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ML: Dr. Joy, your work with Therapy for Black Girls has had a tremendous impact on the mental health community. Can you share what inspired you to start this platform? Dr. Joy Harden Bradford: I started Therapy for Black Girls in 2014 after watching the Black Girls Rock Award show on BET. It was inspiring to see Black women celebrating one another across a variety of industries and I thought it would be cool to capture some of that same energy for Black women as it relates to mental health. I jumped on GoDaddy that night and purchased the domain. I began by blogging on the site sharing information about things like questions to ask potential therapists and how to lean into your support system. I then added the directory and podcast to the site in 2017 as additional ways to offer resources and continue our mission of making mental health more relevant and accessible for Black women and girls. ML: In your book “Sisterhood Heals: The Transformative Power of Healing Community,” you explore the power of friendships and sisterhood. What key elements make these relationships so vital for mental well-being? Dr. Joy Harden Bradford: Sisterhood and friendship are vital for our well-being because it is in these relationships that we’re able to be our most authentic selves. This may be best captured in what I call “The 4 S’s of Sisterhood.” Sisterhood allows us to be seen. It allows us to support and be supported. It allows us to soften, and it allows us to have greater knowledge of self. ML: You have previously spoken about the transformative power of community healing. Can you explain how collective healing differs from individual healing and why it’s so crucial for Black women? Dr. Joy Harden Bradford: Healing in community happens in large part because of the reduction in shame. Often it’s the case that we are struggling with something and we carry a great deal of shame because we believe we’re the only ones who could be feeling something or struggling in a particular way and it is in community that we realize that we are not alone with any thing we may be feeling or experiencing. As the shame dissipates, we are more able to confront our experiences and receive support from others to deal with it. I think this is particularly important for Black women because there are so many experiences where we question why something may be happening to us and through checking in with others we learn that things may not be occurring through any fault of our own but instead due to systems of oppression and discrimination. ML: What advice would you give to someone looking to cultivate a safe and supportive space within their community? Dr. Joy Harden Bradford: I’d encourage them to first look around in their background to see whether there is anyone in the background of their lives that with a little bit of effort could move to the foreground. For example, maybe there’s someone you exchange pleasantries with during a yoga class you frequent or a fellow mom you run into in the carpool line. What might it be like to ask if they’d like to grab breakfast with you after yoga or after drop-off. We may be surprised by the kinds of relationships that may develop just from a simple invitation. I also think it’s important to remember that if there is a thing in the world we’d like to see that doesn’t exist, it may be because we’re the ones meant to create it. If you’re looking for community and connections in your area, there’s a good chance that others are as well so perhaps you might consider putting out an open call on social media or through your network inviting people who are also looking for community to a game night or some other low-stakes gathering. ML: Can you talk about the importance of showing up for people in our community, especially during challenging times? Dr. Joy Harden Bradford:Showing up during challenging times is when community becomes most evident and is what we tend to remember most. I am sure we can all remember a small or large gesture someone offered to us during a difficult time that made things just a little easier. The key to showing up