For a lot of us in the African American community suffer from the stigma attached to therapy and mental health. A lot of us believe we do not need it, we cannot benefit from it or we simply can pray our sadness into happiness and misery into effective living. Like many of my readers now, my break up with my ex fiance forced me to look for something else. I was with this woman for nearly four years just to learn that she was not who I thought she was. I love her greatly and that will never change however I had to realize I did not love myself. I latched onto her and wanted her to fill the void of emptiness that I felt within myself and when she dropped the ball on me and found her happiness by leaving me I was in a state of mental hell. I was drinking way too much alcohol smoking way too many cigarettes and smoking way too much marijuana to deal with the pain that I felt on the outside. I was going through mood swings and depression levels that I could no longer handle on my own, I was seriously hurting myself. I was on a budget because I was also in the process of finishing my degree in computer networking and technology. I was studying for several certification exams and just didn't have the time or money to take therapy seriously. One day I discovered online text therapy and my life changed instantly. I was given a life coach a therapist and began my sessions. I was introduced to spirituality, I was reintroduced to my religion and I got saved. Rededicating to the lord initially kept me at peace as I studied the bible and got deeper into therapy I started feeling a lot better. I started feeling better in the mornings, started using the tools that were given to me in my therapy sessions and making mental health apart of my everyday life.
This foundation is to aid and enable African Americans to begin to take active care of themselves mentally with the help of professional doctors that look just like us. For a lot of African Americans we struggle with the idea of therapy because we fear our therapist cannot relate to us or understand us so we tend to shy away from the idea and not take it seriously. Truth our children our dying of suicide, our parents are fighting alcoholism drugs and lack of education. Our men are being locked away in prisons leaving women to raise children alone. The whole idea of the African American family has been destroyed and Taraji's foundation is helping with that among other things. Today on the second day of mental health awareness month we want to send a shout out to Taraji for what she is doing for our community and we encourage all to visit her website and to seek help with a mental health evaluation. It is never too soon to break the cycles and make a promise to yourself to stride for a healthier lifestyle.
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We gather information from several different Poets, Therapist, and Minorities from all sides of mental health and therapy. Archives
May 2019
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