At a personal level,improving your mental healthdoes not happen overnight, no matter who you are.
As with our physical health, maintaining mental self-care is not easy.
Alfiee Breland-Noble, to discuss its three pillars: Teach, Train, and Treat.
Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble
That mission is echoed by the first pillar of the Mental Wealth Alliance.
For Dr. Alfiee and the MWA, the earlier folks become comfortable with those conversations, the better.
“We ensure thatallof who young people are is included,” Dr. Alfiee says.
Eco-Friendly Wardrobe—Sweater and Jeans: Rag and Bone; Sneakers: Veja; Jai Lennard
He’s using language that resonates with people who look like him," she says.
The same things that I teach people are the same things I do for myself.
One of the biggest is mindfulness, being presentI’m here with you in this moment.
She also recommends simple strategies likegoing out into natureand going for walks.
“It’s finding people who areculturally competent,” she says.
One such barrier tied to cultural competence is the issue ofintergenerational trauma.
“People don’t know what it looks like.
They’ve never been taught,” Dr. Alfiee says.
Black people, in particular, are societally encouraged to not speak about our trauma."
It’s also continuing what Dr. Alfiee sees as a positive societal trend in our collective investment.
It’s also a way to help normalize therapy for those who may be skeptical.
“you might at least try it,” she says.
“People try it, and they say, ‘Oh, this isn’t so bad.
This is what I’ve been missing.'”
Dr. Alfiee is proud of what events like this can do for people who may be struggling.
The Mental Wealth Alliance gives people a space to acknowledge what it’s like to experience that.
Another expo is planned for this coming October.
Those kinds of things make me super hopeful."
