be just as good.

Dr. Berry:
I love it. And when you\'re doing these things right, you\'re like there are no cell phones, as disconnected as can be. Right? So it\'s not like you\'re going, but you\'re bringing all the technology with you?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
No, no. As a matter of fact, when I go out and I go camping, I tried to get as primitive as possible. Right. You know, so I don\'t need no hookup for electricity. I don\'t need anything. (Oh, wow. Okay.) But when you bring your kids, and especially when you bring your wife who maybe lacks the creature comforts, (yes) there\'s some compromise that needs to happen there. But I could go without it. I don\'t need it. And you know, that stemmed from a couple of years, three or four years now did I did a show with the discovery channel where I was in the woods for two weeks. It was a survival show. So no, it was not naked and afraid. It was not naked and afraid. There was another show.

But when you spend two weeks in the wilderness with a knife, some matchsticks and a canteen of water, you really begin to realize how little you need to survive. How little you need and how much, how good that does just to be disconnected and totally in nature. And so that really was a boost for me and I tried to get out there as often as I can.

Dr. Berry:
That\\u2019s amazing. Again, we\'ll definitely make sure where he got the links to that because I\'m very interested as well. I\'m not outdoorsman but you could probably convince me to go for a day or two, where you\'re going on for a week. So I\'m definitely alright. (Do it man. Do it.) A question I ask, obviously when we talk about the disconnection, right? Your primary field is therapy. My wife\'s mental health therapy field as well. And it\'s definitely something that I know has made me a better physician because of it and because of the acknowledgment that I can only do so much. Without addressing the mental health aspect of a person. What drove you to that direction in the first place? What was it that made you say, you know what, this is something I could see myself doing?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
So there\'s a couple of stories that come together to answer that for the sake of time, I\'ll give you the condensed version. When I was young, I was about eight or nine, my dad died and my mother was left to raise my brother and me and my sister. And at the time we did, you know, you have the church that supports you and they come and they kind of sit and pray with you. But we did not get any kind of counseling, traditional counseling, professional counseling. And in hindsight, we could have definitely benefited from even just a few sessions as a family, of grief counseling or of just some regular run of the mill counseling, whatever that might be. You know, just to kind of process what\'s going on. Because as I got older, I was angry. I was rebellious. Looking back, I was not as destructive as some would say, but I could see how some of my actions stemmed from the loss of my father.
And so when I got into college and I was struggling. I was like, you know, let me just kind of figure this out. And when I realized that if I had gotten some counseling, things we\'ve gotten did go different from me as it there\'s got to be more people who could benefit from what I didn\'t get.

And so originally I wanted to do psychology, but I\'ll leave that to the guys who like to do the testing and assessments. I wanted to be in the homes with the families dealing with some of these issues. And social work is what I discovered with social work. And once I found social work, I hit the ground running and then I decided to specialize in marriage and family therapy because the issues that we are seeing in society, a lot of times really do stem from dysfunction within the home and within the family. (Let\'s talk about it. I love it.) What happens, they go unresolved. They go unaddressed and then they cycle and we talk about this, you know, there\'s that generational cycles. Some people will call it a generation occurs. It\'s simply a matter of not resolving what you know exists within your family and these patterns we just hand them down. One generation after another. And so I resolved myself to break that cycle within my family and to help other people who are willing to break these dysfunctional cycles and patterns within their relationships.

Dr. Berry:
What\\u2019s very interesting and especially the focus of marriage and family and understanding like where it starts and within. We talked this month, this is Men\'s Health Month. And when I was thinking about the topics that I wanted to kinda touch on, which is very typical, right? You know, the prostate cancer, colon, all of these things that happen to men and know men do not get in themselves together. I think a lot of times the mental health aspect is when that kind of gets brushed over, unfortunately. And more importantly, especially when we\'re talking about men and, and I know you, obviously you have kind of established a niche, right? Where you like talking to men. Like that\'s your thing, right? Which is always interesting. Because like I always figured we\'d probably be the most difficult, the niche to deal with. We were terrible.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
We are terrible. And I recognize that. I recognize just how bad men are when it comes to talking and communicating. Even with our wives sometimes, you know, the women in our lives, our kids, and it isn\'t that we don\'t want to. In my own experience has shown me that everything we want to say or should say is right there behind our teeth. It\'s on the back of the, on the inside of our lips. A lot of us, yes, we\'re not taught how to communicate like that. A lot of us didn\'t see it modeled for us.

