TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A Hillsborough County pastor has made men\u2019s mental health his mission because of the trauma he survived as a child. <\/p>\n
As part of that mission, Taiwan Simmons produced a play that focuses on the issue.<\/p>\n
On a recent Thursday evening at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Simmons led his cast and crew in a last-minute prayer before the play started. Titled \u201cLittle Man Inside,” Simmons said the theme of the play is something he lived.<\/p>\n
Simmons said his childhood was filled with personal struggles as he dealt with his mother\u2019s mental health illness. Saying she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, Simmons said he could live with her for periods of time, but every few years she would discontinue her medication, and it became impossible to stay. <\/p>\n
During those times, Simmons said he would live with his grandmother and great-grandmother.<\/p>\n
As Simmons approached adulthood, he dealt with his own mental health issues brought on by his trauma-filled early life, which is where the \u201cLittle Man Inside\u201d concept came from.<\/p>\n
\u201c’The Little Man Inside’ is every man\u2019s journey of growing up,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cHe has to be ready to face it, and until he is ready to face his little man inside, his little man will always show up and tear down and destroy what is has worked to accomplish. Because he has never dealt with the thing he has been taught to suppress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simmons said he hoped his play would help other men deal with their past traumas. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to look at the play and say, ‘I can identify with one of the characters in the play,’\u201d he said. \u201c’I see myself in that person.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Simmons also started a men\u2019s group called The Winner\u2019s Circle for successful men who need to deal with their traumas and mental health. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no holds barred,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cYou get to cry, cuss, yell. But it’s men who are professional \u2014 high-performing men who are at a place where they feel like no one is listening and there is nowhere safe to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
The men also go on outings \u2014 which have included hikes and going to gun ranges \u2014 to connect with each other. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou won\u2019t heal by yourself in isolation,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cSo, we need to create a community for you, and that community is going to help support you. Hold you accountable and cheer you on when you need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simmons said he teaches the men to forgive people who have hurt them. <\/p>\n
\u201cOK, so why should I forgive when this person hasn\u2019t done the right thing by me?” Simmons said. “And so, we have those conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A Hillsborough County pastor has made men\u2019s mental health his mission because of the trauma he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[767,2297,274,770,2296,28,276,115,772,2298,135,137,136,278,835],"class_list":["post-330567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-community","tag-app-everyday-heroes","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-everyday-hero","tag-florida","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-news","tag-on-air-ticker-article","tag-rick-elmhorst","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}