MLO and PSO Present:
“The Invisible Struggle: Black Women, Stress and the Revolutionary Act of Self-Care”
Mu Lambda Omega Chapter, Culver City and Pi Sigma Omega Chapter, Cerritos, collaborated to host the AKA/NAMI Community Impact Day.
This free mental health awareness community forum entitled, “The Invisible Struggle: Black Women, Stress and the Revolutionary Act of Self-Care” was held on Saturday, April 14th from 11 AM – 1 PM at Crenshaw United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. Given today’s social and political climate, locally, nationally, and globally, this forum could not have come at a better time.
The featured guest presenter was Dr. Jeshana Avent-Johnson, a psychologist and Department Chair of the College of Counseling, Psychology and Social Sciences at Argosy University. Dr. Avent-Johnson is also a member of Mu Lambda Omega Chapter.
Dr. Avent-Johnson’s discussion and her small group activities led the audience of women to explore with each other the multiple stressors, such as depression, stress, anxiety, and suffering in silence that Black women experience. Dr. Avent-Johnson also helped the audience to identify social elements that contribute to stress in Black women at work, home, and in every day life. By the end of the forum, the women participated in several meditative breathing activities to embrace the revolutionary act of self-care to improve their mental health and reduce the effects of stress.
We were also fortunate enough to also have Monique Ruffin, a representative from NAMI Urban Los Angeles, share the many mental health and family resources available through NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Ms. Ruffin also emphasized, as did Dr. Avent-Johnson, the importance of destigmatizing mental illness, mental health therapy, and mental health treatments in communities of people of color. NAMI Urban Los Angeles is located in Leimert Park, CA. Click on the link for more information: https://www.namiurbanla.org/
Remember to take time for yourself…breathe in…breathe out. It’s okay to love others but you have to take time to love yourself first. Don’t suffer in silence…there is help…
Thank you to both host chapters, Mu Lambda Omega and Pi Sigma Omega for collaborating and presenting a well needed community event. Tea Roses to you both!