And so it isn\'t that we don\'t get the urge, we just can\'t bring our lips together to say those things we know are there, you know? So in my practice, when I get dad or a man or husband, whatever he is in life when I get them while they\'re in my office or on a virtual call, I hold on to that guy. I do not take it for granted because I understand all the things that had to happen (before you could get to it.) Oh man! (Wow. Okay.) You know, and it\'s interesting when it\'s almost like a friend, you know, it\'s almost like bro, I\'ve been for you. And he\'s like yo, that unspoken conversation that happens and if there\'s a wife or girlfriend there, they don\'t understand. But I am just so glad to see men who show up to have those conversations.

Dr. Berry:
And what I love about, especially the motivation behind episode like this is when, and of course I\'m doing my research. I\'m looking up mental health and you know, all of the issues that men need to deal with. And I came across this a very interesting article. It was actually in the Journal of American Men\'s Health. And it hit me. Because it talks about social connections and really the lack thereof. It talks about men\'s health, it talks about the lack of proper support which led to a lot of the different issues I deal with on the medical side. Whether it\'s noncompliance, whether it be alcohol and substance abuse, where it on all of these things that I do from a medical side that this article really said like, hey, you know what, if they actually like established some good stuff, in the beginning, it wouldn\'t be a problem.

But unfortunately, we don\'t. And then we ended up dealing with me, unfortunately. And so I want to talk about like, this was one of this first sentence kind of hit me right off the head. It said social connections can act as a buffer against the impact of stressful or negative life experiences on mental health. The onset of mental ill health, including depression and suicidal behavior and, can increase the likelihood of those mental health problems from being sought. And I didn\'t realize. Again, I may be naive because of course that\'s not my field. How important these social relationships and social connections are when it comes to men, that was something that kind of like took me abreast. Is that something that you find not just to be a common thing, but sometimes like it\'s in that issue where like wow, like yeah, they really have problems from the beginning just talking to people?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Yes, men, we do. But let me give you an example that in my mind and in my opinion crystallizes that phrase that you just read. When you look at the military and you take these 20 men, 50 men, hundred men, whatever the case is, and you put them in a group, you put them through some very difficult stuff. This is even before they go to battle, but you put them through boot camp, you put them through whatever school they\'re going to together. They eat and sleep together. They do everything together. When they actually do, then go and see theater, they go to war. They have much better cohesion. They operate so much better.

When you compare one guy who did not move with them and was dropped in after the fact. So the one guy, for example, was not part of this community. Okay, so there\'s something about being in a group that does buffer you, that does keep you safe. The guys who are suffering depression, the guys who are battling thoughts of suicide, they\'re not part of a group. They\'re not. It\'s very hard to remain sad and depressed when you are amongst a group. It\'s hard, one, the group on lets you, but even if you just kind of stay on the periphery on the fringes, there\'s something that happens there, you know, and they\'ve studied this all along, especially in guys who are in the military. When you move together with a group, when you have that accountability and we don\'t need 50 guys, one or two good guys, good friends, it is a protective factor. Totally. This is why an AA, they do the group thing and they have the sponsor thing. This is why they are designed like that because that accountability from the groups, it\'s hard to recreate that.

Dr. Berry:
Does that kind of like lessen the burden? Does that kind of lesson, oh it totally causes they\'re gonna face the stressors? But like because you do it within a group setting it\'s not as much? Is that the thought process?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Yeah. It\'s not that you don\'t face it. It is that when you do face it, you have other people on which to share the load. It\'s funny, we go to school and we study all these things and I realize if I just watch women when it comes to this whole social contract thing. (Okay.) So much because women have this thing down the pack. If you\'re with five or six women at work or at a conference one we\'ll get up and they\'ll say, I\'m going to the bathroom and then two or three will get up. I\'m coming with you. As men, we don\'t do that. (No.) We don\'t do that. We don\'t even announce it. We just get up. I\'ll be back. If if we say that much, you know what I mean? And I had this conversation with a colleague of mine. I said, why do you guys announce that you\'re going to the restroom? And she looked at me, she says, I do? It\'s something they didn\'t even notice that. (So kind of like ingrained in them to say, like hey.) Something they do, anybody wants to come. And so go into the bathroom is not about going to the bathroom for them it\'s about, it\'s a social activity.

