Healing is Resistance: A Restorative Path to Mental Wellness

1720 I Street Northwest,Washington DC 20006

28 February, 2023

Description

Over the last few years, we have begun normalizing individual mental health and wellness discussions. However, as we continue to destigmatize this topic, we fail to talk about the layers of additional stress and trauma that affect specific groups – like the Black community. Black children are born bearing centuries of generational trauma before they utter their first word. The suicide rate among Black men is rising higher than any other demographic. And Black women face intersecting stressors from systemic racism and misogyny that our society refuses to acknowledge. Often, nothing is said until it’s too late. The Black community is in crisis, and it’s time to start discussing solutions and taking action to heal our community. But if our leaders won’t discuss this, we will. This year the National Organization for Women (NOW), partnered with From the Bottom-Up Foundation & BLD PWR, will host a forum called “Healing is Resistance: A Restorative Path to Mental Wellness.” “Make it Plain” on-air host, Rev. Mark Thompson, will moderate an intimate conversation about how mental health is examined in the Black community and how we must repair it. Through a holistic lens, leading activists, entertainers, and experts will have a truthful conversation about where this community stands on mental health and wellness and how intersections of oppression, individual and societal pressures exacerbate mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD in our lives and families. Please Join us for our raw and restorative community discussion as we examine barriers to healing, uplift our strengths and victories, acknowledge the collective’s accountability and responsibility for our recovery and call our community and the U.S. Congress to act. Let the change start with us! Panel Speakers: Rev. Mark Thompson - Moderator and On-Air Host at makeitplain.com Christian F. Nunes - President of National NOWNicci Gilbert - Founder of From Bottom-Up Foundation and a founding member of BrownstoneKendrick Sampson - Co-founder, BLD PWRTia Oso - Executive Director, BLD PWRShanti Das - Founder, Silence the ShameGreg Jackson Jr. - National Advocacy Director for Community Justice Action Fund Immediately following the conversation, the event will move into a reception.