YOUR RETREAT DIRECTORS
OUR RETREAT STORY
Dear Family,
Thank you for visiting! We are so glad that you are considering joining us at Blue Spirit for the inaugural "Healing While Black" Retreat! All three of us have stayed at Blue Spirit as guests and/or teachers. Our experiences were restorative, healing, transformative, and liberating. It is a special place indeed.
Our retreat Vision and Values have been our ground and inspiration from the beginning. We believe that the processes and energies of "healing while Black" must be characterized by:
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LOVE.
COMMUNITY.
CULTURE.
AUTHENTICITY.
JOY.
LIBERATION.
HOLISTIC WELLNESS.
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You are in good hands.
We are three Black women with combined 100+ years of experience as mental health providers, administrators, researchers, program developers, educators, consultants, and trainers. Our work has consistently included a focus on the well-being of marginalized and oppressed populations, as well as on the role of culturally-responsive and culturally-centered care. We have deep history as friends and colleagues (Merilla and Shelly have known each other for 40+ years!). We are mothers. We are healers. We are leaders. We are deeply spiritual in our orientation to life. We are highly committed to Black health and wellness. Based on our professional expertise and personal lived experience (including our own health and spiritual journeys), we share a holistic orientation to health and KNOW that physical, mental, emotional, relational, collective, and spiritual well-being are deeply interconnected and inextricably linked.
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There is a growing demand for Black wellness spaces.
As retreat goers for many years, each of us often found ourselves in spaces where we were "the only one" (or one of very few). This was true when Shelly and Brinell co-taught at Blue Spirit in January of 2023 which inspired a dinner conversation one night with several of the other teachers. Jack Kornfield, founder of Spirit Rock Retreat Center in California, shared Spirit Rock's approach of offering community specific retreats (BIPOC, Black women, LGBTQ+) that have typically sold-out with a waiting list. Shelly has attended BIPOC and Black women's retreats at Spirit Rock for years. Stephan Rechtschaffen, Blue Spirit retreat center Founder, was enthusiastic about bringing this model to Blue Spirit and invited Shelly to develop a retreat. The name for the retreat "Healing While Black" came to her while journaling in her room after the conversation. Brinell and Shelly began visioning the next day. Shelly reached out to Merilla as they had shared the experience of being Blue Spirit "first-timers" in 2022 at an Afro Flow Yoga intensive retreat (a highly-recommended retreat experience!). From there, the three convened and The Healing While Black Retreat was born.
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The Sankofa Path, Inc. Nonprofit
As we began developing the retreat, the need for greater attention to Black wellness became even clearer. Racial health disparities reveal that Black people have earlier mortality and are at significant risk for disease and disability, particularly as reflected in chronic health conditions that are stress-related (e.g., hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and more). Black mental health is strongly related to these health disparities including experiences of racial trauma, substance abuse, and depression. We are especially concerned about the increasing rates of suicide among Black people (Black youth in particular). The risks related to reproductive health among Black women reflect the importance of an intersectional approach. Another collective vision emerged-- to form a nonprofit, and The Sankofa Path, Inc. was born. As the founding Board Members of this newly formed nonprofit,
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We aim to provide culturally-informed wellness, health promotion, psychosocial, and psychoeducational services, training, and research relevant to marginalized and under-, inappropriately-, ineffectively- served groups and communities where there are racial-ethnic, socioeconomic, and/or gender-related disparities in health, health risks, and health care (inclusive of psychological/mental/behavioral and physical health). We focus particularly on the role of stress and discrimination in health and mental health.
Healing While Black is our first organizational initiative and this retreat is our first project in collaboration with The Soulfulness Center. We invite you to support the development of our nonprofit and consider a donation to further our work.
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Planning this retreat together has been a truly meaningful, enjoyable, synergistic, and divinely-guided experience. We can't wait to share it with you!
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In Community and Care,
Dr. Shelly, Dr. Merilla, & Dr. "B"
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Interested? SIGN-UP FOR UPDATES
VISION & VALUES FOR THE RETREAT
We have been very intentional in our vision and values for the "Healing While Black" Retreat. We have each been to many retreats and have identified what we believe is central to a positive and impactful experience. Through reflection and conversation, we identified 7 values that have grounded our planning, and that create the "vibe" we wish to co-create with you during the retreat. The values reflect what we believe promotes an optimal healing environment that can promote Black health and wellness.
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OUR VISION for The Healing While Black Retreat is to utilize the power of community and culture to amplify the effectiveness of evidence-informed interventions that reduce stress and enhance wellness.
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OUR HEALING VALUES
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Healing is optimized in COMMUNITY and an Ubuntu consciousness, a recognition of our interconnectedness and that we belong to each other; the value of community requires creating an affirming environment of belonging that welcomes and embraces all of the diverse and intersectional expressions of our Blackness.
