Episode 1 - Intro To The Collective-1
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Coach Drew: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Collective podcast, curating a culture of continual conversations where faith, mental health, and courageous voices come together, creating a space for black men to address all of life's challenges with courage, faith, and community. It's also a front row seat for friends, family, and allies to listen, learn, and stand together because we
are better together and stronger than ever. Let's get into it.
Welcome to the collective. A brotherhood of men committed to curating conversations that harness the power of curiosity, compassion, courage, some comedic relief, and of course, community. I'm one of your hosts, Dr. Andrew Blackwood, also known as Coach Drew, the chief facilitator of Change at the Healing Communication Center.
In this very first episode of the [00:01:00] Collective Podcast, I wanna answer a few important questions. Who is the collective? What is this podcast about and who is it for? The collective is more than a podcast, it's a movement, a community of black men committed to cultivating wholeness within ourselves and within our world.
We are professionals. Artists, entrepreneurs, fathers, sons and brothers. We are men with stories, men with scars, and men with strength. We exist to deepen our understanding of who we are, to confront the traumas that shaped us, and to reclaim the power that God has given us to live healed and whole. We exist to bridge the gap of fatherlessness in our community, to rebuild what disconnection has broken and to nurture the next generation of men through real raw redemptive conversation.
So what is this [00:02:00] podcast about? This podcast is about healing in real time. It's about going beneath the surface of our experiences to face what we've often had to bury. Beyond headlines and passing trends, we want to talk about what we've endured. We're talking about the traumas. We are talking about sexual abuse, fatherlessness, emotional silence, and how those experiences have shaped our sense of manhood.
We're learning to move away from coping strategies that helped us to survive, but prevented us from thriving. We wanna go beyond coping into change because there's a difference. We'll wrestle with the well-intended, but unhelpful advice that sometimes makes our pain harder to carry. We'll talk about the weight of purposelessness that's stealing the hope of our youth today, and we will explore the role of mentorship, presence, and faith in restoring it.[00:03:00]
At its core, this podcast is about transforming pain into purpose. We and those who come after us can live free, focused, and fulfilled. Who is this for? This podcast is for black men, men who are ready to grow, to heal, and to redefine what strength really looks like. But we also know this. Without women, we would not be.
So the collective is also for the women who love us, wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, those who want to understand us better and support us well. We wanna honor you and offer insight into what helps and what hurts. This space is also for the younger generation, sons and daughters who deserve to know the stories, the struggles, and the wisdom of those who've gone ahead.
We wanna bridge the gap of fatherlessness with connection, testimony, and truth. But I also wanna know that this podcast is for all who desire to listen [00:04:00] and learn and love us. We are better together and stronger than ever. So you are welcome here. Now maybe you're wondering where are we going with all of this?
Because the collective isn't just about talking,
it's about becoming, words, language, our thoughts, our beliefs. They become things, and this is where our quest begins. Quest is the perfect word for what we're about because we are going somewhere, we're seeking something. None of us have ever fully known.
It's a culture of health and healing of strength and safety and of truth, and even tenderness. And here's the thing, we don't just hope that it exists. We intend to create it. We intend to curate it. I love that word, curate. Through authentic conversation we're [00:05:00] building, we're cultivating a place where men can be real, not perfect, but real and present.
We'll ask hard questions, we'll tell honest stories, and we'll model what healing communication looks like. These conversations will make you come alive. They will challenge you to think, they'll inspire you to feel and welcome you into the process of lasting change and growth. Change is something that tends to make many people uncomfortable, but it's important to accept that change is inevitable.
And while a lot of change just seems to happen, the kind of change we are pursuing is the kind of change that leads to growth. Change is inevitable, but growth it requires you to choose. This is the kind of growth we are seeking, the kind that moves you to choose. This is the kind of growth, the kind of change that we need, and I don't use [00:06:00] the word need very often 'cause outside of air, water, food, and God, there isn't much we'd need to survive and to exist.
