In her remarks as the morning keynote speaker during the Utah Valley University (UVU) Conference on Mental Health, social worker, author, and mental health educator Minaa B. emphasized the importance of community care as a means of improving one’s mental health.

“When I think about community care, I think about how everybody is somebody you consider family because we value connection with others. Community care looks like figuring out how you could be a helping hand to someone, even to a stranger.”

During the course of her remarks, B. outlined four key components of community care and how they contribute to one’s overall mental well-being: Membership, influence, fulfillment of needs, and social capital.

Membership

According to B., community membership means to create psychologically safe spaces that provide emotional security, acceptance, and accountability for others. This is the first step in providing community care.

“When we're thinking of community care, what we're thinking about is membership; being a part of safe spaces where we can be our full selves, where we can feel seen, heard and valued, where we are not ostracized, and we are not marginalized, understanding that because we bring our full selves to community,” B. said.

Influence

Under the component of community care, B. outlined the spectrum of care members of a community can utilize, given their respective roles and abilities.

“Community care is not just operating in a relationship with someone,” she said. It also means when I leave this door, when I leave this space, I can understand my social infrastructure, and I can understand the resources that exist in my zip code and in my community so that when I need help and support, I know where I can go, versus feeling like I can only rely on one person.”

Fulfillment of Needs

B. posited that the fulfillment of needs component of community care establishes rules and boundaries, and where reciprocity is prioritized within a community.

“Only you can break your boundary. Boundaries are a guideline that we set. We are not powerless people. If you don't recharge yourself, you will be depleted. And those different things that you're experiencing related to your anxiety experience and depression; all of that becomes exasperated because you're not giving yourself the space that you need to feel.”

Social Capital

B. defined social capital as the space where shared identity, history, and goals are fostered through interactions with others and where communities are enabled to function effectively.

“Being in this space right now is a wonderful example of social capital,” B. remarked. Maybe you yourself have struggled with a mental health disorder. Maybe you know someone who has struggled with a mental health disorder. What I do know is that we all have a goal of trying to figure out, how do we put our hands in this pot and figure out the contributions we can make to making better people's mental health.”

“This is the space that has so much value, because there's so much resource in this room.”

B. concluded her keynote by underscoring the importance of self-care.

“Self-care is the bridge to community care,” B. said. “Community care is the bridge to community healing.”

The UVU Conference on Mental Health is an annual conference hosted by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The event features keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and poster presentations that discuss critical mental health topics such as addiction, depression, interpersonal violence, and suicide prevention.