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Healing is fueled by LOVE, compassion, care; we give grace for our humanness, recognizing that we are all in different places in the process of evolving toward the highest expression of our highest individual and collective selves; we aim to circulate the energy of love in our interactions with each other and with the spaces we co-create- seeing with the eyes of love, listening with the ears of love, and acting from the ground of love.
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Healing happens within our AUTHENTICITY, when we can take of the “mask”, exhale, and be in the truth of who we are (without explanation, apology, or defense); healing happens when we can express ourselves fully and in spaces where we are seen and felt, accepted, and valued.
For Black people, healing must include our LIBERATION and empowerment. Black health and wellness is a social justice issue given the role that anti-Black racism plays in our health, health risks, and health care.
Healing is most effective when grounded in the CULTURE, reflecting and resonating with the collective “soul” of Black people.
Healing must include a HOLISTIC WELLNESS and integrative approach that attends to multiple dimensions of our well-being from the physical and emotional, to the relational and social, to the environmental and sociopolitical, to the cultural and spiritual.
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Healing makes space for JOY, for expressing our gifts, for fun and laughter, for awe. Healing is more than just surviving or getting some relief from pain and toxicity.
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We invite you to embrace, embody, and emanate these values during your time with us at The Healing While Black retreat!
Interested? SIGN-UP FOR UPDATES
YOUR RETREAT PLANNING TEAM
What I love about Blue Spirit is immerson in the healing power of the natural world - the ocean, the jungle, the sunsets, the stars. The stars felt so close, like I could almost touch them. It is a magical place that helped me feel my own magic.
Dr. Shelly Harrell is Founder and Director of The Soulfulness Center, a hub for wisdom, meditation, wellness, and resilience resources that are soul-centered, psychology-informed, and inspired by the wisdom of the African diaspora. She has been a Professor at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology since 1999 where she directs the Culture, Wisdom, and Resilience lab. She is a researcher and published author in the areas of culture and psychotherapy, sociocultural and sociopolitical aspects of stress, racism and well-being, and Black mental health. Her work focuses on cultural dimensions of healing with an emphasis on contemplative practices with a holistic (mind-body-heart-soul-community-culture-nature-spirit) orientation. Dr. Shelly is a practicing psychotherapist and has served as a consultant to numerous educational, social service, health care, and professional organizations on issues of culture and diversity for over 30 years.
Dr. Shelly's most recent contribution is the development of Sankofa Theory and Practice, a comprehensive and integrative praxis rooted in African wisdom and healing traditions. Sankofa theory "downloaded" after returning home from her sabbatical travels to Ghana, Senegal, Cuba, and Costa Rica. The theory centers reconnection and interconnection as the core processes to heal the many harms of disconnection, particularly those that have developed from oppression and coloniality.
Born and raised in Detroit, threaded through everything in her life has been music, dance, social justice, love, passion, and Spirit. Soul music and dance are deep in her being and contributed to the development of her “soulfulness” approach to contemplative and embodied practices. Soulfulness is "experiencing and expressing a deep, spiritually-infused, and interconnected aliveness, attunement, authenticity, and alignment". It is an integrative approach to enhance and optimize overall well-being through practices that touch and express soul. Dr. Shelly has created unique "soulitations", meditations that are inspired by African and diasporic wisdom, healing traditions, and cultural expressions.
As a certified meditation teacher, she has taught meditation classes and facilitated guided meditations for hundreds of people, including a summer series at a Black-owned health store and restaurant in Los Angeles, through a community-based meditation and yoga space in Inglewood, California, retreats for Black couples, Black women leaders, Black academics, community healers in South Los Angeles, at international online summits, in trainings for diverse groups, at professional conferences, in many online offerings, and much more. Her flagship class, "A Soulful Introduction to Mindfulness", provides an invitation to mindfulness practice that is infused with culture and emphasizes liberation.
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Dr. Shelly is blessed to be the mother of two adult sons. She is "auntie" and a mentor to many. She loves music, dance, poetry, wisdom quotes, bodies of water, blue skies, communing with God/Spirit, and the color purple. One of her hobbies is making playlists and she has curated over fifty on themes such as rivers, rain, gratitude, liberation, love song duets, and existential Prince songs (she is a big Prince fan). A fun fact is that she co-founded (in 1979), co-directed, and served as teacher and choreographer for Expressions Dance Company at Harvard (which is still active on campus today).
What I love about Blue Spirit is how the center is surrounded by the beauty and tranquility of nature. The moment I arrived, I felt a healing balm flow over and through me.The lushness of the plants and sweet aroma of the flowers, the fascinating sounds of the wildlife, and the delicious, gourmet food really stimulated my senses, restoring my balance and inner peace. The private, outdoor shower was a transformative experience!!
