Melissa M. Shepherd-Williams, Marriage Family Therapist

15/07/2025

A million thanks to all who participated in Community First, as well as those who sent their best wishes! Thank you, Ligia M. Grenald R., Lily Rodriguez, Tony El Pana Welch, Sonia Smith-Kang, Dr. Makisha Lawrence, and Kimiko Warner-Turner for your delicious contribution to the creation and experience of this event! A special thank you to my sweetheart, Brad L. Williams, for always supporting me in everything I do. I love you beyond words. A huge shout out to my Tía Aurelia and Sister Maritza Collins of MCollins Events for helping to coordinate this memorable gathering. As always, thanks to Plaza de la Raza for your consistent support.

07/07/2025

Professor and artist Ligia M. Grenald R. shares some beautiful insights about community! Yes, Ubuntu—I am because we are…What’s your idea of community healing? There's agitation, uncertainty, and confusion...It's time to relieve tension, restore focus, and maintain perspective. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-first-tickets-1335527581949?aff=ebdssbdestsearchWe all need and deserve to feel cared about and have a sense of belonging.All of this requires support from life-affirming experiences in a community environment.So, you're invited to attend "Community First!" on Saturday, July 12th! Music, food, conversation, activities to uplift us—-It’s urgent! Click here for tickets:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-first-tickets-1335527581949?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

06/07/2025

What’s your idea of community healing? There's agitation, uncertainty, and confusion...It's time to relieve tension, restore focus, and maintain perspective.

We all need and deserve to feel cared about and have a sense of belonging.

All of this requires support from life-affirming experiences in a community environment.

So, you're invited to attend "Community First!" on Saturday, July 12th! Music, food, conversation, activities to uplift us—-It’s urgent! Click here for tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-first-tickets-1335527581949?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

03/07/2025

There's agitation, uncertainty, and confusion...It's time to relieve tension, restore focus, and maintain perspective.

We all need and deserve to feel cared about and have a sense of belonging.

All of this requires support from life-affirming experiences in a community environment.

So, you're invited to attend "Community First!" on Saturday, July 12th! Music, food, conversation, activities to uplift us—-It’s urgent! Click here for tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-first-tickets-1335527581949?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

26/06/2025

"Community First!" on Saturday, July 12th! See you on Saturday, July 12th, at Community First! Music, food, conversation, activities to uplift us—-It’s urgent! Click here for tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-first-tickets-1335527581949?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

You know how it is when taking pictures or recording a video...Depending on the lighting, the angle of your shot, the setting you choose---and your willingness to revise all of it--- the image will tell an infinite amount of stories! The same is true when we're reflecting on a topic, any topic. As we consider diverse ways of examining a situation, multiple conclusions may emerge. It takes a certain amount of calmness to catch a panoramic view of things, such that our perspective expands and our insights deepen. How do you create enough calmness to engage in reflection, rather than be stuck in the narrow view of rumination? Pausing supports reflection. The thing is that reflection tends to catch more nuanced information, new perspectives, and new stories.

One of many ways of creating some calmness is through breathing exercises and/or choosing to notice the sensation of our feet on the ground. Well, for many of us belonging to marginalized communities, pausing feels like a luxury that would sabotage survival. THIS is how burnout and co-occuring conditions like depression and anxiety unfold in our communities. It's time to heal inherited pain. Let's surround ourselves with people who are already immersed in healing, so we can support each other. That's the mission of Community First! See you at Plaza de la Raza on Saturday, July 12th, from 1 to 4!

Last time at Community First, my colleague Lily Rodriguez, MFA, LMFT expertly guided attendees in a perspective-taking exercise through photography. She will join us again to drop some gems about community healing and wellness! Don't miss it!

