Black Business Spotlight: Reviving Roots Reimagines Black Wellness
In this Black Business Spotlight, contributing writer Lizzy Nyoike profiles Marlee James, founder and CEO of Reviving Roots Therapy & Wellness, who expanded a solo therapy practice started in 2019 into a Black-centered wellness space offering movement classes, support groups, workshops and retreats alongside traditional therapy. James discusses her path from crisis-line work to therapy, why she designed the space's music and artwork to make Black visitors feel at ease, and her second year training clinical interns in a program that blends movement, mindfulness and the historical context of the mental health system.
Reviving Roots Therapy & Wellness was created to make caring for mental health feel less clinical and more personal.
Therapy is one way people can care for themselves inside the Black-centered wellness space, which also offers support groups, movement and wellness classes, workshops and events designed to help people connect with themselves and others.
Founder and CEO Marlee James started Reviving Roots as a solo therapy practice in 2019 and has since expanded it into a holistic wellness and mental health space centered on Black wellness.
James said she wanted to create a space where people could approach wellness in ways that feel comfortable to them, especially if traditional therapy is not where they are ready to begin.
“You might not be down for therapy, but maybe you’ll be down for a movement class,” James said.
James said caring for yourself can sometimes come with judgment or shame, particularly when people have been taught to put their own wellness second. She believes creating a community around wellness can help change that.
“The more that we can care for ourselves and do it in community is really important,” James said.
Part of the work involves changing how conversations about mental health happen. At Reviving Roots, James said the team tries to use language that feels accessible rather than making every conversation about wellness sound clinical.
“We don’t always have to talk about mental health,” James said. “We could just talk about how are you sleeping, how are you eating, or how you are.”
That philosophy extends beyond the services Reviving Roots provides and into the physical environment James has created. The music, artwork and other details throughout the space are intentionally selected to make Black visitors feel comfortable. James said people often enter mental health spaces during vulnerable moments when they may already be questioning whether they can trust the people around them.
James’s path into mental health began in 2012, when she started answering a crisis line. She later became a case manager supporting people with serious and persistent mental illness before working as a therapist with middle and high school students, and later college students.
Her interest in becoming a therapist grew after participating in an experiential learning program focused on the civil rights movement and social change. During the program, James met people who had participated in movements during the 1960s and 1970s. She said many shared a similar philosophy: that people should use what they are good at to support others.
James realized people had always been comfortable opening up to her.
“People like to tell me their business. People like to share things with me,” James said.
She decided therapy could become a way to use that ability to serve others. Studying the field also changed how she viewed mental health and her own experiences.
“We all need some form of practicing connection with ourselves, practicing connection with other people,” she said. “So that we can be well.”
That idea of connection now shapes the programming at Reviving Roots. The space hosts community gatherings and partners with organizations to provide workshops, staff support, drop-in therapy, movement opportunities and retreats. Retreats can incorporate activities such as yoga, sound healing and art alongside opportunities for teams to process experiences with a mental health therapist.
James is also working to prepare the next generation of mental health professionals. Reviving Roots is in its second year of hosting clinical interns and trainees. James developed a training program that incorporates movement, mindfulness and the historical context surrounding the mental health system in addition to traditional clinical training.
As the business continues to evolve, James hopes Reviving Roots will keep serving the community while staying centered on Black wellness
“I don’t plan to change who I am,” James said.
For more information, visit www.reviving-roots.com/.
Lizzy Nyoike is a Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication student and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.