Instagram story viewer> @therootcrew> Tagged

Root Cause Collective

@therootcrew

801

followers

526

following

Building Ecosystems of Care for the Whole Being: Mental Health. Fitness & Nutrition. Spiritual Health. Parental Health. Organizational Health.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Taking a moment to pause and celebrate the fact that five years ago I left a REALLY good job a month after giving birth to the little guy in the back, to start @therootcrew and build a dream of a career path that hadn't existed in the world yet.

And today, because I have an amazing client @ficpfmovement that knew school didn't start back until next week, I got to teach my kids what a healing justice practitioner was, and take them with me to show them what it means.

I remember looking in their eyes while breastfeeding on zoom calls without clients knowing. So to watch them walk on this plane knowing that I created something that didn't exist so my soul could carry out it's authentic call in the world AND was a good enough entrepreneur to sustain my OWN household with full 👏🏾 time👏🏾 pay👏🏾 while doing it.…..

IF I ACHIEVE NOTHING MORE,
I can honestly say I did the damn thing,
while no one was watching,
and I'm so effing proud of myself!

#proudmomma❤️
#mompreneur
#blackbusinessowner
#womanbusinessowner
#businesswomen

78

29

Kicked off my 59th birthday weekend early ♈️ 😘

Popped up to New York to take part in witnessing the end of an era. Grateful for all the amazing liberation work seeded and manifested by @opensocietyfoundations Soros Justice Fellowship. Shoutout to @mo_truth4_u for making me believe in myself and the work of @blackgirlsguidetomenopause enough to apply. Love you Mo. And so much love to my Fellows 2023 cohort 🥹🫂

Got to be escorted to Fellows dinner dinner by the firstborn son, Che (if you can’t tell, I was pretty happy about that) ☺️😘

Got to hang out with my girl @dcarstar and reminisce about our early social justice days, drinking cheap wine, plotting on how to offer political education and rage against the machine. We got all misty thinking about how fast 30 years goes by

And because the universe will always remind you that you are walking in your purpose, I had a serendipitous connection and great conversation with Harlem native, @spelman_college and SNNC alumnus Dr. A. Lenora Taitt-Magubane. I asked if I could dispose of her trash as we waited for our flight and we ended up talking for over an hour about her mentor and friend Ella Baker, gentrification in Harlem, and South Africa

I asked if I could give her a hug and she acquiesced. I think my mommy sent her as one of her many proxies to show her daughter some birthday love. She knows how much I love and miss my spicy elders 🥹😭

Thanks mommy 🥹

Here’s to year 59 ♈️🎉🍾🥂

3

87

Seated in stillness.
Rooted in faith.
Listening more than leading.

This season of my journey has taught me how to move out of the way and let Spirit guide the work. The sound, the silence, the pauses..none of it is about performance. It’s about presence.

The bowls, the gong, the prayers, the breath… they become a meeting place. A space where people can soften, release what they’ve been carrying, and remember who they are beneath the noise of the world.

I show up for my community as a vessel...holding space for rest, healing, reflection, and reconnection. I believe sound can open hearts, faith can anchor us, and collective healing begins when we allow ourselves to simply be.

Grateful to walk this path. Grateful to serve. 🌿✨

Thank you @therootcrew for capturing these moments. The Root Cause Collective is a black women owned health and healing justice organization in the Triangle. Follow them @therootcrew on IG.

8

4

With the brilliant and beautiful AW Shields.

17

0

✨ This past month at our Black SEL Gala: Dressed to Defy, we celebrated leaders who are reimagining what healing, innovation, and liberation look like in our communities.

Here’s one of our incredible awardees — AW Shields, recipient of the Black SEL Innovative Leadership Award.

AW Shields (she/her) is an Ecowomanist abolitionist, mental health equity innovator, and healing justice practitioner dedicated to building ecosystems of care where Black communities can thrive. As the founder of Root Cause Collective and Root Wellness Center, she integrates evidence-based therapy, Ecowomanist thought, abolitionist frameworks, and ancestral healing practices into models that nurture both individual and communal wellness.

Recently named a 2025 Galaxy Leadership Fellow, AW continues to lead with the belief that communal trauma requires communal healing — and that our people deserve not only to survive, but to thrive. 🖤

#BlackSEL #BlackSELGala #ReSELience #HealingJustice #InnovativeLeadership #DressedToDefy #BlackWellness

24

2

During field education this summer, JoDeanne Francis, M.Div. '26, is discovering what it means to be a multifaceted pastoral presence beyond the church walls.

