Breaking the Silence: Two Books, One Mission—Saving Lives Through Mental Health Advocacy
By Wayne A. Ince, SMSgt (Ret.), USAF
Breaking Ranks Blog | January 2026
The well is running dry.
In African American communities across this country, people are suffering in silence. They're dying in silence. And I can't stay silent anymore.
After 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, deployments to four war zones, and 15+ years navigating the mental health system as both patient and advocate, I'm ready to share what I've learned. Not because I have all the answers—I don't. But because too many people are dying while waiting for someone to break the silence.
That's why I'm announcing two books that represent my life's mission: to ensure that mental health support doesn't run dry for those who need it most.
UNTIL THE WELL RUNS DRY: Breaking the Mental Health Crisis in Black America
Coming February 2026 | E-book and Paperback
Their Names Should Be Remembered
Deborah Danner. Walter Wallace Jr. Kayla Moore. Andrea Clark. Porter Burks.
Do you know these names? You should. They should still be alive.
Instead, they're gone—killed during mental health crises by the very systems that were supposed to help them. Deborah Danner, 66 years old, living with schizophrenia, was shot eight times by police responding to a mental health call. She weighed less than 120 pounds. The officer claimed he feared for his life.
Walter Wallace Jr., 27, experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot 14 times while his mother screamed at police that he was in crisis and needed help. They shot him anyway.
These aren't isolated incidents. They're symptoms of a system that's failing Black Americans at every level—from historical medical betrayal to present-day police violence, from inadequate insurance coverage to cultural stigma so deep it kills.
The Numbers Don't Lie
The statistics are devastating:
Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. adults experienced a mental health crisis in 2024-2025
75% of Black adults suffering from mental health conditions never receive treatment
Black Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious psychological distress than white Americans
Yet we're significantly less likely to receive mental health care
When we do seek help during crisis, we're more likely to be met with handcuffs than healthcare
In too many Black communities, the well of mental health support has run dangerously low. People are making an impossible choice: suffer in silence or risk their lives asking for help.
Why I Had to Write This Book
I'm writing this as a Black man who has been there. As a Senior Master Sergeant who served 22 years—Desert Storm, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo—and came home with invisible wounds. As someone who has navigated mental health systems for over 15 years, experienced the barriers firsthand, and survived to tell about it.
I'm writing this because I'm tired of going to funerals. Tired of hearing "if only they'd asked for help." Tired of watching systems fail the people who need them most.
But this is not a book of despair. This is a survival guide and a battle plan.
What's Inside
Until the Well Runs Dry is divided into three acts—understanding,
This Book Is Different
I'm not an academic studying Black mental health from the outside. I'm not a therapist who sees Black patients but goes home to a different reality. I'm a Black man who has lived this—the stigma, the barriers, the fear, the survival, the healing.
Every word in this book comes from lived experience backed by the most current research (2024-2025 data throughout). I cite my sources. I show you the numbers. But I also show you the faces, tell you the names, honor the humanity.
This is peer-to-peer truth-telling. This is "I've been there and here's what helped me, and here's what the research says works, and here's how we fight for better." This is love letter and battle cry, survival guide and manifesto.
What Readers Will Find
If you're struggling with mental health: Immediate crisis resources, practical coping strategies, therapy guides written in plain language, and the message that you deserve to heal.
If you're supporting a loved one: Clear information about what they're experiencing, how to help without burning out, where to find culturally competent care, and organizing strategies to demand better systems.
If you're a mental health professional: Cultural competency guidance, trauma-informed approaches specific to Black clients, and an honest look at how systems fail the communities you serve.
If you're an organizer or advocate: Data-backed arguments for policy change, proven community organizing tactics, economic analyses, and real-world success stories from Oregon, Denver, and other cities.
If you're just trying to understand: The truth about mental health in Black America—the history, the barriers, the human cost, and the path forward.
Why These Projects Matter to Me
These aren't just books. They're my personal mental health practice.
Writing Until the Well Runs Dry forced me to process my own journey through the mental health system—the barriers I faced as a Black man, the stigma I internalized, the years I suffered before asking for help, the healing I eventually found. Every chapter is me working through my own recovery while trying to light a path for others.