Dr. Berry:
Especially because the theory that adds there, right? Like that\'s either ingrained in them. Right? Versus from a like either genetic standpoint or just a social construct. They\'ve grown up since they were little with these similar patterns. Do you find that\'s the case for men? Right. We\'re just ingrained to be individual. We\'re just ingrained to be alone and we almost have to be placed in army barracks type situation before we\'ll go out and join forces and hold hands. I wonder about that?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Well you know, when I think back and I observed kids, boys play like that. Boys and girls move and little cliques and groups and herds, but there comes a point where we make boys feel like that\'s not cool. You know, in elementary school boys will go to the bathroom together and boys will actually do like girls do and play in the bathroom. But somewhere along the line, they get this message that boys don\'t do that.

And what we don\'t realize is, we begin to eat away at something that is very much beneficial. And so when they\'re young, we tell them they can\'t hang like that. When they\'re teenagers, you definitely don\'t do that for whatever homophobic reasons for whatever negative stereotypes. Men just don\'t do that until you find yourself in your mid-twenties and 30s and forties and now for you to say to a guy, hey, how are you doing? It\'s very awkward. (Let\'s talk about it.) It\'s awkward.

It\\u2019s unfortunate, and I\'ll even take it further. I think there\'s something about black men in particular where this kind of seeing another man and just kind of approach, hey brother, how are you doing? Are you good? How are you feeling? Approaching another brother, another black man and saying, hey, how\'s your day going? Are you good? You know, the man, being a man, if we\'re to be a man, we can\'t be like that.

Dr. Berry:
And you know, I\'m glad we kind of touched on this because of this kind of segues into my next concern. What is like the role of masculinity? Because I think we\'ve kind of danced around what that it is, right? When they go from elementary school to middle school to high school too, you know, I think we danced around it, at least in my thought. Right? I\'ve talked about it and sometimes I don\'t want to say sometimes I do blame masculinity in a lot of the different concerns, at least I see on the medical side. Versus them coming to see me for physicals for them even allow me to do certain physical exams that I need to do properly, like a dresser. What has been your experience on the relationship of masculinity and mental health and these social constructs when we talk about their social relationships in general?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Yeah. You know, if you\'re gonna be a man, if you\'re going to be masculine, you gotta be tough. You got to keep whatever issues you have inside. And so on your end, it\'s the medical stuff where at your legs been hurting, your back\'s been hurting, you walk in all crooked, hunched over, but you gotta be a man. You can\'t complain about that. On my side, yeah, you might be feeling sad. You might be depressed. You might be crying in your car. You might be sitting in your truck for an hour, just unable to pull it together. But you can\'t tell nobody that because men don\'t cry. Nobody wants to hear men complain. All kinds of just jacked up ideas. You know if you\'re going to be tough, if you\'re going to be a man, there are just some things that you don\'t do. Right? All the emotional stuff or the soft stuff, whatever the hell that is or those are, it\'s unfortunate.

Dr. Berry:
First of all, I think that\\u2019s 100% head on. Right? And for those who, Lunch and Learn community, usually when I talk about, when men come to my office to do the yearly physicals and I see their significant other or family member there, a lot of times they usually won\'t say nothing unless I ask the question like, oh is there anything else going on? And they\'d be like, no. And I\'m like, hey you better tell them about this. This is like, they\'re ready because they just assume like, like this person I\'m sitting in there isn\'t going to tell you the full story.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
They know. And so in my case, especially if I\'m working with couples, I\'ll see them together a couple of sessions and then I separate them still. I see them on individual sessions and it\'s not until I get the guy by himself in my office, I get this whole narrative and I\'m like, bro, we\'ve been together for a couple of weeks. Why didn\'t you say this? And the reason why is because his wife or his girlfriend was there. And I\'m like, whoa, how much are you not saying? Because you live with this person.

Dr. Berry:
Exactly. Interesting. Okay. Alright. Let\'s see. Let\'s see. Alright. I don\'t want to say I\'m glad it happens on the mental health side, but I\'m glad it\'s not just a medical.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
No, no. We as men have a lot of problems, man. And I say that as lovingly and understandingly as possible. (Sure.) Because we just, I\'ll tell you a quick story. When I was in college, I was at 24, 25. I went to see my primary and I was working like crazy. I was studying, I had two and a half jobs still broke. So the stress was this way and heavy. And I came down with what I thought was a fever or a cold, and I went to see my doctor and they were like, ah, after a couple of tests they thought I had lymphoma. And so I\'m like, I don\'t even know how to spell that. Like much less what that is. (Wow.) You know? And at the time my wife and I were dating, I go to the doctor and I come back, she goes, how was the doctor\'s appointment? How did it go? I\'m like, eh, it was ok.

Dr. Berry:
Oh wow. Lunch and Learn community, I\'m really laughing because you\'d be surprised how often, like that conversation occurs and they\'ll be like, I just told my husband, he said, nothing went and his appointment was fine. I\'m like, no. It wasn\'t like I told them this, this.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Man, listen. And so the week I went, my wife was supposed to travel for a little bit. My wife, my girlfriend at the time. And so I let her leave without telling her anything. And so I think the following day, however it played out, I had a biopsy scheduled and I\'m living with a bunch of guys at this time and I said to the guys, hey, I\'m might need a ride to the doctor. I didn\'t say hospital. (You didn\'t even tell them why?) And I\'m living in a room in a house with four or five guys, including my brother. And so they dropped me off. I walk in, I have my biopsy. In a biopsy, they put you under and it down there like all day. And my wife was looking for me later that night. She was out of town, she couldn\'t find me.

So finally she calls my brother and she\'s like, hey, I can\'t find Jameson, what\'s up? He\'s like, Oh yeah, I took him to a doctor\'s appointment. She\'s like, what doctor\'s appointment? And then he says doctor\\u2019s appointment at the hospital and my wife, she like, (hold on.) sharp tool, man. She goes, who the hell has a doctor\'s appointment at the hospital? And it\'s like nine o\'clock at night and they\'re still there? Bro, and so I had to come clean and so, and again, I look back and I\\u2019m just like, that is so dumb. That is like so dumb. I\'m not too hard on myself because I was in my twenties, but still, that is dumb. And I can excuse the young, my youth, the ignorance of my youth to some extent, but at 40 and 50 and 60, my God, there is absolutely no reason at all.

Dr. Berry:
And it still happens, for sure still happens. Which is wow, it\'s very interesting because you aren\'t telling a unique story bro. (I wish I was. I wish I was.) Okay. Alright, see. Like I said, I like this kindred spirit that we got going on here, right? Because like now I\'m seeing how much on the mental health side, you guys clearly have the deal. We have just as much, if not more than we deal with on the medical side because you know, we were so personal. We think like, all right, maybe it\'s just us, right? Maybe they just don\'t want to take care. Clearly, even when they\'re on your end\\u2026

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Always, universal man, it\'s universal. And the thing is I think, and maybe this is my bias, it\'s a little worse on my end because you can see a bad leg, you can see the physical manifestations. Me, I don\'t know anything. If you don\'t tell me. (Nope.) If you\'re not having an episode in my office, if no one saw you having an episode, if you don\'t come to my office smelling like alcohol, I don\'t know that you have a drinking problem. (Cool. Let\'s go.) I don\'t know that you\'re not sleeping because even if you\'re not sleeping, you get a quick nap in you look fine for an hour session.

So, and we as men are like, we\'re just, forgive me, full of shit sometimes. We are manipulators and we\'ve learned the art of covering up the pain. We mask it well. We hide it from strangers and unfortunately, I loved ones in our family. So whenever I get the chance, I sent texts and my friends or I see the campaigns that just say, hey, ask a friend, is he okay? Because there\'s guaranteed he\'s going through something and if he tells you he\'s okay. Call him a liar. (Yes.) Check your boy.

Dr. Berry:
Talk it. I love it and the reason why I love that because the article, right? I kind of started it all right? It broke down very typical relationships that men tend to have. Right? And then we\'ve touched on, we\'ve already actually touched on quite a few of them and they, they broken out to kind of four categories, right? They talked about the type of man who likes to like compartmentalize their relationship, right? So this is a person who treats his boys like boys, but treats his girl like this girls, right? So he is open. To be emotional to his girl, but not his boys. Right?

Like, so in your situation, where you\'re in the house with not only your friends but a family and you\'re like, alright, this is the position I\'m putting you in this box, but I\'m going to tell my girl all this other stuff here. Hopefully, I\'m going to tell her all of these, my emotional support. And I think what was interesting is that they found that even a person who has that type of relationship does it really consider themselves emotional. Right? So even when they\'re talking in the sense of like, I\'m just talking to my girl, I\'m living my girl, know how she feels. Oh, she just kinda tells me her stuff. They don\'t even consider themselves the emotional type, even on the, for the women\'s side, which I thought was extremely interesting.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Yeah. We can\'t even allow ourselves to consider that.

