December 2, 2024 • 8 mins
Joe Lane on Community Support and Mental Wellness
In this episode, Joe Lane, a pastor and community engagement specialist, discusses his roles at New Life Christian Center of Muskegon and Reese Puffer Schools. Joe shares his extensive experience working with over 10,000 students and emphasizes the importance of individual impact in community support. He addresses the stigma around mental health, especially within the African American community, and the need for open dialogue and support. Joe recounts a poignant story about his 'brother' Lawrence Leathers, a talented musician who overcame numerous challenges to achieve success, highlighting the profound difference one person can make.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:17):
Good
morning.
Good afternoon.
My name is Joe Lane.
I have a number of roles,
but I pastored New LifeChristian Center of Muskegon
And I am the communityengagement specialist for Reese
Puffer schools Those are two primarythings that I do which allow me
to basically step into people'slives and help support guide
encourage,
model, counsel, Etc.
(00:40):
so I just get the real
cool opportunity
to be able to be engaged and active in
people people's lives, not justin muskegon not just in reese
puffer, but really all over the
country So, um, it's it's aprivilege to be able to do
that and most of my work isbased on my own experience.
in addition to that,obviously, I'm trauma informed.
(01:02):
I have some training through, CornellUniversity with, therapeutic crisis
interventions and things like that.
So just
a lot of my life experience connected to
my own
work
experience.
of being an educator and being an
administrator, have collectivelybecome what I get to do for our
community
A lot of times people in thecommunity think I'm just one person.
(01:24):
What kind of difference can I make?
But how important is it in your
opinion
from the
things you're involved inthat community support?
Yeah.
And, let me be clear, I can only
speak from my context and my ownexperience, and so as I talk, I
talk a lot from that experience.
There's an old adage the starfish
wasn't saddened by one person throwingthe starfish back in the in the water
(01:47):
So one person makes a difference.
I think i'm privileged in my
career that i've seen over 10 000 students
so as one
person I've seen 10, 000
students even as recent as yesterday.
I talked to one of my studentswho's nearly 40 years old that
again We keep that connection and
I don't think
it's
the ministry of addition.
I think it's the ministryof multiplication
(02:07):
Amen So if I can take my one
person and impart some of my one person
into
a thousand people, then thosethousand people can impart that
into, and so it's just that model.
Mental wellness in the community.
Talk to me about, uh,the role that that plays
in the direction you
do.
Yeah.
(02:27):
So
first of all, it's a stigma, right?
So we, we don't
want to talk
about the fact that we're not mentally
well.
even my own
self, Going to therapy was a thing thatI was like, I don't need to, I don't,
I shouldn't until I started goingand realizing the benefit of that.
even for me, mental wellness is not
much different thanphysical wellness in the
fact that everybody's sick somewhere.
(02:49):
And so we like to thinkabout mental health
of, I have to be so bad off, but mentalhealth is just like physical health.
I I'm trying to staybetter and get better.
So whether I'm already in
shape.
I don't stop going to the gym, but I thinkin mental health, we, we like to think
like, I don't need that, but we do.
(03:10):
And so
what happens is, it's perpetuated across
our
communities, across our culture,especially in the African American
community.
Well, yeah, we don't need to do that.
We don't talk about our issues.
And, there's been
this cycle of not talking aboutthings that have kept things under
rugs and kept things under wraps.
And then, those issues and those
(03:30):
lapses in
mental health have now,been poured on the next
generation and the next generation.
and the
next generation.
And then, we're looking fourgenerations down the road, realizing,
wow, there's so many things
that we haven't addressed.
And
now we're way behind trying to addressthese things and trying to get up and
keep up.
and
I see it,
especially in schools.
When I talk to young people, especiallyyoung men and young African American
(03:52):
men who don't have an outlet for some ofthe stuff that they're really struggling
with, then you give them the outlet
and the opportunity and even as a personwho's not a, a mental health clinician,
but to give them a space to
talk,
you can already start to see
The healing
share a story and I'm sure you havedozens, but think of one story about,
(04:14):
uh, a success story
where somebody was
introduced to maybe that support
and
stigma.
