Meeting Us Where We Are: The Black Women Holding Space For Healing, One Session At A Time
This World Mental Health Day, we’re paying homage to the Black women who are carving out the safe spaces that we need the most - the safe space that is therapy.
In recent years, we’ve seen an upswing in not only the conversation and normalization of therapy, but we now have Black women openly sharing online the importance of discussing our mental health and allowing for therapy to be a tool that is just as important to our wellness routines as drinking water and getting daily exercise.
Black women are acknowledging that healing is our priority and we’re taking self-care a step further with not just moments of solitude in bubble baths, but creating sustainable wellness routines that center therapy to improve the quality of our lives and to heal from the trauma that many of us have carried with us our entire lives.
With therapists and online communities for Black women like The Loveland Foundation, Therapy For Black Girls, Transparent Black Girl, Heal Sis, Black Girls Smile, Sad Girls Club, A Safe Space Mentor, and more, alongside millions of Black women worldwide, we’re healing and growing together.
As Black women and the Black community as a whole prioritize therapy, the conversation of not just therapy but the type of therapy that we need specifically for us has become more important.
In honor of World Mental Health Day, xoNecole is discussing cultural competence and how the following mental health professionals center the unique needs of Black women within their work across the country.
Amari Denise - Chicago, IL and Houston, TX
"Mental wellness is uniting and reuniting Black families. Black women’s willingness to be the curse breakers has ignited a shift in how Black people view mental health. There is no education that can replace sitting across from someone who sees you and understands you culturally. Being a Black therapist means tailoring our services to meet the needs of the culture to help heal the masses."
Price Point: "Our average per-cost session is $150. We do provide slicing scales also based on income!"
Ryanne Smith - Vancouver, WA
"As a Black woman and therapist, my biggest motivator in serving the perinatal mental health community is recognition of our inherited trauma as Black birthing people and implications of societal expectations of navigating difficult seasons without wavering, meaning I speak to my patients with the understanding that it’s actually not okay to be okay and we are allowed to be unwell, and it doesn’t make us less."
Price Point: "Because I started a nonprofit to sponsor patient care, my providers are offering below-market prices to cover administrative expenses. While private pay therapy clients often pay $110-$150 depending on the provider, most of our providers are doing pro bono, or our organization pays based on a sponsorship program."
"Black women are consistently underdiagnosed, unheard, and unseen in medical spaces. Being a Black therapist also allows me to support my clients beyond their presenting concerns but in the context of their life, including workplace, dating, and family experiences that are unique to the Black experience."
Dr. Shaakira Haywood-Stewart - New York, New York
"My identity as a Black woman shapes the way that I perceive and provide support to my clients. Specifically, it allows me to understand what they are struggling with and enables me to assess for things such as depression, anxiety, and other diagnoses that present themselves differently in Black women. Black women are consistently underdiagnosed, unheard, and unseen in medical spaces. Being a Black therapist also allows me to support my clients beyond their presenting concerns but in the context of their life, including workplace, dating, and family experiences that are unique to the Black experience."
Price Point: "My session fee is $250 per session. I do work with folks who are unable to pay the full fee. For example, I refer them to The Loveland Foundation for therapy vouchers and let folks use those in full to cover the entire session cost. Additionally, if existing clients hit extenuating circumstances, I have them tell me a fee that they are able to pay and we go from there until their circumstances change."
Ashley Dominique - Fredericksburg, VA
"I prioritize cultural competence, asking questions instead of making assumptions, and creating spaces where the individuals I work with feel safe to be their full selves."
Price Point: "Intake Assessment: $150 and Individual Psychotherapy: $125. I use Open Path Collective to offer a sliding scale option."
Janelle Thompson - Jersey City, NJ
"As a Black woman therapist and founder of a group practice, I deeply understand the complexities of identity, lived experience, and intersectionality that Black women face when seeking mental health support. Building a culturally safe practice has always been a priority for me. Our approach is rooted in recognizing the unique challenges Black women navigate—whether it's societal pressures, confronting microaggressions, or simply finding spaces where they can fully unwind and heal.
