Ask Me Anything: Wisdom on Mental Health, Faith and Race with Dr. Jessica Brown
OVERVIEW
A diverse group of students, mental health practitioners and community members gathered together for an intimate and candid conversation at Common Grounds. Author, therapist and VCU professor of psychology Dr. Jessica Young Brown shared wisdom on mental health, faith, and race.
4 Pillars of Mental Health
Dr. Brown discussed how these four pillars are essential for well balanced mental health:
1) Positive self concept - thinking of yourself as inherently good not because of what you do but simply because of who you are.
2) Healthy relationships - ones that are reciprocal, safe and caring
3) Awareness and management of emotions
4) Awareness and management of stress
Dr. Brown also engaged questions like:
Have you noticed any pattern of mental health struggles in professionals who experience a dissonance between their career and their vocation?
Would you talk about race and generational trauma? What do we as students need to know about how this plays into our experiences and others’ experiences at UVA?
How can people of color reduce anxiety when seeing hate crimes on social media or the news?
How can we explain racial based trauma to those who don’t understand?
How can the primarily white student/faculty body at UVA support Black folks’ mental health and well-being?
quotes from Dr. Brown
“There’s a richness in the way our sacred texts contradict themselves.”
“I don't have to be certain to be faithful."
"As a state, we have to start telling the truth of our history."
UVA RESOURCES
Wahoowell - WahooWell consists of a confidential well-being survey and two or more confidential, one-on-one follow-up meetings with a well-being facilitator. In your meetings, you will have the opportunity to be heard, encouraged, and validated in a way that motivates you to accomplish personally meaningful goals.
Women’s Center - The Women’s Center is a vital hub of resources and opportunities on Grounds. We work every day at the intersection of social justice issues that affect our students, faculty and staff on Grounds, our neighbors and friends in Charlottesville, and women and men globally. When you are in need of extra support, we offer free and flexible counseling, as well as digital resources to help you address the problems you’re facing.
CAPS - CAPS is the primary student mental health clinic on Grounds. We are committed to providing a safe and affirming environment for all students seeking to improve their mental and emotional well-being. In addition to direct care, we provide consultation and referral services for students, faculty, and staff. You are welcome to contact us about emergency or ongoing concerns about yourself or another student you care about.
BOOKS
Dr. Brown recommended the following books on mental health, trauma and specifically race-based trauma:
Rest is Resistance : A Manifesto, Tricia Hersey
Sensual Faith: The Art of Coming Home to your Body, Lyvonne Briggs
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, Dr. Joy DeGruy
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies, Resmaa Menakem
Homecoming: Overcoming Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self, Thema Bryant
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity, Nadine Burke Harris
Making Space at the Well: Mental Health and the Church, Dr. Jessica Young Brown
OTHER RESOURCES
Kindergarten Hotline - Dial 707-873-7862 and you'll hear a cheerful voice listing your options: “If you're feeling mad, frustrated or nervous, press one. If you need words of encouragement and life advice, press two. If you need a pep talk from kindergarteners, press three. If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press four.
Open Path Collective - As long as there is a financial need, our lifetime membership will allow you to see anyone in our network for the rates listed above. This is our guarantee. A lifetime membership only costs $65.
Region 10 Hotline - Dial 434-972-1800 - Region Ten Crisis Services support individuals who are in acute mental distress and in need of immediate help. Services are provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a variety of capacities throughout the agency.
New City Counseling - New City Counseling’s mission is to bring hope in the struggle—whether this be the internal struggle of depression and self-doubt that rages inside many of us, or the relational struggles that often divide marriages and families, or even larger structural issues that make living with the necessities of life difficult.