Dr. Merilla McCurry Scott is a licensed clinical psychologist based out of Los Angeles, California. She is the current Executive Director of StrengthUnited (SU), a California State University (Northridge) community charter center dedicated to ending abuse, empowering families and developing leaders. SU provides trauma-informed, culturally-relevant mental health services to individuals, couples and families who are from traditionally unserved, underserved and/or inappropriately served communities. These individuals and communities are healing from all forms of interpersonal violence (i.e. domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, hate crimes).
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Merilla has over 30 years experience in management and executive leadership roles building and overseeing community based behavioral health programs and services. She has several years experience working in Human Resources developing diverse and inclusive workplace cultures, building infrastructures for enhanced recruitment and retention processes, and providing leadership training and professional development of supervisors, managers and directors in cultural humility, emotional intelligence, and accountability.
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Merilla has dedicated her career to building client centered programs and developing a trauma informed, culturally and emotionally intelligent workforce to better serve individuals in their healing process. For five years (including one year as Chair), Merilla served on the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission, appointed by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, advocating for equal access to quality care for all underrepresented and marginalized communities.
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In addition to her professional career, Merilla is passionate about her personal, well-being journey. She enjoys morning meditation walks, reading books on wellness and spirituality, and hosting spiritual gatherings. These gatherings are opportunities for family and friends to come together and experience practices that promote self-healing by fostering a deeper connection with God and by honoring our ancestors through prayer, meditation, breathing techniques, yoga, reiki, chakra readings, sound bowl baths, candle rituals, intuitive energy readings, tarot and other card readings, numerology and astrology. Merilla embraces the belief that there are many available practices that facilitate self-healing and mind-body-spirit balance and integration.
Merilla is married and the proud mother of two daughters and two granddaughters. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, bringing family and friends together for fellowship, and collecting Black Santas.
What I love about Blue Spirit is the beautiful natural environment of the center. As soon as I walked onto the retreat center, my entire nervous system started to settle down. The beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces intentionally promote calm, relaxation, and centering
Dr. Brinell Anderson (affectionately known as “Dr. B”) is a professor of clinical education at the USC Rossier School of Education’s Marriage and Family Therapy Masters Program. Prior to joining Rossier, she worked in Counseling and Mental Health Services as a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences within the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is a licensed clinical psychologist, originally from Houston, Texas, who has a private psychotherapy practice wherein she provides psychotherapy as well as consultations and trainings to primary and secondary schools, hospitals, mental health organizations and universities.
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Dr. B is a life-long learner. She is a trained facilitator of Emotional Emancipation Circles for people of African descent, liberatory spaces in which Black people come together to share stories and heal from the lie of Black inferiority. In 2015, she participated in the inaugural leadership training for a national racial reconciliation organization, Coming to the Table, whose mission is to provide leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States’ history of enslavement. At the University of Southern California, she was privileged to be a part of the inaugural Mindful USC train the trainer program in 2014. Dr. B has completed a week-long certificate training on Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR Level I) which has provided her an additional lens through which to understand collective and cultural pain and healing. She has also completed two versions of the Psychoanalytic Center of California’s one-year certificate program in Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.
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Throughout Dr. B’s professional journey, she has been intentional about “practicing what she preaches.” She practices Soulfulness meditation, centering prayer, intercessory prayer with a prayer circle formed
with women from her church community, connection with her ancestors through humming and singing ancestral songs as well as pouring libation, dancing, creating spaces with dear friends for fellowship and authentic sharing, including game nights and wine tastings, being in nature walking and hiking, working with her psychoanalyst in therapy, drumming in a Djembe circle at her church, and receiving medical Qi Gong sessions as well as daily personal practicing of Qi Gong movement.
Dr. B is passionate about sharing her expertise in workshop presentations and outreaches. She
specializes in addressing healing from collective cultural trauma. This healing work is expressed in an
annual ritual of lament, Nakumbuka Day Ceremony, wherein attendees hold space to grieve the losses
and celebrate the strengths of African ancestors who endured the Maafa (the forced kidnapping, Middle Passage, and enslavement of African people). Dr. B also hosts a YouTube vlog entitled, “Beloved Blackness,” wherein she addresses the beauty and richness of the African cultural tradition and legacy.
Bemi Fasalojo, Ed.D., Program Director at The Soulfulness Center
Dr. Bemi received her Master’s degree in psychology and her doctorate in organizational leadership at Pepperdine University. Her dissertation was on the experience of BIPOC mindfulness consultants in corporate environments. As a facilitator and coach, Bemi uses strength-based approaches, somatic, expressive arts, and contemplative practices to enhance resilience and well-being. She is passionate about creating safe spaces for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).
Ionna Henderson, M.A., Senior Intern at The Soulfulness Center.
Ionna was born and raised in Fayetteville, NC. She has always been a helper, asker of questions, and advocate for others. As a military combat veteran, she experienced the benefits of therapy firsthand and began her healing journey. Ionna is an associate psychotherapist and certified yoga teacher. She is interested in art, somatic + soulful practices to healing and wellness that center Black, Indigenous, and Folx of Color (BIPOC) and their lived experience.
