In MENtal Health: Take It “Like a Man,” you share stories from men from all walks of life who reveal their experiences with masculinity, trauma, and healing. Why was this an important book for you to publish?

From the moment this project began, I knew it mattered deeply. Writing has always been, to me, one of the greatest acts of love and faith. Love, because authors return to some of their hardest truths in order to share them with others — and faith, because we trust those stories will find the people who need them most.

As a publisher, I’ve worked with hundreds of women telling their stories. But over time, I kept hearing from men who were struggling to find a place where their stories of vulnerability and healing could be told. There’s still so much silence around men’s emotional lives. This book became a way to hold space for that — to say, your voice matters, too.

When we launched the book and I got to tell the authors they were now international bestsellers — in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Brazil — it wasn’t just about the title. It was about seeing men stand taller in their truth.

Can you share with us a little about your process for selecting contributors for this anthology?

The process was both intentional and intuitive. I wanted a group of men (and a few women) who represented a wide range of backgrounds, professions, and perspectives — but who all shared one thing: a willingness to be honest.

We have psychotherapists, musicians, social workers, coaches, fathers, and sons. Each man came forward with a story that felt necessary. As I often say, I don’t chase the writers; I listen for the stories that want to be told.

Many of these authors had never written before. Some were terrified to speak about what they’d been through. But they showed up. They wrote about depression, abuse, sexuality, loss, and the courage it takes to heal.

As one author, Coach Zeke, said:

“I wanted to shine a light in dark places — to make visible the conversations men rarely have about love, connection, and vulnerability.”

That’s exactly what this anthology does.

Did you learn anything surprising about the assumptions surrounding men’s mental health while putting this book together?

Absolutely. What struck me most was how deeply ingrained silence is.

As Dr. Vince Johnson Jr. shared during our call,

“We walk through life saying we’re fine — but are we really? We’re bleeding out, and we just raise our hand and say, ‘I’m okay.’”

That line has stayed with me. It reflects the pressure men still feel to appear strong even when they’re in pain.

I also learned how universal this struggle is — across cultures, professions, and generations. Whether it was Jason Schneider talking about middle-age reflection, Eric Campos sharing his work with LGBTQ youth, or Natalie Goodfellow reflecting on the grief and silence in her small Canadian town — the themes of love, loss, and healing are the same.

We tend to think of men’s mental health as a “niche” issue. It isn’t. It’s a human issue.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from MENtal Health?

I hope readers — men and women alike — walk away knowing that strength and vulnerability are not opposites.

As Dr. Stacey Kevin Frick said so beautifully,

“True strength is trusting yourself enough to be soft, to be courageous, and to live with grace.”

This book is an invitation to talk about things we’ve been told to hide. To understand that healing doesn’t happen in isolation — it happens in community, in shared truth.

If even one reader feels less alone after reading these stories, then the book has done its job.

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