Meet Reviving Roots: Providing Wellness in the Black Community
BY EMMA GEARY - JUNE 16, 2023
Long Live Loring: A Neighborhood Series
Long Live Loring: In this blog series, we’re highlighting the many businesses and people breathing life into our beloved Loring Park Neighborhood. From nonprofits to the newest hot spots, we’re sharing what makes our neighborhood great all month long.
All images courtesy of Reviving Roots
This summer, the Loring Corners building is buzzing, and not just because of events at our studio. Meet our neighbor Reviving Roots, a Black-centered wellness space is designed for building community, spreading education, celebrating joy, and increasing access to Black wellness.
We had the opportunity to sit down with Marlee James, Reviving Roots’ founder, to learn more about this one-of-a-kind wellness center and how they’re building community one client at a time.
Reviving Roots was founded in 2019 after Marlee worked for a series of practices that she felt valued Black folks in words and not in action. As soon as she was fully licensed, she filed for her LLC.
Lack of Resources in MN
“In our first location, we were located just blocks from where George Floyd was murdered. After May 2020, I had over 100 referrals and knew I needed to build a community around wellness for Black folks.”
Less than 5% of mental health professionals are Black, which means that the Black community is severely underserved when it comes to mental health. Finding a therapist that applies a deeper understanding of racial and generational trauma to treatment is invaluable, especially when social justice-oriented treatment is still so difficult to find.
At Reviving Roots, Marlee and her team have created a space that offers Black-centered and Black-affirming holistic mental health and wellness support with both in-person and digital programming. They are here to help the helpers, and be a place of reprieve and recharge in a way that other wellness centers in the Twin Cities cannot.
“All of our programming is somatic, focused on connecting the body and the mind, the past and the future. We’ve designed this space by Black people, for Black people, so there’s a level of understanding that the community doesn’t have elsewhere.”
Breaking the Stigma
“The idea that ‘silence is strength’ is a trauma response, but over generations, it becomes something embedded in the culture. Right now, there is more space than ever for Black folks to begin having conversations around mental health. I used to think that black folks didn’t want to seek treatment, but what I’ve found is that they didn’t have the resources.”
The mental health field was developed primarily by people in power, typically white men, which means it wasn’t created with everyone in mind. It can be difficult to trust a system that has discriminated against you for years.
“Even when we built our website,” Marlee shares, “it was difficult to find stock photos of Black therapists and Black wellness spaces. They simply don’t exist.”
The Space
As Marlee looked to expand Reviving Roots, this new space at Loring Park was a perfect fit.
“Our goal is to use our limited resources to serve as many people as possible. Our space in Loring Park is central enough to both downtown and the suburbs. It’s in the middle of the bustle but quiet at the same time.”
The new space, which soft opened in May and will host a grand opening in August, is expansive, light-filled, and serene. With therapy, yoga and boxing classes, massage, meditation, open social hours, and more, there is an opportunity for everyone to connect at Reviving Roots, no matter your needs.
How To Support
One of the most significant barriers to mental healthcare is the cost. Donations to the Flourish Fund are one of the most effective ways to support the mission of supporting a legacy of health and healing in the Black community.
Another crucial way to build support and awareness around mental health and wellness for Black folks is to advocate for Reviving Roots in the workplace. Offering memberships for black staff members is a way to provide them with a space unlike anything else offered in the state.
“One of the things we hear often is, ‘if we offer this to black folks, doesn’t that mean we have to offer it to everyone?’ and to that I’d say that the experience of Black people in the workplace is unique, and so they need a unique space to feel supported and recharge. It’s a great tool for recruitment as well, and shows that a company values diversity and supports their staff.”
We couldn’t be more excited to have Reviving Roots as our neighbor at Loring Corners, and can’t wait to see all of the ways they’ll impact the Twin Cities with their expansive programming. To learn more about a Sanctuary Membership and how you can participate, visit their website!
Emma Geary
Emma is a writer living in Minneapolis. When she's not checking out a new brewery with friends or blasting Taylor Swift in her car, you can find her dreaming up ideas as the Brand + Editorial Manager at LAB.