Writing The Unseen March will be even more personal. It's me going deeper into my PTSD—the deployments that marked me, the hypervigilance I still manage, the nightmares that occasionally return, the ongoing work of healing, the gratitude for family who stayed.
This is therapy through testimony. This is healing through service. This is me continuing the mission that defined my military career—taking care of my people—but doing it through words instead of weapons.
Community Advocacy
But these projects aren't just personal. They're acts of community advocacy.
Every day I don't write is a day someone might not get the information they need. Every day these books don't exist is a day someone might give up before finding hope. Every day we stay silent is a day the well runs a little drier.
I write because I survived and I want others to survive too. I write because I'm living proof that healing is possible even after 15+ years of struggle. I write because the barriers that nearly killed me are still killing others, and I won't be silent while that happens.
I write because "I'm surviving so I want to help others thrive."
That's not just a tagline. That's my mission. That's why Breaking Ranks Books exists. That's why I get up every morning and put words on the page even when it's hard.
The Timeline
UNTIL THE WELL RUNS DRY
Mental Health in the African American Community
Release Date: February 2026
Formats: E-book and Paperback
THE UNSEEN MARCH
A Practical Guide to Managing PTSD for Veterans, First Responders, and Trauma Survivors
Release Date: 2027
Formats: E-book, Paperback, and Hardcover
action, and power:
ACT 1: UNDERSTANDING THE CRISIS (Chapters 1-4)
We start with the human cost. I name the names. I tell the stories. Not to exploit Black pain, but to honor lives lost and demand that their deaths mean something.
Then we dig into why this is happening. From Tuskegee to forced sterilizations to present-day medical racism, I trace the historical betrayal that makes Black Americans distrust mental health care—and rightfully so. We've been experimented on, lied to, brutalized in the name of "treatment." That history didn't disappear. It lives in our collective memory and shapes how we approach help-seeking today.
I document the current state of crisis with the most recent 2024-2025 research: where the barriers are (financial, geographic, cultural, systemic), what the therapy gap looks like (only 25% of Black adults with mental health conditions receive treatment), and why traditional approaches often fail us.
Then we examine what happens when systems fail. Police response to mental health crises. The deadly gap between what Crisis Intervention Training promises and what actually happens when officers arrive. The government policies that sound good on paper but leave people dying on the streets.
ACT 2: PERSONAL ACTION (Chapters 5-6)
Here's where we shift from understanding to doing. Chapter 5 is immediate action—crisis resources you can use tonight, therapist directories specifically for Black communities, insurance navigation guides, crisis planning templates. If you or someone you love is in crisis right now, this chapter could save a life.
Chapter 6 builds your personal healing practice. I break down nine evidence-based therapy approaches in plain language—not academic jargon, but "here's what this therapy actually does and whether it might help you." I explain Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, the Healing Racial Trauma Protocol specifically designed for Black Americans, and six other approaches.
But I don't stop at Western therapy. I honor African American healing traditions—the power of music, movement, storytelling, faith, community care. I provide daily wellness practices: breathing techniques that actually work, movement exercises you can do anywhere, sleep strategies, nutrition guidance, connection-building. Everything is practical, accessible, and rooted in both evidence and cultural wisdom.
ACT 3: COLLECTIVE POWER (Chapters 7-8)
Individual healing is essential. But we also need systemic change.
Chapter 7 shows what's possible when communities organize. I detail Oregon's success—a 60% reduction in police shootings in Black communities after implementing mobile crisis teams. Not theoretical. Not someday. It's happening right now. I show you the data, the economic analysis ($325 million in savings for LA County), the organizing strategies that forced these changes.
I also show you what happens when government delays. Porter Burks in Detroit—killed by police during a mental health crisis while the city debated whether to fund mobile crisis teams. The teams were approved. Porter died before they were implemented. That's the cost of waiting.
Chapter 8 is the climax—the moment where I turn the question back to you: What will YOU do?
I provide a 30-day action commitment framework. Seven immediate actions you can take (pick just ONE to start). Written commitment templates. Sustainability strategies so this isn't just a moment of inspiration that fades. I show you the ripple effect—how one person's action creates waves.
And I include a critical safety section: If you're barely surviving yourself, your survival IS resistance. You don't owe anyone activism. Taking care of yourself is enough. The movement needs you alive.
THE UNSEEN MARCH: When the Battle Comes Home
Coming 2027 | The Next Mission
If Until the Well Runs Dry is the foundation—understanding mental health in Black communities and building both individual healing and collective power—then The Unseen March is where I get even more personal.
Why "The Unseen March"
We talk about soldiers marching off to war. We see the parades, the flags, the uniforms. What we don't see is the march that happens after—the long, invisible journey through PTSD, trauma, and recovery that happens when the uniform comes off.
For 23 years, I wore the uniform. I deployed to Desert Storm, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo. I did my job. I served with pride. And I came home carrying invisible wounds that took me 15 years to understand and begin to heal.
This is the story of that unseen march. And it's not just my story—it's the story of millions of veterans, first responders, and trauma survivors who are fighting battles no one sees.
PTSD Doesn't Discriminate
Here's what I learned: Trauma is trauma.
Yes, Black Americans face unique barriers to mental health care (that's why I wrote Until the Well Runs Dry). But PTSD doesn't care about your race. It doesn't care if you're military or civilian. It doesn't care if your trauma came from war, abuse, violence, accidents, or any of a thousand other sources.
What PTSD cares about is your nervous system. Your sleep. Your relationships. Your ability to feel safe in your own body.
The Unseen March takes the foundation built in my first book and applies it specifically to PTSD—for veterans like me, for first responders who see trauma daily, for anyone carrying wounds that others can't see.
What Makes This Book Different
There are plenty of PTSD books written by therapists who treat it. This book is written by someone who lives it.
I'm not offering clinical distance. I'm offering hard-won wisdom from someone who spent years in the dark before finding tools that work. I'm offering the veteran's perspective, the first responder's reality, the family member's struggle.
Because PTSD doesn't just affect the person who experienced trauma. It affects everyone who loves them.
The Family Impact
One of the hardest parts of my PTSD journey was watching what it did to my family.
My wife, who stood by me through the darkest nights even when I gave up on myself. My children, who learned to navigate a father's invisible wounds. The moments when I wasn't fully present. The times my hypervigilance made normal family life difficult. The ways trauma shaped our household.
The Unseen March addresses this honestly. Not to add guilt—trauma survivors already carry enough of that. But to acknowledge the truth: PTSD ripples outward. Families need tools too. Partners need support. Children need age-appropriate explanations.
I'll share what worked for us, what didn't, and how we're still learning. I'll provide resources for families—how to support someone with PTSD without losing yourself, how to talk to kids about trauma, how to rebuild trust and connection, how to hold space for someone else's healing while tending to your own needs.
For First Responders
First responders—police, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs—face a unique form of trauma. It's not one event. It's cumulative. Day after day, call after call, witnessing human suffering, making life-or-death decisions, carrying bodies, seeing things that can't be unseen.
And then you're expected to clock out, go home, and be "normal."
The culture of first responder work often discourages vulnerability. You're supposed to be tough. You're supposed to handle it. Asking for help can feel like weakness, failure, career suicide.
I know that culture. I lived it for 22 years in the military. The unspoken code: we take care of our own, but we don't talk about our pain.
The Unseen March speaks directly to first responders. I provide peer-to-peer guidance on recognizing PTSD symptoms, navigating stigma in your profession, finding help that won't jeopardize your career, and using the same resilience that makes you good at your job to pursue healing.
A Practical Guide
Like Until the Well Runs Dry, this won't be an academic text. This is a practical manual for managing PTSD.
I'll break down:
What PTSD actually is (in plain language, not diagnostic criteria)
How it shows up differently in different people
Evidence-based treatments that actually work (EMDR, Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and more)
Daily management strategies (grounding techniques, flashback interruption, sleep protocols, relationship tools)
The role of medication (honest talk about what helps, what doesn't, navigating the VA system or insurance)
Alternative and complementary approaches (yoga, meditation, service dogs, equine therapy, nature therapy, peer support)
How to build a sustainable recovery plan (not just survive, but thrive)
And most importantly: How to keep marching forward even when the path is invisible.