Young people today face extraordinary pressures. Social media overload, academic stress, peer expectations, school violence, immigration fears, and family instability have all contributed to rising rates of anxiety and depression among teenagers. For many young people, the burden becomes even heavier when incarceration, deportation, or injustice directly impacts their families.
At the same time, adults navigating serious health challenges face their own emotional struggles, including fear, uncertainty, and the need to find meaning amid illness and change.
In two compelling conversations, author and criminal justice activist Amy Friedman and surgeon-author Dr. Anthony Goodman explore the emotional realities of trauma, healing, compassion, and resilience from very different perspectives — yet with remarkably similar themes of humanity and hope.
Amy Friedman, co-founder of POPS (Pain of the Prison System) the Club and editor of A SECRET CHORD: Stories, Poetry, and Art, discusses how PATHfinder and POPS Clubs across the country provide teenagers affected by incarceration, deportation, and injustice with safe spaces to express themselves through writing and art. These programs allow young people to transform pain into creativity while finding support, understanding, and connection.
Friedman explains why policymakers, educators, parents, and community leaders must prioritize the mental health and emotional well-being of teenagers, especially during a time of growing uncertainty and fear. She also highlights the importance of encouraging creative expression through essays, poetry, storytelling, music, photography, and visual art as powerful tools for healing and self-discovery.
Joining the program as well is Dr. Anthony Goodman, a highly respected surgeon whose career spanned decades of major medical advances before the era of CAT scans, MRIs, and minimally invasive surgery. In his book GREAT SAVES AND TERRIBLE LOSSES: The Journeys of a Surgeon, Dr. Goodman reflects on the triumphs and heartbreaks of life in medicine — and on the deeply personal challenge of being diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease.
Now experiencing healthcare from the patient’s perspective, Dr. Goodman offers a rare and honest look at living with Alzheimer’s while maintaining purpose, joy, and dignity. Accompanied by his wife, Maribeth, he discusses coping strategies, treatment approaches, and the emotional impact of the diagnosis. He also addresses larger issues within today’s healthcare system, including how profit-driven medicine can undermine compassion and trust between doctors and patients.
Together, these two conversations reveal the profound importance of empathy, storytelling, emotional support, and human connection. Whether helping teenagers process trauma through creative expression or helping patients navigate devastating medical diagnoses with dignity and hope, both guests remind us that healing is about far more than medicine or policy alone — it is about being heard, understood, and cared for as human beings.
Listen to Late Night Health here:
You can watch the interview with Dr. Goodman on Youtube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHiyhGv15oc. (copy and paste this link)
