Beyond the Boxes We Put Mental Health In

Before City Voices, I believed mental health was the mind’s ability to regulate emotion and the overall wellness of the body. To me, mental health was something that could be controlled and, in the right setting, flourish. But after City Voices, I saw that mental health wasn’t something that could fit in a box. There simply aren’t enough boxes with the correct shape to hold a person’s mental health experience.

I attended the Black Voices workshop and was moved. It was raw and personal, and to me every speaker spoke to my soul. Speakers spoke about adversity, determination, and social and environmental factors that played a role in their decision making. It broadened what I thought mental health was. It wasn’t just the mind anymore; it was overall wellness with influencing factors such as community, family, education, employment, exposure, and genetics.

So, my new understanding of mental health is a person’s ability to cope with everyday life given external and internal factors, including mental health disorders. Panelists during the workshop spoke about depression, anxiety, and trauma. One panelist spoke on the depression period he faced after his father’s passing. Another panelist spoke about the isolation she felt while attending college in a new state. Someone else spoke about growing up in the foster care system and how much strength it took to shape the life she now has.

Mental health disorders often are negatively associated, and because of this stigma it’s not widely discussed. The workshop I attended created space for those whose stories were never told and helped those who felt the same things feel less alone. The stigma contributes to isolation and makes it harder to work on a person’s mental health.

Hearing panelists speak openly about their mental health journey after major life events created a safe space. The City Voices program is a community that encourages finding one’s voice and having it be heard despite what the world thinks.