But in order to thrive, we need each other. We need brotherhood. We need spaces where men can speak truth and be met with grace. We need a community that heals instead of hides. That's what the collective is about, coming together so we can be better together, putting our heads and our hearts together to move to work, to play, to forge ahead because we are better together and stronger than ever.
There have been many who've gone before us, men and women who've paved the way for courageous conversations and culture shifting action. One of my heroes is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His life reminds us that words and actions, when aligned with purpose [00:07:00] can reshape the world. So we're not starting a new conversation, we're continuing a conversation.
We're lending our voices to a movement that's been echoing through generations, and we're committing to keep it going, to make sure it builds us.
Welcome to the conversation. Welcome to the Collective podcast. We invite you into the sacred space, a space for dialogue, discovery, and brotherhood. We don't know exactly where this role would lead, but we know we won't walk it alone and we trust will be better for it. Better for it. So how's that for an introduction?
Let's go!!!!
Let's do this!! Over the course of this podcast, you'll get to know each of us, the core of the collective. You'll get to [00:08:00] know us very well. I'm Dr. Andrew Blackwood. Many of you know me as Coach Drew and I hold a doctorate of ministry in Marriage and family. What that really means is this, after earning my first degree in music, I felt called to something deeper.
I wasn't sure where I'd end up, but I felt called to counseling. Theology has always been important to me, so I went to seminary at Tyndale University in Toronto, a prayer filled place. My faith and focus were shaped even more. I earned a degree in counseling, a master's of Divinity with a focus on marriage and family therapy.
During that season while studying counseling techniques, spiritual maladies and psychological pathologies, I worked part-time in youth detention down on Jarvis in Toronto. Essentially, it's a jail for young people. That was one of the hardest, most heartbreaking jobs I've ever had. [00:09:00] I'll share stories about why that was, but after graduating from seminary, I entered the clinical world as a professional therapist.
I'll never forget my first job as a multi-systemic therapist providing therapy and case management in homes, schools, courtrooms, playgrounds, wherever people needed help. The model was designed to engage every system around a youth to help them and their families experience meaningful change. A few years and many stories later, I decided to continue learning and earn my doctorate.
Not because I wanted the title doctor, I did, but that wasn't the main reason, because I knew in some circles I couldn't even use it. I'm not a medical doctor, a psychologist or chiropractor. In fact, I'm no longer even a registered psychotherapist. I returned to school because I love to learn and because learning has always been a part of my healing, and to put it plainly, I've got some generational [00:10:00] patterns that I am out running and learning helps me to do that.
At Seminary, I was deeply impacted by two mentors in particular, Dr. Herman Chow and Dr. Marian Gertz, along with others like Professor Brian Cunnington, Sharon Ramsey, and Sue Feld. Their wisdom and care inspired me to continue my studies at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University in Philly, Philadelphia.
I share these details so you can get a glimpse into the roads that I've traveled and why theological integration is so important to me. Studying marriage and family therapy and ministry wasn't just about earning a degree. It was about breaking patterns, patterns of divorce hurt, anxiety, and family breakdown patterns that stretch back through generations.
My roots traced to the rich and beautiful island of Jamaica where revolts won. Freedom from [00:11:00] enslavement. My roots also go back beyond the reins of African queens before colonialism, my roots go back even further. My roots go back to a time were evil
infected the world as we know it and touches us all.
My faith is important to me. It
addresses these things, and when you talk about faith, especially faith in Jesus, you will find differences. You will find disagreements, even conflict. But my hope and the framework that guides my work is grounded in this. As human beings, we all share three core needs, the need for strength, significance, and safety.
The apostle Paul said it this way in two Timothy one, seven. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind. [00:12:00] We don't do well when we don't feel safe, significant, or strong. This truth shaped my clinical practice and the way I show up as a man, husband, parent, friend, and believer.
