The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Shanti Das On Mental Health Education, Finding Your 'Happy' Place, Outkast's Cultural Impact + More🦋

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Shanti Das Discuss Mental Health Education, Finding Your 'Happy' Place, Outkast's Cultural Impact 🦋. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

And the dream season is now complete. The Golden State Warriors are the 2015 NBA champions. On the new limited podcast series, Dub Dynasty, it's been 10 years since their shocking run to a championship. We examine the controversial move that made it possible. It's never a great conversation as a player when you hear that you're being benched. For the entire behind the scenes story of Golden State's incredible 10 year run, listen to Dub Dynasty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos.

You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen.

One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. The best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations. But if we're honest, most people run from them, staying silent, missing chances and holding themselves back.

I know this is true because I used to be like that until I realized that negotiation isn't a talent, it's a skill that anyone can learn. And once I did, everything changed. I went from people pleaser to confident communicator and now I teach Fortune 500 leaders and top executives how to do the same. Listen to Negotiate Anything on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. top executives how to do the same. Listen to negotiate anything on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts,

Bloomberg, and Kaleidoscope about the rise of deepfake pornography and the battle to stop it. Listen to Levertown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up. In the morning. The Breakfast Club.

Morning everybody, it's DJ N.V. Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy, we are The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody, it's DJ NVE Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy, we are The Breakfast Club. It is mental health awareness month. Yes it is. And you know what we do each and every May, May 5th to be exact, Silence the Shame Day, and we have a very special guest, Shanti Dias. Welcome back.

Hey! How are you boo? How you feeling? I'm feeling good actually. So 10 years ago, I almost took my own life. Well, it'll be 10 years in September. So this is like my year of rebirth. That's what I'm calling it.

And I'm in such a good place. Amen. In space and I have really accepted being like this mental health advocate and doing this work and not being stressed about going back in the music industry, even though I'm still proud of my boys like outcasts. You just got to, you know,

gonna be inducted into the Hall of Fame. And so it's just, it's good. I'm feeling really good. So thanks for asking. Before we get into the Silence of Shame Day and Mental Health Awareness Month, I do wanna ask you, what does OutKast being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame mean to you?

Cause you was there from day one. It means everything. Day zero, actually. Yeah, Play Us Ball was the first record I ever worked. And so shout out to Andre big the late Rico way organized noise It's like the holy grail right of music and so they finally achieved that and I couldn't be more proud and just to have been There passing out like cassettes during Freak Nick and you know the southern playlist Which we need documented

Yeah, I just see you on there when they they were talking about you, you had to go there and give out cassettes and all that. Until this day, it's crazy. Like, whenever I see Too Short, he was like, yo, you gave me that cassette, and was like, yo, check out my new group, OutKast. They're going to be dope. And we laugh about it all the time.

Did you know that OutKast would become the global iconic superstars that they became? I mean, you never know, right? But I had the O on my chest, right? The L on my chest, LaFace, Outkast, and I just was really committed and dedicated because I knew that the A was gonna support them. It was a different sound.

And like, you know, in Atlanta, we grew up supporting East Coast rap, West Coast rap, but we didn't really have our own, even though we had people like Shadi, they hadn't really received national attention, right? And we would always wear like Dodger's hats or Yankees hats, but finally we could wear like the Falcons logo and the Braze gear

because Big Boy Andre made that cool. And they really brought like Atlanta to the world, like Usher's doing now on his tour, right? He bringing the A to the world, but Outkast set that up initially and really transformed hip hop. I mean, I know they transformed southern hip hop, but look at a lot of the artists that are still influential,

they're still from the south. And so to have been at the forefront of that and been right there with them, I can't explain it. It kind of solidified even just me and my journey and what I've been able to contribute to the music culture. OutKast is arguably the greatest hip hop group of all time and one of the greatest groups period