"At Simply Redefining Wellness & Counseling, I’ve cultivated a team that is not only intentional about bringing their whole selves into their work but also deeply attuned to the needs and boundaries of our clients. We offer more than just professional expertise; we bring personal insight, [and] empathy, and create a space where our clients feel genuinely seen, heard, and understood. Our services are designed to empower Black women in their journey toward healing and strength through individual therapy, couples counseling, family therapy, and support groups."
Price Point: "Our session rates range from $120 to $200 without insurance, with reduced rates of $35 to $100 available through our graduate student interns and provisionally licensed clinicians. To ensure therapy is accessible, each fully licensed clinician takes on at least two pro bono clients annually. For clients with insurance, copays vary from $0 to $75, depending on the plan.
"We are dedicated to making mental health support both accessible and transformative, helping Black women move toward a place of healing, resilience, and empowerment. By creating safe spaces where Black women can unpack, release, and heal, we foster a community that encourages and celebrates their emotional wellness."
Justine Ashlee - Montclair, NJ
"Being a Black woman has made me more intentional about the therapeutic approaches I use. I tried to study the origins a little bit more and make sure that I'm not using a method of therapy or an approach that has an undertone of oppression because research will show you that not every form of therapy is healthy for Black women. I also make sure that the room in itself feels relaxing, like we play music [and] I have snacks.
"Normally therapists are taught to be a bit of a blank slate and keep everything neutral, but I do kind of play with that a little bit because I want the environment to have more of a communal feel, especially as a Black woman who understands that especially when it comes to therapy, you need to be handled with a special kind of care."
Price Point: "My current rate per session is $150."
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by SDI Productions/Getty Images
Dubbed one of the "21 Black Women Wellness Influencers You Should Follow" by Black + Well, Yasmine Jameelah continues to leave her digital footprint across platforms ranging from Forever 21 Plus, Vaseline, and R29 Unbothered discussing all things healing and body positivity. As a journalist, her writing can be found on sites such as Blavity, Blacklove.com, and xoNecole. Jameelah is also known for her work shattering unconventional stigmas surrounding wellness through her various mediums, including her company Transparent Black Girl. Find Yasmine @YasmineJameelah across all platforms.
For Us, By Us: How HBCU Alumni Are Building Legacies Through Entrepreneurship
Homecoming season is here, and alumni are returning to the yard to celebrate with their friends and family at the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that have changed their lives forever.
No matter where their life journeys have taken them, for HBCU students from near and far, returning to where it all started can invoke feelings of nostalgia, appreciation for the past, and inspiration for the future.
The seeds for these entrepreneurs were planted during their time as students at schools like Spelman, North Carolina A&T, and more, which is why xoNecole caught up with Look Good Live Well’s Ariane Turner, HBCU Buzz’s Luke Lawal and Morehouse Senior Director of Marketing and Comms and Press Secretary Jasmine Gurley to highlight the role their HBCU roots play in their work as entrepreneurs, the legacy they aim to leave behind through the work that they do, and more as a part of Hyundai’s Best In Class initiative.
On Honoring HBCU Roots To Create Something That Is For Us, By Us
Ariane Turner
Courtesy
When Ariane Turner launched Look Good, Live Well, she created it with Black and brown people in mind, especially those with sensitive skin more prone to dryness and skin conditions like acne and eczema.
The Florida A&M University graduate launched her business to create something that addressed topical skin care needs and was intentional about its approach without negative terminology.
Turner shared that it is important to steer clear of language often adopted by more prominent brands, such as “banishing breakouts” or “correcting the skin,” because, in reality, Turner says there is nothing wrong with the way that our skin and bodies react to various life changes.
“I think what I have taken with me regarding my HBCU experience and translated to my entrepreneurial experience is the importance of not just networking,” Turner, the founder and CEO of Look Good, Live Well, tellls xoNecole.
