Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Steffon
Speaker 1: Never Told You production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: And today we want to take some time to celebrate
Speaker 2: a nonprofit and I think we're going to try to
Speaker 2: do this at least once a month, figuring out specific organizations,
Speaker 2: even though oftentimes when we do we talk about the
Speaker 2: people and the organizations. We're going to do that throughout.
Speaker 2: But we did want to highlight one organization that's been
Speaker 2: helping the black communities, specifically women and girls to lessen
Speaker 2: the stigma of mental health issues and seeking help when
Speaker 2: they need it. And that organization is called the Sad
Speaker 2: Girls Club, which great name, by the way, great name,
Speaker 2: and just at the top, yes there is mention of suicide,
Speaker 2: not no details, just let you know that that is mentioned.
Speaker 2: And of course with the Sad Girls, we're going to
Speaker 2: be talking about their founder, Elise Fox, who started this
Speaker 2: organization in twenty seventeen, So Fox released a trailer from
Speaker 2: her very personal documentary titled Conversation with Friends, which documents
Speaker 2: her struggle with depression and it was then that she
Speaker 2: realized there are so many women and girls like her
Speaker 2: that understood her struggles and needed help, which is how
Speaker 2: the Sad Girls Club began. In twenty seventeen, a self
Speaker 2: dot com article, right after confronting her own depression head on,
Speaker 2: Elise Fox founded Sad Girls Club, an online group for
Speaker 2: young women dealing with mental health issues, particularly women of color.
Speaker 1: The article continues asking Fox why she decided to start
Speaker 1: the organization. Quote, after I released that film, an abundance
Speaker 1: of girls reached out to me from all over the
Speaker 1: world to thank me for telling my story, and they
Speaker 1: said they wanted to be more brave and honest toward
Speaker 1: their parents and friends. I felt that way too when
Speaker 1: I was younger, so I wanted to create a community
Speaker 1: for women who were feeling the same way as the girls.
Speaker 1: I wanted to create a community around mental illness and
Speaker 1: not make it something that were ashamed of, but something
Speaker 1: that we're proud of.
Speaker 2: Right. And here's a quote from a more recent article
Speaker 2: from Pop Sugar in February twenty two eighty four. Alice
Speaker 2: Fox started Side Girls Club in twenty seventeen when she
Speaker 2: was at her lowest. She had attempted suicide and was
Speaker 2: looking for a community of black women with whom she
Speaker 2: could talk about mental health. I always call it an accident.
Speaker 2: I'm an accidental activist, she says of House Out Girls
Speaker 2: Club began, but in a way that feels like this
Speaker 2: is my calling and this is what's true to me.
Speaker 2: What she didn't know was that the nonprofit organization she
Speaker 2: started in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn would reach more than one
Speaker 2: million women and girls of color and counting who are
Speaker 2: dealing with the same mental health challenges she has faced.
Speaker 2: While I was navigating my healing journey, I was looking
Speaker 2: to platforms of like minded people, women who looked like me,
Speaker 2: have similar stories, were from the hood, but were still
Speaker 2: navigating things. And I didn't find any of that. I
Speaker 2: couldn't find a place where I saw myself reflected. So
Speaker 2: instead of complaining about it, I just decided to create
Speaker 2: that space, not knowing what it would grow into today.
Speaker 1: And the organization has flourished since its inception and continues
Speaker 1: to be a great resource for so many people struggling
Speaker 1: with mental health care. The organization works to have people
Speaker 1: meet irl, as they explain on the site Sadgirlsclub dot org,
Speaker 1: quote real talk in real time, connect with the community
Speaker 1: through poetry, slams, live seminars, yoga sessions, and more. In
Speaker 1: a safe space for anyone with feelings in progress.
