Over the last few years, the space of mental health care has seen a noticeable rise in prevalence. And for good reason. The world looks a lot different from the one we knew prior to 2020, and with the increased awareness around mental health issues, along with growing access to tools that help us manage our stress, anxiety, and depression, it’s no wonder that we’ve been able to find new ways to keep our minds at ease.
Still, not everyone has the means to afford bi-weekly sessions while others simply need an introduction to therapy that they can ease into and manage for themselves. It takes time to get comfortable with the idea of spilling out all our deepest traumas and mental hurdles. And now, thanks to new and emerging telehealth and online therapy options, finding moments throughout the day to pause, reflect, and reclaim a sense of mindfulness has never been easier.
According to research, mental health apps have the potential to serve as an effective complement to traditional therapy and assist in addressing individual wellness needs. Additionally, mental health apps have been shown to help monitor and manage a person’s moods and symptoms.
Finding the right apps that speak to your needs and support you along your mental health journey is a great way to prioritize your well-being, even if it’s just for a few minutes a day. From guided meditations to habit trackers, we’ve put together a wide range of mental health apps that cater to your unique needs to clear your mind and calm your thoughts.
1.BlackFULLness
BlackFULLness is a unique mental health app created by Sonia Russell and David Walker. This groundbreaking app is dedicated to promoting mindfulness practices that support stress reduction and healing justice, while also fostering a sense of community and connection among African-American users. With BlackFULLness, users can establish and maintain their own mindfulness practices, connect directly with health experts, and elevate their practice to new heights.
2.Headspace
Headspace has been coveted as the best introductory app for those getting into mindfulness and medication. The app strives to incorporate mindfulness meditation into your life in order to improve concentration, elevate moods, reduced anxiety, and increased productivity. The Headspace’s library is full of resources that include single meditations, session packs, and even animated meditations that cater to all levels of experience and needs.
3.Ayana Therapy
This digital platform puts our mental health needs to the front by pairing users with licensed therapists with shared cultural traits, identities, and experiences. To ensure the best matches for starting their mental health journey, new users can take culturally informed questionnaires to ensure that they feel safe and seen.
4.Healthy Minds Program App
Healthy Minds Program App blends the insights of neuroscience, contemplative traditions, and skill-based learning to create accessible resources that promote well-being for all. With a focus on four key pillars of a healthy mind, awareness, connection, insight, and purpose, this app has you covered whether you're seeking calm in the midst of chaos, clarity in uncertain times, or mindfulness for sleep.
5.Liberate App
Experience meditation designed with you in mind. With its focus on promoting daily meditation habits, this digital wellness studio offers a range of meditations and discussions that are tailored specifically to the Black experience. Its "meditation for us, by us" approach provides a unique and supportive environment that can help you achieve a better mental state and foster a deeper sense of connection and belonging.
6.Bearable
The Bearable app goes beyond tracking your symptoms and allows you to engage in wellness journaling, set medication reminders, and keep track of your food intake. Bearable’s approach to mental health apps helps you to see what triggers may be impacting your mind so you can gain a holistic perspective on your physical and mental well-being.
7.Slumber
Getting a good night's rest is essential for our overall well-being, but sometimes falling asleep can feel like an uphill battle when you have distractions all around. The Slumber app helps you to power down your mind and create a healthy evening that encourages calm and relaxation. Slumber offers a variety of techniques that promote relaxation and encourage ease into your sleep such as ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), mindfulness, breath control, gratitude habituation, guided imagery and visualizations and more so you never run out of ways to doze off.
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Featured image by Tony Anderson/Getty Images
Originally published on March 22, 2023
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From the day they met, food has always played a role in their relationship, and working together in the food industry is what we call a full circle moment. Learn more about Bryant and Daniella’s story of finding love with one another.
How they met.
Bryant: We met at a mutual clients’ house. She was doing the lady hair, and I was cooking for the lady. The client sent her downstairs to record me while I was cooking to, I guess, see what I was cooking, and I caught her recording, but we didn't talk. I caught her recording, we laughed it off, and she went about her day.
So I guess that was the first thing that made us interact with each other. A few months down the line, I think she posted something [on social media]. I hopped in her DM and responded to it, and then we decided to just meet up and hang out. I looked at her as an entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur. She don’t need nothing. I don’t need nothing. It's good to hang with people who don't need nothing from you.
When we linked up, our chemistry was just so soft and just so nice. She is a great person, but after meeting up with her [for the] first time, she went back to Miami. She came back [to Atlanta], and we just kicked it off that next weekend, and ever since then, we've been locked in.
Daniella: That same client had flew me back in so I knew I had to come up here for work. But I told him that we'll meet up and [go] on a date and see each other again. When that happened, everything else was history. It just happened organically. It wasn’t forced or anything.
Bryant and Daniella Williams
Courtesy
First impressions.
Bryant: I knew for a fact for her to come downstairs and try to record me, I knew that she was brave, and that said a lot about her, because I barely even talk when I'm cooking for my clients. So you have to talk to somebody for them to feel comfortable to play with you, or do certain things. I feel like the client sent her downstairs because she knew that she's an outspoken, bubbly type of person who don't mind laughing it off if she gets caught doing it.