Francis spent her summer with Root Wellness Center, a North Carolina nonprofit that creates ecosystems of well-being and provides culturally sustaining mental health care.

Her main project was developing the "Our Ancestors Garden" curriculum, a resource that equips parents and caregivers to introduce an ecowomanist liberation theology to their children. The project brought together voices from clergy, mental health practitioners, educators, and theologians.

The work uniquely connected her pastoral call to her educational background in social work and womanist theology.

She said, “I’ve begun to think about how my heart for homiletics, my motivation for nonprofit work, my posture as a therapist, and my interests as a theologian might all come from a place of pastoring and pastoral care."

Read more at the news link in our bio.

#DukeDivinity #FieldEducation During field education this summer, JoDeanne Francis, M.Div. '26, is discovering what it means to be a multifaceted pastoral presence beyond the church walls. Francis spent her summer with Root Wellness Center, a North Carolina nonprofit that creates ecosystems of well-being and provides culturally sustaining mental health care. Her main project was developing the "Our Ancestors Garden" curriculum, a resource that equips parents and caregivers to introduce an ecowomanist liberation theology to their children. The project brought together voices from clergy, mental health practitioners, educators, and theologians. The work uniquely connected her pastoral call to her educational background in social work and womanist theology. She said, “I’ve begun to think about how my heart for homiletics, my motivation for nonprofit work, my posture as a therapist, and my interests as a theologian might all come from a place of pastoring and pastoral care." Read more at the news link in our bio. #DukeDivinity #FieldEducation

3

30

This is just the beginning! We’ll be sharing our favorite wellness resources every month so stay tuned! 🥰

5

0

Happy #worldmeditationday ✨ I thought today was a good a day as any to reshare the Awareness of Four Elements Meditation I created with @therootcrew 🌱 The full meditation video and audio is featured on my website. Just head to the link in my bio. This meditation also comes with a Tree of Life Worksheet to dive deeper into your practice!

5

0

Happy May 1st, Everyone! Welcome to the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month 💗

I’m so excited to have @blackgirlsguidetomenopause partner with @rachel.cargle and @thelovelandfoundation to ignite radical change in the mental health space.

Black women exist in a space where our right to live is an act of defiance. As a result, we’re expected to
internalize pain from those who came before us. Now we have the opportunity to redefine our
relationship with mental health.

The Loveland Foundation provides support for Black women, girls, and gender non-binary folks nationwide to receive therapy. Loveland prioritizes the well-being and growth of BIPOC therapists through their healer’s circle community and professional development opportunities.

If you would like to support @TheLovelandFoundation please donate. A $5 donation is an investment in generational change!

All donations will go towards building equity and access in the mental health space. TLF offered over 71,000 hours of therapy to Black women, girls, and
nonbinary folks in 2023, and they hope to increase that number every year! Donation link can be found at the link in the BGG2SM bio.🌺

#mham
#donate
#mentalhealthawareness
#mentalhealthawarenessmonth
#thelovelandfounation
#CultivateHealing
#TherapyForBlackGirls
#GenerationalImpact
#GenerationalHealing
#LovelandTherapyFund

3

0

We're delighted to welcome AW Shields to @dukedivinity on Thursday, April 4th for the final event in the spring Trauma-Informed Care Series. Join us for "Trauma, Justice, and Creating an Ecology of Wellness" from 12:30 - 1:30pm in Westbrook 0012.

This event is being offered both in-person and via Zoom. Online attendees can register at the link in our bio. Thanks to the Office of Field Education for co-sponsoring this event.

23

0

Our worship service this Sunday at 11:00 a.m. will celebrate Transfiguration Sunday with a reading of the account of the transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. The offertory anthem, “Blessed Is the Spot, and the House,” is an original composition by the Los Angeles-based Filipino composer Saunder Choi; the piece was commissioned by the Chapel. Chapel Dean Luke Powery will preach a sermon titled “Facing Change,” and we will hear from our Mission of the Month, Root Wellness Center, a healing justice organization building a liberative method of health care in communities of the Black Diaspora.

See service details and a link to the livestream on our website.

Image: Duke Chapel stained-glass window depicting the Transfiguration.

76

0

Repost from @therootcrew ✨🙏🏾✨ This past summer, I was fortunate to host a trauma workshop series at the National Disabilities Rights Network (NDRN) annual conference. The NRDN is one of the largest providers of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States. What an honor to be a part of the Root Cause Collective and work with organizations like NDRN who are thinking deeply about trauma-informed practices and how we can support one another!

NDRN ➡️ @ndrnadvocates
The Root Cause Collective ➡️ @therootcrew

8

1