By Marcia E. Smith Founder of Helping Hurting Hearts Heal International
Your brain is an organ just as your heart (Right?) When we have
heart problems we schedule an appointment with a cardiologist or
our Primary Care Physicians to obtain an evaluation of the
symptoms and signals that our bodies are displaying and often
begin taking prescribed oral medication to ensure proper health
and the function of that organ. Your intestines are organs (Right?)
When we have digestive problems we schedule an appointment with a gastroenterologist to evaluate digestive issues and again often prescribed medications along with a recommended dietary plan to ensure better health or improvements.
Sooooo, let’s use our brains a little here; if your brain is an organ and you never have a mental health check-up when your brain is releasing chemicals indicating signs of stress, depression, fatigue, overthinking, grief,
emotional pain, burn out, hurt, pain or even painful traumatic
experiences that have never been discussed or evaluated, can you
IMAGINE the years of damage being done to that particular
organ?
People are literally dying in their heads due to social stigmas
accepted culturally that mental health means your mental and
would much rather pretend to be okay with a fake smile holding
back tears because they don’t feel safe enough to say I NEED
HELP or I’M DROWNING OVER HERE!
Ask ME how I know! I’m waiting….so glad you asked, even if it was in your own head at least you thought about the question. I know because I’ve LIVED IT! Yes, ME….traumatized as a child from many devastating life events, some never disclosed or discussed yet inside of my head I fought every day with low self-esteem, poor self-worth, mountains of fear and rejection from being raised without my biological father, sexual abuse as well as physical abuse and emotional abuse in relationships.
A teen mother at the age of 14, looking for love in all the wrong places, an outburst of anger, behavior issues, insecurity, paranoia, childhood suicide attempts, running away from home, you name it…. I was a broken,
damaged child on the run full of amazing potential and purpose but guess What?
Nobody ever stopped to evaluate WHY I was behaving the way I was behaving but rather judging WHAT I was doing even in the church. My freedom has come by OWNING MY TRUTHS! YES! I’ve struggled in my mind. YES! I’ve wrestled with fear. YES! I’ve pretended to be happy when I was internally sad. YES! I’ve pretended even in church to have it ALL
TOGETHER when I was falling apart…..saving the world but I
couldn’t save myself A public success but a private mess! The
TRUTH is setting me FREE!
The Mental Health stigma in the African American community as a whole is very disheartening, specifically from the female psychological and emotional perspective.
Also, the stigma to address mental health in African American churches is even more disheartening as people are judged or made to feel certain types of ways upon the discussion of this very much needed subject such as:
“they are crazy”, “their messed up”, “they need help or they become a categorized classification case which often leads to internal states of fear, shame, guilt and more mental stress.
Have you ever felt like giving up but your IMAGE or EGO was too BIG?
To tell the truth that could have actually released another person from mental bondage letting them know they are not alone.
(To Be Continued)
Thank you for the feature
International? Where else this be held? I haven’t seen any events else where?
Greetings Lori,
How Are You? Thanks for taking the time to read the article as well as for your inquiries. If you would like to obtain additional information pertaining to Helping Hurting Hearts Heal Intl. please feel free to email us at [email protected] and we will be sure to return your correspondence expeditiously as well. We would to share who we are and what we do.
Also Lori here is a link that you may access to one of our International Partners in China.
https://youtu.be/XB5q2S3KOHY
Bravo!!!!! Thank you for sharing. You are such a testimony of strength and I am blessed by your transparency! May you continue to have great success leading women in to healing hearts!
Thank you so much for your support and love Mrs. Gibson. As a global leader yourself, it inspires me that you would take the time to actually read the article as well as post a comment. You’ve been an inspiration to me.
This is Wonderful! Many of us focus too much on the physical but forget that it starts with the mental health! Your testimony confirms once more the Gods Blood still works! Thank you for sharing bc it’s very encouraging and challenges us all to be more mindful.
Marcia thank you for sharing your story and creating international awareness on the significance of mental health. Your story is inspiring to many who are suffering silently. Love you girl♥️
Very good article that needs to be heard !
Thank you for being so true because some people will try to brush it under the rug. This will help others to see it in a better view thank you for sharing
LORD DELIVER ME FROM MY PAST TO HEAL FOR MY FUTURE
Your Testimony Will Help Heal Many of Us❤️
THANK YOU‼️
Thanks for sharing!! I can definitely relate to most of it!! Looking forward to your next article!!