in music of all time. 100%, yeah. 100%, yep. You know, so when you started the show, you were talking about your rebirth, right? You thought about committing suicide 10 years ago. Now with this day and age, what do you tell somebody that's possibly thinking the same thing, you know,

is stressful, you know, they're looking at the price of everything going up, it's hard to, you know, they're looking at the price of everything going up. It's hard to get a job. They're looking at politics. And they might feel left out. They might feel like there's no place for them. So what do you tell that person, especially in this social media world

where nobody wants to be your friend and it's a very evil place, what do you tell that person, that individual? First of all, it's like honor your feelings. If you're not feeling good, you gotta acknowledge that, right? I coined this new little acronym, RAP, wrapping through your problems.

The R is being able to recognize those unfamiliar feelings. The A in RAP is acknowledging and accepting, right? Something ain't right. I don't feel like myself. And the P is being able to process through those feelings with a licensed professional counselor or someone that can actually help you, even if you call your PCP, your primary doctor, and say, I'm not feeling like myself.

So you got to be able to recognize, accept, and acknowledge those feelings and understand that you got to protect your peace at all costs. You got to be unapologetic, right? Now more so than ever, because like you said, we're getting hit in a lot of different directions and people will be like, oh yeah, we all in this together. Not really. We might be in the same storm, but we ain't in the same boat. And whether it's socioeconomic factors,

lack of access to care, it's not the same. And we can't pretend that it's the same. And I know we have people that wanna help and do more, but you gotta dig deep inside yourself, because even when I was going through my suicidal ideation, I had to dig into my faith and my spirituality, and I had to also talk to people and let people in, so that's truly important. And then I tell people, you gotta remove things

that aren't serving you anymore. You can't just be a people pleaser. Like let go of the scrolling, the doom scrolling and all of that, and really focus and be present with yourself. And sometimes therapy isn't for everyone, but doing like sound baths or getting out walking, immersing yourself in nature, like all of that really matters.

And like for me now, if I'm not feeling good, cause I still go through my moments, I'll just get up and go outside and take a walk, or I'll tell people like, hey, I need a minute. And it's okay, that's your time, that's your mind, that's your body, that's your spirit. So you gotta really take ownership of your mental health and wellness

because every day y'all is something different. Like I'm like, am I in a movie? Like I get scripted into something I didn't sign up for because it's really scary. And then even seeing yesterday, I know you can't believe everything you see on social media but I try to go to reputable outlets, right, like the Breakfast Club.

But I saw on one of the other outlets that the federal government is considering canceling $1 billion of funding for mental health for students, being able to provide additional counselors and that sort of thing in school systems across the nation. And that's really scary. And we know how mental health is affecting young kids because of this little thing right here.

And I don't just only blame social media, but it's a lot of pressure. And these kids need the support. So y'all, we gotta fight back, and fight back in terms of protecting your peace, getting the help you need, reaching out to organizations like Silence of Shame. There's a super dope lady I met last week

at the Accelerate, her conference in Miami. Her name is Ashanti and she does a lot of healing. And so she just talked about the importance of really immersing yourself in these healing practices with everything that's going on, right? And so I'm recommitting myself to whatever I'm doing is giving time for Ashanti. If I gotta set an appointment at three o'clock

during the day for Shanti to step away and take a moment and breathe or get a massage or do something, you just gotta do it, y'all. What do you advise for people to find their happy place? So I realized, my biggest happy place is my family. I can cut off, I enjoy watching my daughters dance, I enjoy watching my son play soccer, I enjoy talking to the kids cooking

So I found my happy place right? We how do you tell somebody to find their happy place? Well, you know, how do you do that because it has to be a place where they just let go and release 100% but think about some of the most joyful time and I know everybody's life wasn't the same So let me start with that. Some people did not have a happy upbringing and I'm sorry for that Right if that was your truth in your journey but if you did have fun when you were growing up go back to when you were like eight years old like what you want me to play with Legos whatever it is what do you and what did you used to do to make you happy?

