Why Shanice Douglas is Using Her Story to Empower Women to Pay Attention to their Mental Health
Photography by D.L. Samuels
Interview by Carey-Lee Dixon
I am thrilled to highlight Witted Roots and the woman behind the mental and emotional wellness platform for millennial Jamaican women, Shanice Douglas. The platform was designed with the aim to educate, inspire and guide millennial women along a journey of self-discovery and self-appreciation.
Back in 2015, I experienced a rut in my personal and career life - where I felt stuck with no guided direction. I was overwhelmed by work stress, a toxic workplace and navigating my life as a 20-something-year-old. That period in life, which was new to me, empowered me to dig deep and find creative ways to deal with stress and anxiety through guided meditation and self-discovery. While overcoming that point in life wasn't the easiest, not many women know where to turn and how to deal with stress, depression or anxiety; that's why Witted Roots is important.
Shanice shares her struggle with depression and anxiety, "For a long time, I was not sure how to pinpoint what it was that I was experiencing. My major catalyst was migrating to the United States as a teenager. A heavy dose of family dysfunction, mixed with a heaping of homesickness, led to a whirlwind of an experience, which included long-term insomnia, a confusing relationship with food, and a deteriorating relationship with my mother."
Her struggle and story inspired the Witted Rooted, a safe space for women to share their stories, discover themselves and find help.
I was honoured to participate in Rooted, the docu-series, to share my own story on mental health and navigating challenges.
Dive into my interview with Shanice, who delved into why she started Witted Roots and her hopes for helping women pay attention to their mental health.
What exactly is the Witted Roots project, what inspired you to start it and why now?
Witted Roots is a mental and emotional wellness platform for millennial Jamaican women. The platform exists to educate, inspire, and guide millennial women along a journey of self-discovery and self-appreciation. We’re in the very early stages of existence.
We aim to incorporate digital (articles/videos) and in-person resources to help young women in Jamaica (and the Diaspora) become more knowledgeable about mental health and actively encourage them to develop their own strategies to ensure optimal psychological wellness.
“One of our main foundations is self-reflection, and that plays a huge role in the development of the docu-series, as well as our upcoming guided reflection journals.”
Witted Roots was borne from an intersection of a passion and a purpose for empowering millennial Jamaican women with the tools, resources, and information necessary to leverage the roots of their psychological foundation as a platform for a more fulfilling life experience. When I sought resources myself for many years, it was frustrating to find that there were virtually none I could connect with that had someone who looked and sounded like me, with a similar cultural background. There was a gap, and I was intent on filling it.
Rooted is our flagship docu-series project, facilitating a safe space for Jamaican women to share their mental and emotional health experiences. It encourages the sharing of stories in the first place while giving “everyday” Jamaican women the opportunity to see themselves represented in dynamic conversations about holistic wellness.
“Mental health continues to be a hush-hush, often misconstrued topic, and we want to showcase that there can be strength in vulnerability, especially a vulnerability that comes from sharing experiences where you may have felt misunderstood, unsupported, not sure where to turn for help, etc. ”
I was inspired to produce this docu-series as a medium to spread the message that all stories and all voices are valid. Actually seeing and hearing that someone else, who looks and sounds like you, has experienced a similar situation, can make the difference between complete isolation and the first step for help. and we hope to use this platform to continually encourage that.
Tara Downs
How has your experience or the women around you inspired you to start this project?
I have struggled with depression and anxiety for a number of years. For a long time, I was unsure how to pinpoint what I was experiencing. My major catalyst was migrating to the United States as a teenager. A heavy dose of family dysfunction, mixed with a heaping of homesickness, led to a whirlwind of an experience, which included long-term insomnia, a confusing relationship with food, and a deteriorating relationship with my mother. Witted Roots is the safe space that, at my lowest points, I never knew I needed.
I felt misunderstood and unsupported, and as I delved deeper into studying psychology (my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees are based in psychology, health, and behaviour), it dawned on me that innumerable cultural hangups exist surrounding mental health. There continue to be so many misconceptions about what mental health actually is, how it can manifest itself into an individual’s life in any number of ways, and what the options are for actually getting help.
