Cultivating Resilience is a Journey
David is a senior neurosurgery resident, husband, father, and founder of bold & Gritty coffee. For David, cultivating resilience is a life-long mental health journey.
Photo Credit: Whitney Young. Original Artwork by David A. Paul, MD. Copyright Bold & Gritty, LLC 2021. All rights reserved.
David Paul, MD is a neurosurgery resident with a niche in neurotrauma and critical care. He also writes and illustrates thought-provoking stories that challenge young Black males to be light in a world of darkness. Through medicine, art, story-telling, and coffee, David is changing the narrative on mental illness and Black male success.
David recently shared his mental health journey with Whitney Young of NAMI Rochester and Bold & Gritty. Their interview is published here as part of the Bold & Gritty x NAMI Rochester Collab.
WY: Have you ever had any mental health struggles?
DP: I'm quite positive that I have undiagnosed ADHD and self-medicate with coffee, which is ironic given my involvement with Bold and Gritty, a local coffee startup. Growing up, my parents played a significant role in helping to redirect my energies into sports, academics, and a passion for learning. I went from having a label of “special needs” to being identified as “gifted" in the third grade after my parents advocated for me and pushed me to achieve more than I ever thought I was capable of. My parents recognized that my brain was wired differently - I'm an extremely hands-on learner. They worked with me to find a learning environment and opportunities that brought out the best in me. As an adult I channel all of my extra energy into my work as a neurosurgeon (which is very tactile), art, family, and outdoors activities.
Part of dealing with my overactive and distracted personality is to channel it productively. If I get started on a project, it is all consuming. I can't stop thinking about it, whether it's a patient I'm taking care of, something happening at home, or an idea for Bold and Gritty. I also tend to jump from project to project. My wife has been a huge part of my journey towards a healthier and more balanced version of myself. She has helped me set boundaries, realistic goals, and to prioritize the things that are most important in my life. Recently, I have struggled emotionally with the burden of police brutality that appears to be targeted towards Black and Brown men.
Photo Credit: Whitney Young
WY: How do you practice self-care and prevent burnout?
DP: My family plays a huge role in my self-care. While I don't have a set self-care regimen, my wife and I try to find time every few months to get away, whether to the Finger Lakes in Ithaca or back home to Michigan to re-energize. I am also grounded by my faith and my church community - knowing that every day I am using my gifts and talents in a way that addresses how I see the brokenness of the world is a beautiful thing, and constantly energizes me.
WY: Tell us about the intersection of neurosurgery and mental health. You have a passion for both— where does that passion come from for you?
DP: As a neurosurgeon, my job is focused on bringing healing to the brain and spine. When a patient can no longer function in society at the level they are used to because of unbearable back pain and radiculopathy - there is a huge neuropsychological burden. Depression is often undiagnosed in our patient population, though it is easy to see how being unable to work or even play with your grandkids can impact your quality of life. On the other end of the extreme is managing patients who have become paralyzed secondary to traumatic injuries, gunshot wounds, strokes, and even brain tumors, all of which come with their own set of neuropsychological burdens. I have always had a desire to help people in the moment of crises - this came from watching my maternal grandfather, who was a pastor, visit parishioners in the hospital. The impact he had was tremendous - and I saw how it complemented the medical care patients were receiving. I wanted to provide healing with my hands and with my heart. My passion for mental health was also fueled by experiences growing up in a family where mental illness hindered positive family relationships with my paternal grandfather. This dichotomy of life experiences drove me to take control of my own destiny and to help others in their time of need.
WY: Do you believe mental illness can be treated through surgical or other neurological interventions?
DP: There is a lot of research on this topic, particularly as it relates to neurostilmulators … A lot of research in deep brain regions relating to psychological health are being studied, specifically with respect to how certain regions respond to direct electrical stimulation. To my knowledge, most of these studies are still under clinical trial investigation with very few centers that have begun doing routine DBS for psychiatric disease as standard of care.
WY: What forms of mental health-related stigma have you observed or run into personally?
DP: Shamefully, and for much of my adult life I have been guilty of placing the burden of mental illness and substance abuse on the individual. To this day, I have struggled with forgiving my paternal grandfather for exposing me to the pain that comes with substance abuse. And, while I now know that it is partially beyond his control, it is hard to reconcile the fact that someone needs help and you can’t provide them with the help they need. Instead of loving my grandfather, I ran away from him. In doing so, I missed out on opportunities to engage and build relationships with that side of my family. The extreme reality of this broken relationship was the realization that a distant cousin of mine was murdered in the hands of police in Rochester, without me even knowing. A fact that I am still reconciling - relationships that I am still trying to mend.
WY: What sorts of mental health supports and community interventions do you think best support the mental health of Black men, cultivate resilience, and ultimately, guide them to success?
DP: Right now, the biggest barrier to mental health in the Black community is just being able to talk openly about it. I see two major barriers that exist. The first is an overemphasis on religion where many Black people attribute mental illness as a sign of spiritual weakness instead of a biological illness that requires medical and professional attention. The second being our historical reliance on perseverance and hard work, dating all the way back to slavery - with poor mental health being a sign of weakness when our pure survival relies on our ability to constantly overcome obstacles put in our way. We need to be having more conversations. We need to normalize mental illness. We need to educate the community about the biological basis of disease. It should be ok for a Black man to seek therapy - and we need to make sure there are adequate, culturally competent therapists and mental health care workers to meet the Black community where it is at. Cultivating resilience starts with acknowledging where we need help so that we can tackle the world with the right tools at our disposal. Success looks like everyone living out their fullest potential, emotionally aware and conscious (to extent possible) and contributing the betterment of society.”\
More about REVOLUTION: the bold & Gritty x NAMI Rochester Collab.
Bold & Gritty has this crazy idea that by honoring Black people’s contributions to the history of coffee and using it as a vehicle to tell inspiring stories from our neighborhoods – that we can liberate a group of people and inspire them to be the change they want to see in the world. From creators to doctors, we are fueling a Bold and Gritty Revolution - curating stories that elevate the culture.
NAMI Rochester is dedicated to providing support, education, and advocacy to individuals and families of all cultural backgrounds who are affected by mental health. NAMI envisions a world where stigma is no longer a barrier to treatment, support is readily available, and mental illness is universally accepted as a treatable medical condition.
Together, Bold & Gritty and NAMI Rochester launched Revolution Coffee - a project to tell the mental health journies of Black men and to raise funds and awareness for mental health initiatives within Black and Brown communities in Rochester, NY.
