I will survive!!!! Has long been the battle cry for many women of color. But we now know that many of us succumb to mental illness, aids, heart disease, stress-related illnesses, cancer and now COVID 19.

Our power lies in our resilience and creating adaptive defense mechanisms in order to cope with the variety of stressors that are thrown at us every day.

Some of us try to hide our vulnerability, through shifting, deflecting, minimizing, avoiding, and denying our reality.

We need support in order to survive!

Both short and long-term stress can have detrimental effects on your body. Research is starting to show that high-stress levels can trigger changes in our bodies, making us more likely to get sick. Stress can also worsen existing conditions, which in turn causes more stress, compounding in a cycle of physical and emotional distress.

BOTH MEN AND WOMEN are affected by the challenges of stress in our lives. Soul Purpose’s market is mostly comprised of black women, both as consultants and customers. Black women in particular face extraordinarily high levels of stress due to the intersection of gender, race, socioeconomic status, and social injustice. Providing support around these issues can be a blessing for this community, and well-informed consultants will be excellent brand ambassadors for CBD-based products.

What is stress?

Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension that can emerge from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. In short bursts stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline. However, when stress becomes chronic, it can have detrimental effects on your wellbeing.

Stress is triggered by external factors called stressors. Anxiety is stress that continues after the stressor is gone. Chronic stress is stress that lasts for longer than weeks or months.

You can become accustomed to chronic stress, and you might not realize it is a problem, unmanaged, until it leads to health problems. Over time, chronic stress puts you at risk for a wealth of ailments including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety, menstrual problems, and skin problems such as acne or eczema. If you already have a health condition, chronic stress can make it worse.

CBD can be an effective tool in the reduction and management of stress.

“Black women are the cornerstone of their communities; they take care of children and extended family members. They take care of their partners. They’re usually, holding up a lot of different things at once, including being more frequent breadwinners than women of other races. Still, many times their voices and experiences are lost in the wilderness.”

During times of great crisis, the systems in America that fail Black people on a normal day become even less reliable and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. From mutual aid efforts to disaster relief, Black communities know what’s best for Black people.

Topical CBD

Topical products are applied right to trouble areas so that the CBD oil can work directly on the area where it’s needed most. With CBD topicals, the healing compound and other hemp-derived nutrients are almost immediately absorbed directly through your skin, allowing them to target the affected area for quicker and more focused effects.

A quality CBD topical cream provides the advantage of being able to apply the active hemp extract directly to the site of aggravation or discomfort. This is particularly useful for application to joint areas or superficial muscle tissue, as the cannabidiol compound will diffuse across the dermal layers directly to the site of annoyance.

Ingestible CBD

Ingesting CBD products orally causes CBD and other compounds to enter the bloodstream, which elicits full-body effects and takes up to 2 hours or more before those effects are experienced.

Soul Purpose – Be Well Support Groups

We have a variety of groups from meditation to group mental health support. A support group provides an opportunity for people to share personal experiences and feelings, coping strategies, or firsthand information about diseases or treatments.

Our online support groups are an accessible service for a community that needs it now more than ever. Connecting with others is an important part of caring for ourselves that not only allows us to talk things through, but feel heard and understood. We offer several types of groups weekly:

Groups meet once per week for 1.5 hours for 8 weeks.

Participants will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• I’m Fine! Confronting your pain while being resilient.
• Telling Her Story
• Co-dependence
• Domestic Violence
• Your Spiritual Life
• Antidote: Finding community during social distancing and isolation
• Discover Your Passion
• Guided Meditation and Reflection
• Master Mind for Entrepreneurs
• Mediation for couples in conflict
• Al-Anon – support for families living with addiction

Group Requirements

• All groups are confidential
• We use Google Meet which is a HIPPA compliant platform
• No insurance needed
• Sliding scale fees available
• We have a limited number of spots in each group for people unable to pay
• A participant can be removed for breaking rules of confidentiality or bullying group behavior
• Groups start on time and end on time.

Worrall et al. (2018) found that support groups are effective at reducing symptoms, substance misuse, hospitalizations, and use of services, as well as improving social competence and increasing healthy behaviors, self-esteem, and perceptions of overall well-being.