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.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Content warning
• Learning objectives
• Foreword
• Introduction
  • Thank you to our community: DSM215 Autumn 2024
• 1 Experiences
  • A personal account of suicidality and time subjugation - Mel Brown
    • For those who stare into the sun
  • Mad Black time cures for institutional trauma - Rashni Stanford
  • Mad Black futurisms: Toward a Black time cure for ancestral wounds
  • Time travel: Honoring the Black temporality
  • Manic Pixie nightmare - Mel Brown
  • A social worker’s history of running - Rashni Stanford
    • Alondra Boulevard
    • Sierra Gardens
    • Brick city and the path train
    • Messages from personal history
  • Black transplant lamentations - Rashni Stanford
    • 1.
    • 2.
    • 3.
    • 4.
    • 5.
  • Experiences of disposability: Discussion questions
• 2 DSM215 solutions
  • DSM215 background and manifesto
    • Background
    • Deep Space Mind 215 statement of intent
      • Emerging DSM215 commitments
    • Defining the Black healing experience: Rashni Stanford
      • House of Umoja and the healing nature of circularity
      • Defining a Black healing experience
      • Beyond another behavioral inventory
    • Observed ingredients to support Black healing experiences from DSM215’s early practice
      • Connection and vulnerability
      • Practicality
      • Local, living wisdom, history, and inter-generational dialogue
      • Futurity, spirituality, and creative power
      • Narrative change and justice
  • Opportunities in the Rubble: Discussion questions
• 3 Interviews
  • Pentridge Children’s garden embodied - Mel Brown
  • Avani interview - Rashni Stanford
  • Interview with Queen of Dynamic Justice Collective and Restorative cities initiative - Rashni Stanford
  • Community trust and connection readiness self assessment: Discussion questions
• 4 DSM215 syllabus and archive
  • The sustainability project (urgent strategies for communities) - Mel Brown
  • Training activities and resources (this can be printed and discussed as a group)
  • Addressing the individual and the community (answer and research these questions as a group)
  • How do we assess our individual needs and our needs as a community?
  • How do we build sustainable communities amidst human warfare?
  • Findings from DSM215’s first restorative neighborhood mental health training and other activities - Rashni Stanford
  • Collective notes from DSM215’s first restorative neighborhood mental health training, summer 2024
  • Suggested learning activities
  • Witnessing our bodies’ labor stories
  • Surplus persons experience survey: Questions for self and others
  • If you have never felt disposable or been disposed of, what’s the closest you have come to expendability?
  • The value of local wisdom and history: Discussion questions
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Further Reading
• About the Authors
• Index

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 & 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.