Cultivating Wellness in Black Neighborhoods
Establishing Philadelphia’s Deep Space Mind 215 Cooperative

Experience a year of grassroots practice and praxis development with the Black, Philadelphia-based mental health collective Deep Space Mind 215.

Publication Date 17 October, 2025 Available in all formats
ISBN: 9781918526080
Pages: 135

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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.

Rashni Stanford is a social worker and sci-fi writer focused on liberation strategy and everyday afro-futurism. She is co-founder of Deep Space Mind 215, as well as co-founder of the Philly-based sci-fi collective Metropolarity and the former housing justice org, Youth Healers Stand Up!

Mel Brown is a Philadelphia-based social scientist whose work spans anticapitalist structure building, carceral advocacy, and care theory rooted in consent and direct conflict. She holds dual master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Integrative Art from Penn State.

About The Book

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.

About The Author

Rashni Stanford is a social worker and sci-fi writer focused on liberation strategy and everyday afro-futurism. She is co-founder of Deep Space Mind 215, as well as co-founder of the Philly-based sci-fi collective Metropolarity and the former housing justice org, Youth Healers Stand Up!

Mel Brown is a Philadelphia-based social scientist whose work spans anticapitalist structure building, carceral advocacy, and care theory rooted in consent and direct conflict. She holds dual master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Integrative Art from Penn State.

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