Reading this article left me in tears and swept me off my feet it seem as if Mrs.Marcia E.Smith was standing on my door steps and heard me crying I was a lost broken and confused women who was about to throw in the towel God spoke to me and said dust yourself off and keep walking but I was at the end of my rope and I read this article and it seem like my story but I just want to let you know Thanks for sharing your story and Thanks to the editor for written it because it has inspired me to keep on going and it is ok to say you are not ok. No matter how u feel alone you are never alone. Always Your mental state plays a big role when u have lost your mental state u have lost it all so it’s ok to talk to people and yes she is a great person to talk to your business is safe with her!
Thank you sister in christ about speaking the truth. So many times in our culture as women we hid behind our hurt. We live lives people and society expects us to live until something takes us completely down the wrong road. Hopefully many more of these articles and talks will let we as strong black women know we need to heal from the inside out .
Love this! It is the real truth! Thank you so much for your Testimony and insight!
Wooooow this is an absolute eye opener or as Oprah would say “an ah ha moment”! The analogies you used and tied to experiences are definitely powerful!! Anyone can relate, including myself and once again your transparency and ability to be open and vulnerable in telling your truth gives others like myself the reminder and ability to see it’s ok to breathe and let go knowing we’re not alone. Being a part of your group Helping Hurting Hearts Heal has been an amazing experience! Your mentoring sessions are powerful and moving. Your voice is healing all by itself. I remember when you invited me to speak and share my story of abuse I had suffered and at first I was nervous but deep down I knew someone was even more afraid and in pain that needed to hear that I too was in their shoes and the importance of getting out of those shoes, breaking the cycle and not passing that pain down generation after generation.
Your wisdom is a true blessing and your spirit is truly God Given. To know that after all you’ve endured you still stand for others, you fight for those who have given up when you could easily run in the opposite direction but you don’t. You still smile when you probably want to cry but instead you muster up the strength yet again to push through becoming the voice for the voiceless!! This testimony is a reminder to every women out there that no matter what she’s going through to just hold on long enough to get the help she needs. Your story really is the extinguisher all women need to know even though they’ve been through the fire and sometimes they may feel like they’re still on fire mentally and emotionally that with self- care and self- love, with prayer and a support community like Helping Hurting Hearts Heal they don’t have to be in a mental pit of hell anymore. All women including yourself are Divine and Deserving of all things great this Universe has to offer we just sometimes get so overwhelmed that we forget our true power, we forget our worth, we forget we truly are the head and not the tail. We forget that royal blood runs through our veins. I know I’ve forgotten more than once WHO I Am and WHO’S I AM. But something as simple as reading your testimony is a reminder that I am not alone.
Thank you for being selfless and caring for others before yourself. Your love is truly a blessing and something we all need because even the strongest Queen gets weak and that mental spark can become a full blown forest fire of depression, f.e.a.r, (False Evidence Appearing Real) sadness, anger, confusion and more burning out of control keeping us trapped in a place we don’t want to be. Keep doing what you’ve been called to do even when sometimes you don’t want too. Thank you for your courage, thank you for your wisdom and support, thank you for creating such an awesome and safe community for women all over the world who no longer have to suffer in silence. With much love and gratitude I salute you Queen, Namaste!
I am so proud of my sister for speaking out on mental health and the need to shine a light and eliminate the stigma particularly among people of color. I have had a struggle with my own mental health. Suffering trauma as a child physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. I was never evaluated even though I was demonstrating bazaar behavior as a kid. Never understanding the murder of my aunt who was raped and left dead at a very young age. The murder of my brother at the age of 30. I didn’t meet my two younger sisters until I was an adult. I can’t figure out why this happened until this day without any answers. My brave sister is taking this on and she has my unwavering support. I can’t wait to see where this leads us. There is no doubt in my heart and mind that hearts will be healed in this save place for people to know that they are not alone. Can’t wait till the day when a mental health check up is as common as an annual psychical exam.
Thank you for addressing mental health as an illness. One in can be and needs to be treated and not left to grow and spread it’s damage to the next generation or throughout the body. Seeking help is not a sign of weakness but of strength to face another sometimes silent killer.
Thank you for sharing your testimony and speaking on this issue. A lot of people suffer from mental health but not enough is done to help them. Continue to be that voice and platform that is needed. You are an awesome and amazing woman of God!!!!
Thank you for sharing your story!!!!! Your live stream last week not only changed my life, but saved me from myself!!!!! I am now owning ny truths and allowing God to lead me in my purpose!!!!! May God continue to bless you!!!!
Powerful is the word that I would use to describe this article, mental illness, such as depression has always been a stigma in the black community, and often times we are just told to deal with it, thanks for erasing the stigmas that we face being black and female, Your story is truly an inspiration.