Playing outside that's why I love grounding so much. I tell adults that all the time. Take your shoes off, especially now you just want to take your shoes off, take your socks off. Go walk around barefoot in the grass. Just run around the yard. Ride your bike. Ride your bike. Like, think about how joyous you felt as a kid

when you simply played outside. I was over at my cousin's house the other day, and I started playing with the Rubik's Cube, and I was like, yo, I forgot how much I love this. And it had me going for like an hour. But just find things that used to bring you joy. Get your Barbie doll, Jess. Period.

Oh, I'm already happy and overjoyed. So I don't need to go through that. You gotta find that inner child. That is so important. Yeah, I'm glad that you are actually somebody that can speak up who has gone through the whole thoughts of suicide and everything like that, because you had to be going through some real things.

It's this guy on social media who is documenting, like he's planning to take his own life, you know, and he's documenting every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's on social media. And one of my people who I fixed their mess on, Jess with the mess, they sent this person to me. And so he's just every day he's leading up. So he's going around like spending time, spending his last moments with like his friends and his loved ones and stuff. And then nobody stepped in and he he's not telling them. He's not telling everybody what he's doing. But I'm like, how is nobody seeing like because he's online.

He documents this. He doesn't delete it. His lives and stuff. He posts them. Right. And so he's going to dinner with his people, just talking life going around the world talking to strangers about life and things like that And then just last week like he went on this date, you know what a guy or whatever then you know, like he had sex with the guy and everything and and he got online to say how great it was so he's just doing things that Like he thinks we're going to list, right, before he go. And then like he was on Live Happy just like a couple days ago

and I'm like, so are you doing this for, you know, the clout and some dick or are you just, you know what I'm saying, are you, you know what I mean? It's wild but it's, well in that case, but this is like his, he's like 30 days countdown and it's like, he got like nine days left. I hope that someone is intervening. Yeah. Right, because if it's out there like his, he's like 30 days countdown, and it's like he got like nine days left. I hope that someone is intervening. Yeah.

Because if it's out there like that, then somebody in his family or his friend circle should be intervening and having him call 9-8-8, which is the National Cards is Lifeline. Yes. Super important. And that's the thing. I mean, I'm not being judgmental,

but I hope he knows that his life is important and that help is available if he really is truly hurting that bad. That's what I'm not judgmental, but I hope he knows that his life is important and that help is available if he really is truly hurting that bad. Because all he's doing is putting band-aids over the situation and what's going on. These happy moments could just be band-aids if he's really in crisis. Put the phone down though, like how are you documenting

something that is so, that's leading up to something so tragic. It does, it does. I wanna ask you this Sh Shanti, about suicide. Sometimes, I'm sure you're familiar with the Mel Robbins' let them theory, right? Which is basically let people make their own choices, like whatever it is they wanna do.

So sometimes you hear adults complaining, nothing is ever going right for them. They always telling you about all the bad that's happening in their world. They talk to you about wanting to commit suicide, and you strangely start to understand where they're coming from. Oh yeah. You know, and you realize encouraging them to get help isn't working.

So do you just let those people make their own choices? Like. That's a really great question. It's a tough question at the same time. You know, the thing about it, the reason why with Silence of Shame, we try to provide as many resources as possible, but you can't make someone do something, right, that they don't want to do.

But you can try to be a positive influence in their lives. And so I've talked to people, you know, who have been contemplating and I've shared my story. That's why I think storytelling is so important and people have to speak up and share their stories around it. I don't think you just kinda like relinquish everything and let it go, but you try to be there for them and keep encouraging them as much as possible

and putting resources in front of them and showing them how other people have survived because the last thing you wanna do is kinda wash your hands of it and then a week or two later something happens. But then, yes, you're right, but then we also gotta protect our peace. Oh, 100%.