When she came back to Atlanta, she booked me to cook for her family. So while I was cooking for her in the kitchen, the whole time she was in there talking to me. It was like a date in the kitchen, and I cooked her food. Once the food was laid out, I just left. We had a great conversation when I was cooking for her, and also when she came downstairs and tried to record me.
Daniella: I was impressed how he was multitasking because I was asking him deep, interesting questions, and he was cooking the food, and he was still answering my questions. But I was in a relationship at that time, so I wasn't really in tune. It was no emotions. But when I came back and flew in to work, we met with each other.
He came and picked me up from the hotel and we drove around Atlanta, sightseeing. We went to the African club. So when he came downstairs, I was like okay, you not gonna hug me, you not gonna say nothing? He was shocked and we stayed together for like eight or nine hours, and he took me back to the hotel. I think he picked me up around nine at night. He took me back to the hotel around seven in the morning. Then he walked me to my hotel door. He gave me a hug and he gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you.' And I was like, what?
We stayed together for like eight or nine hours, and he took me back to the hotel. I think he picked me up around nine at night. He took me back to the hotel around seven in the morning. Then he walked me to my hotel door. He gave me a hug and he gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you.' And I was like, what?
The one.
Daniella: When we first linked up, he took me around Atlanta. He was soft and gentle. He was a gentleman. He opened the door for me and I never had nobody open the door. He opened the door every single time I was going in and getting out the car, and when we went to that restaurant. I was like, [there’s] something about him, and he was just nice, calm and patient. So I knew he was a little different from what I'm used to.
Bryant: [I knew she was the one by] how she cared so much. She didn't really know me like that. She knew of me, but she cared so much about me. When we first met, she would lay on me and just relax. For someone who just wants to relax on you, that says a lot about them towards you. It wasn't like I had to prove myself and she didn’t have to prove herself with me either. It wasn't nothing like that. We were willing to take whatever came with it. But it just was really a break. It was like the best me meeting a woman because I didn't try.
Any other woman, I might be trying to dress up, take her to this place, I did not try at all. I picked her up and I actually thought that she wasn't gonna go on the date with me because of her status and my status. I'm such a laid back homey dude and she's from Miami. I thought she would be on the City Girls, you gotta do this, do that. But she wasn't. She was the total opposite. She was a homebody, chill, like me.
Bryant and Daniella Williams
Courtesy
Marriage advice for couples.
Bryant: Work together. Communication, put your mind together.
Daniella: And keep your family out your business.
Bryant: Keep it private please. Y'all work it out first. When y'all make sure it's solidified, then you tell them, or let them find out on their own. Privacy is the most valuable thing.
Daniella: And date each other because people get married and they stop doing the things that they did to get you, or stop doing the things that they did while they were in a relationship with you, before y'all got married. No, do the same thing. For me, I get bored easy, and I think he knows that. So just keep it spicy. Keep it interesting.
Bryant: We like spontaneous stuff like last-minute trips, trying different foods, going out the country just off a spur of a moment. You gotta make it fun. Don't just make it all business. And I think one person out of the relationship needs to take the initiative to make sure their partner is relaxing and at peace. A lot of people carry functional depression to where they’re functional, like we're doing this right now, but they can be going through something.
I don't think it's male or female. I think whichever one, the other partner should notice it and work with their partner to get through whatever they get through, like, for postpartum depression and stuff. That's something that most men don't even really know exist, but that's something when she had our daughter, I had an anti-postpartum depression plan put in place for her. She didn't know about it, but I knew I was gonna be extra sweet to her.
She won't have to think about doing nothing with the little baby. My little girl was watching the football game with me, when she was a few weeks old, because I was giving her that peace, so she can just relax, because her body has been through so much. So you got to be considerate of your mate's mental state and their mental well-being, because when it's gone, it's gone and it takes a lot to get it back, so I think that's important.
When she had our daughter, I had an anti-postpartum depression plan put in place for her. She didn't know about it, but I knew I was gonna be extra sweet to her. She won't have to think about doing nothing with the little baby. My little girl was watching the football game with me, when she was a few weeks old, because I was giving her that peace, so she can just relax, because her body has been through so much.
If you see something not right with your spouse, help them get help. It's okay for them to talk to a therapist by themselves, or it's okay for them to talk to somebody, but don't just sit there and let them go into this decline and self-destruction. I think that's the most important, because sometimes she be overwhelmed, and I have to be that person to hold her up. And then sometimes I'm overwhelmed. To her, baby, I don't want to do this no more. She's like, you gonna do this. We gonna do this. And she reminds me who I am. I remind her who she is, and we come back feeling more motivated.
Daniella: I think business owners should date business owners because they understand your hustle, your hunger. They understand when you can have a day where you make $0 and you have a day when you make $1,000. But I feel like if you dating someone who is in corporate America, and you a business owner, there's going to be a lot of friction, a lot of tension, and I just feel like I want to date someone that has the same drive as me.
Because I don't want to feel like I'm trying to build a bear, build a man, and I have to pull you and drag you, or just being with somebody who got they self together. For instance, my last relationship. I won't say I was the breadwinner, but I was kind of established, and I felt like I was sleeping with the enemy. I was growing fast and I wasn't stagnant. I was trying to get to the next level. He started to be jealous of me and I feel like a lot of women deal with men trying to be jealous of them. Men also have ego issues where they don't really want their woman making a certain amount of money or making more money than them.
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