ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, and mental health professionals in the Bay Area are shining a light on the importance of joy in the Black community.

The Well for Life recently hosted a conference called Healing while Black with an emphasis on joy instead of trauma when it comes to mental health and the Black community.  

Jaree Cottman, a licensed clinical social worker, says she’s used cooking as part of her counseling sessions to help her clients find joy. One of her specialties is a kale salad.

“So kale as you can see it’s tough, it’s a little ashy. Put that dressing on it, it actually softens it up and when you start to massage the kale in it’s actually really relaxing,” she said. “I love the symbolism, because sometimes we need a little rub. We need some oil on us to just shift us a little bit.”

She says food plays a huge role when it comes to mental health.

“We have emotions that live in our gut, and so being able to manage some of the emotions through what we eat is powerful," Cottman said. "It’s part of the reason I do this.”

Many of Cottman’s patients are minorities, so turning to cooking as a form of therapy was a natural fit.

“It’s not traditional therapy, but what is traditional therapy anyway?" she said. "It’s not from us but the truth is that indigenous people, Black people, people from all over the world have always used food to heal."

According to the nonprofit Mental Health America, in the U.S., Black, indigenous people of color are most vulnerable when it comes to racial trauma, or race-based traumatic stress.

Knowing that, Dawn Hunter, who has worked in public health for years, said she finds joy in researching the numbers.

“Being able to translate the data in a way that’s relatable to people is No. 1,” she said.

“We need to create a better system that cares for the health and well-being, specifically for of everyone in our community that recognizes people of color have long suffered from disproportionate access to those services,” Hunter added.

She said she's found ways to ask the right questions and research why a focus on joy in communities of color is so important.

“Having positive stories and having stories that uplift Black joy are really important to create a culture of healing, and also a path forward," Hunter said. "It opens the door to create more joy and connection."

Whether the feeling is found in the pages of a book or in the kitchen, Cottman said joy is always on the menu when it comes to finding joy in the Black community.

“Joy for me is a deep inner feeling that comes up that takes over your whole body and consumes you and feels like a warm hug, it feels like good memories, it feels like connection,” she said.