Why representation and community are vital parts of mental health

CEO of Village of Healing, Da’na M. Langford, discusses her experiences as a Black women entrepreneur and how the community around you affects mental health.

Transcript

00:00

Tokenism is a very lonely, disparaging feeling. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:10

I actually was just having a conversation with a friend of mine who's also a provider, and we had a conversation about what it really

00:19

looks like to be forced to sit in racism and the effects that it has on one's mental health.

00:26

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:37

We added mental health because what we know is that COVID was going on, and as we started having conversations

00:44

with women in obstetrics and gynecology, I was seeing something way different. And that was Black women were coming through the door,

00:52

and because they were feeling safe in our space, they were asking for help. They were saying to us, this is too much.

01:00

I cannot function. I don't wanna get out of bed. I'm having difficulty with my regular activities

01:07

of daily living. I'm having difficulty at work. I'm worried I'm gonna lose my job, and I need help.

01:14

And that was just something that we hadn't experienced before in our systems. And so that's why we added mental health.

01:21

This is the first office visit for a lot of women in over 20 years because they didn't trust the system.

01:28

And now, they get to walk into a space that's dedicated strictly for them, and they get to see someone that looks like them from the beginning to the end.

01:36

And so now, what we're recognizing is that we're needed, like we said, and beyond specialties. What we know is in pediatrics, I think less than 1%

01:45

of pediatricians are Black, and we're seeing, as they're coming in to us and having conversations, saying, I want my child to be able to have this same experience.

01:54

So now, we know we're needed in pediatrics. So from here, it's just up for us. It's growth.

02:01

It's upward. It's onward. And it's action steps and meeting the needs of our community.