The podcast is now in session! Join the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement Victor (Vic) Armstrong, MSW, as he speaks with Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren about her role as the pioneer of America’s first Mental Health Court in 1977, creating a human rights model dedicated to the decriminalization of persons living with mental illness.

Throughout the discussion, Vic and Justice Wren – who serves as the presiding County Court Judge of the Misdemeanor Mental Health Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County, Florida, and is a Judicial Representative for the Executive Committee of The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention – will discuss her motivation for creating a mental health court, its impact and how the initiative of mental health courts have grown, and their role in a national strategy for suicide prevention.

Strong Talk is a podcast dedicated to the discussion of equity, diversity, and family as it relates to mental health and addictions. We started this podcast because we believe that we are at a pivotal point, as it pertains to access to mental health services for historically marginalized communities. We wanted to create a space, not only to talk about challenges, but to explore and to create space for solutions.