Speaker 2: And in addition to the IRL and online support, they
Speaker 2: have been quite busy also from their site. Since twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: we've touched two hundred thousand lives across five continents and
Speaker 2: forty countries, with over two hundred and fifty hours of
Speaker 2: free therapy, seventy million immediate impressions, and over two hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty five thousand Instagram followers. And Fox and the
Speaker 2: organization continue to show the importance of mental health support
Speaker 2: and breaking down the stigma. She told Pop Sugar. Sad
Speaker 2: Girls Club is changing the trajectory of how mental health
Speaker 2: is perceived within the black community by one removing the
Speaker 2: veil of the stigma and then two showing that vulnerability
Speaker 2: is okay. I think we're flipping the narrative on what
Speaker 2: we worked programmed to think as far as our wellness
Speaker 2: and really putting a new definition to it in a
Speaker 2: way that makes you feel prideful, confident, and aligned with
Speaker 2: the world. There's so much power in numbers. The more
Speaker 2: you see representation of where you want to be or
Speaker 2: what you deem as successful or this is where I
Speaker 2: want to be in my mental health journey, the more
Speaker 2: you would thrive to be in that space.
Speaker 1: And Fox talks about how she felt starting the organization, quote,
Speaker 1: I really had a lot of shame around it. Even
Speaker 1: starting Sad Girls Club, I was like, I might just
Speaker 1: have one other person by my side, but that's fine.
Speaker 1: At least one other person had somebody else to talk to.
Speaker 1: It was definitely definitely scary. Starting something and putting it
Speaker 1: online is one thing, but starting something and then running
Speaker 1: into friends in person and them knowing that you have
Speaker 1: this experience was a whole different game. And I was
Speaker 1: honestly surprised at how I was embraced and also how
Speaker 1: many people in my clothes circle were going through the
Speaker 1: same things as me but never had the confidence to
Speaker 1: talk about it until I started speaking about it. So
Speaker 1: it was kind of like that thread of when you
Speaker 1: run a relay race, you pass the baton and you
Speaker 1: see someone going faster than you were, you're cheering them on,
Speaker 1: and they passed the baton and you both are cheering
Speaker 1: that other person on. That's what Sad Girls Club kind
Speaker 1: of is. It's like this relay race of women or
Speaker 1: just a community of people who want to see everybody win.
Speaker 1: They want everyone to find peace and community within their
Speaker 1: mental health.
Speaker 2: The Sad Girls Club continues to reach so many young
Speaker 2: girls and women as many navigate their mental health needs
Speaker 2: and escaping the stigma behind it. Fox has been working
Speaker 2: with many others to break down these stigmas and advocating
Speaker 2: for others around the world and their own journeys. She
Speaker 2: has continued to work in the film world, even starting
Speaker 2: her own brand called Produced by Girls, which quote lift
Speaker 2: up other women in the film industry, born out of
Speaker 2: the need to tell more stories centered around women. So
Speaker 2: obviously there's a lot going on. You can go to
Speaker 2: their site Sadgirls Club dot org and see if you
Speaker 2: can connect. If you think this is something that could
Speaker 2: be relevant to you, support their work. Follow their Instagram
Speaker 2: that gots a really great updated posts, being able to
Speaker 2: ask questions and give you resources, so it's a good
Speaker 2: thing to look into. They also have great merch which
Speaker 2: I'm about to order a sweatshirt. On the sweatshirt it
Speaker 2: says the anti Sad Girls Sad Girls Club. I think
Speaker 2: that's what it says anyway, but I'm like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: want I want that shirt. That's amazing. They are doing
Speaker 2: a lot of work still. They have a lot of
Speaker 2: good representation. A lot of cubelebrities have been behind this
Speaker 2: initiative and really really seem to support what they're doing,
Speaker 2: So go check it out. Thank you so much to
Speaker 2: Alice Fox who has seen a need and took up
Speaker 2: that mantle, as we often see with amazing people who
Speaker 2: realize the need there needs to be changed and they
Speaker 2: become that change.
Speaker 1: Love it, absolutely love it. One of our favorite things
Speaker 1: to see on this segment. So listeners, yes, go check
Speaker 1: out all of this. If you haven't already. If you
Speaker 1: have suggestions for this resources, please let us know. You
Speaker 1: can email us at Stephania mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter at Mom's of podcast
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Speaker 1: as always to our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya,
Speaker 1: and your contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
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