At the Black Maternal Mental Health Summit, MomsRising's Gina Arias, center, facilitated a workshop focused on storytelling as a key to powerful advocacy.
Black Maternal Mental Health Week Recap: Storytelling Fuels Advocacy and Change
There’s something powerful about witnessing a community come together with shared purpose.
This year’s Black Maternal Mental Health Week BMMHW (July 19-25, 2025), an annual observance dedicated to raising awareness about the unique mental health challenges faced by Black mothers during and after pregnancy, reminded me exactly why MomsRising’s work matters so deeply.
Our engagement with BMMHW leads us into Breastfeeding Month in August. Breastfeeding and maternal mental health are deeply connected: when birthing people feel supported, understood, and empowered, breastfeeding outcomes improve. This understanding drove me to Houston for what became one of the most impactful experiences of my advocacy journey.
At the heart of this year’s BMMHW was the Black Maternal Mental Health Summit in Houston. Over three transformative days, the Shades of Blue Project brought together healthcare professionals, advocates, and community leadership to advance conversations, develop tangible solutions, and commit to concrete actions around Black maternal mental health.
POWER IN STORYTELLING: HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY WORKSHOP
Leading MomsRising’s workshop on storytelling as advocacy became one of the highlights of my week. The participants energized me with their understanding of something I’ve learned through my own journey: while data provides the foundation, the lived experiences of moms and birthing people bring urgency and humanity to those numbers.
Personal stories break stigma, build empathy, and move policymakers to act in ways statistics alone cannot.
I shared several key insights with participants:
- Everyone can be an advocate. You don't need policy expertise or letters after your name to make change. Decision-makers often know shockingly little about maternal health, which is why our stories are so critical.
- Stories fuel legislation. I walked participants through how bills get made — using the classic "I'm Just a Bill" clip — and reminded everyone that people's voices are what push policies like the MOMS Act and the Black Maternal Health Momnibus forward.
- Personal journeys drive impact. I shared my own story of stepping into advocacy work, highlighting how lived experience gives us the expertise policymakers desperately need to hear.
- We can share our voices in many ways. From storybooks and social media videos to testimony at hearings and one-on-one conversations, I encouraged participants to use whichever storytelling method feels most accessible to them.
- We build on a long legacy of truth-telling. Drawing inspiration from Ida B. Wells, I reminded everyone that telling stories in the face of resistance continues a tradition of resilience and change-making.
My session closed with an invitation to continue sharing postpartum and birth stories through MomsRising's story collection project, reinforcing the theme that our voices are critical — nothing for us, without us.
CARRYING THE POWER FORWARD
Black Maternal Mental Health Week 2025 was a powerful reminder of what happens when we come together with purpose, inspiration, and accountability. I left Houston energized and even more committed to building the accountable village that all families deserve.
With gratitude to Shades of Blue Project for their transformative leadership, to Dr. Monica McLemore and all the inspiring speakers, and to every advocate and mama lifting their voice — we look forward to carrying this work forward in the weeks and months ahead.
Together, we rise.
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