In 2025, with the weight of the new presidential administration compounding the daily struggles Black America must face, a conversation about maintaining well-being is crucial.
Dr. Sharon McLennon-Weir, director of communications for the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, helped illustrate why self-care is important and what Black Americans can do to manage the sweeping changes and increased stress over the next four years.
“People of color, we have increased levels of anxiety and depression and other types of mood disorders because of life traumas,” said McLennon-Weir. “That leads to a lot of psychological harm.”
McLennon-Weir highlighted the traumas Black Americans typically deal with on a day-to-day basis such as “racial segregation, poor economics, housing segregation, inequities in schools, inequities in food and health care.”
“Every person who didn’t vote for the current administration, or even voted for the current administration and feel that they’ve been short-changed somehow, needs to develop a regimen of care,” said McLennon-Weir. “The care has to be a combination of getting those thoughts out, having a way to vocalize your thoughts, maybe seeing a clinician who can do that in a safe space.”
Dr. LaNail R. Plummer, CEO of Onyx Therapy Group, outlined a perk of therapy. “Imagine an hour where you get to just focus on what you want to focus on, and you don’t have to share the space with somebody else,” said Plummer. “When we think about it that way, it normalizes the fact that therapy is just a series of conversations that allow us to improve ourselves.”
Outside of therapy, McLennon-Weir suggests making time for practicing mindfulness exercises, writing in a journal, reading poetry and laughter. “Continue with activities that bring joy,” said McLennon-Weir.
“You can’t watch the news 150% of the time because it’s too much. Continue to do things that make you happy — exercise, walk your dog, take a break from the rhetoric on the TV, read a book, do deep breathing.”
McLennon-Weir added that speaking your mind can be a healthy practice for your mental wellness, especially for African American women being that they’re often seen as aggressive. “I would say to any Black woman that I would rather her state what she needs to say than be quiet, because that is also perpetuating this idea that what you have to say doesn’t matter, and we can’t continue to do that as a population,” she said.
“We need to be able to have our voices heard and speak. We need to speak, because for so long we’ve been siloed into silence.”
Plummer helped illustrate how some therapists can and do work to meet Black Americans where they are so they can begin to help them navigate through their experiences more effectively.
“We try to make sure we’re using the language” our clients are using, not meaning that they don’t know clinical language, but “acknowledging that it’s not a part of their day-to-day vernacular,” Plummer said.
“We have to make our Black folks feel comfortable,” she continued. “To trust that their information isn’t going to end up in a newspaper…that their family members are not going to go find out about.”
McLennon-Weir laid out how mental health can contribute to overall physical well-being. “The brain is connected to the body,” the mental health professional said. “The brain controls all our basic functioning, all our organs, our major biological systems, nervous system, reproduction, endocrine, mood, executive processing.”
McLennon-Weir assured that Black Americans “don’t have to be in pain,” though they may be used to it. Black people don’t have to “be in an abusive relationship or be in a constant cycle of poverty,” she added. These are adverse conditions that “you don’t have to accept.”
Tashi McQueen is a political staff writer for AFRO news. The AFRO provides readers with good news about the Black community not otherwise found. For more information, contact tmcqueen@afro.com.