BEAM

This conversation was everything. We brought together brilliant minds to talk about AI, mental health, and what it means for us. Our data. Our care. Our futures. Because here is the truth: technology is moving fast, and our community deserves to be at the center of that conversation, not an afterthought. Not a dataset. Not a gap in the research. We deserve to be the ones asking the hard questions, pushing back, and demanding better. Our panelists showed up and gave us exactly that. They talked about what it looks like when AI gets mental health wrong for Black people, and what it could look like when we are actually seen, heard, and cared for. We are not done talking about this. We are just getting started. Tell us what hit home for you. What questions do you still have? What do you want us to keep exploring? This is your space too. Come on in. Watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel!

For Mental Health Awareness Month, I’m supporting @_beamorg , one of the leading Black mental health organizations in the country, training our communities, holding healing spaces, and funding healing work across the country. In times when our rights are under attack, it’s important to lean into community and invest in the work that uplifts us. Join me in supporting BEAM by shopping the Rooted in Healing collection. Proceeds benefit their programs!

Black trans communities are navigating compounding crises every single day. Housing. Healthcare. Violence. Erasure. And through all of it they are still here. Still building. Still healing. On May 21st we are naming that and answering the question that matters most right now. What can we do to actually help? @muvasouza , @thelithealer , @daroneshia_duncan and @zami_spirituswellness are bringing the real talk, the real tools, and the real love our communities need. This is not a conversation to scroll past. This is one to show up for. 🔗 Link in bio to register and tag someone who needs to be in this room.

The Supreme Court ruled against a conversion therapy ban in Colorado…and that decision makes this conversation even more urgent. There is no such thing as “conversion therapy.” There never has been. You cannot heal someone by trying to erase who they are. You cannot call something “care” when it’s rooted in shame, control, and the denial of a person’s core identity. Any practice that attempts to strip someone down to make them more acceptable to others isn’t treatment, it’s harm. What makes this even more dangerous is how it’s framed. It’s often presented as guidance, support, or a path to healing. But real healing does not require you to betray yourself. Real healing creates space for you to exist fully, safely, and truthfully. This moment is a reminder that progress is not guaranteed. Rights can be challenged. Protections can be rolled back. And that’s why voices, awareness, and accountability matter now more than ever. We have to be clear about what we stand for. People deserve support that sees them, respects them, and protects their humanity. Anything less should never be called healing.

The psychiatric system was not built with Black communities in mind. And too many of our people have walked into those spaces and come out more hurt than when they went in. Misdiagnosed. Overmedicated. Unheard. Dismissed. That is not care. That is harm. On May 19th we are changing that conversation. What Black Communities Should Know About Psychiatric Care is bringing together five powerful voices to give our communities what we actually need. Yolo Akili, Kelechi Ubozoh, Antonia Hylton, Imadé Borha, and Dr. Rupi Legha are getting into the real conversation about how to navigate a system that was never designed for us. What our rights are. What to watch out for. And how to show up for ourselves and our loved ones with knowledge, autonomy, and power. Visit the link bio to register

We showed up. 47 of us. YouGood? - BEAM’s Healing circle collaboration with @walkgoodla brought the community together for an afternoon of real, full-body healing and these photos do not even capture the half of it. The energy in that room was something you had to feel to understand. Yoga for every level of body and experience. Mental health workshop that gave people permission to go inward. A sound bath that made time feel like it stopped. Massage therapy and body work that reminded us our physical selves deserve tenderness too. And free meals, because showing up for your healing should never mean going hungry. This is what it looks like when a community decides that care is not a privilege. When we stop waiting for systems that were never built with us in mind and just build it ourselves. When we show up for each other, no strings attached, no barriers at the door, no asterisks on who deserves to be in the room. Everyone who walked through those doors chose themselves that Sunday. And that is not a small thing. That is everything. To everyone who came through, thank you for trusting us with your time and your healing. To every partner and practitioner who poured into this, we see you and we are so grateful. This is community care in action and we are not stopping here

Mothering takes so many forms. So does the healing that comes with it. Whether you’re celebrating, grieving, resting, or just trying to get through the day, your feelings about today are valid. All of them. BEAM holds space for the full complexity of what this day brings up. And we want to give something back. 🎁 We’re giving away 4 prizes to honor every kind of love that shows up: ✨ 2 self-care sets from our partner org @freefromdotorg ✨ 2 $200 Visa gift cards Visit the link in bio to enter. Winners will be notified Monday, May 18th.

