Welcome to Nobody Told Me. I'm Laura Owens. And I'm Jan Black.

Federal officials say the national hotline providing emergency help to people suffering from emotional distress

has recently received nearly nine times more calls than it did this time last year, with tens

of thousands of Americans reaching out for mental health assistance amid the coronavirus crisis.

And joining us on this episode is Jacob Moore, a man who's devoting his life to helping people

get help for mental health issues without feeling ashamed or alone. Jacob is the founder of

no stigmas, a social movement for mental health equality. Jacob, thank you so much for joining us.

Hi, Jan. Hi, Laura. Thank you so much for having me. Tell us about your

personal story about struggling with mental health issues. Well, it's been a lifelong journey.

It started at six years old when my birth father died by suicide. And he struggled all his life with mental health issues that went on treated

and some substance use disorder. On top of that, we were very poor. And my mom had me when she

was just 18 years old. So really just didn't have the resources or the know-how to be able to

address the mental health issues that

were resulting from that trauma.

I saw you quoted as saying that it's difficult for a person who's experienced trauma like

you did at such a young age to feel mentally present. And I'm wondering what that felt like

for you and how long you dealt with that.

Yeah. That was one of you dealt with that. Yeah.

That was one of the biggest symptoms that I had of that trauma, those adverse childhood experiences

that I had, was just feeling like I wasn't present in life, in the interactions that

I was having in the school. I always felt like I was in my own

head or in my own body.

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