Carey-Lee Dixon
There are so many perceptions about mental health; some are misunderstood. How do you aim to empower women to take care of themselves mentally and physically?
Mental health is just as important as physical health; sadly, there is a severe lack of that consideration. We are inclined to create New Year’s resolutions about physical fitness, yet it rarely dawns on us to include mental and emotional wellness.
“Mental health is just as important as physical health.”
With practical information meant to educate, along with actionable strategies suggested for actually navigating the psychological experience, I aim to arm as many young women as possible with the tools necessary to take control of their own wellness trajectory.
I find that one of the largest barriers to making a positive change to how you experience your mental health is not knowing what mental health or emotional wellness even means. What is stress, and how can I know that I am functioning under a relatively healthy amount? Are those heart palpitations that I feel before every presentation normal or healthy? How can I manage it?
“We cannot take care of ourselves effectively without actually becoming intimate with what that actually means, and how to possibly go about it.”
Rushell Ferarah
How do you hope this (Rooted: Docu-Series) series will teach 20-30-something-year-old women about handling stress and dealing with depression?
We have so many things that we are faced with daily (stress, anxiety, and depression being common examples), and we normalise it as just another ‘thing’ that we have to deal with. We tell ourselves that it’s no big deal that every morning, we wake up with a tight chest that worsens the closer we get to our workplace because we don’t know how to acknowledge it as an issue that can be treated. We are often not aware of just how much our mental health plays a role in how we navigate our spaces and our interactions with others.
With the interviews from the ongoing Rooted docu-series, I hope to create that safe space where there CAN be a dialogue about mental and emotional experiences, how we experience them, why we experience them and learn how others have been able to alleviate the adverse effects on their lives.
How important is it for women to take breaks when working in a toxic or demanding environment?
A topic I will cover through the Witted Roots platform is toxicity and how that can manifest in various ways. We hear about toxins in our food but less about how ‘toxic’ can be people and places we regularly interact with. From chronic stress to crippling anxiety, it’s not uncommon for many young women to feel drained just thinking about the work week ahead on a Sunday night.
Let's talk about the importance of having a strong support system. How can women get support or help when dealing with a challenging time in their personal lives or careers?
Support systems can be the bedrock of success in your career or fulfilment in your personal life. While it is important to ensure that you have a solid foothold within your own experiences and have a level of confidence in how you can navigate it best, it never hurts to have at least one other person who can give you that figurative push, especially during the inevitable moments of exhaustion.
“Not many of us can say that we have friends or family who can give an unbiased touch of support and comfort when you truly need it, so at times we need to get creative.”
It takes some initiative, but it is worth it to seek out spaces where you feel safe to vent, rumble, and re-group, armed with strategies to better position yourself.
Social media can be a den of negativity at times, but there is potential for connection with others who are genuinely interested in helping you feel safe within your experiences. @JaMHAN, for example, can be a great starting point for finding further resources.
Unfortunately, the reality is that many cannot afford to maintain therapy sessions, which can be a significant drawback. There are a number of options that can be found online, via apps, that are free and affordable and can provide you with a stepping stone to better handling any challenging experiences.
7cups.com is also a resource that I have become acquainted with myself as a visitor and a listener, and I can vouch for the in-depth training. They also provide references for therapists and other mental health professionals.
Calm is a meditation app that makes it easy to give yourself a few minutes to focus on your breath and be aware of your body.
Support groups are also another great option. While they are not currently a regular, widely accepted fixture in our culture, I anticipate many such spaces will soon begin to take shape (including via Witted Roots).
Describe one of the most inspiring or touching responses from the project
The Rooted series has allowed me to facilitate the sharing of stories of so many witty, intelligent, and overall beautiful women, and all their stories, while inherently unique, shared a thread of powerfulness that continues to be awe-inspiring.
One particular story shared re-told an instance where family and friends came together as a unit to provide a space for healing without judgment, borne from a genuine love and concern for the individual’s long-term well-being. Not many individuals who have negative psychological experiences can say that they felt supported by their loved ones, and this story was definitely worthy of note.
For more on Witted Roots and Shanice Douglas, connect via Website - www.wittedroots.com, Instagram - www.instagram.com/wittedroots and Facebook - www.facebook.com/wittedroots.