Dr. Berry:
Wow. And then there\\u2019s another type where we talk about a person who just has some difficulty and confining. Right? So this is a person who, they understand like, you know, I need to tell the person something that, let me just see where he\'s at. But because they have poor judgment, they don\'t realize like, oh, Berry not the type you tell that to in a way he\'s going to laugh at you and make fun of you and then they regress, right? (Yup, Yup, Yup.) And then they\'re like a closed shell and then it\'s even harder to get them to open up again.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Listen, I\'ll tell you another story, does that tell you another quick story. And some of my boys and I, we try to catch a football game every year, right? So whether we drive somewhere or fly somewhere, some years we get it in other years because of work, we can\'t. One year I was just, I was having some difficulties. My wife and I, we were like disagreeing on some stuff. We were disagreeing on some stuff and for whatever reason, I didn\'t feel like I could talk to her. I knew I could, but I don\'t know. We were just bumping heads. And this trip was coming up and I was so grateful for this trip (it\'s almost like an escape.) Oh, it gave me a way out for a few days and so I go to pick up my boy and then I think we were two or three in the car and we\'re driving and I\'m sitting in the car and I said, man, they say, yo Jay, how are you doing?

I\'m like man, you know what man, is kind of messed up lately. That\'s what I said. And I can\'t tell you how much energy it took me to just kind of slide that just to say that. Right? But then I said that and then the guys in the car, they didn\'t say anything. (Silence. Just like as if you never even said anything.) They didn\'t say anything and in my mind I was like, look at these mofos right here, here I am screaming for help and blah blah blah. In hindsight, I was talking to one of them, this was maybe last year or two years ago, and I said, yo, you remember that trip? You remember that time? And he was like, kind of. I was like yo man, I was going through it and he goes, what? What do you mean? I said, yeah, and I said this. And he goes, what? That\'s all you said? We had a good laugh about it, man. But I\'m just like, oh my goodness, it is insane the things that we go through. All I had to say was, guys, I\'m struggling. If I had said, guys, I\'m struggling, they would have rallied around me. (Right.) But I hid that or I pretended.

Dr. Berry:
I guess the better question is, would you have been able to get that type of insight where you would have realized that that was the code word you would have needed, right? Because it sounds like you said it, but not in the way they were willing to like, oh I can\'t, I\'m not sure how to interpret this so I\'m not going to go in that direction.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Well, here\'s the thing though. One, I mean these guys are not counselors. So, I\'ve got to give them that much. And so I didn\'t necessarily communicate it in a way that they would\'ve gotten it. I communicated it in a way that was as painless and easy for me to get it out. And sometimes the two just don\'t connect. Right? What\'s easy for me to say doesn\'t translate into someone understanding that I have some challenges going on. But we spent the whole weekend together, tailgating, drinking, eating and the whole time I\'m worried about my relationship and my marriage and they didn\'t tell crap about that.

Dr. Berry:
Wow. It\'s funny. (It\\u2019s insane.) It\\u2019s insane, it really is because that really is how a lot of our relationships are formed. And whether we, the ones are actually forming that way. Right? Because again, like you know like your boy said, he\'s like, well why didn\'t you just say this? Like I would\'ve been ready to help but you didn\'t say.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
If nothing does, he would have been like yo dog, we got you. And you know what? That would have been all I needed at the time because again, I know they can\'t treat me. Yeah, I understand that. But I could have used a shoulder to lean on but I had to make the first move. Right? I had to be vulnerable in that sense. And that is something that we do not do well.

Dr. Berry:
Do you think we are capable of doing it well? Because I know we\'ve talked about women because they\'ve been ingrained in society. Has provided and allowed them that space. Do you think we\'re actually even capable of being that type of person who knows to reach out when they see that social media posts like, hey, reach out to my strong friend. Is that something that we can even do?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Without a doubt, man. We are capable. Because again, as men, as people, we have the capacity to do so much. We have the emotional capacity, we have the mental capacity, we are capable beings. The challenges, we are often not in a community, in a setting that creates a space for that. If you don\'t grow up observing that, if you don\'t grow up seeing your father, your cousin, your brother surrounded by men who put a hand on him, who hug him, who embrace each other, men who will cry together. Then you don\'t do that. You don\'t do that. You know, if you don\'t witness it, because it\'s a skill, right?

