Book event focus on mental health

Author and Arkansas native Kevin Dedner, founder of Washington, D.C.,-based Hurdle, a culturally intentional mental health care provider, will hold a book-signing today at Philander Smith College.

“The Joy of the Disinherited, Essays on Trauma, Oppression and Black Mental Health” unpacks the author’s trauma of growing up in the Deep South and lays bare his struggles with mental health.

His book explores generational traumas, common experiences and the ingrained beliefs of minority groups in the U.S., and the need to knock down barriers that make it harder for people of color to get mental health care.

Today’s signing, hosted by Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott and former Mayor Lottie Shackelford, is at 3 p.m. in the Kendall Center at the college in Little Rock.