GWS Podcast Episode 33 #BlackLivesMatter, COVID-19, & Anxiety: A Guide to Doing Better – with Randi-Mae Stanford-Leibold & Dr. Kevin Chapman
In June 2020, the world was ignited with uproar after witnessing a video of George Floyd being killed by a police officer. Tht same month, the Global Wellness Summit hosted the masterclass “An Open Conversation About Race and the Wellness Community.” Hundreds joined the Zoom call, most knowing that the hashtag #WellnessSoWhite was trending for a reason: people of color are not well represented in the wellness world.
On the call, Susie Ellis, co-founder of GWS, said, “We have a lot to learn and lot to do. The
Summit and the Institute should use their leadership position and the power of our collective voices on this global platform to help.”
It’s been 4 months. So, what do we do now?
The change we need didn’t happen overnight, and we have to keep talking about and working to improve these issues. This episode is part of the Global Wellness Summit’s commitment to continuing the conversation and expanding on it with honesty, humility, and heart.
Our guests are Randi-Mae Stanford-Leibold and Dr. Kevin Chapman, two Black leaders in the wellness community who have fantastic insight on how we can do better — both in regards to our health and the equity of our society.
Randi-Mae is an author, mindfulness facilitator, and the founder of Mindful Living Barbados, an annual wellness event that invites people to meditate, learn, grow and align as they nurture their mind, body, and soul. She is also a co-founder of the Black Therapist Collective, and she donated her services to clients of color for the entire month of June to help them deal with collective grief and indirect trauma. Talk about leading by example.
Dr. Kevin Chapman is a Black therapist, and as he shares in this interview, he is well aware of how rare that is — only 4% of professional therapists are Black, and even fewer are Black men. Dr. Chapman specializes in helping kids and adults overcome anxiety and related disorders, and he shares insights on emotional wellness and regulating your thoughts that everyone needs to hear, especially in 2020.
These interviews go a bit beyond our typical conversations, but that’s necessary. Randi-Mae and Dr. Chapman offer suggestions, solutions, and tools to help us all do better, and being open to their message and listening is the first step to doing so.
Resources:
- Randimae.com
- drkevinchapman.com
- Randi-Mae on IG: @randimae1
- Dr. Chapman on Twitter: @drkchap
- “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo
- “Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem” by Bell Hooks
- “How Meditation Can Reshape Our Brains: Sara Lazar at TEDxCambridge 2011”
- Black Girl in Om
- Global Wellness Summit 2020
- GWI’s 2020 Research In Progress