Self Care Resources for Black Girls During Stressful Times

By Khadijah Ameen

After the past few weeks of destructive natural disasters, domestic terrorist attacks, and being catcalled walking to the metro more times than I can count, I thought it’d be a good idea to compile some of my favorite black girl centric media platforms and artists that have helped me unpack, recharge, and rebuild recently. Hopefully sharing this can help you identify new mediums to engage with for your self care!

Social Media Pages

Facebook:

• Black Ladies in Public Health

  • Safe, community spaces for black women with similar interests to vent and share and network are so important, and that’s why I was so excited to come across the Black Ladies in Public Health Facebook group! For any black girls working in, studying, or interested in public health, pleaseee join this group. Black Ladies in Public Health is an online community and up-and-coming non-profit started by Jasmine Ward with the intention of promoting “scholarship, service, self-care, support and a safe space for Black Ladies in Public Health”. Next time you're on Facebook make sure to search for their Group and Page!

Instagram:

• @Bebeautifulla

  • One of my favorite pages on Instagram for a while now has been @Bebeautifulla’s IG, which pairs beautiful black fem centric photographics and visual artwork with poems and prose and other musings. Her page explores themes like black love and motherhood and body positivity, and is incredibly encouraging to scroll through on days that you might need a reminder of the power of your black womanhood. Bonus: following her page will also introduce you to some bomb black visual artists, photographers, poets, and models so you can stalk them too :). 

Twitter:

• @TinyCareBot

  • Okay, so this twitter account doesn’t specifically focus on black women, but it’s great for anyone in need of regular self care reminders. A lot of times when people think of self care, they don’t necessarily think of “simpler” tasks like remembering to drink water and eat #HiDepression. Well, @TinyCareBot tweets out reminders to do these things! I started following this page a few months ago, and I actually set account notifications to my phone so I can get that extra reminder to grab a snack and stretch and ask for help sometimes.

Podcast

• Therapy for Black Girls

  • I’ve become a sucker for podcasts ever since I began commuting from the DC area to Baltimore for work (pro tip: don’t do it). In between listening to The Read and NPR Politics, I stumbled across the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. Therapy for Black Girls is a weekly podcast created and hosted by Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, who is a licensed Psychologist from Atlanta, GA and amazing. Her podcast covers topics from imposter syndrome to how to find a therapist to really cool episodes where she partners with another mental health professional to chat about fictional black women TV characters who could definitely benefit from some therapy (like Mary Jane Paul and Molly from Insecure). She also has a websitethat includes a therapist directory with black women therapists stratified by state. 

Music

• Trip -  Jhene Aiko

  • I remember first listening to Aiko’s “For My Brother” years ago and instantly connecting with her story as someone who has similarly lost a loved one to cancer (her brother passed away from cancer in 2012). Her new album, Trip, revisits this grief as she navigates through pain, addiction, healing, and love throughout the 22 song compilation. Plus her voice in and of itself is ridiculously therapeutic, so this whole project feels a little like therapy (but make sure you still actually go to therapy).  

Book

• Electric Arches by Eve Ewing

  • Eve’s book has been getting all of the hype, and for good reason. Within Electric Arches, Eve plays with poetry and visual art and fantasy and realism to explore and reimagine topics such as black girl identity, social justice and Chicago. She’s super talented and creative, so make sure to buy a copy to read on your bus ride home or whenever you find some free time to unwind and de-stress with a book.

Honorable Mention

• Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter's Instagram page.