Retreat focuses on the health and wellbeing of the Black woman

Aishia Phillpotts-Manley and Shoa Phillpots used their expertise in social work, public health, counseling and psychology and founded It Takes A Village Collaborative in 2019. Photo provided by It Takes a Village Collaborative.
Aishia Phillpotts-Manley and Shoa Phillpots used their expertise in social work, public health, counseling and psychology and founded It Takes A Village Collaborative in 2019. Photo provided by It Takes a Village Collaborative.

Retreat focuses on the health and wellbeing of the Black woman

By Tia Carol Jones

Aishia Phillpotts-Manley and Shoa Phillpots founded It Takes A Village Collaborative in 2019 as a wellness hub for the Black community. It provides holistic experiences, resources and networks as a way for Black women and the Black community to maintain their mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

While it started in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia-area, because of COVID-19, It Takes A Village Collaborative was able to expand its reach to the entire country. They are using technology to work with people across the country and internationally.  They’re still growing.

Phillpots, who is a graduate from Howard University, with a dual Masters in Macro Social Work and Public Health, recognized that the people who are overly incarcerated and disproportionately impacted by the carceral system were Black people. She had a desire to resolve social policies and dismantle the system and do the work. She was encouraged to cultivate a non-profit that was supportive of the Black community.

Phillpots-Manley, who graduated from Bowie State University with a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology, always had a passion for education and teaching in the Black community. Phillpots-Manley wanted a space where women could come together and talk about important issues.

The sisters came together and created their first program, Queen (Beautiful. Enlightened. Empowered) B.E.E. Talks. It was a safe space for women to be transparent and talk. It has led to doing more retreats and focusing more on health and wellness.

“We saw that we couldn’t service anyone that was struggling with health and wellness, mind body and spirit,” Phillpots-Manley said. “We couldn’t get to the fullest potential until we addressed the health and wellness state of the Black woman. Once we addressed the Black woman, we were able to address the community.”

 Phillpots-Manley added: When you heal a woman, you heal a village, you heal a nation.

Those first events included conversations with Black women about travel, finances, wellness and beauty. The goal was to understand what the needs were for Black women in their own community. What the sisters didn’t know was that the answer was right there within themselves and their own health and wellness journeys they were on.

The conversations that were most attended, had the most impact and had the most reviews were the conversations they hosted around health and wellness. That’s when they knew that was the journey they should tap into.

“Yes, that’s exactly how you’re going to heal your community, is through creating space for them to tap into their wellness.  With that, in year two, we took on that focus and we started to collaborate with other culturally competent providers,” Phillpots said, adding they elevated the programming to meet the needs of the community and hold space for taboo topics.

That was the same year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which amplified their work in the wellness space and showed them it was what was needed for people to reach their fullest potential.

With the events, the women engage in exploratory activities that allow them to do self-actualization and self-awareness work.  They get a lifestyle tool, and a community to lean on to foster their emotional health and they have a network when they are ready to make a lifestyle change. They also develop a certain understanding of self, and that they are the healer of themselves.

“What speaks to your spirit is what you implement. It’s very individualized and that’s one of the first things in the acceptance stage of self-care beyond the surface. You have to be aware and be accepting of what speaks to you and your spirit and your development and your progress on your health and wellness journey,” Phillpots-Manley said.

The upcoming retreat in October is based on the theme of Being: Breathing, Enlightenment, Tapping Into Your Intuitiveness, Nurture Your Spirit, Mind and Body, and How to Stay Grounded in It. The goal is for women who attend the retreat to find the tools that work for them, put it in their toolkit and use it in their daily routine.

“It’s very affirming to know the work that we’re doing is in fact cultivating the change and the impact that we want to have within in our community, and it has also put into perspective what we are capable of,” Phillpots said.

For more information about It Takes A Village Collaborative, visit www.itavcollab.org.

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