So it's just like. So you do it to the extent, to your point, that you are kinda protecting your peace. Because again, people have choices, right? God gave man and woman choice. So you can only do so much. But, and then faith comes into play. I'm a woman of faith,

and so I'll continue to pray for that person. So yeah, do what you can as much as possible, put the resources in front of them, and you know, let's hope and pray for the best. But a lot of times when people are in crisis, they don't know how to get the help, right? Or they need somebody to say, hey, I'll go to the doctor with you, or I'll help y'all walk with you through this process, and you can only do what you can do. And you were right, so Trump administration did discontinue $1 billion in school mental health grants

and the grant supported hiring schools, psychologists and counselors. And it was funded by bipartisan legislation that was passed after the 2022 massacre at U, what is it, Uvalde? Uvalde, Texas? Yeah, cause see a lot of schools, sometimes they might have one counselor

for like 10 schools. And it's like the number of kids that Texas. Yeah, because see a lot of schools, sometimes they might have one counselor for like 10 schools. And it's like the number of kids that are in crisis, like that's just not enough help and support. And sometimes they're not licensed professional counselors, they just may be social workers, which social workers are great, but oftentimes if these kids need to learn how to get through the crisis that they're in,

they need someone that's licensed, right? And more of a professional counselor. So, y'all gotta call your legislators, talk to your senators, talk to your congressmen and women, and we gotta push back on this because we need that funding, right? We need to keep pouring into our kids. And then this is, oh, right.

I was gonna ask, do you see the suicide rates going up and depression going up, or do you see it stabilized, or do you see it coming down with all the mental health talk and all the, you know, platforms and places where people have to go now? What do you see? So from what I think the last study that I saw was like from 2021 or either 2022 and suicide rates, particularly for black youth who are up 30%.

You know, a lot of those studies, they don't happen every single year, right? Those large pool of research studies, but there has been an uptick. Even just two weeks ago, there was a young man in Atlanta who happened to have gone to prom two years ago, and then some of my other friends' cousins knew him. He took his own life.

So I still see, I'm still getting texts and comments about these young people like taking their own lives And so it's still prevalent. I don't blame it on social media Is that what they're saying it is or they're saying lack of resources in the school or like what are they saying? The reason is I'm always curious because I just feel like You know when we were growing up we would we were just as bad But we just didn't have that social media element where people were constantly going out I don't think we had the language nor do I think we had the same spaces to even express those issues.

Like my dad was dealing with all types of mental health issues that he never talked to me about until I was like 40 years old. And we didn't know how to name it or what to call it either, right? But even with all that, it's getting worse. It feels like it should be getting better now that your dad could talk and that I can talk

and be open and Jess could talk, but I feel like it should be getting better, but it doesn't seem like it is. Well, you know, I don't know if I can talk and be open and Jess could talk, but I feel like it should be getting better, but it doesn't seem like it is. Well, you know, I don't know if I can pinpoint it on one particular thing, Envy, but I do think it is still a lack of resources in some areas, because it's still in underserved communities. People know about it, but they aren't taking that next step.

That's why I'm proud I have an announcement. So we created this PSA campaign, and it was around black men's mental health. And it was called Healing the Spaces Between Us. And so it was a grandfather, a father and a son. And we just got nominated for a Southeast Emmy, y'all. Hey, congratulations. Shout out to Megan Short-Jour Pringle, who is our creative director in Oak Films,

who put it together. But, you know, we're really trying to push that narrative, especially to, you know, young black men and their grandparents and their fathers. y'all get together and talk about it. Nothing to be ashamed about, but you gotta put your cars out on the table and talk about it. And yesterday in Atlanta, well, not yesterday, but last week was Black Children's Mental Health Day, right?

Yep. So two years ago, Senator Anderson in the state of Georgia wrote a resolution designating May 1st as Black Children's Mental Health Day in Georgia on behalf of Silence of Shame. We'd love to do that in New York, so maybe we could partner with the Mental Welfare Alliance and designate May 1st in New York State.

