S1E19 (Part 1): As For Me, I Have to Stick with the Sistahs: Black Women Creatives and Mental Health with Nikki Webber Allen

Couched in Color

Earlier this week, I took a moment to reflect on Black women, our mental health, trauma, grief and recovery. I thought about Megan Thee Stallion and her traumatic experience with gun violence; the horrifying impacts of COVID-19 on Black women caring for children, spouses/partners, aging parents and working in essential professions (sometimes without PPE or other critical safety measures).

My teen daughter brought it all home for me when she told me, "mom I feel like Black women are the most unprotected women in the world". It was heavy and I felt sad that even my teen, with all of the energy I and my family pour into her, still sees so much in this work that leaves her weary.

So, this final episode of the season, part 1 of 2 parts, is particularly powerful for me and the CIC crew. Nikki Webber Allen is an Emmy award winning producer with a Ted Talk (yes THE TED Talk), currently at 2.3 million views and counting. Nikki talks openly about her own experiences with mental health, she describes her devastating loss of a loved one to mental illness and she openly shares with our audience her coping strategies, means of support and efforts to empower other through her nonprofit, I Live For...

I left this conversation feeling inspired and validated (and that wasn't even my goal going in!) As a bonus in this episode, I share how Nikki fundamentally changed my life (not even kidding) and if you listen to her story, she will fundamentally change yours too, so please take a moment to listen and subscribe.

You can Find I Live for on the web at www.ilivefor.org.

As always, you can find us across all social media at @couchedincolor (on Twitter) and @couched_in_color (on Instagram).

Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble is a psychologist, author, founder of mental health nonprofit the AAKOMA Project and host of the mental health podcast “Couched in Color with Dr. Alfiee,”