BLACK DANDELION & MENTAL WELLNESS: LECTURE & WORKSHOP

Venue: Gloria Coles Flint Public Library, Ennis Room

The “Black Dandelion” poem by Semaj Brown is being utilized to foster mental wellness and emotional health from Flint to Togo West Africa. Be moved and motivated from an introspective workshop that integrates practical mental health practices. The presenter, a mental health professional, Licensed Clinical Therapist, Ayana Fordham who brings a global lens to healing and wellness as she has practiced internationally. Ms. Fordham returns to Flint from 5 years of providing mental wellness services to active-duty U.S. military and families. Workshop processes involve engaging with the poem's themes of survival, resilience, and transformation. Analogies emerge between the growth challenges of the dandelion plant characterized as a weed, and the barrier to growth of marginalized communities. Metaphor analysis and imaginative projection facilitate personal reflection and futures mapping.1026 E Kearsley St, Flint, MI 48503, USA