You saw the stigma kind of go
from, ah, I can't go andsay anything about that.
And I'm going to
and engage now.
And,
and And, what
happened?
Sure.
I'm just trying to think of, ofwhich story I want to talk about.
I'm going to talk about one that may not
seem like a success story in the long run,but, Considering today is his birthday.
(04:37):
I'm going to I'm going to talk about it.
So my little
brother, who was my play brother, who
became my brother, had lots of trauma, hadlots of stuff going on in his background.
When we met he was eight years
old and then he was my drummer at
church And we just spentlots of time together.
We were together every saturday everysunday I worked at the school that he
went to so we were together every dayduring school and I was kind of his go
(05:00):
to.
person And he
had no place to give that outlet for
the baggage and stuff that was going on
in his own house, right?
So
then we started to talk
and then he I started to becomea person that he could confide
in and that he, was comfortable withso the end of the story isn't good.
He ended up being murderedand it was tragic.
But that was such
(05:21):
a better outcome than what
would have and shouldhave happened in his life
based on the stuff that he wentthrough before that happened he
Became a really talented musician And
graduated from high school
because he was such a talentedgifted Brilliant genius of a kid.
I mean like not just in music, but in
everything like mathematicallyarticulation people loved Lawrence.
(05:42):
His name is Lawrence Leathersand people loved Lawrence.
You because of how
creative and talented
and articulate and savvyand charismatic he was.
but a lot of that growthwas because Lawrence and
I had some similar experiences thatI was able to say, Look, man, this is
how
I jumped over that hurdle.
This is the, and
I didn't jump through
that hurdle.
But
in order for you to get where youwant to go, you got to play this game.
(06:04):
You've got to go through
this channel.
You got to do this
thing.
And subsequently.
Lawrence graduated from high school,
went on to the Juilliard School ofMusic, left Juilliard because he was
touring so much, and became a twotime Grammy award winning drummer.
traveled all over the world and, thisone area of his life that he still
didn't get a hold of was the tragedy.
(06:25):
but really all of these things, Iremember when we were in Europe and he
flew me to Europe to go on tour with himand he said, look, look, look at this.
Who would have ever thought, and PharrellWilliams and Jill Scott and Gregory
Porter's bands are coming to him saying,man, you're here, you're playing.
And I'm like, they're talking about you.
And he's like, yeah,this is just what I do.
And, you know, and then I think when youtalk about community support, you know,
(06:47):
Lawrence is my brother and everybodyhe introduced me to was, this is my
brother who taught me how to play drums.
So it was a cool thing.
But out of that, when he cameback home from Europe, he
came to visit me in Muskegon.
And he brought me a gift,and that gift was his Grammy.
And so, when you talk about communitysupport and community connection, that's
just what we get to be for one another.
(07:09):
So again, back to yourearlier question about what
difference does one person make?
Sure.
You know, One personmakes a lot of difference.
and yeah, there's dozens of thosestories that I get the privilege of
knowing whether it's, my choir studentsor or even, people from church.
So it's just the privilege and wecan't resolve ourself to believe
that we don't matter enough to beable to impart, into someone else.
(07:33):
The thing I like most about whatyou said there, uh, it was impressed
upon me that you did the bulk ofthat work without any letters behind
your name without fancy degree.
You just showed up and youwere present, empathetic.
You are present.
There's a ministry in presence.
Yeah.
letters don't bring change.
degrees don't impact your impact.
(07:54):
that stuff is inconsequential.
I, the reason, I mean, I have, Ihave a master's degree, I have a BA.
The reason I have those is so people can'ttake me out of spaces that I get to be in.
Absolutely.
I heard, Chris end up in Edmond.
I'm saying his name wrong.
speak.
