Welcome to another round of Mental Health Monday, your weekly dose of stories, resources, and motivation for your everyday life.On last week's installment NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray launched a mental health initiative for Black men called Brothers Thrive, Jada Pinkett-Smith invited her husband Will Smith's ex-wife Sheree Fletcher to discuss co-parenting their blended family and their rough beginning, and more. Come on down.
THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:
"Tina Knowles-Lawson Says She Put Her Daughters In Counseling To Deal With Beyonce’s Success" by Shenequa Golding [VIBE]
“My family was like ‘you’re going to make them crazy because they’re too young for you to take them,’ but I wanted Beyoncé to be sensitive to the fact that Solange had to deal with being a little bit in her shadow,” Knowles-Lawson said. “It made her way more sensitive and protected and they’re still fiercely protective of each other.”
"Self Care Hacks for Mental Health Family Caregivers" by La Shawn Wilburn [HOMAGI]
Maintain Outside Social Connections – It is so important to have someone else to talk to outside of your loved one. You need social connections that are not about caregiving and you need social support that is about caregiving like caregiver support groups. Both of those forms of social interaction are healthy and very necessary for you to cope with your caregiving duties and to maintain a quality of life for yourself.
"Dancing The Blues Away: How Ballet Became My Therapy" by Alex Hardy [Very Smart Brothas]
Even when I’m spiraling and stewing in the anxiety, I can (usually) scrape it together enough to jump into those tights, get pon the train and get my tondu, my port de bras, and my pas de bourree on. Each class is a battle against rigidity and requires me to push and trust myself, to focus 100 percent of my brainpower not on a deadline, luchini, self-loathing, anxiety, or problems real or self-perceived, but on getting stronger, being more precise and more confident in my movement, dancing bigger and more gracefully, listening to my body, and thriving rather than log-rolling through the mud with the nothingness.
"5 Ways You’re Shaming Mental Illness And May Not Know It" by Lindsay Holmes [Huffington Post]
Blaming mental illness for every mass shooting
Drawing an oversimplified connection between mental health and mass shootings sends an inaccurate message about mental health disorders.
People who live with mental health disorders are more likely to be victims of violent crimes than the ones committing them. Fewer than 5 percent of gun-related killings are committed by someone diagnosed with a mental illness, according to a 2015 study.
On episode 5 of The Black Girl Healing Project, licensed counselor and dance/movement psychotherapist Dr. Angela Grayson joined the party to discuss the benefits of dance/movement psychotherapy, how dance and movement help manage and reduce stress.
Listen here. More from The Black Girl Healing Project here.
If you have a mental health resource, event, or piece of content we should know about, step into our office. You da bess.
