Reviving Roots Therapy & Wellness offers mental health therapy, massage therapy, yoga/fitness classes, communal space and more — centering Black wellness.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — When Marlee James started a solo therapy practice in 2019, she had no idea how quickly demand would rise for her services.
During the pandemic and after George Floyd’s murder, James’ waiting list rose to nearly 100 people.
“I realized I did not have the capacity to serve that many people as a therapist on my own. But a lot of the things I do when I work with people is connecting their minds and their bodies. So I refer them to yoga; I refer them to boxing. So I made the decision to expand and to offer the holistic approach,” James said.
But James took it a step further with the intention of opening a space that centers Black wellness.
“We are very, very intentional about centering Blackness and creating a space where Black folks can be unapologetic in their healing,” James said.
Reviving Roots Therapy & Wellness held a soft opening in May, located on Harmon Place next to Loring Park.
The center offers mental health therapy, massage therapy, yoga/fitness classes, and communal space for events and co-working.
“Maybe after you get out of your massage, or after you get out of your therapy session, to be able to look at friendly faces and to feel a sense of safety. Like you don’t have to just button it back up after you just let it all out,” James said.
Reviving Roots is holding space for healing by Black people, for Black people.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 2.8% of the state’s mental health providers are Black even though Black people represent 7% of Minnesota’s population.
“I think it’s really important to seek representation in your mental health because mental health was not made with Black folx in mind,” James said. “If you ever heard of the term drapetomania… is the diagnosis of enslaved people when they wanted to run away. So they had to be mentally ill to want to escape enslavement. So with that history and with that knowledge… this field was not really created to serve us.”
James recalled, “I’ve had multiple clients who have come to me after seeing a lot of different white therapists and they would describe moments where… they’re describing walking around a store and having somebody follow them, which is a typical experience for Black folx, and the therapist was saying things like, ‘Are you sure they were doing that?’ There’s not a lot of validation in the experience.”
According to McLean Hospital, about 25% of Black Americans seek mental health treatment, compared to 40% of Americans who are white.
“I used to think that it was because we just don’t like therapy or the stigma around it; we don’t want to have those conversations. While that might be true, I think it’s also because we don’t have the quality of services that we deserve,” James said.
James’ father, Michael Dorsey, has his own experiences working in white spaces.
“The field that I was in for my 30+ years in corporate America, I was the only Black person there. I had some experiences that were not very pleasant,” Dorsey said. “It would’ve been nice to have something like Reviving Roots Therapy & Wellness to come to and have a community of people that, while the experience may not have been identical, it was similar and we could support each other through the tough times of engaging in white spaces.”
Dorsey serves as a development advocate for Reviving Roots. He’s reaching out to different corporations and organizations on how they can partner and support memberships for their employees. Donations can also be made to The Flourish Fund which helps reduce barriers to accessing their services.
“There are a lot of organizations that are more aware of the effects of mental wellness. A lot of organizations are beginning to understand more that if you have an individual, a worker, that is mentally healthy, then it is more likely that their productivity at work will be better,” Dorsey said.
Organizations interested in partnering with Reviving Roots can email: hello@revivingrootstw.com.
“I’ve been asking people as part of our consultations, what does Black wellness mean to them?” James said. “And a lot of them say it’s freedom. It’s freedom to be whoever and whatever they want to be and feeling safe to be able to do that.”
You can learn more about Reviving Roots’ services, here. The center offers three different levels of membership. The offerings for each can be found, here.
Reviving Roots’ grand opening will be held Saturday, August 19, from 12 to 3 p.m.
Reviving Roots Therapy & Wellness
624 Harmon Place
Door 1629-1625, Suite 300
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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