And he said, my degree is onlya certificate to emancipate
me to be able to do the thingsthat I need to be able to do.
(08:17):
And so with a master's degreein education, I can talk in
spaces that other people can't.
And I think not only can I, butI'm obligated and privileged
to be able to do that.
And if I don't do that, woe unto me.
Thank you for your work.
Yeah, thank you.
Good
morning.
Good afternoon.
My name is Joe Lane.
I have a number of roles,
but I pastored New LifeChristian Center of Muskegon
And I am the communityengagement specialist for Reese
Puffer schools Those are two primarythings that I do which allow me
to basically step into people'slives and help support guide
encourage,
model, counsel, Etc.
(00:40):
so I just get the real
cool opportunity
to be able to be engaged and active in
people people's lives, not justin muskegon not just in reese
puffer, but really all over the
country So, um, it's it's aprivilege to be able to do
that and most of my work isbased on my own experience.
in addition to that,obviously, I'm trauma informed.
(01:02):
I have some training through, CornellUniversity with, therapeutic crisis
interventions and things like that.
So just
a lot of my life experience connected to
my own
work
experience.
of being an educator and being an
administrator, have collectivelybecome what I get to do for our
community
A lot of times people in thecommunity think I'm just one person.
(01:24):
What kind of difference can I make?
But how important is it in your
opinion
from the
things you're involved inthat community support?
Yeah.
And, let me be clear, I can only
speak from my context and my ownexperience, and so as I talk, I
talk a lot from that experience.
There's an old adage the starfish
wasn't saddened by one person throwingthe starfish back in the in the water
(01:47):
So one person makes a difference.
I think i'm privileged in my
career that i've seen over 10 000 students
so as one
person I've seen 10, 000
students even as recent as yesterday.
I talked to one of my studentswho's nearly 40 years old that
again We keep that connection and
I don't think
it's
the ministry of addition.
I think it's the ministryof multiplication
(02:07):
Amen So if I can take my one
person and impart some of my one person
into
a thousand people, then thosethousand people can impart that
into, and so it's just that model.
Mental wellness in the community.
Talk to me about, uh,the role that that plays
in the direction you
do.
Yeah.
(02:27):
So
first of all, it's a stigma, right?
So we, we don't
want to talk
about the fact that we're not mentally
well.
even my own
self, Going to therapy was a thing thatI was like, I don't need to, I don't,
I shouldn't until I started goingand realizing the benefit of that.
even for me, mental wellness is not
much different thanphysical wellness in the
fact that everybody's sick somewhere.
(02:49):
And so we like to thinkabout mental health
of, I have to be so bad off, but mentalhealth is just like physical health.
I I'm trying to staybetter and get better.
So whether I'm already in
shape.
I don't stop going to the gym, but I thinkin mental health, we, we like to think
like, I don't need that, but we do.
(03:10):
And so
what happens is, it's perpetuated across
our
communities, across our culture,especially in the African American
community.
Well, yeah, we don't need to do that.
We don't talk about our issues.
And, there's been
this cycle of not talking aboutthings that have kept things under
rugs and kept things under wraps.
And then, those issues and those
(03:30):
lapses in
mental health have now,been poured on the next
generation and the next generation.
and the
next generation.
And then, we're looking fourgenerations down the road, realizing,
wow, there's so many things
that we haven't addressed.
And
now we're way behind trying to addressthese things and trying to get up and
keep up.
and
I see it,
especially in schools.
When I talk to young people, especiallyyoung men and young African American
(03:52):
men who don't have an outlet for some ofthe stuff that they're really struggling
with, then you give them the outlet
and the opportunity and even as a personwho's not a, a mental health clinician,
but to give them a space to
talk,
you can already start to see
The healing
share a story and I'm sure you havedozens, but think of one story about,
(04:14):
uh, a success story
where somebody was
introduced to maybe that support
and
stigma.
You saw the stigma kind of go
from, ah, I can't go andsay anything about that.
And I'm going to
and engage now.
