If you’re living with high levels of stress, you’re putting your entire well-being at risk. Stress wreaks havoc on your emotional equilibrium, as well as your physical health. It narrows your ability to think clearly, function effectively, and enjoy life. It may seem like there’s nothing you can do about stress. Read Here.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), often referred to as "winter blues” or seasonal depression, is a type of depression related to changes in the seasons1. Most often affecting individuals in the fall or spring months, it can have a profound effect on an individual’s mood and energy levels. SAD is a treatable disorder, where healthcare practitioners can provide resources to build resilience prior to months where SAD is at its peak. Read Here.
Data show that for Black women, anxiety is more chronic and the symptoms more intense than their White counterparts. This description, however, only tells half the story. What it does not tell us is how anxiety is perceived and experienced daily by Black women. To fully understand anxiety and Black women, we must understand how Black women are viewed in this country. Research and history tell us that three basic images exist-the Strong Black Woman, the Angry Black Woman, and the Jezebel/Video Vixen. These images affect how other people see Black women and how they see themselves. They also play a role in the development…. Read Here
Some days she would stay in bed all day, hiding from the world under a white duvet. She wouldn't eat. She wouldn't bathe. She wouldn't brush her teeth, sometimes for days. Often, she would hide out in her bathroom, her favourite escape, where she could cut out the world around her.
When she forced herself to go out, after countless texts from friends, she went to clubs or movie premieres in Toronto. She spent hundreds of dollars on her appearance — if she looked good on the outside, no one would know she was rotting from within.
$200 for hair. $100 to weave hair. $55 on nails. $350 on an outfit. Who cares?
The 33-year-old actress spent months playing this persona: a happy Jamaican woman who was a social butterfly. But this "dirtiness," this feeling she couldn't cover up with makeup, was depression.
Black people in Ontario face disproportionately poor outcomes across the social determinants of health. The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. Early childhood development, income, employment, education, housing, racism are all key determinants.
Income: 24% of Black Ontarians qualify as “low income”, as compared to 14.4% of the general racialized Ontario population.
Second-generation Black Canadians earn 10 to 15 per cent less than second-generation White Canadians, even when results are adjusted to reflect educational levels.
Education: In the Toronto District School Board, 69% of Black students graduated in 2011, as compared to 87% of racialized students and 84% of White students.
Social Exclusion: Black Canadians make up 9.5% of the Canadian prison population while representing only 2.5% of the overall Canadian population… Read Here
Witnessing and hearing stories about racism can impact your health. The feelings evoked can make you ill if not processed.
The recent news of Tina Fontaine’s trial and the acquittal of Gerald Stanley, a white farmer accused of killing a young Indigenous man, Colten Boushie, of the Red Pheasant First Nation are examples of the Canadian legal system’s commitment to the Indian Act and colonial dominance.
This ongoing colonial dominance has a transgenerational trauma impact on the health of Indigenous and colonized peoples.
Two recent examples that indicate the kind of violence that Black people experience… Read Here
When Black feminist poet Audre Lorde wrote about self-care, it was a matter of survival. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence,” she wrote in her deeply personal collection of essays, A Burst of Light: And Other Essays. “It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Lorde made that statement in 1988, but the sentiment still holds true for Black women today. In a world that pushes against us — because of both our gender and the colour of our skin — self-care is more than just a buzzword or an excuse to self-indulge; it’s a tool of active resistance….Read Here
4. “Black women are too strong to have problems.”
We are strong and powerful. We endure more sexism and ageism. We head most single family households. Naturally, we experience more stress. We can be strong but still feel hopeless and helpless due to high societal expectations… Read Here