The Verywell Mind Podcast

You sent Minaa your most pressing questions, and in today's episode she provides her insight and advice to those questions. You asked about how to handle a friendship you may have outgrown, how to develop healthy two-sided friendships, and when to forgive a friend that betrayed your trust (and how to do it).For more info visit: verywellmind.com/podcastThe Verywell Mind Podcast is produced by:Minaa B., LMSW - HostKristen Altmeyer - GM/VP, Verywell MindJeremiah McVay - Podcast Producer/Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Joy Harden Bradford is a Licensed Psychologist. She’s also a speaker and the Founder & CEO of Therapy for Black Girls, and host of its wildly popular mental health podcast, which received a Webby award in 2023. In this episode, Dr. Joy sits down with Minaa to discuss her new book, Sisterhood Heals: The Transformative Power of Healing in Community. Her work focuses on making mental health topics more relevant and accessible for Black women and she specializes in creating spaces for them to have fuller and healthier relationships with themselves and others.For more info visit: verywellmind.com/podcastThe Verywell Mind Podcast is produced by:Minaa B., LMSW - HostKristen Altmeyer - GM/VP, Verywell MindJeremiah McVay - Podcast Producer/Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Raquel Martin discusses promoting Black mental health for legacy-building and longevity. Topics covered include Black mental wealth, community care, self-care in the workplace, combating racism, building community, and providing opportunities for deprived children.

Julie Scelfo is the Founder/Executive Director of Get Media Savvy, a nonprofit using pop culture to establish a healthy media environment for kids and families. She is an award-winning journalist, a former New York Times staff writer, a media ecologist, an author, and a parent.Scelfo was moved to start Get Media Savvy after reporting on the youth mental health crisis and seeing suicidality affect children at ever-younger ages, and recognizing how a multitude of factors—including absent regulations and the lack of widespread media literacy—has created an unhealthy, unsafe media environment. In this episode Scelfo talks with Minaa B about how her coalition works to create a widespread cultural shift so everyone recognizes the existence of the media environment and its central role in human affairs.For more info visit: verywellmind.com/podcastThe Verywell Mind Podcast is produced by:Minaa B, LMSW -- HostKristen Altmeyer -- VP/GM, Verywell MindJeremiah McVay -- Podcast Producer/Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Paige Bellenbaum, is a LCSW, and the Founding Director and Chief External Relations Officer at The Motherhood Center of New York.In this episode, Bellenbaum sits down with Minaa B to discuss her experience with severe postpartum depression and how that drove her to fight for education, screening, and treatment for postpartum depression so that no more women would have to suffer silently.For more info visit: verywellmind.com/podcastThe Verywell Mind Podcast is produced by:Minaa B., LMSW - HostKristen Altmeyer - GM/VP, Verywell MindJeremiah McVay - Podcast Producer/Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Model and self-love advocate Achieng Agutu shares her journey of building confidence, overcoming societal expectations, and finding internal validation. She discusses her transformation towards self-assurance, dealing with rejection, and the positive impact of her digital community. Agutu highlights the importance of community care and the significance of asking for help. A motivating and inspiring conversation!

Minaa provides insight and advice on managing boundaries with family, friends, and partners. They discuss the importance of accountability, adjusting intimacy levels in relationships, and processing emotions after leaving an abusive relationship. They also share strategies for self-regulation and co-regulation.

Over the last 15 years, Cassadee Pope has been a lot of things to a lot of people—leader of seminal pop-punk band Hey Monday, the season 3 winner of The Voice and a platinum-selling, GRAMMY-nominated country singer-songwriter. Pope is also an ally and activist pushing for social change and a brighter future in a backward world. In this episode, Pope sits down with Minaa B. to discuss how therapy has shaped her life and songwriting, she also gives listeners a peek into what inspired her soon-to-be-released single.For more info visit verywellmind.com/podcastThe Verywell Mind Podcast is produced by:Minaa B, LMSW - HostKristen Altmeyer - VP/GM, Verywell MindJeremiah McVay - Podcast Producer/Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Being lonely really sucks. We've all experienced the moments where everyone we know seems to be busy—we haven't gotten a text back in hours, no one else is at home with us...even our pets can't be bothered with us!While the feeling of loneliness is never fun, we can learn ways to deal with solitude in a healthy way that doesn't start to wreak havoc on our mental health.Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH, Founder of Project UnLonely talks about the toxicity of loneliness and how we can break down the stigma surrounding the topic because it can be hard to admit we're feeling lonely. Dr. Nobel also shares the types of creative expression that can be an antidote to loneliness.For more info visit: verywellmind.com/podcastThe Verywell Mind Podcast is produced by:Minaa B., LMSW - HostKristen Altmeyer - GM/VP, Verywell MindJeremiah McVay - Podcast Producer/Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Social activism is hard and often thankless work. However, the small and big wins feel monumental and make the journey toward gaining equity and fair treatment worth it.Felicia A. Henry, LMSW, a social worker and PhD candidate with a focus on race, gender, carceral, and social vulnerability studies shares ways we can preserve our mental health while fighting for social justice—because activists deserve rest too.For more info visit: verywellmind.com/podcastThe Verywell Mind Podcast is produced by:Minaa B., LMSW - HostKristen Altmeyer - GM/VP, Verywell MindJeremiah McVay - Podcast Producer/Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices