Tiffany Ellis

Making friends in her 30s didnt come easily to Tampa resident Tiffany Ellis. It was hard to connect with others and even harder to navigate job relocations and life changes.

Wanting a way to build authentic relationships and bring women experiencing similar struggles together, Ellis founded the personal development platform Pods & PR. What began with Ellis sharing podcasts with those around her grew into a deeper look into the mental health needs of women of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds.

Ellis told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that Pods and Perennial Resolutions is like a book club for podcasts. Groups of women come together for a guided discussion through different podcasts and different issues and happenings in life. But throughout July, designated National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month in 2008, Ellis placed a special emphasis on the mental health needs of her community.

Were intentional about the content were putting out in terms of reminding people to care for their mental health, reminding them to find people they feel safe having conversations with and things like that, Ellis said.

Early on in Pods & PRs existence, Ellis saw the need for a professional presence, as many of the sessions were met with heavy subject matter and emotional responses. This led her to bringing on therapist and friend Shanta Jackson. The two moderate events together.

Theres a stigma attached to therapy, particularly in the minority community, Ellis said. I said if I can bring her on board and I can help my audience to really connect with her way of therapizing the ladies, then what it did was it helped to normalize therapy.

With the help of Jacksons professional expertise, many Pods & PR participants have gone to seek further counseling and come to terms with previously unaddressed issues, Ellis said.

The women in the community have started to say, You know what? Because of Shanta, I sought out a therapist and now Im breaking some people into therapy and now Im working through this childhood issue I had from 20 years ago, she said. And Im seeing exponential growth from the ladies because of the fact that they feel comfortable being vulnerable in that safe space weve created.

Typically held in person in different women-owned businesses and event spaces in its four core cities, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami and Tampa, Pods & PR is now being conducted on online platforms, through the free and twice-monthly Virtual Connections sessions.

We had never hosted a virtual event before, but when COVID happened, we noticed that people, especially the women in our community, were struggling, Ellis said. And so now more than ever they needed us, and we had to find a way to emerge.

As Pods & PR has helped many recognize a need to seek mental health support for the first time, another Tampa organization is only furthering its role in providing these types of services.

Natasha Pierre is the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Hillsborough (NAMI), a countywide affiliate of the grassroots mental health organization, which specializes in education, support and public outreach.

In its recognition of Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, NAMI and its Hillsborough County affiliate are implemented several support and educational groups to provide connections to the communities that need it. NAMIs Sharing Hope presentation focused specifically on the impact of mental illness on the Black and African American communities, while the docuseries, Strength Over Silence and You Are Not Alone campaign explore the intersections between culture and mental health and highlight the voices of those affected.

When people are experiencing really tough times, when they're experiencing a mental health challenge, it's beneficial for them to connect with people who understand their journey and their experience, Pierre said. Do they understand the Black experience? Do they understand being a combat veteran? Do they understand being a mom of a child with special needs?

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to have access to or use mental health services and are more likely to use emergency departments and receive lower quality care.

When were talking about minority mental health, it is recognizing that the challenges arent occurring in a vacuum, Pierre said. We cannot ignore the greater systemic and social constructs that make it challenging and harder and pose barriers for someone to improve their mental health.

In Hillsborough County especially, Pierre said, NAMI sees a need for support groups among those living with a diagnosis and increased education within the community, especially with the areas high numbers of Baker Act cases.

Floridas Baker Act is a state involuntary commitment law that allows for the involuntary placement of an individual in a mental health or psychiatric treatment facility to be examined or committed for up to 72 hours. This can be done without consent and while these cases can be reported by anyone, they are initiated by judges, law enforcement officers, physicians and mental health professionals.

Theres a lot of Baker Acts in our county, a lot of repeat Baker Acts and weve even in the last year had some Baker Acts of children, she said. So, part of our work and our outreach is connecting with our community partners, law enforcement, schools, hospitals, so that we can better educate them and so that we can also educate the county on what to expect, what services are available and hopefully we can drive those numbers down.

As of July 1, the revised definition of mental illness as it relates to the Baker Act excludes dementia and traumatic brain injury. This change prohibits those with dementia or traumatic brain injury from being inappropriately admitted for examination or committed, Pierre said.

As July and Minority Mental Health Month have come to a close, Ellis and her Pods & PR community look to the future as a continuation of the support and awareness she sought to achieve when Pods & PR began.

As we look forward, Shanta and I are committed to keeping mental health at the forefront of our movement, Ellis said. Our community can expect virtual workshops, resources and strategic partnerships, creating accessibility for those who need it most. They can also expect us to consistently show up via The Virtual Connections, which will remain free taking place twice monthly, future Pods & PR pop up events (once the world reopens) and who knows where youll see us next! Great things are underway.

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Tampa woman's podcast club turns focus on minority mental health - Creative Loafing Tampa