“We hear that in business all the time, your network is your net worth, but family, there’s a thing at FAMU that we call FAMU-lee instead of family, and it’s very much a thing. What that taught me is the importance of not just making relationships and not just making that connection, but truly working on deepening them, and so being intentional about connecting with people initially, but staying connected and building and deepening those relationships, and that has served me tremendously in business, whether it’s being able to reach back to other classmates who I went to school with, or just networking in general.”
She adds, “I don’t come from a business background. As soon as I finished school, I continued with my entrepreneurial journey, and so there’s a lot of that traditional business act and the networking, those soft skills that I just don’t have, but I will say that just understanding how to leverage and network community and to build intentional relationships is something that has taken me far and I definitely got those roots while attending FAMU.”
On Solving A Very Specific Need For The Community
Luke Lawal Jr.
Courtesy
When Luke Lawal Jr. launched HBCU Buzz, his main focus was to represent his community, using the platform to lift as they climbed by creating an outlet dedicated to celebrating the achievements and positive news affecting the 107 historically HBCUs nationwide.
By spotlighting the wonderful things that come from the HBCU community and coupling it with what he learned during his time at Bowie State University, Lawal used that knowledge to propel himself as an entrepreneur while also providing his people with accurate representation across the internet.
“The specific problem in 2011 when I started HBCU Buzz was more so around the fact that mainstream media always depict HBCUs as negative,” Lawal says. “You would only see HBCUs in the mainstream media when someone died, or the university president or someone was stepping down. It was always bad news, but they never shed light on all the wonderful things from our community."
So, I started HBCU Buzz to ensure the world saw the good things that come from our space. And they knew that HBCUs grew some of the brightest people in the world, and just trying to figure out ways to make sure our platform was a pedestal for all the students that come through our institutions.”
“The biggest goal is to continue to solve problems, continue to create brands that solve the problems of our communities, and make sure that our products, our brands, our companies, and institutions are of value and they’re helping our community,” he continues. “That they’re solving problems that propel our space forward.”
On How Being An HBCU Alum Impacts The Way One Shows Up In The World
Jasmine Gurley
Courtesy
Jasmine Gurley is a proud North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alum. She is even more delighted with her current role, which enables her to give back to current HBCU students as the Senior Director of Brand Marketing and Communications and official press secretary at Morehouse College.
“It was a formative experience where I really was able to come into my own and say yes to all the opportunities that were presented to me, and because of that, it’s been able to open the doors later in life too,” says Gurley of her experience at North Carolina A&T. “One thing I love about many HBCUs is that we are required to learn way more about African American history than you do in your typical K through 12 or even at the higher ed level."
She adds, “It allowed us to have a better understanding of where we came from, and so for me, because I’m a storyteller, I’m a history person, I’m very sensitive to life in general, being able to listen to the stories and the trials that our ancestors overcame, put the battery pack in my back to say, ‘Oh nothing can stop me. Absolutely nothing can stop me. I know where I came from, so I can overcome something and try anything. And I have an obligation to be my ancestors’ wildest dreams. Simultaneously, I also have a responsibility to help others realize that greatness.
Gurley does not take her position at an HBCU, now as a leader, lightly.
“People think I’m joking when I say I’m living the dream, but I really am,” she notes. “So I wake up every day and know that the work that I do matters, no matter how hard it might be, how frustrating it may be, and challenging it. I know the ripple effect of my work, my team, and what this institution does also matter. The trajectory of Black male experiences, community, history, and then just American advancement just in general.”
On the other hand, through her business, Sankofa Public Relations, Gurley is also on a mission to uplift brands in their quest to help their respective communities. Since its inception in 2017, Sankofa PR has been on a mission to “reach back and reclaim local, national, and global communities by helping those actively working to move” various areas of the world, focusing on pushing things forward for the better.
“Through Sankofa, we’ve worked with all different types of organizational brands and individuals in several different industries, but I would think of them as mission-based,” says Gurley.
“So with that, it’s an opportunity to help people who are trying to do good in the world, and they are passionate about what they’re doing. They just need help with marketing issues, storytelling, and branding, and that’s when my expertise can come into play. Help them get to that moment where they can tell their story through me or another platform, and that’s been super fulfilling.”
Join us in celebrating HBCU excellence! Check out our Best In Class hub for inspiring stories, empowering resources, and everything you need to embrace the HBCU experience.
Feature image courtesy
If you've been on TikTok lately, then you've probably engaged with a video or two about using castor oil to get great health benefits. As someone into holistic remedies and Ayurvedic medicine, I had to see what all the hype was about.
Now, I've already had a few experiences with castor oil. Years ago, I used to apply black Jamaican castor oil to my hair and my eyebrows to help them grow.
Also, my mom has often shared with me that growing up, my grandma would make them drink a spoonful of castor oil before starting the new school year.
According to her and other people 50+, drinking castor oil prevented them from getting sick, but it has an unpleasant taste. Fast forward to the present, we're seeing many people use castor oil in a variety of ways. Read below to see how to use castor oil and its benefits.
Castor Oil Benefits
Many TikTokers using castor oil claim that it brightens the skin, can shrink fibroids and cysts, supports liver and digestion, helps with menstrual cramps, can assist with weight loss, and more.
WebMD, however, lists castor oil benefits as constipation relief, may help to induce labor, may help heal wounds, and may help with inflammation due to its anti-inflammatory properties. Castor oil is made from seeds of the castor plant and it is very thick.
How To Use Castor Oil:
Castor Oil Packs
@nikki_kk19 Castor oil pack Castor oil pack for digestion Castor oil Benefits of castor oil Is castor oil good for bloating #castoroil #castoroilbenefit #castoroilpack #castoroilpacks #castoroilforbloating
Castor oil packs are an ancient practice that claims to help aid digestion, detox the liver, keep your stomach flat, and relieve menstrual cramps, especially when used with a hot water bottle. When wearing it to bed, beware that the oil can stain your sheets.
Drink It
@maryamjhampton Replying to @Mariama Bah castor oil gives the deepest cleanse ever #health #w #castoroil
Some people are using castor oil as a full body detox. TikToker @maryamjhampton shows us how to do it.
Rub Castor Oil Into Your Navel
@drsarubala #stitch with @PilatesBodyRaven sometimes we need to add in some extra nutrients when our sleep starts to improve 🫶🏾 #periodhealth #hormones #womenshealth #hormonehealth #cortisollevels #cortisol #castoroil
One of the most talked about ways to apply castor oil is by rubbing some into your navel. Some claim that it gave them the best sleep ever, and Dr. Bala explains why. Check out what she says in the TikTok above.
Add It To Your Skincare Routine
@itsjenniva Replying to @nitril0 Answering all of your questions about using castor oil on your face. #fyp #foryoupage #castoroil #castoroilbenefit #skincare #skincareroutine #skincaretips #skincaretiktok
TikToker @itsjenniva claims using castor oil has gotten rid of dark circles and overall brighten her skin. However, she did say that her skin went through a purge after using it. Speak to your dermatologist before adding it to your skincare routine.
Side Effects
@drjencaudle Castor Oil Packs? #castoroil #castoroilbenefit #castoroilbenefits #castoroilpack #castoroilforhair #castoroilforstomach #castoroilpacksbenefits #drjencaudle #fyp #fypシ
Although castor oil is a natural product, it can have some risks. It can cause skin irritation, and if you apply too much oil on your stomach or ingest too much, it can send you running to the bathroom.
While there isn't any scientific evidence that proves most of the claims are true, that shouldn't stop you from trying these tips. But make sure to start with a small amount to ensure no irritation occurs.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Feature image by alexander ruiz/ Getty Images