PRESENTATION: Bridging Experience and Innovation: Three Black Women’s Perspectives on Healing Justice and Liberation in Marginalized Communities (As Seen at the NAMI Illinois 2025 Conference)

 

In this powerful session, three Black women; a mother–daughter duo with lived experience and a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, come together across generations to explore what it takes to navigate mental illness in the face of systemic racism, patriarchy, and ableism. 

From the perspectives of a Junior Millennial and Senior Gen Xer who work in the mental health profession and are living with chronic mental health conditions, participants will hear personal stories of resilience, self-advocacy, and the practical strategies that have sustained them.

From the clinical perspective, we will examine how traditional care models often fail to meet the needs of marginalized communities and explore how to create accessible, culturally affirming approaches grounded in real-world resilience. Drawing on community-based innovations integrated into schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods, this session offers both deeply personal insights and systemic solutions.

Objectives:

1. Understand how women of color with mental illness are specifically disenfranchised in the U.S., including the compounded impact of systemic racism, patriarchy, and ableism across generations.

2. Identify external resources, programs, and practical self-care strategies; social and spiritual that can support recovery and daily wellness.

3. Explore a high-level framework for creating accessible, culturally affirming, community-based mental health supports by engaging trusted stakeholders, leveraging existing community spaces, and fostering sustainable partnerships.

Dr. Calynn Lawrence and Dawn Smith at the NAMI IL conference

Dr. Calynn Lawrence, NAMI National CEO Daniel H. Gillison Jr., Dawn Smith and Jasmin Ford

This engaging presentation was done at the 2025 NAMI Illinois Stronger Together Conference, and received rave reviews from the audience. As such, there is no video. However, the slide deck is very rich, and we encourage you to check it out! 

DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION HERE.