We\'re talking about communication. We\'re talking about personal and interpersonal skills. It is a skill. The same way we can learn to communicate better with the women in our lives. We can definitely communicate better with the men and our friends and our buddies, guys who come to rely on in other capacities. This would just simply be just another form of support for us. We are totally, we are more than capable.

Dr. Berry:
Okay. Alright. So for the men who are able to grow their skill and practice this skill and be actually proficient in doing it, what has been your experience as far as how has it affected the other parts of the relationship, just in general? What has been your experience for that type of guy who\'s able to reach out and say, hey, I need help or reach out to them and honestly be the person who someone reaches out to? What has been your experience in those types of men especially from a positive standpoint in regards to their other experiences and health and wealth and everything else?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
You know, it opens doors and windows you didn\'t know was there. Two things I said, you know, the two things that change your life - the books you read and the people you meet. And I\'ve met some brothers who have totally changed my life. Whether it\'s business connections, whether it\'s learning about this new place I need to visit or whether it\'s about just have to find someone with a similar interest, you know? But guys who are able to say that, you know, listen, it sounds cheesy, you feel just a little bit freer. You feel free to move because you\'re less concerned about all that baggage and all that crap. You got to hide and you got to make sure nobody sees and at the same time you\'re hiding it, but you\'re trying to look like you just gliding on the water all the damn time. It allows for so much more to happen once you are able to just express that.

Once you are able to say, hey guys, hey, I\'m not doing so hot right now. Or if you don\'t hear from me over the weekend, just a quick phone call. You know, just those little things. It totally changes people\'s, I know for me being able to do that, and again, it\'s not always easy. But with the guys in my life who I am able to do that with, the quality of my relationship with these guys, my quality of life and that\'s not an exaggeration, has dramatically improved.

Dr. Berry:
I love it. So first of all, I really want to thank you for being able to really come up and kind of open up some of the eyes. And even if it\'s a right, just some of the mental locks that are there, especially for men. Obviously, it\\u2019s Men\'s Health Month. They\\u2019re going to get talked about prostate cancer and all those stuff to deal, right?

But the fact that we\'re not allowing that to do blow over that mental health is important too. Right? A relationship is important. The fact that we\'re not allowing that to happen. I definitely want to thank you for coming onto the show and really driving home that fact. That I\'m not, I don\'t think anyone else could have, especially because again, and I\'m dating myself like as we speak, you\'re currently doing a Dadfident series, right? On Your podcast which I\'ve been listening to, especially the one with Mr. Tracy Martin. (Yeah.) Another discussion.

I mean the fact that you\'re able to kind of reach out and recognize and you\'re taking that mantle that it\'s difficult, right? I know it\'s difficult because it\'s difficult on the medical side, I love when, because I know the women are just easier, unfortunately. So I know when I got to do deal with men man, I got to put some work in it. But you\'re like headfirst. No, this is the group I want to go after.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
That\'s my people\'s man. That\'s my people. You know when you recognize somebody going through something that you went through and you learned a few things, so you learn one thing, you got one thing in your pocket and you say, yo bro, just do this. Like, don\'t even think about it. Do just do this thing. And I\'m sure you in in your field as well, you said, yo, just do this one thing and you\'ll be fine. You know, like I feel like that\'s what I\'m here for. I say, bro, just try this and you\'ll be fine. All this stuff that you got going on that you\'re struggling with. Trust me, trust me. (Yes.) Do these two things and you\'ll be good.

Dr. Berry:
I love it. Before we let you go, I always want to really highlight the amazing guests that we have here and just really the amazing stuff that they do. So this I like to call is more of my promo type hour. I want you to tell Lunch and Learn community, obviously, you know, what do you get to offer, books, obviously you\'re everywhere, right? Like, again, if you listen to his bio, this guy\'s been everywhere. But you have anything you\'ve got going on right now, whether it be courses, books, seminars, speaking engagement, what\'s going on in your world, obviously outside of this camping trip and that you\'ve got to get off?

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
The easiest way to find out about us, I\'ll put this in upfront is mercierwellness.com and so that\'s the website, everything Mercier. And so by Mercier, I\'m talking myself and my wife, Herdyne. We have a podcast where we talk couple stuff, whether that\'s communication, finances, parenting, we\'re wrapping up season one and prepping for season two. And so that\'s a lot of fun. It\'s a lot more fun than we thought it would be.

