Welcome to the very well-mind podcast. I'm Mina B, and I'm a licensed social worker,

mental health educator, and author of owning our struggles. I'll be chatting with experts, wellness advocates,

and others about the power of community care in improving your mental health. We'll delve

into topics such as friendships, managing difficult relationships, and most importantly,

how to cultivate belonging and support in our lives.

Now, let's jump into today's episode.

Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford is a licensed psychologist.

She's also a speaker and the founder and CEO of Therapy for Black Girls and host of its wildly popular mental health podcast, which received a Webby Award in 2023.

She's also the author of Sisterhood Heels,

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.

Hi, Dr. Joy. Thank you for being a part of the show. Thank you so much, Venus. Great to see you again.

You too. You know, I've been following your work for a really long time and we had the opportunity to meet in person a few years ago, which was really exciting.

And I have always been a big fan, especially because of the work you do for therapy for black girls. So can you walk us through your journey and just what brought you to the work that you do?

Ooh, that feels like such a big question, Rita. My background is in college student mental health.

And so I kind of feel like the work that I do with therapy for black girls feels like an extension in a lot of ways from that work.

My favorite part of working with college students was always outreach. So kind of going to the students where they were in their residence halls or sorority meetings or, you know, in their

sports teams. I mean, talking about different kinds of mental health topics. And so I kind of feel like

that is what I do for the podcast now. But, you know, just to take people back a little bit, like I

say, my background is in college student mental health. So I've been on the campuses of the University of

...