God made us with both the ability and the need to choose, and every choice comes with consequences. Some painful and others full of promise, my own history with anxiety and witnessing many forms of abuse as a black boy. Those experiences stayed with me into manhood and kept me silent for years. Afraid of conflict.
Afraid of confrontation. Afraid of being isolated or misunderstood. Along the way, I've learned that being silenced by fear is one of the most damaging legacies of enslavement and every other form of abuse. [00:13:00]
Silence is deadly.
So at this stage of my life, I'm gonna take it or leave it place. I have strong views and convictions, and I know the brothers who make up the core of the collective, they'll have their own.
But I trust that together we can navigate our differences in ways that help us listen, love, learn, and lead for life. Whether we agree or disagree, it's not my role to choose for others or to take away their voice. What I hope we cultivate here is a space for reflection, for truth and grace to meet. My prayer is that my story, my reflections and my experiences, they become a source of encouragement that they inspire and they free all who listen to become the best version of themselves, the fulfillment of what God has
in mind.
That's me in a [00:14:00] nutshell. Let me introduce you
to the other brothers who formed the core of the Collective Vidal registered. A registered psychotherapist and systems change leader. He brings a wealth of expertise in community development, strategic visioning, and human capital. His presence, you will find it anchors this initiative with structure, with clarity.
He forges through things in a way that is just unique to him. He brings a deep commitment to transformation through collaboration. I know you're gonna love Earl Rich. He's an executive style consultant that elevates personal confidence and presence through the power of image and self-expression by helping men align their outward appearance with their inner identity and aspirations.
He reminds us what you wear matters because how you see yourself and how the world sees you [00:15:00] both count then. You will meet unforgettable. Mr. Andrew James Tactics. He is a registered massage therapist and mobility specialist. He contributes essential healing through body work, education, and physical restoration.
His therapeutic approach empowers men to reconnect with their bodies and prioritize self-care as a vital part of leadership and longevity. You will love for sure. Mr. Kirk Roosevelt McFarland. He is a culinary artist and sous chef. He nourishes not only the body but the soul. Through his leadership in culinary excellence, he brings creativity, community, and joy to the table.
Literally, food becomes a vehicle for connection when this man is around connection for culture and care. But Mr. Kirk McFarland brings a number of other lenses to our collective perspective [00:16:00] as well. With his artistic and entrepreneurial mind. He's a stylist and influencer, but he's also a corrections officer, and he brings his heart from men young and not so young to every discussion as well.
I've had the privilege of getting to know these men over the years in a number of different capacities, and I've handpicked them because of the value I see in them and what they have brought to my life and what they can bring to you our collective community. As the tide of culture is changing, more and more men are opening themselves to the reality that we are not meant to walk alone, giving others the opportunity to be heard, to release pains, they've carried alone for most of their lives and witnessing the unfolding of healing and strength, it does so much for me and the families these men are connected to.
In closing, I wanna acknowledge that there is an epidemic impacting many of the youth in our community. [00:17:00] While it's taking a different form, it's always been there. There are simply too many misguided youth with unanswered questions misdirected at undiscovered purpose. I believe this is at the heart of the loss of so many lives in our community.
I believe the collective will address these heart-centered issues with culture shifting conversations in addition to this podcast. We, the collective get to be contributors to inside the collective. That's the name of our newsletter. And we'll host events that will inspire and equip men to experience holistic care, including immersive retreats in majestically, soul, refreshing settings like the beautiful Island of Jamaica.
We want you to be a part of this journey in whatever shape that looks like. And we invite you to share your thoughts, your questions, and your experiences with us, because we are better together [00:18:00] and stronger than ever. Thanks for tuning into the Collective podcast where we curate conversations that shape and strengthen us and the generations that follow.
I hope today's episode leads you encouraged, inspired, and ready to take action. Whether for yourself or someone you care about, subscribe, share, and join the conversation online or in person At one of our live events, remember, we are better together and stronger than ever.