Dr. Berry:
Oh yes. And I can tell you Lunch and Learn community, me and my wife were on there. It was an amazing time. (Yes.) And I will make sure that link is in the show notes as well too. Amazing time. My wife and his wife know each other very well.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Of course, they do right? They\\u2019re women. They just know. And even if they didn\'t know each other, they would know each other because that\'s what women do.

Dr. Berry:
You know, so funny story especially that, I hate to cut you off. When your wife was actually reaching out to my wife, she even realizes like I was the husband. So she\'s like, oh can you get your husband, was like, oh, Mercier. She was like, who\\u2019s the husband? Berry Pierre. Oh, Berry Pierre! Like it was totally oblivious. Right? Everything was all about my wife at that time.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
That\'s it. As I tell my wife, you\'re the connector here, you do it all. That\'s just how women are and we need women in our lives. So, Mercier Wellness. mercierwellness.com (That\\u2019s right.) The name of the podcast is The Couple\'s Council. That\'s what it\'s called. And that\'s everywhere on iTunes, that\'s everywhere. Once you\'re on iTunes, Stitcher, Google podcast, we\\u2019re there. We\'re getting ready to do, Herdyne and I were getting ready to do like a couple series, a couple\\u2019s couple series. One about intimacy because this is also another area when it comes to sex and intimacy. Couples are not communicating about that.

Dr. Berry:
Wow. And if you think you were going to communicate with anybody, it\'d be your significant other.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Who you laying in bed with. Who you just living your life with day in and day out. And so recognizing this need where we were putting together a workshop about couples and intimacy. On the flip side, we\'re also gonna be releasing some new, starting up some new webinars, online webinars. People can log on and watch about different topics. So in addition to the podcast, we have those things that are dripping out and on the dad fit in front dead. You know, once I say this and I have to follow through with it and I almost don\'t want to go.

Dr. Berry:
Let\\u2019s go. He\\u2019s on record right now. Let\'s go.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
I know, right? There\\u2019s a book that semi-done right? It\\u2019s called Dadfident: Black Fathers as Primary Caregivers. (Oh! I like that.) The idea that the black fathers don\'t do that. And that\'s a bald-faced lie, not all black and brown fathers are locked up or absent. So that\'s going to drop soon. And there\'s a couple of things that follow that. So we\'re busy around here and just trying to do some good work, man.

Dr. Berry:
I love it. And before you go, I always ask this question, how is what you\'re doing really helping to empower the men, especially obviously the dads and whatever they\'re at in life, really improve their mental health and wellbeing and social relationships and everything above.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
We are empowered. Once you begin to see that it\'s possible, you know, seeing is believing. And as men, you know, listen, you could tell me what you want, but show me, show me if you can show me that it works, you might have a chance. And so not only do I preach this and I teach this, but I strive to be even a role model. I don\'t like that. But I understand why that word exists. You know, I started to be an example to say, hey, it\'s okay. You know, do this because I do it too. So I understand I\'m not selling you something I don\'t know. And I recognize that seeing someone who looks like you, talks like you, eat with you, who lives your life, do these things that you\'ve been told historically you cannot do. That\'s where the empowerment comes from.

Dr. Berry:
I love it. Again, Lunch and Learn community members, definitely an amazing way to end Men\'s Health Month. But understanding that Men\'s Health Month is just a mouth. Like we gotta be about our health 24/7, 12 months out the year, right? So again Dr. Mercier, thank you for really blessing Lunch and Learn community, in a podcast with just such amazing introspection to what you have to deal with and really what men have to deal with and how to get better.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Listen, this has been awesome for me as well. Listen, I could talk this all day. I appreciate the invitation and anytime you want to get out there, man, get out in the woods. You let me know. We\'d been saying we gotta Hook Up, man. (Yes.) We\\u2019re in the same area.

Dr. Berry:
We were probably like less than half an hour away. We were really in the same county. (There\'s no reason why we can\'t make it happen Dr. B.) All right. You know what? This is what we plan it right on the wax here, right? So I will be camping out. I\'m putting it out. I\'m going to camp. I\'m going to go out and camp.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
There\'s gonna be footage of it too. (Yes.) That\'s fact once it\'s documented.

Dr. Berry:
Yeah. Alright. You have a great day. Thank you again.

Dr. Jameson Mercier:
Thank you.

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