Mental Health
Mental Health
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Exclusive: Olympian Raven Saunders Comes Out of the Dark to Raise Awareness, Destigmatize Mental Health
Content warning: The following article discusses mental illness and SI. With Mental Health Awareness Month officially underway, Well Beings, a major media campaign that works to demystify and de-stigmatize our physical and mental health through storytelling, has partnered with The Root to premiere its new web series, Out of the Dark. This three-part web series…
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I Think I've Started to Use Avoidance As Self-Care
“…so how you feel, frustrated, irritated, sometimes I don’t know myself, I be too numb, to feel something sometimes…” – Goodie Mob, “Thought Process,” Soul Food (1995) Like, I suppose many folks do, I have my phone set up to send me news alerts over the course of the day, and from all of the…
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Damian Lillard Reveals the Unspeakable Tragedies He's Been Playing Through: 'People Have No Idea'
Without question, this past year has been unlike anything any of us have faced before. But each day, we try our best to put those feelings of fear and uncertainty aside in order to trudge forward and provide for our families. Contrary to popular belief, despite the extravagant trappings of a lifestyle most of us…
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NYC Pilot Program Will Have Medical Professionals Respond to Mental Health Calls Instead of NYPD
In recent years, we’ve seen countless tragedies result from the response by police officers to people suffering a mental health crisis. New York City is set to launch a pilot program next year that will see healthcare professionals responding to these cases instead of the New York Police Department. NBC New York reports that the…
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Days After Brother’s Death, DaBaby Urges People to Seek Therapy for Mental Health Issues: ‘I’m Bouta Get a Therapist My Damn Self’
Content warning: This article discusses and refers to a potential suicide. DaBaby is encouraging people to seek therapy after losing his brother earlier this week. The 28-year-old rapper, born Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, reflected on his sibling’s death on his Twitter account Thursday. TMZ reported earlier this week that Glenn Johnson, DaBaby’s older brother, died by suicide.…
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Anxiety Is for Girls, Gays, Wimps, and White People
The second biggest lie that I allow people who’ve read my book, and who’ve heard me speak about my book, to believe is that I’m brave. “How did you find the courage,” they ask, during Q&As at independent bookstores, and through emails and (now) Zoom talks, “to be so forthcoming and vulnerable about your neuroses…
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My Head Is a Part of My Body and My Middle Name Is Makeba
As a child, the word “crazy” bounced around every black space I called home. “Crazy” was a destination and an origin. “Crazy” was at once a pejorative and wholly emblematic of our abundance. I loved the word “crazy.” I used it a lot in my oral communication with folks I loved. I used it to…
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The Life Lost But Never Forgotten and The Movie I Struggle to Watch Because Of It (Happy Birthday, Tra)
I can’t just watch the movie John Q. I’ve tried a few times. I actually managed to make it all the way through to the end for the first time in almost 10 years a few months ago. It was on, I was up late and I decided to force myself to make it through…
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On Loneliness at 3 A.M. in Lagos
It was 3 a.m. in Onikan, a suburb of Lagos. The street below her window was uncharacteristically quiet. In the distance, she could hear the faint thump of a bass-line and the strained, faint chorus of afrobeat. She listened for the shrieks of laughter and enjoyment coming from the building down the road. In the…
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Play The Healing Game
Prior to COVID, I’d have all of these speaking gigs and book events all across the country; shit was sweet. You know, way back when getting bipped-up—that’s how you say haircut in Baldamore—was normal and I used to order a clean one against-the-grain, leaving-just-enough-hair-to-brush type of fade before every event. And then a few hours…