Subscribe
Follow Us
Award-winning actress Taraji P. Henson continued her quest for mental health awareness on Nov. 2 at Hampton University. Henson's own Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation partnered with the university and Kate Spade New York for the initiative. The organization's revealed the She Care Wellness Pod, which allow space for students to decompress and focus on their psyche.
“You know when you see the numbers and how we are suffering more than any other demographic, you feel compelled to do, feel like saying something,” Henson said. “I have a platform, and this is how I am choosing to use it.”
While the She Care Wellness Pods are open for all to use, Henson's nationwide program is particularly geared towards Black women on HBCU campuses. The pods provide free therapy sessions to female students, as well as yoga, meditation, art, and drama therapy.
Yesterday we welcomed the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation and Kate Spade New York to our home by the sea for the She Care Wellness pods grand opening hosted by the student counseling department. What a great way to nourish the campuses mental wellness! #onehampton pic.twitter.com/0GiBeGypyi
— Hampton University (@_HamptonU) November 3, 2023
“I just feel like my father would be very proud of me,” Henson said. “He would always say when I was a little girl, ‘When you are blessed, be a blessing.' And I feel like that's what I'm doing.”
Although Taraji P. Henson is a known Howard University graduate, Hampton University is among one of the first schools to receive the Wellness Pods. Hampton president and alumnus Darrell K. Williams was fully on board with the project.
“The message it sends to students: mental is important,” Williams said. “You don't have to suffer in silence. How can you provide the best experience for students in America and not talk about the issue of mental health?”
