Shining a light on mental health, NewAge Poet releases the new single Sticks and Stones on RU OK Day, a day that encourages taking a moment out to ask “RU OK?”
As an author, poet, and rap recording artist, Eddie Labbad, best known as NewAge Poet is a strong advocate for raising the awareness and importance of men’s mental health.
His new single Sticks and Stones shines a light on the ups and downs of coping with internal emotions as a male on a daily basis.
Openly speaking about male suicide, a topic that Labadd wears close to his chest, experiencing firsthand the many close relationships in his life that have dealt with mental illness, the artist shares some very alarming facts.
“By the time the clock strikes midnight tonight, six Australian Men will have taken their own lives, leaving a trail of destruction and devastation behind only because they truly believed that this was the only way out for them. This is the pandemic that we don’t talk about often enough until it’s too late.”
Labadd’s message is an important and timely one. ‘Sticks & Stones’ was born to not only raise awareness about the importance of men’s mental health but to bring to light the almost faux-pas subject of male suicide. Darkness cannot survive in light and it’s time we shun our beams on this virus that lurks and thrives in the dark”
Lyrically, Sticks and Stones points to the struggles and frustrations of surviving with not being ok. “I can’t cope, I can’t deal, With everything that I feel”, NewAge Poet raps about the days of staying silent and where the issues of men’s mental health may stem from.
Striving to keep the conversation going, Labadd is normalizing mental health issues and making a continuous effort to make getting treatment socially acceptable.
He says, “It’s time we speak about the importance of fatherhood and the examples we must set for younger males. The next generation’s existence depends on it.”
Through his truth-telling poetry, the artist is contributing a portion of the proceeds from Sticks and Stones and his book ENTER THE POET will be donated to the “RU OK” organization. The Australian non-profit suicide prevention strongly advocates for people to build conversations with others by living by the motto “A conversation could change a life”.
Check out the Sticks and Stones here.