Schizophrenia touches more of our community than we talk about. It’s time to change that. For too long, our families have been navigating this alone, without language that fits, without spaces that feel safe, and without support that actually reflects who we are and what we’ve been through. That ends here. This workshop was created for the caregivers who are exhausted but still showing up. For the siblings, the parents, the friends who love someone deeply and just want to understand them better. For everyone who has ever sat in a waiting room, a kitchen, or a quiet moment and thought there has to be more help than this. There is. And it starts with us coming together. Join us for a virtual workshop where we will have real conversations, share real tools, and build real community around supporting people living with schizophrenia in Black spaces. No clinical coldness. No one-size-fits-all answers. Just people who get it, showing up for each other. You deserve support that sees you. The people you love deserve care that honors them. This is that space. Register now. Link in bio.

“Can I tell y’all the truth? 💭✨ It’s been TEN YEARS since I started @_beamorg . 🎉 At first, I didn’t even want to celebrate. With all the horrors happening every day, it felt hard to imagine joy being the right use of our time. But then I remembered the work of the homie @mypensouls —these systems thrive on stealing our joy. They try to rob us of our wins, our brilliance, our healing, and our hope. And I said — absolutely NOT!🖤 So we are going to gather. We are going to celebrate. We are going to honor TEN YEARS of BEAM changing the game as a healing- and liberation-centered institution. ✨🌍💫 On May 31st, join me and the BEAM team at the LEGENDARY @theundergroundmuseum for a day filled with art 🎨, music 🎶, dancing 💃🏾, community 🤎, and celebration of healing justice and what becomes possible when we center generosity, love, and care. The day will be hosted by the radiant @thejerriejohnson ✨ whose luminous spirit embodies the very heart of BEAM. And we’ll also be honoring one of our longest-standing allies and partners — my friend and homie @sirjohn 🫶🏾 — who has continuously shown up to support this work, both behind the scenes and beyond. Libations will pour 🍸, interactive art exhibits will spark wonder 🎭, radical healing will be centered 🌿, and we will dance, twerk, laugh, and celebrate the truth that despite the evil around us, healing work across the world is still thriving. AND WILL CONTINUE TO THRIVE🔥🌎 JOIN US!!!!” 🎊🖤✨ -Yolo Akili Robinson

This Haitian Heritage Month, we honor the strength, resilience, and depth of Haitian culture. A culture and people that have survived, resisted and revolutionized our world. A culture that knows how to hold community through hard times. A people that represent the first Black Free Republic!! Part of honoring that legacy is making sure we are also taking care of ourselves. You cannot pour from an empty cup, and you deserve to check in with what you are carrying. Your emotional, physical, and mental well-being matters. Use this tool as a starting point. Pause. Breathe. Ask yourself: How am I, really? Whatever comes can teach and guide us. Translations from the @haitiancreoleinstitute and @haitianladiesnetwork Save this and come back to it whenever you need a moment to reconnect with yourself. 🤎 Nan mwa Eritaj Ayisyen sa a, n ap onore fòs, rezilyans, ak richès kilti ayisyen an. Yon kilti ki siviv, ki reziste, epi ki rebati. Yon kilti ki konnen kijan pou soutni kominote menm nan moman difisil. Epi onore eritaj sa a vle di tou pran swen tèt nou. Ou pa ka vide nan lòt moun si gode ou vid, e ou merite pran tan pou w tcheke kijan w ap pote sa ki sou kè w. Byennèt emosyonèl, fizik, ak mantal ou enpòtan. Sèvi ak zouti sa a kòm yon pwen depa. Fè yon poz. Respire. Poze tèt ou kesyon an: Kijan mwen ye, vrèman? Sove mesaj sa a epi retounen sou li chak fwa ou bezwen yon ti moman pou rekonekte ak tèt ou.

The data is still devastating. The grief is still real. Too many of us have sat in hospital rooms and waiting areas and felt invisible. Too many of us have held losses that never made the headlines, carried pain that the system was never built to see. And still, we gather. Last week in Los Angeles, we came together for *Protecting Black Birth in Broken Systems: A Community Healing Circle* and the room reminded us exactly why this fight belongs to all of us. Reproductive justice leaders, doulas, community members, healers and advocates, all in one space, telling the truth, strategizing together, and refusing to let this moment pass without action. Because Black Maternal Health Week is not a calendar event. It is a call. A reminder that our lives matter, that our births matter, that we deserve systems built with us in mind, not systems we have to survive. We refuse to stay silent. We refuse to stop building. And we refuse to stop imagining what it looks like when Black birthing people are truly seen, supported, and celebrated. To everyone who showed up, thank you. You are proof that community is its own kind of medicine. The work continues. And so do we.

We’re proud to stand with community and culture in the fight for our healing. My Sistah’s House is a community sponsor of Regulate to Resist. A powerful series centering Black mental health, collective care, and liberation. From diasporic healing to advocating for Black trans mental health, these conversations matter and so do the people in them. Join the sessions. Share with your people. 🖤 Prioritize your healing.