Lily Rodríguez is a Cuban photo-based artist and psychotherapist whose multifaceted career bridges art and mental health. With degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Fine Arts, she has worked extensively with LGBTQI youth, served as a photojournalist for Oxfam America, and exhibited award-winning photography exploring q***r and Latinx identity. Her therapeutic practice integrates mindfulness, creativity, and a strength-based approach, shaped by over 25 years of experience and her continued commitment to both clinical work and artistic expression.

24/06/2025

"Community First!" on Saturday, July 12th! See you on Saturday, July 12th, at Community First! Music, food, conversation, activities to uplift us—-It’s urgent! Click here for tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-first-tickets-1335527581949?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

It truly is in the way we carry ourselves! What we wear and how we wear it, our posture, and manner of speaking...All of this, even when unconscious of it, supports our ability to stand proudly within communities we belong to and in the presence of those who, in their fear, insist on oppressing us. This will be a central topic on July 12th at Community First!

Therapists and artists will facilitate activities, and join a panel, exploring their diverse forms of expertise to create wellness. This time, our focus will be on the role of music, movement, and the aesthetics of our cultures as powerful resources for resilience and thriving!

As it relates to the aesthetics of our cultures, some of it will be explored by interviewing Sonia Smith-Kang. With her, we'll have an opportunity to reflect on how the way we carry ourselves can keep us rooted in our heritage.

Please dress in a way that makes you feel great and comfortable...We shall move--- accommodating all abilities!

With over a decade of experience as a critical care RN, Sonia Smith-Kang founded Mixed Up Clothing, a children’s apparel line that celebrates cultural diversity, inspired by her multicultural family and heritage. As a social impact entrepreneur and advocate, she co-founded Mixed Heritage Day, served as Vice-President of MASC (Multiracial Americans of Southern California), and used fashion as a tool to promote inclusion and understanding. Recognized by media outlets and community leaders, Sonia continues to write, consult, and speak on multicultural issues to help create a more inclusive world.

19/06/2025

In a time of turmoil, as our world experiences inevitable shifts, we need to reconnect with inner resources and community support. Our intersectional identities offer multiple opportunities to experience connection, which is as essential as water for soup. This creates space so that soul-nourishing experiences ground and uplift us. With that in mind, the “Community First!” series was created at the end of 2024. Interestingly enough, the first gathering by this name landed on Panama’s celebration of Mother’s Day (December 8th). As a Panamanian woman raised in a culturally rich environment, where community bonds are constantly highlighted, it was fitting to begin on my homeland’s day of tribute to mothering, nurturing, and community-building.
CLICK HERE FOR July 12th TICKETS! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-first-tickets-1335527581949?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

10/06/2025

The International Society of Black Latinos presented “Creating Wellness in the Community”, in the spirit of promoting health, especially now! We’re so thankful for all who attended this soulful gathering where the theme showed itself to be “the music of our hearts”… Clinicians, educators, and artists engaged our community in reflection about culturally influenced forms of mutual support. Music, food, dance, and panels energized us! Thanks to the sponsorship of Councilmember Curren Price, Jr., we had another opportunity to provide a positive experience for the community! We offered him a gift of thanks with my husband Brad L. Williams’ art piece named Kinda Blue! In a district that celebrates our jazz community and where some of Brad’s family history began, the theme of the art piece was on point!We were led into dance and reflection by Nadia Calmet and the Afro Peruvian Experience. The panels included artist Kianah LongChase, psychiatric occupational therapist and entrepreneur Antoinette Petersen, nurse Yenifer Espitia Gil, psychotherapist Alex Dorsey, higher education administrator Daveon Swan, MS, and Dr. Wilsa Charles Malveaux, M.D., M.A., F.A.P.A. Everything drew to a delicious close with a superb experience of a sound bath curated by Healer Onyi Love!Thanks to ISBL’s president, Juanita Palacios-Sims, Board Directors Maritza Collins—especially her https://mcollinsevents.com/ support—-and Dr. Lejeune Y. Lockett for the committed effort to bring this vision of community service together!

09/06/2025

Every moment is a new NOW.

31/05/2025