Because again, we're trying to just bring awareness to the problems that's going on, so we can try to cut off the numbers, right, that keep increasing for suicides. Absolutely. And you know, this is Mental Health Awareness Month, and there's always a lot of focus on raising awareness, right, but how do we move past just awareness

and start action steps for actual healing? Again, I think you gotta meet people where they're at. Again, you talked about the uncertain times, like part of our, we have a mental health toolkit on silencedashamed.com, a number of things that you can do to honor the month and to push resources out to the community. So one of the areas we're focusing on

is fire and rescue, because we've seen all these natural disasters and things happening in the world, so we're pushing out resources that are targeted to the firefighters and to people that are out there on the front lines. Also, we did a toolkit for the federal workers, right? A lot of people that had been let go. I think maybe half of the people that got let go

were due to the cuts within this administration. And so we wanna talk directly to those that are suffering from a federal employee perspective, letting them know to establish a routine, even though you got let go, get your daily routine going, even if it's like looking for that next job, like establish a routine so you can protect your peace and practice mindfulness and reach out if you need support.

So we're trying to target specific subgroups and people within the community. And so you just gotta, you gotta be forceful in a way about it so that we are unapologetic about healing and getting help that we need, but looking at specific groups of people. Because we can all say we're all in this together forceful in a way about it so that we are unapologetic about healing and getting help that we need, but looking at specific groups of people.

Because we can all say we're all in this together, mental health is important, we know we gotta take care of it, but when you talk directly at a specific group of people, I think that's when you start moving the needle and getting people to listen. Absolutely. Well how can people, if they wanna tap in and they wanna hear more information or they wanna help,

how can they get involved? First of all, visit our website, if they want to tap in and they want to hear more information or they want to help, how can they get involved? First of all, visit our website, silencetheshame.com. Again, today is National Silence the Shame Day, and we have a campaign. It's May 5th. We just want people to get $5. The $5, I will say, if it's too difficult for you, please save your money, pay your rent, do whatever you got to do. But if you can spare $5 or more, you can text the word silence to 707070.

Also understand that 988 is a free resources out there. We recently partnered with the city of Atlanta. Shout out to Mayor Dickens and Courtney English who came together with us and we're pushing 988 out to everybody that's in the city of Atlanta and beyond. And just really trying to make sure that we're pushing as many resources to the community as possible. So please support us y'all, talk about it.

Don't just, if you're a young person and you listen to The Breakfast Club and you are going through something with a friend, talk about it. Don't just throw some foul stuff on social media about that person. Be the bigger person. Be unapologetic about healing and letting go

the things that don't serve you anymore. Absolutely, and one more question, Shanti. There's nobody that protects their peace more than Andre 3000. Do you think he's even gonna come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? What's the under oval? Ceremony.

I say he gonna be there. I think he's coming. I will say I call both Big and Dre after the announcement came out. And Andre, both of them were so excited. Dre was really excited. So we gonna keep Hope alive. I think he will be there.

It's Shanti Doss, ladies and gentlemen. Today is Silence the Shame Day. Mental health awareness month, of course, and we appreciate you for joining us. Thank y'all. It's The Breakfast Club, good morning. Wake that ass up. In the morning.

The Breakfast Club. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. And the dream season is now complete. The Golden State Warriors are the 2015 NBA champions. On the new limited podcast series, Dub Dynasty, it's been 10 years since their shocking run to a championship. We examine the controversial move that made it possible. It's never a great conversation as a player

when you hear that you're being benched. For the entire behind the scenes story of Golden State's incredible 10 year run, listen to Dub Dynasty on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You say you never give into a meltdown, never let kids toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos.

You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens.

Before you leave the car, always stop. Look. Lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. The best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations. But if we're honest, most people run from them, staying silent, missing chances, and holding themselves back.

I know this is true because I used to be like that until I realized that negotiation isn't a talent, it's a skill that anyone can learn. And once I did, everything changed. I went from people pleaser to confident communicator, and now I teach Fortune 500 leaders and top executives how to do the same. Listen to Negotiate Anything on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts.