Erica D. Bledsoe, CPRS, CRSS, MHFA

09/15/2026

If you’re in the Chicagoland area, please come join us! Spread the word.

09/08/2026

Art Life Coaching in Mental Health at Kates Training Academy is an innovative program that combines creative expression, life coaching, and mental wellness to support individuals on their journey toward healing, personal growth, and self-discovery.

Through art-based activities, guided conversations, and supportive coaching, participants are encouraged to express emotions, explore their experiences, identify personal strengths, build confidence, and develop healthy coping strategies. The program provides a safe and encouraging space where creativity becomes a tool for reflection, empowerment, and positive change.

Art Life Coaching focuses on the whole person—helping participants recognize their potential, set meaningful goals, strengthen resilience, and create healthier pathways for their future. Whether through painting, drawing, writing, music, or other creative outlets, participants can use their own creativity as a powerful form of self-expression and connection.

At Kates Training Academy, we believe everyone has a story, everyone has strengths, and everyone has the ability to create a new chapter.

09/07/2026

His mother was st*bbed 47 times at a bus stop while he waited for her at home. He was 11. He carried the crime scene photos in his own wallet for the rest of his life.

Eugene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb was born in Uniontown, Alabama, in 1931.

Never knew his father, who died in a labor camp when Gene was small.

His mother, Carrie, moved them to Detroit.

When Gene was 11, she was m*rd*red on her way to work.

He went to live with his grandparents.

They were hard on him.

Wh*pped him tied to a bedpost for stealing his grandfather's wh***ey.

"For some reason it was always hard for us to talk together," Lipscomb said later.

He never went to college.

He joined the Marines instead, stationed at Camp Pendleton, playing football there.

A public relations director for the Los Angeles Rams scouted him.

That man was Pete Rozelle. Future NFL commissioner.

Lipscomb signed for $4,800 and a beefsteak breakfast in 1953.

At 6-foot-6, 290 pounds, at a time when the average lineman weighed 235, he revolutionized the position.

Speed. Size. Aggression nobody could match.

Two championships with the Baltimore Colts, 1958 and 1959.

Three Pro Bowls. Multiple All-Pro seasons.

He led the entire league with 17.5 sacks in 1961, playing for the Steelers by then.

Off the field, he built a completely different reputation.

The gentle giant.

He'd help tackled ball carriers back to their feet.

"I don't want people or kids to think Big Daddy is a cruel man," he said.

He dreamed about America's space program, joking he wanted to be the first man playing football on the moon.

But he carried real insecurities. His lack of education. His unusual size for the era. Being one of the most visible Black athletes in the country.

He married and divorced three times. Once in Tijuana, while still legally married to someone else.

On May 8, 1963, after a night of heavy dr*nking, Lipscomb collapsed in a Baltimore kitchen.

Her**n overdose, the medical examiner ruled.

Enough harmful subst@nces in his system, by their own account, to k*ll five men.

He died in the ambulance. He was 31.

Thousands of mourners lined Madison Avenue for two blocks, waiting to see him one final time.

To this day, teammates and reporters who knew him doubt the official story entirely.

A boy who carried his own mother's death in his pocket for the rest of his life.

A man whose own death still doesn't have a story everyone agrees on.

09/05/2026

She survived five abusive marriages before a three-minute song changed her life forever. "It came from the bottom of my spirit," she said. "My soul."

Candi Staton was singing gospel by age eleven.

Touring with a trio. Big stages. No pay.

She married young. The first of five marriages.

Several of them turned violent. One husband threatened, if she ever left, to k*ll her and everyone else's along with it.

She stayed stuck for years in a controlling, restrictive world, long sleeves, no makeup, a household run entirely by fear.

By the '70s, she'd broken through commercially anyway. Hits recorded at Alabama's legendary FAME Studios.

Then, one afternoon, producer David Crawford handed her a piece of paper.

He'd told a friend earlier that morning he was writing her "a song that's gonna last forever."

She read the lyrics.

She realized immediately what she was holding.

"It was my life story in three minutes," she said.

They recorded it once.

A single take.

"You sung it the way it needs to be sung," Crawford told her.

"It came from the bottom of my spirit," she said. "My soul."

"Young Hearts Run Free" hit number one on the R&B chart in 1976.

Decades later, it's been used in film, television, even featured on "The Crown." The LGBTQ community adopted it as an anthem of its own, a song about walking away from love that costs you everything.

Staton kept surviving. She battled alcoh*lism alongside the ab*se. She eventually walked away from a fifth marriage, again citing both physical and emotional ab*se, in 2012.

She spent twenty years afterward singing gospel almost exclusively, stepping back from the secular world that had once made her famous, before eventually returning to both.

She's released 27 albums across six decades. She founded an organization, A Veil of Silence, specifically to help other victims of domestic violence find a way out.

Still recording new music into her eighties.

A song written about her pain, without her even realizing it at first.

A woman who turned three minutes of music into a lifeline for millions of people living the exact same story.

09/04/2026

09/04/2026

Go purple 💜💜💜

09/04/2026

September is Recovery Month, a time to recognize that recovery from Substance Use Disorder is possible with appropriate treatment, ongoing support and access to resources.

Recovery looks different for each individual and involves more than substance use. Mental wellness, physical health, supportive relationships, a safe home, community connections and a sense of purpose can all play an important role.

Kates Training Academy recognizes the individuals, families and community organizations working to support recovery throughout the Chicago Metropolitan and the surrounding communities.

Looking for support? Kates Training Academy offers addiction treatment support service resources and can help connect individuals with treatment and community resources. Learn more on www.katestrainingacademy.com

Kates Training Academy and Kates Community Initiatives ROSC Council goes 💜💜💜 for National Recovery Month!

09/04/2026

In honor of National Su***de Prevention Month, I am honoring the legendary Phyllis Hyman:

Phyllis Hyman was hours away from taking the Apollo Theater stage when she was found unconscious in her Manhattan apartment. She was 45, days from her 46th birthday, and at the height of a career that had never received the recognition she believed her voice deserved.

Hyman had spent years fighting for that moment.

Her voice was enormous.

Deep.

Powerful.

Unmistakable.

She broke through in the 1970s after working with Norman Connors and recording “Betcha by Golly, Wow.” Her own albums followed, including You Know How to Love Me and Living All Alone.

Then Broadway opened another door.

In 1981, Hyman joined Sophisticated Ladies, the Duke Ellington tribute that became a major Broadway success.

She earned a Tony nomination.

She won a Theatre World Award.

For a moment, the woman who had struggled to get the industry to recognize her was finally standing where she belonged.

But behind the applause, Hyman was fighting a devastating private battle.

She struggled with depression and bipolar disorder.

She also battled drug and alcohol dependence.

The pressure of being a Black woman trying to control her own career in an industry dominated by powerful executives added another layer to the fight.

And Hyman felt increasingly overlooked.

She knew what her voice could do.

She also watched younger artists receive the attention and commercial success she believed she deserved.

Her frustration became deeply personal.

Still, she kept working.

In 1991, “Don't Wanna Change the World” became her first No. 1 R&B single.

She was still performing.

Still recording.

Still fighting for the career she wanted.

Then came June 30, 1995.

Hyman was scheduled to perform that night at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater.

Instead, an assistant found her unconscious in her Manhattan apartment.

She was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital.

She was pronounced d*ad at 3:50 p.m.

She was 45.

The Whispers arrived at the Apollo expecting to perform with her.

Instead, they were told she was gone.

The show went on that night.

Hyman never walked onto that stage.

Her final album, I Refuse to Be Lonely, was released after her d*ath.

The title became painfully haunting.

Because loneliness, depression and the feeling of being overlooked had followed her throughout her final years.

Phyllis Hyman had spent two decades proving she belonged on the biggest stages.

She earned the Tony nomination.

She scored the No. 1 R&B hit.

She built the voice people still remember.

But on the night she was supposed to sing at the Apollo, the stage was waiting for someone who would never arrive.

Phyllis Hyman didn't lose her voice.

She lost the fight before she could sing one more song.

09/04/2026

September is national su***de prevention awareness month, a time dedicated to share resources, raising awareness, and breaking the stigma surrounding mental health. September 8th is the day of action focused on the 988 su***de and crisis lifeline. World su***de prevention day, which is September 10th is an international day to focus efforts on treatment and remembering those affected. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis help is always available.

Call or text 988 to reach the su***de and crisis hotline. It is free, confidential, and available 24/7 in the United States. 

Chat online at 988lifelinechat.com

Connect with local organizations like Nami or the American foundation for su***de prevention for tool kits, educational resources, and support groups.