And,
and And, what
happened?
Sure.
I'm just trying to think of, ofwhich story I want to talk about.
I'm going to talk about one that may not
seem like a success story in the long run,but, Considering today is his birthday.
(04:37):
I'm going to I'm going to talk about it.
So my little
brother, who was my play brother, who
became my brother, had lots of trauma, hadlots of stuff going on in his background.
When we met he was eight years
old and then he was my drummer at
church And we just spentlots of time together.
We were together every saturday everysunday I worked at the school that he
went to so we were together every dayduring school and I was kind of his go
(05:00):
to.
person And he
had no place to give that outlet for
the baggage and stuff that was going on
in his own house, right?
So
then we started to talk
and then he I started to becomea person that he could confide
in and that he, was comfortable withso the end of the story isn't good.
He ended up being murderedand it was tragic.
But that was such
(05:21):
a better outcome than what
would have and shouldhave happened in his life
based on the stuff that he wentthrough before that happened he
Became a really talented musician And
graduated from high school
because he was such a talentedgifted Brilliant genius of a kid.
I mean like not just in music, but in
everything like mathematicallyarticulation people loved Lawrence.
(05:42):
His name is Lawrence Leathersand people loved Lawrence.
You because of how
creative and talented
and articulate and savvyand charismatic he was.
but a lot of that growthwas because Lawrence and
I had some similar experiences thatI was able to say, Look, man, this is
how
I jumped over that hurdle.
This is the, and
I didn't jump through
that hurdle.
But
in order for you to get where youwant to go, you got to play this game.
(06:04):
You've got to go through
this channel.
You got to do this
thing.
And subsequently.
Lawrence graduated from high school,
went on to the Juilliard School ofMusic, left Juilliard because he was
touring so much, and became a twotime Grammy award winning drummer.
traveled all over the world and, thisone area of his life that he still
didn't get a hold of was the tragedy.
(06:25):
but really all of these things, Iremember when we were in Europe and he
flew me to Europe to go on tour with himand he said, look, look, look at this.
Who would have ever thought, and PharrellWilliams and Jill Scott and Gregory
Porter's bands are coming to him saying,man, you're here, you're playing.
And I'm like, they're talking about you.
And he's like, yeah,this is just what I do.
And, you know, and then I think when youtalk about community support, you know,
(06:47):
Lawrence is my brother and everybodyhe introduced me to was, this is my
brother who taught me how to play drums.
So it was a cool thing.
But out of that, when he cameback home from Europe, he
came to visit me in Muskegon.
And he brought me a gift,and that gift was his Grammy.
And so, when you talk about communitysupport and community connection, that's
just what we get to be for one another.
(07:09):
So again, back to yourearlier question about what
difference does one person make?
Sure.
You know, One personmakes a lot of difference.
and yeah, there's dozens of thosestories that I get the privilege of
knowing whether it's, my choir studentsor or even, people from church.
So it's just the privilege and wecan't resolve ourself to believe
that we don't matter enough to beable to impart, into someone else.
(07:33):
The thing I like most about whatyou said there, uh, it was impressed
upon me that you did the bulk ofthat work without any letters behind
your name without fancy degree.
You just showed up and youwere present, empathetic.
You are present.
There's a ministry in presence.
Yeah.
letters don't bring change.
degrees don't impact your impact.
(07:54):
that stuff is inconsequential.
I, the reason, I mean, I have, Ihave a master's degree, I have a BA.
The reason I have those is so people can'ttake me out of spaces that I get to be in.
Absolutely.
I heard, Chris end up in Edmond.
I'm saying his name wrong.
speak.
And he said, my degree is onlya certificate to emancipate
me to be able to do the thingsthat I need to be able to do.
(08:17):
And so with a master's degreein education, I can talk in
spaces that other people can't.
And I think not only can I, butI'm obligated and privileged
to be able to do that.
And if I don't do that, woe unto me.
Thank you for your work.
Yeah, thank you.
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