How Overcoming Family Trauma Inspired My Natural Hair Advocacy

My mum taught me to always stay vigilant in understanding when the majority or the ‘trusted voices’ were falling short. She told me to be brave enough to speak power to those who couldn’t always speak so boldly for themselves or were not given the platforms to do so.

The first time I remember really seeing what it meant to challenge the status quo in an uncomfortably powerful way was from my mum. When I was ten years old, one of my mum’s youngest sisters started living with us and began exhibiting some behaviours that we felt were part of a potentially undiagnosed mental health condition.

Whilst she was struggling at home with us, feeling stressed, scared of her surroundings and oftentimes utterly confused as to where she was or how she got there, the mental health practitioners we were supposed to be able to trust with our concerns and expected to assess her correctly, led us to believe it was simply not that serious. I recall one telling us quite brazenly that she was the most sane person they’d seen in the clinic that day.

I need mental health professionals to act on behalf of their patients with the intention of finding genuine solutions without prejudice or bias.

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