Cultivating Wellness in Black Neighborhoods

In what ways do those with mental health challenges in Philadelphia work to support the mental health of themselves and their community outside the structures of Western medical models?

Drawing on personal reflections and emerging mental health solutions from co-op members of Deep Space Mind 215, authors Rashni Stanford and Mel Brown examine how Black communities cultivate wellness in the midst of gun violence, post-Covid grief, and chronic disenfranchisement. Cultivating Wellness in Black Neighborhoods archives these learnings for others to replicate in their own communities.

Providing learnings through interviews and essays, this book is ideal reading for students of Black Studies, Disability Studies, Carceral Studies, Queer and LGBT+ Studies, Mad Studies, Social Work, and Cultural Anthropology.

Author Biography

Rashni Stanford is a co-founder of Deep Space Mind 215 mental health co-operative, and formerly co-founder of Youth Healers Stand Up!, a youth-led project centering the leadership of young people experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. Ras is a social worker focused on critical liberation strategy and enacting afro-futurism everyday. In another life Ras is a writer of institutional sci-fi and horror fiction and founding member of Metropolarity, a Philly-grown sci-fi collective. Mel Brown is a social scientist and researcher located in the Philadelphia area. Her scope of practice includes building anti-capitalist structures, writing narrative change, research, and systemic carceral navigation and advocacy. Brown’s writings span from personal narrative to meta-theoretical ‘on the ground’ documentation. Brown’s theory around care is centered in explicit consent and direct conflict, with care. Brown received a B.A. in Integrative Art from Pennsylvania State University in 2012 and is a dual master’s degree graduate, class of 2023 at both the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design and School of Social Policy & Practice.